More new routes and more low fares as Flybe’s summer schedule takes off

Europe’s largest regional airline starts hot summer schedule with 34 new routes

Flybe, Europe’s largest low cost regional airline, today launches its first flights of the summer season, bringing 34 new routes to UK travellers, with seats available for booking throughout the summer at www.flybe.com. 

These include two new Loganair routes from Dundee to Birmingham and Belfast, the first ever routes being flown under the Flybe banner as a result of a franchise agreement signed earlier this year: as well as two new year round routes from Jersey to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Dublin to Glasgow.

Malaysian Airline to buy 55 new Boeings

Malaysia Airlines said Monday it will acquire up to 55 new Boeing 737-800 jets, and go ahead with previously-announced plans to buy six Airbus A380s despite delivery delays as part of its fleet expansion. Malasia’s flagship carrier has placed a firm order for 35 narrow-body B737-800 aircraft, with an option for another 20 planes.

The B737-800 planes are to be delivered starting on September 2010 to replace the airline’s existing single-aisle fleet. The carrier has the option to swap the B737-800 to the larger B737-900. The focus will on Asia, especially China and India.

‘Open Skies’ agreement sparks cheap flights

Virgin Blue’s new carrier V Australia will fly daily between Sydney and Los Angeles when it takes to the skies in December.
His announcement comes weeks after Australia and the United States agreed to an “open skies” policy that allows Australian and US airlines to determine trans-Pacific routes and services independent of government involvement.  Branson said the launch of the daily V Australia flights would give the Virgin Group a global network for the first time.
Virgin Blue said that V Australia will add more US services to its daily schedule once it takes delivery of more new Boeing 777-300ER aircraft, adding that the airline was also looking at other international destinations.  Sydney will be home to the new V Australia operation.

Air Greenland shuts its Greenland-Baltimore Route

Air Greenland’s board has decided to shut the airline’s route between Kangerlussuaq and Baltimore/Washington. This means that all ten flights planned for the coming summer season will be cancelled. Affected passengers will be contacted as soon as possible by their travel agents or ticket offices.

The reason for the decision is that the route made a loss in its first season of DKK 15.1 million and preliminary figures for 2008 predicted expected losses in the two-digit millions. This is partly due to increased costs for fuel and aircraft rental, but also due to the low dollar rate which has reduced American demand for travel abroad.
At the same time, Air Greenland now has to compete against SAS and Air Iceland, and the company can therefore not accept another year with losses of the same dimensions on a single route.

BA to cancel hundreds more flights from T5

British Airways expects to cancel hundreds more flights at its global hub at London Heathrow airport this week, as it battles to overcome baggage handling and other operating problems at its showpiece £4.3bn Terminal 5.The airline is struggling to deal with a mountain of more than 15,000 misplaced bags, which has been growing since last Thursday’s long-awaited opening of T5, which was supposed to open a new era of improved passenger service at Heathrow.

Emirates quits sharing routes with Sri Lanka’s national carrier

Dubai’s Emirates Airlines said on Sunday it would stop sharing routes with Sri Lanka’s national carrier when its decade-long management contract expires this month. “Code share arrangements between Emirates and SriLankan Airlines will cease from 31st March 2008 with the expiry of the management agreement,” Emirates said in a statement. The decision follows worsening relations between Emirates Airlines and Colombo, with talks between both sides collapsing after nearly two years of negotiations over renewing the contract.

However, the Dubai-based carrier said it will retain its near 44 percent stake and continue to have a board presence. Emirates will continue to serve Sri Lanka with 17 weekly flights to Colombo, connecting the country’s travellers to 100 global destinations via Dubai. The flights will be operated using Emirates’ aircraft, the statement said on Sunday.
In response, SriLankan Airlines said it was working to develop new destinations and tourist markets to add to its current schedule of 54 destinations in 28 countries.

First transatlantic flights land at Heathrow under ‘Open Skies’

A Continental Airlines flight from New York arrived at London’s Heathrow airport Sunday morning, marking the beginning of the ground-breaking “Open Skies” agreement to free up transatlantic air travel.
The accord, which allows airlines freedom to fly between Europe and the United States, replaced previous agreements which meant only four airlines were allowed to fly between the United States and Heathrow, the world’s busiest international air hub.

“What ‘Open Skies’ has done is open up the market, and it’s good news for the passenger and certainly for Heathrow,” a spokeswoman for BAA, the airports operator which owns Heathrow as well as six other British airports told AFP. Under 30-year-old rules, only British Airways, Virgin Atlantic and US carriers United Airlines and American Airlines were allowed to fly between Heathrow and American cities, with non-US airlines only permitted to fly from their country of origin and the United States.

From Sunday, however, transatlantic routes are opened to all airlines, with Air France and US company Delta Airlines set to launch a joint-venture transatlantic service from Heathrow on Monday. In addition to those two airlines and Continental, US Airways and Northwest Airlines will also be launching new services to Europe’s busiest airport, which served about 62.1 million passengers last year.

Jet Airways to Launch Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco on May 5

Jet Airways is launching its Mumbai-Shanghai-San Francisco on May 5 using its brand new Boeing 777-300 ER. This is the First Indian airline to touch San Francisco via the eastern city of Shanghai. Air India currently services San Francisco via Frankfurt.

Aloha Airlines Halting Passenger Service

Aloha Airlines said Sunday it will halt all passenger service after Monday, signaling the end of an airline that has served Hawaii for more than 60 years.Aloha, which filed for bankruptcy for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on March 20, was a casualty of fierce competition and rising fuel prices. The airline said it will stop taking reservations for flights after Monday.

Aloha has suffered since Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc. launched a new interisland carrier called go! airlines in 2006, triggering a local airfare war. In January, go! reported a $20 million operating loss in its first 16 months of operations. Meanwhile, Aloha and Hawaiian Airlines — the other major interisland carrier — reported combined losses of nearly $65 million since go! began operating.

Aloha has canceled Monday flights from Hawaii to the West Coast and between several cities in California and Nevada. Its last day for interisland travel will be Monday.

Low cost carriers fly away from Kolkata (India)

Several Low cost carriers have withdrawn services from the eastern city of Kolkata citing low demand. The merged airlines (Kingfisher-Deccan and Jet Airways-JetLite) have withdrawn flights in several sectors, leading to longer queues and the very worrying possibility of a fare hike.
Kolkata stands to lose out on 14 low-cost flights and seven major ones in a week. It has already lost no less than 60 flights in the last two years — and the nosedive is still gathering momentum. Industry sources say tickets may get costlier by at least Rs 700-Rs 1,200.
Deccan is withdrawing its operations to Delhi from next month. Air India’s 8.35 am Kolkata-Delhi flight has already been axed. Bhubaneswar, Agartala and Imphal have already been hit. Only 21 flights each operate on the Kolkata-Bhubaneswar and Kolkata-Agartala routes every week — a plunge from 46 and 56 in 2006. Flights on the Kolkata-Imphal sector have dropped to 18 from 35. And if Jet Airways stops operations on this sector — a distinct possibility — the number will plunge to 11.

Flights between Delhi and Kolkata have declined to 93 a week from 116 last year. The merged airline JetLite is likely to reduce its daily flights to make room for Jet Airways’ Delhi-Kolkata flights. On the other hand, Jet Airways may reduce its Kolkata-Guwahati and Kolkata-Imphal flights to help JetLite. Also on the hit list is Hyderabad. In the last two years, Kolkata-Hyderabad flights have come down to 49 a week from 63.

Continental Airlines has a emergency landing in Houston – BREAKING NEWS

A Continental Airlines flight from Oklahoma City blew out all its landing gear tires and caught fire as it landed at Bush Intercontinental Airport Thursday evening.  Flight 205 was attempting to land on runway 8-Left at 6:09 p.m. when the tires blew and caught fire.About 20 minutes before the Boeing 737 landed at Bush Intercontinental passengers say they were told to buckle up because of turbulence.  But, the 113 passengers coming from Oklahoma had no idea they were in for one of the roughest landings of their lives.

No injuries were reported. It is a very unusual incident as all tyres blew on landing.

British Airways launches 12 flights from London Gatwick

British Airways is launching a dozen new routes from Gatwick to European hotspots this summer.The new routes are to Alicante, Antalya, Faro, Genoa, Gibraltar, Ibiza, Malaga, Malta, Palma, Paphos, Poznan and Tunis. 

Other highlights of British Airways’ summer 2008 schedule include increased flights to the US from Heathrow and new routes from London City airport. · Flights to Dallas and Houston move from Gatwick to Heathrow following the implementation of phase one of the EU US Open Skies agreement. This summer, the airline will fly 41 times per day to 18 US destinations.

Flights to Algiers will move from Gatwick to Heathrow and Warsaw flights will move from Heathrow to Gatwick. New route from Heathrow to Malaga. New routes from London City to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Nice and Warsaw. Flights from Heathrow to Detroit, Gatwick to Aberdeen, Nice, Prague and Reykjavik and from London City to Milan Malpensa will be suspended.

Delta grounds 275 flights for rechecks

Delta cancelled 275 flights this week to reinspect its fleet of Boeing MD-88 aircraft and became the latest US carrier to alter its schedule following a review by federal regulators. The Federal Aviation Administration last week ordered spot audits on the records of all 118 domestic carriers. It had been criticised for failing to catch safety violations on some Southwest Airlines aircraft.

About 3 per cent of Delta’s flights were cancelled. It had planned to resume its normal schedule by early Friday.

In reviewing records with FAA investigators, Delta found that its 117 MD-88s might be in violation of a directive that specifies the distance between clips that bind a bundle of wires inside the wings.  American Airlines pulled about 300 flights this week to check whether its fleet of MD-80s complied with the same directive.

JetBlue founder to start new airline in Brazil

JetBlue Airways founder David Neeleman unveiled plans on Thursday for a new low-cost airline in Brazil’s fast-growing aviation market, saying he had already raised $150 million for the venture.The carrier, still unnamed, will start with a fleet of three jets made by the Brazilian manufacturer Embraer and should take to the skies in early 2009. In five years, it expects to have a fleet of 76 planes.

The new carrier will face stiff competition from TAM Linhas Aereas Gol Linhas Aereas, which together command more than 90 percent of Brazil’s domestiv aviation market.

Baggage check-in suspended at T5- London Heathrow

Airport chiefs have apologised to passengers after a disastrous opening day for Heathrow’s flagship £4.3 billion Terminal 5 ended with British Airways having to suspend all baggage check-in at the new facility. The decision, taken after a series of problems had wrecked what should have been a landmark day at the west London airport, meant travellers could only fly with carry-on hand luggage.

It completed what had been an utterly miserable few hours for many passengers, for BA and for BAA, the airport operator, with BA having to cancel 34 flights.

Downstairs in the giant building, passengers off the first Hong Kong flight all got their bags in quick time. But soon it was clear there were major problems with baggage reclaim, with some passengers having to wait as long as two-and-a-half hours to collect their cases. By lunch time the knock-on effect of all the problems led BA to cancel 20 flights – a figure which later increased to 34.

Then at around 5pm, BA decided to suspend the checking in of all luggage going into the hold. This left passengers already at the airport with the choice of either flying with just hand luggage, getting an alternative flight or getting their money back.

Chaos hits new British airport terminal

The opening day of Heathrow airport’s new Terminal Five descended into chaos on Thursday, with flights cancelled, baggage delayed and long queues, while protesters rallied against further expansion. British Airways (BA), the only airline using Terminal Five, was forced to cancel 34 flights and apologise for “teething problems” only weeks after the huge new building was inaugurated by Queen Elizabeth II.

CNN and Sky News showed long queues of passengers stranded at the airport after their flights had been cancelled. Some passengers were told they could get on their flights but had to leave their baggage behind. According to CNN, only BA flights to Moscow, Hong Kong and Johannesburg left with all baggage aboard.

Mitsubishi to Announce Go-Ahead on Jet

The first “made in Japan” passenger aircraft in three decades may get its official go-ahead as soon as Friday, a day after major Japanese carrier All Nippon Airways placed the first orders. ANA ordered 15 regional jets from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. on Thursday for delivery from 2013, with an option for 10 more.

The Mitsubishi Regional Jet, or MRJ, is to be a twin-engine aircraft seating about 70 to 90 people. The lightweight carbon-fiber composite jet is designed to consume about 20 percent less fuel than comparable standard jets. Demand for smaller jets is expected to rise over the next 20 years in regional markets. Mitsubishi’s main target markets are North America, Europe and Japan.

The jet’s first deliveries could come as soon as 2012. Mitsubishi — part of a major Japanese conglomerate that includes an automaker, electronics maker and trading company — has chosen Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United Technologies Corp., as the MRJ’s engine supplier. Development costs are estimated at about 150 billion yen ($1.5 billion).

Kingfisher airlines flight crash lands at Bangalore Airport

A Kingfisher Airlines ATR 72-500 has reportedly crashlanded at Bangalore International Airport. There are no casualties reported yet. 2 Passengers have been injured. The main runway on the Bangalore airport is blocked and all flight operations are suspended for now. The flight was IT 2427 travelling from Bangalore-Hyderabad evening flight. 

Reports indicate that while taking off, the aircraft hit an animal which caused the front tyre assembly to collapse. This resulted in the aircraft skidding on the runway finally stopping midway in the runway. The authroities have evacuated all 29 passengers on board. The Flight operations are closed temporarily for a period of 2 hours. All incoming flights are being diverted to nearby airports.

American Airlines grounds planes, cancels 200 flights

American Airlines, the world’s largest carrier, canceled about 325 flights to reinspect wiring in Boeing Co. MD-80s after federal regulators raised questions during a maintenance audit.

The cancellations represent about 14 percent of the estimated 2,300 flights that the nation’s biggest airline had scheduled for the day. American is checking whether a sleeve covering a bundle of wires was installed according to a Federal Aviation Administration directive, spokesman Tim Wagner said.

The highest concentrations of the cancellations were in the airline’s hubs at Dallas-Fort Worth and Chicago O’Hare international airports. Among the flights scrubbed were two out of Houston’s Bush Intercontinental Airport.

It’s the second time in a week that American parent AMR Corp. has had to scrub flights amid industrywide FAA maintenance audits. Carriers have come under increased scrutiny since the FAA proposed a $10.2 million fine against Southwest Airlines Co. on March 6 for flying 46 jets without proper fuselage checks.

Singapore Air A380 grounded for fuel pump problem

Singapore Airlines grounded a second Airbus A380 aircraft for a fuel pump problem on Monday night, delaying Sydney-bound passengers who had to switch to smaller planes. The problem with the fuel pump was similar to a problem that grounded another of Singapore Air’s A380s in February.

In another incident in January, an A380 jet sustained superficial damage when it rolled off the tarmac ahead of a flight to Sydney. A truck that was pushing the plane failed and disconnected from the plane. No injuries have resulted from any of the incidents.

Singapore Airlines Ltd. is the only carrier operating the world’s largest passenger jet. Last week, it flew the plane for the first time on its Singapore-London route, after having first introduced the plane on regular Singapore-Sydney flights in October. It currently operates three A380s and has another 16 on order. Singapore Airlines will use its fourth A380, yet to be delivered, on its Singapore-Tokyo route from May 20.

The first A380 was delivered to Singapore Airlines on Oct. 15, some 18 months behind schedule because of wiring problems and after billions of dollars in cost overruns for Airbus. Dubai-based Emirates will become the second airline with the plane when it takes its first delivery in August.