China Eastern Airlines to purchase 50 jets from Airbus

HONG KONG — China Eastern Airlines says it is buying 50 new Airbus A320 jets to meet increasing demand for its domestic and international air services.

The Shanghai-based airline says that while the entire deal is worth $3.2 billion according to 2005 list prices, it is getting "significant price concessions" from Toulouse, France-based Airbus that it wouldn't reveal.

The aircraft will be delivered in phases from 2012 to 2015. The airline says the new planes will boost total capacity, as well as that of subsidiary Shanghai Airlines, by 11 percent.

Continental is initial U.S. airline to fly 737s with Sky Interior

Continental Airlines says it has become the first North American carrier to obtain delivery of a new 737-800 with Boeing's new Sky Interior.

In a press release, Continental notes "this all-new interior features recently sculpted sidewalls, energy-efficient LED lighting and bigger overhead bins that take back into the ceiling, allowing stowage of additional roll-aboard bags. Other features comprise superior ventilation and cabin-noise reduction for customers and new, touch-screen flight attendant panels and controls."

“When customers first step on the plane, they will without delay notice the fresh cabin architecture," says Ron Baur, who holds the title of "Vice President - Fleet" at Continental.

"This modern interior gives the airplane a more open look and sense while rising cabin comfort and overhead storage space," he adds.

Continental did not provide a specific date that the new jet would fly with paying customers, saying it would first fly the aircraft to its Orlando maintenance facility to be outfitted with winglets.

Continental adds that it plans receive delivery of "several more 737s with the new Sky Interior in 2011."

Emirates SkyCargo comprehensive its longest flight

Emirates SkyCargo, the freight division of Emirates airline, has set latest records by operating its longest ever non-stop flight - 17.5 hours from Sydney to New York. Emirates SkyCargo's innovative generation Boeing 777 Freighter operated the service, which arrived on 28th December.

"Since the Boeing 777F's foreword to our fleet in March 2009, we have been frightened by its range, as well as competence, and this milestone flight is testament to that," said Ram Menen, Emirates' Divisional Senior Vice President Cargo. The Boeing 777F boasts the longest range capability of all twin engine jets, is quieter and uses less fuel per tonne than other freighters, which are all ever more significant as the industry demands more environmentally sound practices worldwide.

"This freighter is part of our long-term investment for Emirates SkyCargo, we are energized about its recital so far and the future possibilities it brings to our services," added Menen.

Previously the longest flight take on by Emirates was a 16.8-hour passenger flight between Dubai and Houston International Airport.

"This landmark flight is especially important for operations in countries such as Australia," added Greg Johnson, Emirates' Cargo Manager Australia. "Being located some distance from many of the world's key markets, a high significance is placed on range capability."

The consignment of extremely valuable horses on EK4931, potentially worth more than the aircraft itself, all arrived at Stewart International Airport securely.

Emirates is the largest operator of the Boeing 777 aircraft in the globe. The airline at present has 86 Boeing 777s in its fleet, as well as two Boeing 777 freighters.

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Kingfisher to commence new flights

Leading private carrier Kingfisher Monday publicized it was launching new flights on the domestic sector, connecting Jabalpur and Belgaum to Mumbai.

The other flights will function on the Jabalpur-Indore and Indore-Mumbai routes.

We are the first airline to present air connectivity from Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh and Belgaum in north Karnataka to Mumbai in our winter schedule, Kingfisher Vice-president Manoj Chacko said in a statement here.

Though bookings opened Monday, the airline will start the service on the Mumbai-Belgaum route Jan 10 and on the Mumbai-Jabalpur-Indore route Jan 24.

The new services are aimed at providing suitable connections between the country's financial capital and significant cities and make possible greater economic activity, Chacko said.

Zambezi Airlines

ZAMBEZI Airlines is bargaining with some countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and beyond for probable opening up of new routes next year.

Zambezi Airlines commercial director Sidney Siabamundi said in an interview in Lusaka that the airline had made applications to fly to other routes and was pending approval from respective governments.

“We are coming up with exciting programs for our clients in the upcoming year. We aim to open up new routes within SADC and beyond, although we can only name the countries once the respective governments endorse our applications,’’ Mr Siabamundi said.

Zambezi Airline offers flights to Lubumbashi in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Blantyre in Malawi, Harare in Zimbabwe, South Africa’s Johannesburg and Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

He said the airline had recorded irresistible bookings subsequent the promotional same-day-return fare on Lusaka-Johannesburg route running from December 13 to 31.

The purpose of the promotion is to give confidence the business people and corporate partners to accomplish business on the same day without losing out on time for other engagements.

Zambezi Airlines expects to utilize its flights as a hub for connection and transit for those travelling in the SADC countries.

The airline was established in 2008 and has grown to be one of Africa’s leading low-cost airlines. Zambezi has a business model that permits it to offer cheap fares without compromising on service.

Shandong Airlines to purchase 15 Boeing planes

China's Shandong Airlines said on Friday it plans to purchase 15 Boeing passenger planes worth up to US$1.2 billion amid fast-growing demand for air travel in the increasingly flourishing country.

The catalogue price of each Boeing 737-800 aircraft is between US$75 million and US$80 million however the US aerospace giant is offering not mentioned price concessions, the airline told the Shenzhen Stock Exchange and the 15 planes will be delivered between 2014 and 2015.

Airbus spokesman Rainer Ohler said that in September China would be the number one aviation market in the next 20 years, unseating the United States.

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Airlines present free WiFi for holidays

AirTran Airways, Delta and Virgin America airlines are partnering with Google to present free wireless Internet sevice on their flights through Jan. 2.

Free Gogo Internet service will be offered on WiFi-equipped flights through Jan. 2. The move is fraction of a promotion for the Google Chrome Internet browser.

Gogo, used by many airlines, including Delta, American Airlines, Virgin America and United, presents a variety of price points and options, as well as single-flight, single airline and monthly passes.

In October Southwest Airlines declare that it would offer WiFi on its planes for an introductory rate of $5.

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American Airlines publicized additional daily flight between Flint and Chicago

American Airlines will put in an additional daily flight between Flint and Chicago's O'Hare International Airport starting in April.

The airline declared the added service in a news release today. AmericanConnection, the regional affiliate of American Airlines, will present the bulked-up service with 44-seat Embraer jets at Bishop Airport.

American flights have accounted for about 8 percent of traffic at Bishop so far current year.

"We're delighted to enhance our service...," Gary Foss, vice president of planning and marketing for American's regional network, said in the news release. "At present with four daily nonstop flights, customers from the TriCities region will have even more travel options from which to prefer, as well as more suitable connections in Chicago ..."

The additional flight is scheduled to start on April 5 with a 12:35 p.m. Chicago departure that arrives in Flint at 2:30 p.m. The latest departure from Flint is at 3 p.m. daily, a flight that arrives in Chicago at 3:10 p.m.

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Kobe Bryant's Turkish Airlines Approval Deal Has Armenian Population Crying Foul

CNN reports that the Lakers forward, who in recent times inked a new endorsement deal with Turkish Airlines, is emotion the backlash from Los Angeles' Armenian community, the biggest gathering of Armenians outside of Armenia.

Armenians have long felt ill-will toward the Turks, as they claim Turkey was concerned in genocide against Armenians in 1915 at the end of the Ottoman Empire.

For that cause, Bryant's new two-year deal has irked Armenians all over the map. Approximately 30 protesters demonstrated outside of the Air Canada Centre in Toronto on Sunday, the site of the Lakers' game with the Raptors.

The Armenian Youth Federation even went as far as to say that Bryant is now the "Face of Oppression and Justice," and also called the deal fraction of Bryant's "Direct Flight to Inhumanity."

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Qatar Airways to commence IPO in early 2012

Qatar Airways is setting up to launch an initial public offering (IPO) in early 2012 after three successive years of profit, it said on Sunday.

A spokeswoman for the national airline confirmed comments by its chief executive Akbar Al Baker on Saturday that he was "pretty confident" it would start the IPO then.

"We have forever said we will go in for an IPO once we record three consecutive years of profit," Baker was reported as saying by Qatari daily Gulf Times.

"In the last financial year, we comprehended a net profit. This year as well we are heading towards a profit. We are confident of deriving a net profit in the next financial year as well," he added.

The spokeswoman refused to provide additional details.

Qatar Airways will focus its development strategy during the coming four months on adding four new destinations in Europe, Baker said on Saturday.

Qatar, the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, is construction a new airport with the capacity to accommodate 50 million passengers per year.

Baker said the new Doha International Airport (NDIA) would have an initial capacity to handle 28 million passengers yearly when it opens in 2012.

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Southwest, AirTran deal probable to close

U.S. antitrust enforcers won't possible object to Southwest Airlines Co's acquisition of AirTran Holdings Inc., according to the American Antitrust Institute, an antitrust research and advocacy group.

But, the deal could modify the business model of low cost airlines and Southwest's pricing strategies, the group said.

The $1.4 billion deal likely won't make resistance from antitrust officials, said Diana Moss, the institute's vice president.

AirTran is the fifth-busiest airline at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport and it's unclear precisely how the merger will have an effect on Wichita.

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American Airlines starts fare hike, others pursue

American Airlines started on Monday a domestic airfare hike of $5 one-way for flights over 500 miles ($10 roundtrip) and $3 one-way for shorter flights ($6 roundtrip) across the bulk of its route system, says Rick Seaney, CEO of FareCompare.com

Its competitors, as well as low-cost airlines, have matched the hike throughout Tuesday, including Continental, Delta, United, US Airways, Virgin America, Alaska, Frontier and Southwest. It "virtually guarantee(s) this to be one of the few victorious hike efforts this year," he says.

Domestic airlines have struggled to increase airfares this year and their earlier attempts have failed as competitors didn't match. "Regardless of the progressively improving economy, airlines persist to live by recessionary domestic pricing motto of not being $1 more or less than their competitor," he writes in an e-mail.

Still, consumers have been paying extra for tickets this year as airlines employ different strategies to increase prices. Airlines have added travel surcharges of up to $30 one-way for high demand periods and sold less discounted seats, he notes. They also kept their planes entirely full.

"With oil prices hovering near 2010 highs of $90 a barrel and airline executives' recent positive statements concerning winter demand, it is likely we will observe more domestic hike efforts as we head into 2011," he says.

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Airlines include seats for Bowl Championship Games

For college football fans, airlines have grumbled up the number of seats they are flying to accommodate traffic to Bowl Championship Series Games in late December and early January.

Delta Air Lines says it has included more than 4,500 seats for travel to 20 college football championship match-ups as well as the Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Orange Bowl and Sugar Bowl.

The added seats capacity is on the Birmingham-Phoenix, Portland-Phoenix, Eugene-Phoenix, Madison-Los Angeles, Milwaukee-Los Angeles, Oklahoma City-Phoenix, Roanoke-Miami and Columbus-New Orleans routes.

Alaska Airlines also opened up about 790 seats on its Seattle-San Diego route for Washington Husky fans to acquire to the Holiday Bowl.

With major airlines shrinking capacity so much since 2008, the extra seats are predictable to go rapidly.

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Brisbane Airport planning for record Christmas

Signs are all pointing to a record Christmas season for Brisbane Airport, with the strong Australian dollar and steady interest rates considering a spike in passenger numbers.

Major capacity raises have also helped drive 5.3 percent growth in international passengers and 7.4 percent increase for domestic passengers compared to last financial year.

For the month of November 344,607 passengers passed through Brisbane’s international terminal building, while 1,347,139 flew domestic, resulting in strong growth figures of 3.1 percent and 7.4 percent correspondingly.

Brisbane Airport Corporation spokesperson, Rebecca Masci, says both the international and domestic arena have benefited from additional airlines and seats.

“Visitors from China raised by a huge 18.9 percent in November, which is thanks to China Southern’s strong entry into the market (three times weekly to Guangzhou) last month,” Masci says.

“The strong growth on the domestic front was due to the injection of more than 177,000 seats (+11.9 percent on November 2009), with Tiger Airways leading the charge by adding the maximum number of seats of all the domestic airlines,” she says.

Masci says with such strong growth in the lead up to Christmas, record passenger numbers are predictable throughout the holiday season at the domestic terminal, and recommend people to permit extra time and plan ahead.

“We’re expecting record passengers this Christmas and the domestic terminal precinct is at present under construction, so people should be sure to put in a half hour onto their travel time to the airport, and visit www.bne.com.au before you fly to find out concerning the changes around precinct,” she adds.

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Sterling Airlines

Sterling Airlines was originated in 1962 and was based out of the Copenhagen airport. Initially called “Sterling Airways,” the name was altered to “Sterling Airlines” when it combined with Maersk Air in 2005. Maybe Sterling liked the thought that Maersk had Boeing 737′s that were almost all one color and wanted to do the similar. But instead of using blue, Sterling go with red… lots of it, while they did have a special blue livery that seems pretty good, but still had red winglets.

There would have been no error this livery. A red fuselage, engine cowlings, winglets and extremity. A few airplanes had the “Sterling.eu” and others had “Sterling.com” or “Sterling.dk” on the side of the aircraft. For me, it is a little bit too much and recalls me of Virgin Blue’s livery. That is not a fine thing since I am not a vast fan of Virgin Blue’s livery; although I believe I might like the old Sterling livery better.

Sterling was able to develop to 1,600 employees, 29 aircraft and about 40 destinations, although it didn’t stop them from running into financial difficulties. In October 2008 they had to file bankruptcy and ceased all processes. Cimber Air made a deal to buy the name and branding, but not aircraft and altered their name to Cimber Sterling Airlines.

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US Airlines moved 57.3 million passengers in September

U.S. airlines held 57.3 million passengers in September, the government said Thursday, that is up nearly 5 percent from last year, building it the leading monthly increase in three years.

Traffic on U.S. airlines in September was 6.6 percent higher than the similar month last year.

The Department of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics said U.S. airlines carried 4.3 percent additional domestic passengers in September and 9.4 percent more international passengers than in September 2009. Planes were fuller than in any other September on citations.

For the initial nine months of 2010, the number of scheduled domestic and international passengers on U.S. airlines raised 1.5 percent from the same part of 2009. The number was down 6.8 percent compared with the initial nine months of 2008.

Delta Air Lines Inc. held more total passengers than any other U.S. airline. Southwest Airlines carried the majority passengers domestically.

Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International stays the busiest U.S. airport.

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AMR sees strong income trends for 2011

The parent of American Airlines says business travel is still picking up and the company thinks excellent about its revenue-making power heading into next year.

The chief financial officer of AMR Corp. adds that fares are increasing, particularly on international flights.

CFO Bella Goren told an investors conference Tuesday that the company is cautious about higher fuel prices. Fuel and labor costs are the two major expenses for airlines.

Goren says AMR is encouraged that there seem to be less fare sales, and she says American's passenger revenue per mile in the fourth quarter should come in about 7 percent higher than a year ago.

She says advanced bookings are even or a tad stronger than at this time last year.

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Emirates to commence flights to Basra, Iraq

Emirates will begin service to Basra, Iraq on February 2, 2011, marking the airline’s 110th international destination and the sixth to originate in the 2010-2011 financial year.

The carriers Basra route will work four times for each week on Monday, Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday, subject to Governmental approval.

The flight will be operated by an Airbus A330, in a three class configuration, First Class, Business Class and Economy Class on Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday and in a two class pattern, Business Class and Economy Class on Mondays.

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Frontier Airlines to increase flights to New York, Chicago, Dallas

Frontier Airlines will boost the frequency of its flights from Denver International Airport to four major American cities — New York, Chicago, Dallas and Sacramento, Calif. — in the first half of 2011, the Denver-hubbed carrier said Monday.

The declaration comes 7-1/2 months after Bryan Bedford, president and CEO of Frontier parent Republic Airways Holdings Inc. told the Denver Business Journal that he sought to ramp up the low-cost airline's presence in large cities where it is not as well known.

Bedford's statement came on the day that Republic chose to brand the shared operations of Frontier and Midwest Airlines of Milwaukee under the Frontier name.

The additional flights comprise one new route per day from DIA to New York-LaGuardia Airport, Chicago-Midway Airport, Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport and Sacramento (Calif.) International Airport.

"This raise in service to Chicago, Dallas, New York and Sacramento gives Frontier's guests with better convenience, flexibility and low fares for their summer travels," said Daniel Shurz, Frontier's vice president of strategy and planning.

Frontier officials also declared that they will resume nonstop seasonal service between Denver and Fairbanks, Alaska ― the only nonstop service between those two destinations ― on May 13.

Indianapolis-based Republic (Nasdaq: RJET) operates a upholding hub at Louisville International Airport.

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Pacific Air Express and Virgin Blue get IASC approval

The International Air Services Commission (IASC) has issued capacity changes and revokes frequencies for carriers to Vanuatu and Indonesia.

Pacific Air Express has been permitted to decrease it’s per week freight capacity from 35 tonnes to 17.5 tonnes on the airlines Vanuatu route.

The cargo airline noted loadings on their weekly freighter service indicated inadequate demand to hold up a twice-weekly service.

The IASC also agreed to revoke Virgin Blue’s determination, which owed 540 seats of capacity in each direction on the Indonesia route and three frequencies per week of passenger capacity beyond Indonesia to Virgin Blue.

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Alaska Airlines spread out on-board Wi-Fi

Alaska Airlines has expanded its in-flight Wi-Fi, and it's currently presented to passengers flying between Southeast Alaska and Anchorage and Fairbanks.

That creates onboard Internet service available nearly statewide on its Alaskan routes, the airline said Friday.

Alaska's GoGo Internet access at present is free for travelers — about 70 percent of the carrier's planes are equipped for Wi-Fi — in Alaska and the Lower 48, through Dec. 9.

After Dec. 9, web access aboard Alaska Airlines will cost $4.95 and up, based on the flight's length and the device used.

Other airlines are offering free Wi-Fi throughout the holiday season as well as Virgin America. On-board Internet is free currently on all Virgin America flights through Jan. 2, 2011.

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Horizon pilots concur to 5-year contract

Pilots at regional carrier Horizon Air said that they had agreed to a new five-year-contract with the SeaTac-based airline.

The contract acceptance pursues more than four years of negotiation. The contract was approved by the membership with a 60-percent endorsement vote.

The pilots, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters APA Local 1224, said the new contract comprises “dramatic improvements in work conditions where the pilots will be writing their own schedules and trips.”

Wage rates will be resolute in an arbitration process. “Significant ratification bonuses” also were added in the agreement, the union said.

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Copa Airlines comprehensive order for 22 Boeing jets

Panama's Copa Airlines had ordered 22 Boeing 737-800 aircraft, its biggest order ever.

The list price for the order is about $1.7 billion, although good customers regularly acquire discounts on aircraft.

Boeing Co. had listed the order on its website, but until Tuesday it had not recognized the airline, calling it an unidentified customer.

The order will almost double Copa's fleet on 737-800s. The airline said the orders plus 10 choices are scheduled for delivery between 2015 and 2018.

Copa has bought 37 737-800s and approved to lease 10 others in the past two years. The airline flies to 46 places in 24 countries.

In afternoon trading, Boeing shares cut down 46 cents to $63.90, and shares of the airline's parent, Copa Holdings S.A., dipped 4 cents to $55.73.