News from FlightGlobal – Page 2177
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Virgin truce puts Irish operation on hold
Simon Montlake ATI LONDON Virgin boss Richard Branson has brokered a truce between disgruntled pilots and managers at Virgin Express, the Brussels-based low-cost carrier. But the agreement, signed by Branson and staff representatives, has only put off the day of reckoning for Virgin Express Ireland, the new subsidiary at ...
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EasyJet gives tickets away
London Luton-based easyJet has taken low-cost travel into new territory with its decision not to charge for some of its flights. In response to Swissair's successful block on the application for a route licence between Geneva and Barcelona, the carrier will fly passengers free. These services would be classed as ...
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Speedwing tackles Olympic problems
Tom Gill/Lois Jones LONDON Next month Speedwing will reveal a rescue plan for Olympic Airways, as the initial phase of the 30-month management contract it won in June. Olympic remains tightlipped about its future and Speedwing says it is too early to say what changes will have to be ...
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Arkia move sparks Arab backlash
Peter Bennett VIENNA Israeli group Arkia says it will invest up to $100 million in loss-making flag carrier Balkan Bulgarian after it won the rights to buy a majority stake. But problems with some of Balkan's Arab routes have set in, with some countries objecting to dealing with an Israeli-owned ...
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EasyJet goes for Gatwick
EasyJet will begin flying out of London Gatwick to Geneva this autumn in a move that departs substantially from its use of lower-cost airports such as London Luton and Liverpool. The no-frills airline has also applied for slots at Heathrow, but says that its fares will remain "affordable". Source: ...
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New dawn for Sun Air?
Roger Makings JOHANNESBURG South African Airways (SAA) is poised to move in on its ailing domestic competitor, Sun Air, after securing an exclusive three-month agreement with shareholders to work out a commercial relationship. Sun Air, in desperate need of a cash injection following the eight-month price war on South ...
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Japan's start-ups lose ground
David Knibb BRISBANE Skymark Airlines and Hokkaido International Airlines (Air Do), Japan's domestic start-ups, are taking a beating as a result of fare cuts by Japan's major airlines. In a full-blown fare war leading into Japan's summer season, falling ticket prices are bringing down the newcomers' load factors. Skymark ...
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Indian fare war erupts
India's airlines have slashed their fares by 20-25%, taking them to their lowest level in four years and setting the scene for a long and bitter war. Besides discounts, a wide range of gifts are on offer, from free holidays to complimentary stays in hotels and free travel for spouses. ...
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Qualiflying seamless service
With its new joint sales initiatives, the Qualiflyer grouping could be stealing a march in the alliance stakes. The promise of seamless customer service from the global alliances may seem a little distant, but progress appears to be under way. At the forefront has been a series of announcements from ...
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Playing your cards right
Jackie Gallacher LONDON Frequent flier co-operation is reaching new levels of sophistication within the global alliances, threatening to leave others out in the cold. Not so long ago, an alliance based only on links between frequent-flier programmes (FFP) would have seemed hopelessly optimistic. Yet the real force of the global ...
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Playing it safe at KAL
Nicholas Ionides SEOUL A big management shake-up at Korean Air has produced a new president and chief executive, Shim Yi-taek. His main task is to improve KAL's safety. Each day at noon, thousands of Korean Air (KAL) employees working at the carrier's Kimpo Airport headquarters building in Seoul make ...
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IT Trends Survey
Kevin O'Toole GENEVA Joint industry research conducted by Airline Business and SITA attempts to establish how far the airline industry is keeping pace with the new wave of information technology and the dawn of the Internet age. Is the airline industry keeping step with information technology? Less than a decade ...
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Netting a bargain
Now in their third year, sales of discount fares via the Internet appear to be a rousing success for US carriers. Is this a glimpse of the future? American Airlines started it all three years ago. Other US majors were quick to follow. Now, Internet discount fares are beginning ...
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50 years ago...
As Airbus fine tunes its A3XX design, the world celebrates a half century of jet travel On Wednesday 27 July, 1949, the world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland (DH) 106 Comet, made its first flight from Hatfield airfield, just north of London. That historic half an hour trip marked ...
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Back to the future
Capacity is driving Airbus' future large airliner plans but cost will decide how and where it will be built Julian Moxon/TOULOUSEAirbus will know only after a six-month commercial marketing campaign that begins in January whether it has predicted correctly the demand for its A3XX. If enough airlines, with enough geographical ...
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Pan Pacific plans for Let L-420 flights to small US communities
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC Pan Pacific Airways' plans to serve small communities in the north-western USA are back on track after the company agreed to acquire Czech-built Let L-420s. An aircraft arrived in mid-July to enable training to begin. Burlington, Washington-based Pan Pacific hopes to begin operations by year-end. Chairman and ...
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UPS share sale
United Parcel Service (UPS) is to sell 10% of its shares by the end of this year in what is likely to be one of the biggest initial public offerings ever, raising up to $3 billion. UPS, one of the largest privately held companies in the USA, and says the ...
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DHL poised to take British Airways 757s
Max Kingsley-Jones/LONDON British Airways is in final negotiations with express package specialist DHL for the sale of almost half of the UK airline's Boeing 757s, with a deal expected to be concluded in the coming months. The transaction, valued at around $500 million (including conversions), would give Boeing a launch ...
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Spoiling tactics
When Boeing concluded its recent trade-in deal with Singapore Airlines (SIA) for 10 more 777s in exchange for a guarantee to buy and remarket its entire A340 fleet, the move seemed as capricious as it was masterful. But, with arch rival Airbus Industrie putting the finishing touches to a ...
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South Africa to levy 'safety' fee
Doug Birch/LONDON Foreign airlines flying to South Africa will have to pay fees totalling almost $3 million over the next 18 months as a contribution to an "aviation safety charge", according to the South African Civil Aviation Authority. The fees replace a fuel levy implemented in January by ...