A new “no-frills” international carrier,
Qantas-owned Australian Airlines, launched its schedule with flights
from the northern city of Cairns to Nagoya and Osaka in Japan. They plan to
start services to other Asian destinations, most likely Singapore, Taiwan and
Hong Kong and aim to bring thousands more tourists to the tropical north of
Queensland.
The airline is taking over routes which parent company
Qantas found unprofitable and intends to make them viable by cutting its cost
base. Although Australian Airlines is looked on as a no-frills operation it
will not be offering cheap fares.
Another new low-cost airline has started in Scotland.
Flyglobespan is to start flights to Palma, Majorca; Nice, Rome and
Malaga from Glasgow Prestwick Airport between April and November 2003. The
airline is also to offer services from Edinburgh Airport to Palma, Nice, Rome
and Barcelona.
The next time a United Airlines flight attendant
throws a bag of peanuts at you, just bear in mind that they have just offered
to take a 3.6% pay cut for most of their members to help United in its quest to
restructure itself and avoid bankruptcy.
British Airways franchise carrier GB Airways has just
launched a new scheduled service between London Gatwick and Almeria –
twice a week during the winter months on Thursday and Sunday morning and from
March there will be an extra Tuesday flight.
They say: “We will be the first airline to offer direct
full-frills scheduled services to Almeria, which, although already popular with
British holiday makers and villa owners, remains a relatively untouched area of
Southern Spain.” The carrier has introduced year-round return fares from
£149, including all taxes and charges. This fare does not require either
an advance purchase or a minimum stay, but book early for the best offers.
Remember the Swedish man who tried to board a Ryanair
flight from Vasteras Airport, near (note – NEAR!) Stockholm to London
last August, with a gun in his luggage? Police have just admitted that they do
not have enough evidence to suggest that the gun was intended to be used in
hijacking the Boeing 737, nor has the man any links with any terrorist
organisations. The man claimed he had brought the gun by mistake and had owned
it for some time. Police say that he could still be prosecuted for gun
offences.
If you are booked with Hawaiian Airlines,
Hawaii's oldest and largest carrier, maybe worth checking you are covered
if the airline goes belly up. Hawaiian Airlines, are cutting their workforce by
around 150 (4% of total workforce) over the next few months to cut costs and
they have also secured voluntary leaves of absence from 60 of its flight
attendants.
Three men who arrived on a flight into Vancouver from
Japan had their baggage searched and 16 kilos of heroin were discovered
disguised as tea. “This seizure is the direct result of CCRA's
targeting program,” said Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan. “These
arrests clearly demonstrate how data from the advance passenger information
systems assist law enforcement agencies in protecting the health and safety of
Canadians”.
Ryanair, the Dublin based low cost carrier has just
announced record net profits of EUR150.9 million (USD$150.5 million), a rise of
71 percent over the same period last year. Ryanair achieved this by attracting
more passengers and, at the same time, lowering its operating costs. During the
six months to September 2002, the airline carried 7.84 million passengers – a
37 percent increase. Fares dropped by 2 percent and costs by 11 percent.
Ryanair has bases in Ireland and the UK and has just
announced a third in Europe at Milan Bergamo, has also unveiled plans to
develop a second terminal at Dublin Airport costing an estimated EUR114 million
and is said to be thinking about the idea of opening a Scandinavian base at
Stavska Airport, near Stockholm.
Indonesia's national airline, Garuda, is ending
its flights to Frankfurt in Germany and Fukuoka, Japan and also reducing the
number of flights it makes to London. The number of flights from Bali to both
Australia and New Zealand are being cut from November to the end of March 2003
due to security concerns raised by last month's bombing. Garuda says it is
also postponing the launch of a new service between Perth and Jakarta and
suspending its direct Adelaide to Denpasar service. Garuda emphasized that it
hopes to restore some services when the security situation eases.
In the US, bankrupt National Airlines has stopped
flying. National had a low cost economy and first class services between Las
Vegas, the gambling centre of the US and major US cities in 1999 but filed for
bankruptcy protection in December 2000. The abrupt announcement, made mid
November left some passengers stranded at its Las Vegas hub. National says it
will not be making refunds on tickets and customers must apply through credit
cards companies. Some airlines have offered to fly National ticket holders on a
standby basis.
BMI (British Midland), the UK airline will cut its
transatlantic flights from Manchester to Washington from December 2nd but plans
to resume in June 2003. Passengers already booked on winter flights will be
offered either a refund or the opportunity to transfer to another carrier.
