Flights Direct

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.

Different airlines around the world are beginning to adapt the policy of slowing down flights in order to save fuel. By extending the flight time of a long-haul flight by just a few minutes can save airlines millions in a year.

American airline Southwest has announced it expects to save $42 million this year by slowing down its flights so that each flight takes one to three minutes longer.

Other American airlines have also been using this tactic for some time – Northwest Airlines says that extending the flight time of a Paris – Minneapolis flight by eight minutes, saves 162 gallons of fuel, and $535 per flight. The flight is operated with an average speed of 532 mph instead of the normal 542 mph.

The figure alone is not very impressive, but it quickly mounts up to very high figures.

But saving fuel by slowing down is not a simple task, if planes slow down too much they actually use more fuel.

Some airlines say that the tactic is useless, and that there are schedules to protect. There are many other ways in which airlines are attempting to save fuel these days as the price of oil keeps soaring higher and higher.
 
Improving the aerodynamics of planes in order to make fuel use more efficient is one of the common ways of cutting fuel usage.

Ofcom has given its approval for using mobile phones during flights, on condition that European aviation authorities also give permission.

The decision came soon after the first phone call was made from a mobile phone on an Emirates flights, and Australian airline Qantas announced it’s installing mobile technology on all planes on domestic routes.

Mobile phones could be used once the plane reaches the altitude of 3,000 metres. Mobile phones would be connected to a base unit, which will be switched on and off by cabin crew in the correct altitude.
 
Airlines can decide whether or not to use the technology, which still has to be approved by the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Flights to the moon may be available privately to everyone ‘by the end of the 2020s’, a NASA official was heard saying in London yesterday.

Peter Worden, the director of the NASA Ames Research Station in California was yesterday speaking to a group of physics students and faculty at the University of Western Ontario, commented that NASA is reaching its targets to return people to the moon by 2020, which would be the first people up there since 1972.

However, it might not be NASA who are the first ones who reach the moon on a visit. There are around 20 wealthy individuals, as well as companies, from all over the worlds who are expressing an interest in taking their own space flights. “I think (private interests) are going to beat us to the lunar surface,” Worden commented.

These private fliers would not just be astronomy buffs, “it’s NASA’s unstated policy that the moon is available for economic activity,” Worden stated, when answering a question about the legal frontier of space.

It looks quite likely that there will be room for regular people, and not just scientists and astronauts, for trips to the moon. As the ideas of these commercial flights move forward, Worden predicted. “We think we’re at the verge of really interesting private efforts to move forward.”

The air transport industry continues to grow steadily as the demand for flights grows around the world.

Airports around the world serve 4 billion passengers every year, and it’s expected that by 2025 there will be 9 billion people passing through airports.

A report from the Airports Council International (ACI) shows that in January 2008 there was a 4 % overall increase in air traffic, and a 7% increase in international air traffic, compared to January 2007.

In the UK, new air routes are announced almost weekly, as demand for flights continues to grow. The latest announcement came from Flybe, who will be operating extra flights from Aberdeen to London Gatwick next summer.

The airline reported “unprecedented demand” for increasing the service, and have responded by adding two extra return flights at the weekend for the summer season.

Air travel will grow considerably in the next 20 years despite worries of the effect of air travel on the environment. It is estimated that Britain alone will need 1,100 new airliners in the next 20 years to be able to respond to the demand for flights.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus also predicts that over a 100 seat aircrafts will double in numbers by 2025; from 14,980 to 33,000. In total 24,300 passenger and freight planes will be ordered, worth $2.8 trillion, Airbus estimates.

“Air transportation is definitely a growing industry contributing to economic development and generating wealth around the world,” said Airbus chief operating officer John Leahy.

“We are committed to being a key player in making this industry eco-efficient by providing the most technologically advanced products.”

Budget airlines are charging up to £32 extra from passengers for checking-in luggage or using check-in desks, a survey by Which? found.

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) says airlines ticket prices must include all compulsory charges in the advertised prices. The prices are not allowed to be misleading.

Ryanair defended itself by saying the extra charges are easily avoidable, and Easyjet said that Which? did not understand the business model of the budget airlines.

Ryanair has the highest extra charges, with a £4 cost of using a check-in desk and £20 for luggage check-in. The airline says this is to get people to travel with just hand luggage and use the online check-in facility.

Considering all possible extra costs, Ryanair can charge £32 (including credit card charges) after final ticket price. Easyjet can charge almost £30 and BMIbaby almost £25.

Monarch and Flybe can charge up to £23 from customers.