Star gets air india
Star Alliance in mid-December officially accepted Air India's application to join the grouping. Air India, which has been in talks with Star for several months, expects to become Star's first member in India in the first half of 2009. Air India recently completed a merger with the country's other government-owned carrier, Indian Airlines.
E-Ticketing progresses
IATA says carriers are on track to meet its May deadline for no longer accepting paper tickets. IATA expects e-ticket penetration will reach 93% at the end of December and 97.7% at the end of May. Last June IATA extended the deadline from 31 December 2007 to 31 May 2008 to give carriers more time to migrate interlines to the e-ticketing environment. IATA now expects about 4,200 e-ticketing interline agreements will be in place by the end of May, covering 90% of all interline traffic. IATA originally only expected 80% would be covered.
RVSM For china
Reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) standards were implemented in China in late November, allowing carriers to fly more efficient routes between Europe and Asia. IATA says the new standards will save 1.1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per year. IATA is now pushing for RVSM standards to be implemented in Russia, all CIS states and Africa, where Algeria recently became the fourth RVSM compliant country. IATA says Asia-Europe routes have also been shortened through a new air traffic management initiative in Afghanistan, saving 35 minutes per flight.
Source: Airline Business
