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Buoyant travel demand has raised net profits at Singapore Airlines (SIA) by 73.2 percent in the three months to September compared with the same period a year ago, the airline said Wednesday.

But despite the second quarter figures, Singapore Airlines (SIA), which is the first carrier to commercially operate the Airbus A380 superjumbo, said slowing economic growth had cast a cloud over prospects.

Net profit totalled 507.8 million Singapore dollars (350.66 million US), up from 293.2 million dollars a year ago, the company said in a statement to the stock exchange.

source: Yahoo!

British Airways’ final flight from Harare landed at Heathrow last night, closing a chapter in links between Britain and Zimbabwe.

British Airways suspends fligthts to Zimbabwe BA also suspended its flights in 1965

BA152 was the final service of a route the airline said it was abandoning because it had become uneconomic.

Zimbabwe’s economy is in freefall and tourism to the country has collapsed. But in Zimbabwe the decision is being seen as part of London’s efforts to isolate Robert Mugabe’s regime, even though BA is a commercial company.

source: Telegraph.co.uk

Scandinavian airline SAS said on Sunday it had cancelled 57 flights because its fleet of Q400 turboprops was grounded following the crash-landing of one of the aircraft in Copenhagen.

The landing gear of an SAS Q400 collapsed on landing at Copenhagen’s Kastrup airport on Saturday, but no one was seriously injured.

SAS said in a statement it had cancelled 49 flights on Sunday and eight flights on Monday.

Scandinavian aviation authorities on Saturday issued a new flight ban on all SAS’s Q400 turboprops shortly after the incident.

source: Yahoo!

The airline group’s board of directors said in a statement that it had decided ‘to immediately discontinue the use of this type of aircraft’.

The Dash 8 Q400 has given rise to ”repeated quality-related problems,” said SAS deputy chief executive officer John Dueholm.

”SAS’s flight operations have always enjoyed an excellent reputation and there is a risk that use of the Dash 8 Q400 could eventually damage the SAS brand,” Dueholm said.

The SAS statement acknowledged that Sunday’s decision would result in flight cancellations and said the airline would try to compensate by reallocating current aircraft in the group’s fleet and leasing from other airlines.

source: finanznachrichten.de

Austrian Airlines said Wednesday that it flew back into profit in the first nine months of the current year thanks to an overhaul of its long-haul business, but third-quarter earnings were lower.

The Austrian flag carrier said in its interim report it booked net profit of 20.6 million euros (29 million dollars) in the period from January to September compared with a bottom-line loss of 25.8 million euros a year earlier.

Underlying earnings, as measured by earnings before interest and tax (EBIT), also swung back into the black, amounting to 32.2 million euros in the nine-month period compared with a year-earlier loss of 9.1 million euros.

source: Yahoo!

TAP Air Portugal said a series of pilots’ strikes beginning Tuesday would likely cause the cancellation of many flights and advised passengers to change their travel plans if possible.

Services “‘will be severely disrupted,'” company spokesman Antonio Monteiro said Monday. He could not predict how many of the flag carrier’s about 150 daily flights would operate during the three days of stoppages this week.

The airline’s approximately 500 pilots announced they would strike Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. They also plan to strike Nov. 5, 7 and 9.

source: IHT

Southwest Airlines and Continental Airlines , two of the largest U.S. carriers, posted higher quarterly earnings on Thursday as fuller planes and fare increases helped offset soaring fuel costs.

The earnings from Southwest and Continental are the latest sign that the U.S. airline industry’s recovery from a long slump remains on track despite a slowing U.S. economy.

Earlier this week, American Airlines parent AMR and Delta Air Lines posted better-than-expected earnings, benefiting from tighter cost controls and lower capacity in the United States.

source: Yahoo!

Air France-KLM and Delta Air Lines have agreed a tie-up over translantic flights which they say will offer more choice and value for passengers.

Under the deal, the two airlines will share revenues from flights between Europe and the US, expected to total $8bn (5.6bn euros) a year from 2010.

Closer co-operation would allow the carriers to launch new routes and run services more frequently, the duo said.

Airlines want to exploit the opening-up of US-European travel next year.source: BBC