AIRLINES: Three Airlines Plan First Low-Fare Global Alliance1/3/2007 -
Three well-known low-fare carriers -- Virgin Atlantic Airways, EasyJet, and AirAsia -- have apparently begun talks to organize what will be the world’s first low-cost global airline network. A British newspaper reported yesterday that the new alliance will first offer flights linking Amritsar (India), Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), and Manchester (United Kingdom), with future routes including Hangzhou and Tianjin in China (as well as the London/Luton airport where Virgin already has a hub). Fares could be pegged at half the current rates charged by competing carriers on these routes.
Other Airline Related News:
1/3/2007 -
Officials in the United Kingdom will begin charging higher taxes on air passengers aboard all flights leaving Britain starting Feb. 1. If the flight is headed to a destination inside Britain or the European Union, the tax will now double to 10 pounds (about $20) for economy class and 20 pounds for business class and first class. If the destination lies outside Europe, the tax will also double to 20 pounds and 40 pounds respectively. The tax applies to all tickets for travel after Feb. 1, even if you bought the ticket before the tax increase was announced (though some carriers like British Airways plan to pick up the added cost for many of those tickets).
Spirit Airlines -- will end its nonstop flights between Washington/Reagan National and Detroit next Monday. Its landing slots in Washington will be assigned to other carriers.
Starting April 10, American Eagle will begin two daily nonstop roundtrips between Chicago/O’Hare and two cities in Alabama: Birmingham and Mobile.
Passengers aboard an American Airlines flight from San Francisco to Dallas complained loudly about their experience aboard the plane last Friday. The flight was diverted to Austin due to storms in the Dallas area, but American kept the plane (and its passengers) sitting on the ground in Austin for more than eight hours without any food or clean toilets. An American spokesman told a Texas TV station that he believed the airline kept the plane on the tarmac in hopes that a landing slot in Dallas-Fort Worth might open up as the storms receded. The drama ended when the pilot made an “executive decision” without airline clearance to taxi the plane toward the nearest terminal so that passengers could deplane. The incident brought back memories of that infamous 1999 Northwest Airlines plane in Detroit where passengers were trapped on the flight for many hours (and, later, won a $7.1 million settlement with the airline).
A group of pilots and other employees of United Airlines have complained that airline officials and federal regulators did not take them seriously last November when they reported seeing a “flying saucer” near the Chicago/O’Hare airport. The saucer-shaped craft reportedly hovered over the airport for several minutes before shooting away through the clouds. The Chicago Tribune reports that the Federal Aviation Administration initially denied that the incident occurred, until the newspaper filed a Freedom of Information Act request for more details about the reports. Now, an FAA spokeswoman says the agency believes it was simply a strange weather phenomenon. (Some airport workers have a sense of humor about what happened. “To fly seven million light years to O’Hare and then have to turn around and go home because your gate was occupied is simply unacceptable,” one air traffic controller told the paper.)
A dedicated volunteer in Memphis found a 75-pound Great Dane that escaped from its shipping crate aboard a Northwest Airlines jet bound for Seattle. The dog had hidden near the airport for almost three weeks after an airline employee opened the door to the dog’s crate and accidentally set Bailey free. The Memphis woman (a devoted animal lover) spent her spare time over the holidays searching the airport grounds until she finally managed to trap the dog using a humane steel cage trap baited with fried chicken! Bailey lost a lot of weight during her adventure, but she’s reportedly safe and sound with her family this week.
(Photo credit: Virgin Atlantic Airways)
