Flights Direct

SAS will be offering fully flexible airfares on intercontinental flights to and from Europe. Passengers can combine different fare classes on their return flights.

“We have noticed a strong need for greater flexibility amongst both leisure and business travellers and our new fares have been created to offer our customers greater choice,” says Lars Olofsson General Maanger, SAS Australia & New Zealand.

This means passengers can fly out on Fully Flexible Business fare and return on a Fixed Economy fare, or vice a versa.

”Now travellers can create their own tailor-made itineraries, mixing fares and classes in both directions to fully suit their needs. Offering these new fares in the published GDS environment also makes it an easier process for consultants, from the quotation stage right through to ticketing “.

The JFK International Airport in New York will see a big investment from the British Airways as the airline announces it will spend $30 million to redevelop BA’s premium ground facilities.

Work will start in June with focus on environmental issues – first time Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification will be aimed for at JFK.

Main focus of the development will be a premium check-in pavilion, a dedicated check-in area for premium customer, and renovating Terraces, First Class and Concorde lounges, to the same standard as Heathrow’s Terminal 5.

“No other airline at JFK will come close to the standard and quality of what we intend to offer our customers. The new enhancements will place British Airways in the most enviable position to provide the best possible premium ground experience at JFK International Airport,” said Robin Hayes, British Airways’ Executive Vice President Americas.

Leeds Bradford International Airport will see its first ever flights to New York take off in November. Jet2 will be flying to Newark airport before Christmas on four days.

“New York is one of those cities that everyone must see at least once in a lifetime. It has so many iconic images and sightseeing opportunities, culture that is second-to-none, the world’s top stores and boutiques, and a fantastic array of restaurants, bars and clubs,” said Richard Bodin, Managing Director at Jet2holidays.com.

Other new flights announced lately are Ryanair’s new service from Manchester to Hahn this autumn. The route will be operated twice a week starting October 26.

And Eastern Airways, a business travel specialist, has started flight from Newcastle to Stavanger in Norway. Flights will be operated every week day.
 
 “Our convenient service is the fastest weekday transport link between the two cities, which will not only appeal to business travellers, particularly those in the oil and gas industry, but also visitors taking short breaks in both regions,” said The new service operates every weekday, Eastern Airways’ chief operating officer, Chris Holliday.

The British Airways only recently raised its fuel surcharge, and has complained its profits are suffering over the ever rising fuel costs. But despite the fuel costs, BA has seen a 45% increase in profits in the past six months.

Due to the disastrous opening of Terminal 5, BA boss Willie Walsh has turned down a massive £600,000 bonus. The staff of BA are due to receive £35 million bonus shared among them.

The airline’s pre-tax profits went from £611 to £883. BA is expecting to pay £2 billion for fuel during 2008.

“We have achieved our goal of a ten per cent operating margin which I am delighted has triggered the reward scheme for our staff.  For our shareholders too, it signals the welcome return of a dividend – the first since 2001,” said Willie Walsh.

A leading travel agency has raised serious concerns over the e-ticketing deadline of June 1st imposed by the International Air Transport Association.

Not all airline carriers will be ready for 100% e-ticketing, and many will have some issues remaining.

Flight Center Limited listed several issues it fears will affect passengers after June 1st:

• Customers travelling with infants, as most carriers would not allow infants to travel on e-tickets
• Some codeshare and interline fares involving more than one carrier
• Some round-the-world fares
• Some international carriers not having e-ticket functionality by June 1
• Carriers being unable to provide e-tickets on some routes, including flights to parts of India, China, Vietnam, Africa and South America
• Airlines’ inability to offer ticketing services outside normal work hours

The agency fully supports moving to 100% e-ticketing but fears it’s coming too soon. The concerns have also been addressed to the International Air Transport Association.

“Significant progress has been made but, at the same time, significant issues have not been resolved.

“For example, with the deadline rapidly approaching, it is still unclear exactly which international locations do not have the systems in place to accept e-tickets,” says

Over a third of airline and travel-agency websites have been faulted for placing misleading flight prices on their websites and adverts, by a European Union investigation.

The EU has warned it will take action against companies that continue to break the rules. The on-going investigation to airline pricing already sited some companies for misleading pricing and some of the companies have changed their practices.

“Although we welcome the commission’s efforts in this area we can’t help but notice that half the Web sites which were criticized in the first study some months ago continue to get away with misleading consumers,” said the European Consumers’ Organisation in a statement.

The main problem with displayed prices is that they do not include taxes and extra fees. Other problems include inaccurate contract terms, automatic selections of optional services and advertised offers not being available.

Every summer, low-cost airlines along with the traditional airlines add to their flight routes to the sunshine. The latest additions to summer holiday flight routes have been announced by easyJet – the airline has started daily flights from Manchester to Malaga, and a twice weekly service to Crete.

There are even more options from London Gatwick, as a daily service to Montpellier, twice weekly service to Mykonos and once a week services to Ajaccio and Bastia also start operating.

The airline expects 230,000 extra passengers on these routes over the next 12 months.

David Osborne, easyJet UK General Manager, says people now have the chance to take advantage of the “low fares to the summer hotspots across Europe, with the care and convenience when flying from your local airport.”

Spanish airline Iberia has announced it will increase the free luggage allowance onboard its flights, and drop charges for excess baggage.

The new luggage policy will come to affect on May 6th. From then on passengers on European flights can check-in 23kg of luggage while business class passengers can check-in 30kg. On long-haul flights luggage allowance will be 46kg in two pieces and 96kg in three pieces for business class passengers.

The airline will also give 30% discount on excess baggage if passengers pay for it in advance through their website.

Iberia is Spain’s leading airline, with over a thousand flights every day.

Low-cost airline Ryanair has announced it will start providing airport transfers on several European destinations.

As Ryanair airports are often located some distance away from the actual destination, the new airport transfer service will be a welcomed by customers. Ryanair will use ShuttleDirect on more than 50 airports to provide the new service.

The airline is starting the service to generate more ancillary revenue.

Head of ancillary revenue Santina Doherty said: “Ryanair’s partnership with ShuttleDirect will make it even easier for our passengers to avoid those airport queues.

“Not only can passengers dodge check-in queues with our web check-in service, now they can pre-book private car, minibus, coach and shuttle services.”

In just four days American Airlines has had to cancel almost 3,000 flights, as its MD-80 fleet had to be inspected for emergency security measures.

On the fourth day after starting the inspections to ensure the MD-80 complies with the  Federal Aviation Administration directive related to the bundling of wires in the wheel well of the MD-80 aircraft, 170 of the fleet were expected to be providing full service.

Wednesday April 9 AA had to cancel 1,094 flights, 930 on Thursday and today more than 500 flights were cancelled.

AA says it will give full refunds to all passengers on cancelled flights, or the possibility to use the value of their ticket towards future travel with airline.

The airline has apologized to all its customers for the inconvenience caused by the cancellations.