Author Archive
Tuesday, July 12th, 2011
An Indian high court has started proceedings against the country’s aviation secretary and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. The contempt of court proceedings have been initiated because a number of foreign airlines have been allowed to withhold commission payments to travel agents.
In 2010, following complaints by the Iata Agents Association of India that 16 airlines were illegally refusing to pay five per cent commission on ticket sales through Indian travel companies, the DGCA was told to make sure payments were forthcoming.
Biji Eapen, IAAI president, said even though the order was given, neither the aviation secretary Nasim Zaidi nor the DGCA, which he headed at the time of the order, had taken any action against the offending airlines.
The first carrier to stop paying the commission was Singapore Airlines in 2008. The airline said it was making cost cuts and that India’s travel agents should charge commission on sales directly to the customer. Other airlines to later join the zero-commission regime included British Airways, Air France, Austrian Airlines, Lufthansa and Air Canada. A number of Indian carriers also joined in but dropped out again after they were boycotted by travel agents.
Although Qatar and Singapore Airlines have since agreed to begin paying the commission again, no payments have yet been received, according to Mr Eapen. Mr Zaidi said he had not seen the court order, but would act accordingly when he had studied it.
Civil aviation director general, Bharat Bhushan, said he could not speak about the case in terms of specifics, but was looking at filing a counter-affidavit.
Tags: Air Canada, air france, airlines, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, DGCA, IAAI, Lufthansa, Qatar, Singapore Airlines
Posted in Finance and Business | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Flybe has announced its intention to expand operations in the Baltic and Nordic regions by spending £22.6 million on a 60 per cent share of Finnish Commuter Airlines. The deal is part of a joint venture with Finnair which will create an airline to be branded Flybe Nordic. The carrier’s board of directors will be made up of two representatives from Finnair and three from Flybe.
Finnish Commuter Airlines, in terms of operations, is the country’s biggest domestic carrier. The company has a turnover each year of around £81 million, flies some 90,000 passengers annually across the Baltic, Nordic and Finnish markets and owns 15 aircraft.
Public affairs boss at Flybe, Niall Duffy, said the majority share in the airline would allow Flybe a presence in the region with a minimum of risk attached. As well as the airline, the deal includes 57 per cent of the Finncomm Training Centre and some smaller charter businesses. Flybe will also take a 46 per cent share of Finnish Aircraft Maintenance.
According to forecasts, the new airline is expected to make a loss this financial year, but will break even next year with returns on investment hitting around 15 per cent the year after. Duffy described the economics of the region as successful, mature and well developed.
Flybe, which has also announced orders for £850 million worth of new aircraft, will be looking to expand operations from Finland to Asia. The carrier said it was not currently looking to develop routes from Finland to Britain.
Tags: airline, Asia, charter, Finnair, Finnish Commuter Airlines, Flybe, Flybe Nordic
Posted in Finance and Business | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
In a move to increase its travel offering, Kelkoo has teamed up with three well known travel brands. Partnerships with Alpharooms.com, Airflights.co.uk and Lasminute.com will give customers a wider range of choice on hotels, holidays and flights. The move will also help to boost the Kelkoo travel brand.
Holidaymakers will be able to take advantage of deals being offered by Airflights.co.uk until at least August this year when the service will review customer feedback and possibly extend its offering into next year. The deal has been signed by Lastminute.com until next April and with Alpharooms.com until next July.
Commenting on the move, travel managing director at Kelkoo, Chris Nixon, said: “The new partnerships with Airflights.co.uk, Alpharooms.com and Lastminute.com are extremely exciting and a real testament to the work being done to regenerate the Kelkoo Travel proposition. Offering customers access to greater choice from these three leading travel brands underlines our continued commitment to re-building our travel proposition across Europe, which has been my main focus since joining the team last year. This is the latest of many new and exciting developments we are looking to make at Kelkoo Travel over the coming year.”
Marketing director of Alpharooms.com, Daniel Morley, added: “Alpharooms.com are keen to support Kelkoo Travel and we will be working closely with them to offer their users an extensive range of budget to luxury worldwide accommodation.”
Sales manager of Airflights.co.uk, Colin Gill, commented: “As one of the UK’s busiest travel websites Airflights.co.uk is pleased to enter into this partnership with Kelkoo. Airflights bring a real choice of airlines, small niche tour operators and travel related products to the Kelkoo audience, whilst simultaneously increasing the Airflights brand awareness amongst the increasingly discerning UK traveller.”
Tags: Airflights.co.uk, airlines, Alpharooms.com, flights, holidays, hotels, Kelkoo, Lastminute.com, travel
Posted in Travel News | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 21st, 2011
Middle Eastern airline Emirates has said it will be introducing services to the Iraqi capital Baghdad starting 13 November. It is the latest carrier to announce flights to Baghdad as the economy and security in the country continues to improve. Iraq has been trying to encourage airlines to return after embargoes were introduced in 1990 following the country’s invasion of Kuwait.
Emirates Airline chairman and chief executive, Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, said Baghdad would be strategically important because of its location and because there were still only a few carriers flying to the airport. Iraq’s government is trying to encourage investment to make improvements to the city’s airport.
Last year, Emirates began serving Basra. The airline expects its customers to come from growing sectors of industry including telecoms, oil and construction as well as government personnel. The airline’s boss said that he looked forward to introducing Baghdad’s residents to Emirates’ global network.
EgyptAir, based in Cairo, has also announced plans to fly to and from Iraq commencing 15 July. According to the airline’s chairman, Hussein Massoud, there will be four flights to Baghdad and a further three services to Irbil in the north. Massoud said that Iraq and Egypt had cultural and commercial ties and that Iraq was a fertile ground for investment.
Airlines already taking advantage of improved conditions in Iraq include Royal Jordanian, Etihad Airways and Turkish Airlines. Austrian Airlines was the first major carrier from the west to resume services on a regular basis to Baghdad since 1990. The airline resumed flights earlier this month.
Tags: airlines, Austrian Airlines, EgyptAir, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Irbil, Royal Jordanian, Turkish Airlines
Posted in Travel News | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
Regulators in the US have apparently cleared the way for an alliance between Delta Airlines and Virgin Australia. The Brisbane-based carrier has told the Australian Securities Exchange that the Department of Transport had given its blessing for the coordination of flight schedules and codeshare agreements across the Pacific.
Both airlines have been working closely with each other since January last year. The antitrust immunity means that they can now build that relationship between Australia and the US and other destinations in the South Pacific.
In May this year Virgin expanded its codeshare agreement with Delta on flights out of Los Angeles. Virgin customers can now connect to destinations across the US including New York, Las Vegas, Detroit, Atlanta, Orlando and San Francisco. In the other direction, Delta customers can connect with a number of cities across Australia after landing in Sydney.
Airlines in Australia continue to face disruption as the volcanic ash cloud from Chile hovers in the skies over the south of the country and New Zealand. Qantas has said that safety concerns meant it will be cancelling all services across the Tasman. It has also suspended flights to Tasmania and Adelaide.
Virgin Australia and Air New Zealand have announced that they will continue to operate trans-Tasman services by rerouting flights either below or around the ash cloud. Virgin said it was in constant contact with the volcanic advisory service and with meteorological experts. The Australian Civil Aviation Authority said it was up to the airlines to decide whether it was safe to fly, as long as they avoided any direct contact with the ash.
Tags: Air New Zealand, airlines, ash cloud, codeshare, delta airlines, Department of Transport, Qantas, Virgin Australia
Posted in Travel News | Comments Off
Tuesday, June 7th, 2011
Tulsa-based Dollar Thrifty is asking its stakeholders not to react to a takeover bid made by rival car rental firm Hertz Global Holdings. Last month, the budget car hire firm agreed with Hertz that the two would work together to try and secure antitrust approval from the US regulators. However, Dollar Thrifty’s board is urging those with shares in the firm to do nothing at the moment with regards to a takeover bid worth $2.25 billion.
The Hertz offer includes a cash offer of $57.60 per share as well as 0.8546 shares of Hertz stock. The move is the latest in a long running battle between Hertz and Avis to gain control of their budget rival. Both car hire giants are still to gain approval from antitrust regulators.
The regulators are concerned that a takeover of Dollar Thrifty by either of the rival companies would have a negative impact on competition within the American car rental market. Dollar Thrifty asked Avis not to make a formal offer at the end of last year so that the firms could work together to gain antitrust approval.
Avis had previously said it would offer Dollar’s shareholders $45.79 per share as well as 0.6543 shares of Avis common stock. At today’s prices the deal is worth in the region of $1.77 billion.
In a statement, Dollar Thrifty CEO and president, Scott L Thompson, asked stockholders not to react to the Hertz proposal until the regulators had come to their decision. He added that it was still unclear what that decision would be or how long it would take.
Tags: Avis, car hire, car rental, dollar thrifty, Hertz, Scott L Thompson
Posted in Car Rental News | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 31st, 2011
Initial reports coming from the French air accident investigation body suggest that Air France 447 may have plunged into the Atlantic in 2009 because the pilots were not equipped to deal with the aircraft going out of control. All 228 people on board the flight, which was on its way to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, lost their lives on 1 June.
The BEA report suggests that the pilots reacted incorrectly to warning systems which were activated after the airliner’s speed sensors iced up. Instead of keeping the plane steady while they established what was going wrong, one of the pilots put the Airbus A330 into a steep climb.
The action will have caused the aircraft to stall as the air travelling over the surfaces of the wings will have become unstable resulting in a loss of lift. The plane would then have entered a rapid descent. Instead of pushing the nose forward to try and increase air speed over the wings to create lift, it appears that the pilot kept the nose up.
Although this was the wrong response to an aerodynamic stall, experts are saying that it remains unclear whether the pilots were simply ill equipped to deal with the situation or were being fed inaccurate information in the cockpit.
John Cox, an airline safety expert, said proper training for such situations has been lacking for years. More training is needed so that pilots are not startled by warning systems during an emergency and better systems are needed to warn pilots ahead of time that a problem may be about to occur, according to safety experts.
Tags: air france, air speed, airbus a330, BEA, pilots, safety, stall
Posted in Travel News | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 24th, 2011
An ash cloud spreading from Iceland is beginning to cause disruption for airline passengers in the UK as carriers decide to cancel services in and out of Scotland. KLM, British Airways, easyJet and Aer Lingus have all decided to suspend services. Ryanair has also been advised to ground flights this morning in and out of Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen by Irish officials on the grounds of safety.
The budget carrier however believes that the restrictions are not necessary at present, and announced on its website that it would be objecting to the advice given by the Irish Aviation Authority. The airline said it would be requesting that restrictions are lifted immediately.
Last April, fleets across Europe were grounded for nearly a week in the wake of the Eyjafjallajokull eruption. Aviation authorities feared that ash being emitted into the atmosphere could cause damage to aircraft engines. The European governments’ reaction to the situation meant that thousands of passengers were left stranded, many of whom made their way home over land.
The cancellation of services cost the airlines £1.1 billion and many carriers were angry that the authorities had over reacted to the problem. However, a recently released study shows that they were right to be cautious as ash from the early stages of the eruption could have caused abrasion in jet engines which could have resulted in failure.
The current eruption from the Grimsvotn volcano is unlikely to cause such widespread disruption, according to experts, as the ash is far coarser and is therefore falling back to the ground more quickly.
Tags: aer lingus, airlines, ash cloud, British Airways, easyjet, Grimsvotn, Iceland, klm, Ryanair, volcano
Posted in Travel News | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 17th, 2011
As the threat of industrial action by British Airways cabin crews looks like becoming a thing of the past, Virgin Atlantic passengers face possible disruption as its pilots are balloted over whether to strike later in the summer. The fight is over pay levels and if a strike goes ahead it will be the first in the history of Sir Richard Branson’s airline.
The British Airline Pilots Association said it had failed to come to acceptable terms with the airline through conciliation service Acas. It will now begin balloting the 85 per cent of Virgin pilots it represents as of next week. A result is then due on 21 June meaning walkouts could start as early as the beginning of July.
According to BALPA’s general secretary, Jim McAuslan, Virgin Atlantic pilots agreed to a pay freeze in 2008. This was done as a way of helping the carrier through the difficult economic downturn. However, it was done on the proviso that when things picked up, so would pilot’s pay.
Virgin has offered a four per cent increase this year with three per cent pay rises through 2012 and 2013. McAuslan argues that with inflation hovering around five per cent an agreement to such terms would be an agreement to three years of pay cuts.
The airline said it had been notified of the ballot adding that its offer to pilots was affordable and fair and that the door to further negotiations remains open. If the pilots do decide to strike, they could cause considerable disruption over the busy summer period.
Tags: Acas, BALPA, British Airways, pilots, Sir Richard Branson, strike, virgin atlantic
Posted in UK News | Comments Off
Tuesday, May 10th, 2011
As the price of oil rises, taxes increase and inflation remains high, it seems fewer Brits are opting to use their diminishing disposable incomes to book a foreign holiday this year. According to the Office for National Statistics, there was a drop of six per cent in the three months ending February this year in the number of visits overseas by travellers from the UK.
The situation is being felt by travel companies including Tui and Thomas Cook. Both are preparing to announce large losses as consumers opt to stay at home. Industry analysts are saying that one of the problems for travel companies is that they have to slash prices in order to entice people to travel. Although bookings remain mostly flat for this summer, margins have dropped.
Manny Fontenla-Novoa, chief executive at Thomas Cook, is convinced that Brits will continue to make two weeks in the sun a priority. However, some experts believe that a lack of consumer confidence will mean that many will scrap their annual trip abroad.
Those who are travelling appear to be choosing destinations closer to home this year such as the Canaries, Greece and the Balearics. This is in part due to the recent political problems in previously popular countries such as Tunisia and Egypt.
Last month’s fine weather in the UK may persuade many to risk spending the summer at home. The staycation was expected to be a short lived trend, however, until the economy can prove it is on a sustained upturn it is likely to become more popular with those who have less to spend.
Tags: holiday, inflation, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, Office for National Statistics, oil, staycation, taxes, thomas cook, travel, Tui
Posted in Travel News | Comments Off
