Turkey’s flagship carrier, Turkish Airlines, is to join the Star Alliance in a move that would give the world’s biggest airline confederation new destinations in Turkey, Central Asia and the Middle East, the company said Saturday.
Turkish Airlines and Star Alliance officials signed a pre-accession deal in a ceremony in Istanbul on Saturday, formally launching the integration process.
source: Chron.com
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes, Brazil’s low-cost, low-fare airline, has announced that beginning January 1, 2007, commissions paid to travel agents on GOL ticket sales will be reduced to 7 percent for domestic flights and 6 percent for international flights.
The decision is part of the GOL’s overall cost reduction plan which is expected to reduce operating costs. The Company also expects annual cost savings of R$95-105 million in travel agency commissions in 2007. “‘Reducing our costs will allow the Company to offer even lower airfares and continue to popularize air transportation,'” says GOL’s Vice-president of Marketing and Services, Tarcisio Gargioni.
source: Yahoo! Finance
Australia will restrict the amount of liquid airline passengers can take on board international flights, Transport Minister Mark Vaile said.
The maximum size of containers with liquids, creams and gels allowed on flights will be 100 milliliters from March 31, Vaile said in a statement released today in Canberra. The containers must be placed in a transparent sealable bag and screened separately, he said.
source: Bloomberg
After weeks of speculation the Italian Government yesterday began the privatisation of Alitalia, the troubled national airline, by announcing the sale of 30.1 per cent of its 49.9 per cent stake.
It attached conditions, however, including an insistence that whoever buys the stake must make a full takeover bid for the whole airline, undertake to keep its logo and national identity and come up with a convincing business “turnaround†plan to salvage the debt-ridden company.
source: Times Online
AirTran Airways reported today its November revenue passenger miles (RPMs), available seat miles (ASMs), and passengers enplaned all represent company records for the month.
AirTran Airways’ traffic, measured by revenue passenger miles (RPMs), grew by 15.4 percent, to over 1.1 billion RPMs, on an increase of 19.1 percent in capacity, based on available seat miles (ASMs). November’s load factor was 69.2 percent. The airline enplaned more than 1.6 million passengers in the month of November, a 14.5 percent increase from November 2005.
source: PR Newswire
Another airline is circling the proposed takeover of Delta Air Lines by US Airways, hoping for a shot at some airport gates.
JetBlue chief executive David Neeleman, in a speech to investors, said his airline would be interested in buying flight slots at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., and New York’s LaGuardia Airport. Both Delta and US Airways operate shuttle flights between Washington, New York and Boston.
source: Business Courier
The collapse of negotiations for an EU-US air transport agreement is a set back for Brussels against a background of growing global trade protectionism.
Europe’s transport ministers will discuss the deal’s crash landing next week as hopes for a 2007 agreement recede. US transport secretary Mary Peters called the European commission on Tuesday to announce Washington was pulling the plug on allowing foreign investors a greater say in US airlines.
source: theparliament.com
Budget airline Ryanair has extended for a second time the deadline for Aer Lingus shareholders to accept its takeover offer after investors with less than 1 percent of the carrier accepted its bid.
The bid, which values Aer Lingus at 1.48 billion euros (1.0 billion pounds), is widely expected to fail given intense opposition from major shareholders, including the Irish government with 25 percent and current and former Aer Lingus staff with 12.6 percent.
source: Reuters
Continental Airlines and US Helicopter Corp. have partnered to provide shuttle service between Manhattan and its Newark hub beginning Dec. 18.
US Helicopter customers traveling on the Houston-based airline will be able to check in, receive boarding passes for US Helicopter and Continental Airlines and complete security screening at the Manhattan heliport near Wall Street.
source: Houston Business Journal
JetBlue, a fast-growing airlines, said it is delaying deliveries of 32 new Embraer 190 jets it had been scheduled to receive from 2007 to 2010.The main reasons attributed to postpone the order are higher fuel prices and increasing competition.
source: The New Observer
