Archive for March, 2011
Thursday, March 31st, 2011
Expedia and AirAsia have signed an equal deal which they hope will enable them to tap into the emerging market for online travel bookings in the Asia-Pacific region. At present, the use on online travel agents is relatively low, but AirAsia’s CEO, Tony Fernandes, predicts an explosion. He added that now was the perfect time to start offering reliable, high quality services to customers in markets where the economy is booming.
The $20 million deal will capitalise on both company’s strengths. Expedia is the largest online travel agent in the world and AirAsia the biggest budget airline group in Asia. Expedia Asia-Pacific is a new company which has been set up to serve businesses in India, Japan East Asia and the countries of South East Asia.
Customers wishing to fly with AirAsia and AirAsia X, as well as book packages through the airline will now be able to do so through the airline’s websites or through Expedia almost exclusively. This includes flights with Thai AirAsia, AirAsia Malaysia and AirAsia Indonesia.
Chairman of Expedia, Barry Diller, said the collaboration would give the firm’s customers greater access to a range of destinations throughout the Asia-Pacific at a time when interest in travel to the region was growing quickly.
Every month, Expedia claims to have around 70 million visitors to its website. It offers a wide range of products and services including access to hotel rooms, car hire firms and package holiday deals. AirAsia flies to 75 destinations in Europe, Australia and Asia.
Tags: airasia, AirAsia Indonesia, AirAsia Malaysia, AirAsia X, car hire, Expedia, hotel rooms, package holiday, Thai AirAsia, Tony Fernandes, travel
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Wednesday, March 30th, 2011
Travel operator Thomas Cook has reported a significant slowdown in the number of Brits booking their annual summer holiday. The travel agent has attributed the loss of business to the UK’s continued economic instability and a tightening of the purse strings. As a result, the firm has announced that instead of increasing capacity it will be reducing the number of package deals available.
Earlier this year Thomas Cook said it planned to add three per cent to the number of holidays it was offering in the UK. However, because of the lack of demand it has decided to reduce this offering by slimming capacity by one per cent. Fortunately for the operator it does not carry a heavy portfolio of aircraft or hotels and can make reductions to the number of deals it offers without harming profits significantly.
According to chief executive, Manny Fontenla-Novoa, there has been growth across most of the group’s segments with airlines and operators recording particularly strong performance in the German market. However, the same cannot be said for the UK where consumer sentiment remains weak.
In February, the operator announced an increase of six per cent in bookings. However, this has slowed to just a one per cent year-on rise. Mr Fontenla-Novoa has attributed some of the slow down to a regulatory delay in the company’s merger with the Co-operative Group. The deal is currently being investigated by the Competition Commission.
Thomas Cook expects t lose around £20 million because of the recent troubles in Egypt and Tunisia.
Tags: airlines, Co-operative Group, Competition Commission, egypt, hotels, package deals, summer holiday, thomas cook, travel agent, tunisia
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Tuesday, March 29th, 2011
The latest ballot by labour union Unite has seen the majority of British Airways’ cabin crew vote in favour of further strike action. If no resolution to the situation can be found, then many BA passengers face having their Easter holiday’s disrupted.
Although the union initially said that it would do all it could to avoid such disruption, Unite has 28 days in which to announce possible strike dates.
Leader of Unite, Len McCluskey, said the vote proved that the carrier’s cabin crew remained committed to justice. He added that it was clear that BA’s management had to do something to regain the confidence of its workers and urged the board to reinstate travel perks, reimburse those who had their pay docked during previous walkouts, but who were genuinely ill, and cease action against a number of other Unite members.
McCluskey said that he was determined to reach an amicable solution and was still engaged in talks with BA’s management. The flag-carrier has also said it wants to arrive at an agreement not through confrontation, but through cooperation.
BA has said that it wants a good working relationship with its cabin crews and that workers’ were also desperate for an end the conflict which has been going on since the end of 2009. The dispute was initially sparked by cost cutting measures implemented by the airline including staffing reductions and pay freezes. It then morphed into a fight over travel concessions and action taken against a handful of strike supporters.
Tags: BA, British Airways, cabin crew, cost cutting, Easter, Len McCluskey, strike, travel perks, Unite
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Monday, March 28th, 2011
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown was the focus of unwanted attention recently after he boarded a British Airways flight en route to London from Oman when it made a stopover in Abu Dhabi. Prior to Mr Brown and his entourage getting on to the plane a number of passengers were told that due to an issue with overbooking they would have to move out of business class to a cheaper seat.
Although Mr Brown’s office and the airline have denied that this was anything to do with the former PM, his appearance in premium class angered a number of those who had been told to give up their seats. One woman who was pregnant tried to take a picture of Mr Brown so that she could send it to BA along with a complaint.
As she did so she allegedly incurred the wrath of one of Mr Brown’s aides, Kirsty McNeill. Talking about the incident, the woman, who asked to remain anonymous, said she blamed the airline more than Mr Brown for the confusion but described Ms McNeill as seriously unpleasant.
A spokeswoman for the British flag-carrier said the overbooking issue had absolutely nothing to do with Mr Brown and confirmed that he and his companions had booked their seats well in advance. She added that it was extremely rare to have to ask passengers to move out of the cabin they had booked a seat in and that apologies had been offered.
Mr Brown’s office confirmed that at no point did he receive any special treatment from BA.
Tags: airline, BA, British Airways, business class, gordon brown, Kirsty McNeill, passengers
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Friday, March 25th, 2011
British Airways will no longer be carrying passengers to Tripoli in Libya according to a statement made by the airline. The service will be suspended through the summer season as unrest continues to grip the North African country. BA announced that it was not prepared to risk the safety of its passengers or its employees adding that those who have already booked a flight should contact the airline to rebook or receive a refund.
BA’s announcement comes as travel companies continue to assess the damage done to business because of the recent political and social unrest. Many have recorded a significant drop in demand for holidays to Egypt and Tunisia.
Although the situation in both countries has improved dramatically since the recent uprisings, it appears that travellers remain wary about visiting the region. Bookings to Turkey are also down by as much as nine per cent on a year ago, according to some operators.
One of the reasons may be that customers fear the Middle East and North African troubles might spread. Travel agents are desperately trying to reassure people that this is extremely unlikely and that the country is a democratic republic. Anatolian Sky Holidays’ managing director, Akin Koc, said he had expected there to be a rise in the number of bookings to Turkey as an alternative safe destination.
He pointed out that religion plays no part in the country’s politics because it is a secular state and that women and men have both had the right to vote for decades.
Tags: airline, Anatolian Sky Holidays, BA, British Airways, Libya, religion, travel, Tripoli, Turkey, vote
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Thursday, March 24th, 2011
Specially constructed underwater robots have been deployed to the Atlantic to help in the fourth search for the flight recorders of Air France 447 which crashed into the ocean on 1 June, 2009. The accident happened during a fierce storm killing all 228 people who were on board. The cause remains a mystery and it is unlikely that any definitive answer will ever be given without the black box recorders.
The latest search is being funded by Air France and European planemaker Airbus. It will be overseen by accident agency BEA and coordinated by experts from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.
Woods Hole director of special projects, David Gallo, said the search would be difficult because much of the 3,900 square miles of ocean floor it would be concentrated on has never been explored. He added that he was sure the Woods Hole team would find any wreckage, if it is there.
The need to recover the data recorders has stepped up a notch as both Airbus and Air France have now had manslaughter suits filed against them by a French court. It will be difficult to apportion blame if the black boxes are not found.
Just before it went down, automatic messages were sent from the Airbus A330 showing that the airspeed being recorded by the aircraft’s sensors was wrong. Although perhaps a contributing factor, most experts believe that this alone could not have caused the plane to go down. Flight 447 was also contending with turbulent weather conditions.
Tags: a330, air france, airbus, BEA, black box, data recorders, manslaughter, Woods Hole
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Wednesday, March 23rd, 2011
As Japan continues to try and avert a possible nuclear crisis, Singapore Airlines has announced that it will be suspending a number of services to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport. A spokesman for the airline said the decision had been made because of a fall in customer demand. The carrier’s website has a notice saying that flights SQ636 and SQ635 will be suspended as of 27 March.
Singapore Airlines has confirmed that, for the time being, it will continue to operate its four daily services to Tokyo’s main international airport, Narita. Demand for airline seats has slowed as Japan tries to come to terms with the aftermath of a massive earthquake and devastating tsunami.
The wall of water smashed into the Fukushima nuclear power plant causing damage to the facilities cooling systems. Hundreds of workers have been battling to get water into the plant and restore power supplies. However, according to Japanese news reports, two of the reactors appear to be emitting steam and smoke again.
Other international airlines are also reviewing their schedules to Japan. Qantas offshoot Jetstar has announced that it will be reducing its services to the capital as demand for seats drops.
There are increasing concerns that the fall out from Fukushima is producing dangerous levels of radiation in water supplies and food. The authorities have already banned the supply of spinach from farms located near the reactor and higher than normal levels of radiation have been detected in milk. Although Tokyo’s tap water is also registering some contamination, health experts claim it is still safe to drink.
Tags: airline, earthquake, Fukushima, Haneda, japan, jetstar, Narita, nuclear crisis, Qantas, radiation, reactors, Singapore Airlines, tokyo, tsunami
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Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
Scotland has announced plans to make changes to the laws governing how much alcohol a driver is allowed to consume. The move comes after the UK government rejected recommendations to lower the amount a motorist is permitted to have in their blood.
A recently published report which was commissioned by Whitehall recommends that the amount of alcohol be reduced to 50mg per 100ml of blood from the current permissible level of 80mg.
Motoring groups have joined with Scottish ministers in condemning Westminster for not grabbing the opportunity to make the country’s roads safer. The AA has however said it strongly supports the fact that tests conducted by the side of the road can now be held up in court as evidence. This will mean that those who are over the limit according to a breathalyser test will not have the possibility of a drop in alcohol levels as they are transported to a police station for a blood test.
Philip Hammond, the UK’s transport secretary, defended his decision not to change the law on blood-alcohol levels by explaining that more of an impact would be made through improving enforcement. He added that the government would introduce a range of ways of streamlining that enforcement.
When the Scotland Bill is passed ministers have said they will take the appropriate action to reduce blood-alcohol limits as quickly as they can. A spokesman for the government said that parliament had been asking London either to amend the law or give Scotland the power to do so for some time.
Tags: AA, alcohol, blood-alcohol, breathalyser, motoring groups, Philip Hammond, Scotland Bill, transport
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Monday, March 21st, 2011
The big-three Arab airlines have indicated their intentions to target Manchester airport as their UK hub as they grow capacity out of the northern city. Emirates, Qatar and Etihad will all add extra services this year. The airport was the busiest in the UK last year outside of London serving 17.6 million passengers.
Meanwhile, British Airways said that, at the current time, it had no intention of resuming international services from the airport. The airline quit in 2008. Speaking in an interview, former BA boss Willie Walsh said the British flag-carrier had found flying services from Manchester not to be profitable which is why the airline is now based out of Heathrow. He added that he had no complaints about the Middle Eastern carriers basing themselves in Manchester as it was not a market BA served directly.
Aviation consultant at Ascend, Peter Morris, said the main market for growth in the airline industry is Asia. He added that Emirates provided more connectivity out of the UK than BA to destinations in the East.
In January, British Airways finalised its merger with Iberia which has given the airline greater access to destinations across the Atlantic. The Gulf carriers are currently looking in the opposite direction and Qatar said it hopes to tap into demand for travel to countries like Sri Lanka, Bangladesh Pakistan and India.
Emirates said one of the reasons it would be increasing capacity from Manchester was that the Airbus A380s it is currently flying were consistently at full capacity.
Tags: Airbus A380, airline industry, BA, British Airways, Emirates, etihad, Iberia, manchester airport, Qatar, willie walsh
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Friday, March 18th, 2011
European airline group Lufthansa has announced an €876 million operating profit for the 2010 financial year. The giant has been able to publish the earnings despite losses at subsidiaries Bmi, Germanwings and Austrian Airlines. The figure is five times what the airline group was able to declare in 2009.
Lufthansa has defended a €145 million loss at Bmi and a €66 million loss at Austrian by saying that both airlines are currently implementing a raft of restructuring measures. Lufthansa added that although it lost €39 million in 2010, Germanwings was continuing to grow its business.
The group said that its success was due to an increase in sales and demand for international travel. The amount of freight traffic was also increasing and profits were helped by a range of cost cutting measures in all business segments as well as the realisation of a number of synergy potentials.
The group said that over the last year it had introduced a new Europa cabin and successfully launched a fleet of Airbus A380 superjumbos. Lufthansa has also invested in the re-launch of its in-flight internet service.
Christoph Franz, the group’s chief executive officer, said while he was pleased to be able to announce that the company was in profit, he expected the coming year to be a challenging one. He explained that competition had become tougher within Europe and on routes to the US and Asia. Increases in air traffic tax were also damaging as were unforeseen political and environmental issues. All airlines are also being hit by the rising cost of jet fuel.
Tags: A380, airbus, airline, Austrian Airlines, bmi, Christoph Franz, Germanwings, internet, Lufthansa
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