Posts for 'Airlines' Category

Possible bankruptcy for one of Mexico's two major airlines could benefit U.S. carriers, but the latest shake-up in a troubled air sector is not seen seriously denting the country's tourism industry for now.

Mexicana de Aviacion, saddled with mounting debts and high employee costs, filed for creditor protection with Mexican and U.S. authorities this week after it failed to get employees to accept further wage cuts.

On Wednesday, Mexicana suspended ticket sales, raising questions about whether it can stave off bankruptcy -- and how long it can continue to operate. On Thursday, the company said its petition for insolvency had been admitted by a Mexico City district judge.

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 The Transport Workers Union of America said Thursday that it has asked its 13 local unions that represent fleet and ground service workers at American Airlines to schedule strike authorization votes this month as a result of what it calls an impasse with the airline. Each local is to report the results of the balloting to the international union no later than July 30.

About 11,000 of the union's fleet and ground service workers handle baggage, clean aircraft, de-ice and fuel planes, and move freight at U.S. airports where Fort Worth-based American has operations. The announcement follows the union's statement issued Monday that there had been a "complete breakdown" in contract talks with American, that it no longer had a tentative agreement with the airline regarding those workers and that no ballots would be submitted to members for a contract ratification vote.

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Hopes of an end to the long-running row between British Airways and its cabin crew rose briefly on Friday after the airline made a fresh offer to end the dispute for the first time in two months. But the Unite union, which represents most of BA’s 13,400 flight attendants, gave a lukewarm response, saying it did not think it would end what has turned into one of the most protracted and bitter industrial clashes in BA’s history.

“While we are not at all optimistic this this offer provides a basis for resolution of the dispute, we will of course be considering it and consulting with our cabin crew representatives before making a formal response,” said Unite’s joint leader, Derek Simpson.

BA’s head of cabin crew, Bill Francis, said the airline had changed its offer “in line with feedback we have received from crew and we genuinely believe that it can end this dispute”. However, the new deal is similar to proposals BA made in its last offer in April and does not address any of the issues on which Unite is planning to start balloting staff from next Tuesday June 29, such as the airline’s withdrawal of travel concessions from striking workers.

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Traffic was up in May at some of the busiest airlines that serve Wichita’s Mid-Continent Airport. According to a report from the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Delta Air Lines Inc.’s overall system traffic — also known as revenue passenger miles — was up 2.7 percent in May compared to a year earlier. Load factor, or how full its planes were, was up 1.6 points to 83.9 percent.

Domestic traffic went up 0.3 percent and international traffic fell 6.7 percent. Delta (NYSE: DAL) flew 13.8 million passengers, up 0.5 percent from May 2009.Locally, the airline has seen some gains in passengers when compared to 2009. Reports for May weren’t available Friday for Mid-Continent Airport, but between January and April 2010, Delta carried 59,946 passengers to or from the Wichita airport. That’s up from 57,834 during the same time period last year.

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The new owners of former Virgin Nigeria Eagle Airlines, NICON Group, have renamed the airline, Air Nigeria. With the renaming of the airline, the new owners have dumped the Virgin Nigeria brand, owned by Richard Branson.

The airlines new name and logo was unveiled in Lagos, by the chairman of NICON group, Mr. Jimoh Ibrahim. Mr. Ibrahim said the change in name became necessary to make the controversial carrier indigenous. Mr. Ibrahim also said the first branded aircraft for the airline in the new name will arrive in Nigeria next week from France.

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When Jeff Smisek and Glenn Tilton, the chief executives of Continental Airlines and United Airlines, testified before the Senate antitrust subcommittee this week on the proposed merger of their two companies they painted a compelling vision.

Their merger would create a global airline combining complementary networks, better able to protect jobs and important local routes. Sitting beside them, however, two consumer advocates took a dimmer view. The tie-up, they said, would lead to reduced service, higher prices on important routes and make the industry more, not less, vulnerable to strikes and shocks.

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The Denver Post said Frontier Airlines, which operates more than 550 flights from Denver International Airport, Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport and Kansas City International Airport, will charge $US75 ($84) each way for pets.

Small dogs, cats, rabbits, guinea pigs, hamsters and small household birds will be allowed to travel if they are in approved carriers that fit under seats. But snakes on the plane have been outlawed, along with insects, spiders and amphibians.

Frontier - which has animal designs on its planes' tails - will also allow larger pets that weigh more than 9kg (20 pounds) as checked baggage for $150.The airline had once allowed pets on their planes but canned the cabin rides two years ago. Now they have returned once again.

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The early reports out certainly sound suspicious though it's a positive sign that this was detected.A passenger was detained by airport authorities in Pakistan after electrical circuits and batteries were found in the soles of his tennis shoes, an airport security official said today.

Officials were investigating what the components could be used for and why they were concealed. Similar materials can be used in the construction of bombs. The man, Faiz Mohammad, was arrested at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport las night, said Munir Ahmed, a spokesman for the airport security force. The materials were detected by a scanner.

US Airways Group Inc. and United Airlines reported smaller-than-expected first-quarter losses Tuesday, helped by higher passenger revenue, fuller planes, and the return of business travel. During a conference call with analysts and investors, US Airways chief executive Doug Parker said he expected that the second quarter would be profitable and show "dramatic improvement" over last year.

Although US Airways, Philadelphia's largest airline, ended merger talks with United last week, Parker said the industry would "still be overly fragmented" even if United and Continental Airlines ultimately merged. "We'd prefer to participate in consolidation rather than not," he said. "We have been very open about that point and aggressive in our actions.

"As evidenced by today's results, we have a strong stand-alone airline," Parker said. When asked whether he saw any potential merger partners remaining, he said, "We don't believe the door will be closed on future consolidation involving US Airways."

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About 15,500 passengers were left stranded and they have now been re-booked. Qantas spokeswoman Olivia Worth says the airline is putting on five extra flights with about 4,000 seats to fly passengers between Australia and Europe. She says that should clear the backlog.

"In the next 24 to 48 hours, we expect that any passenger who was delayed in Australia or Asia - that includes Singapore, Hong Kong and Bangkok and also many of the passengers in London - [will be on a plane]," she said. She says some people have changed the times of their holidays and destinations and so they will not need to fly immediately.