\n Continental Airlines<\/b> have announced that they plan to
\n eliminate paper tickets by the end of 2004 in a bid to cut costs,
\n theft and paperwork. 95 percent of its domestic customers and
\n 88 percent system wide use electronic tickets. The move
\n includes tickets for international travel and those that involve
\n other carriers. Continental said it has terminated 50
\n interline ticketing and baggage agreements with carriers that do
\n not have electronic ticketing capabilities. Customers will
\n still be able to make reservations through travel agents or on the
\n phone, as well as on the Internet, but they will not receive paper
\n tickets. Instead, the reservations will be stored
\n electronically. Passengers who check in either via their
\n computers at home or at airport kiosks will still receive the paper
\n boarding passes that allow them to board planes.\n <\/p>\n
\n Singapore has announced that it will build a new terminal at
\n Changi Airport<\/b> to cater for low-cost airlines once the
\n carriers agree on its design. Budget airlines are
\n proliferating in Asia, challenging the dominance of full-service
\n carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines. In
\n the meantime, low-cost airlines may use Changi Airport's two
\n existing terminals, though charges for no-frills airlines would not
\n be lower than those imposed on their traditional competitors.\n <\/p>\n
\n Singapore based Valuair<\/b> has become the first budget carrier
\n to get official approval to fly from Changi Airport. Valuair,
\n set up mostly by former Singapore Airlines plans to start flying in
\n May to Bangkok, Jakarta and Hong Kong.\n <\/p>\n
\n Singapore Airlines<\/b>, the world's second-largest airline
\n by market value, has teamed up with the founder of Irish discount
\n airline Ryanair, Europe's biggest carrier by value, to launch
\n Tiger Airways. Tiger will compete with Singapore's
\n Valuair, set up mainly by ex-Singapore Airlines staff, and is
\n gearing up to launch in the second quarter of 2004. Both will
\n also be pitted against Malaysia's Air Asia, which is setting up
\n an airline joint venture in Singapore and has applied for an
\n airline license.\n <\/p>\n
\n Toronto Pearson Airport<\/b> opened one of the world's most
\n expensive airport terminal. The new CAD$3.6 billion (USD$2.7
\n billion) Terminal 1, whose price tag has enraged the airlines
\n around the world that will have to help pay for it is the first
\n stage of an overall redevelopment project for Toronto's Pearson
\n International Airport. Terminal 1 will eventually expand to
\n take over the functions of two existing terminals, which will be
\n bulldozed. The capacity of the airport, which is currently 25
\n million passengers a year, is expected to double by 2015.
\n Pearson is Air Canada's busiest hub, with 50,000 passengers
\n flying to, from and through Toronto on its flights everyday.
\n The new terminal's sophisticated technology is complete with
\n automatic check-in counters, multiple baggage claim kiosks, and
\n even a parking guidance system that points drivers to available
\n spaces.\n <\/p>\n
\n According to a survey of US airline quality, three of the top four
\n performing airlines last year were low-cost carriers. The
\n survey measures on-time performance, customer complaints,
\n mishandled baggage rates, denied boardings and other criteria from
\n the Transportation Department's monthly consumer reports.
\n JetBlue<\/b> was the top-rated airline for fewest denied
\n boardings and was second for on-time performance and fewest
\n customer complaints. Alaska Airlines<\/b> ranked second,
\n followed by Southwest Airlines, America West<\/b> and US
\n Airways<\/b>, which is struggling in the face of low-cost
\n competition. Bankrupt United Airlines<\/b> ranked ninth,
\n while the biggest carrier, American Airlines<\/b> was 11th.
\n Delta Air Lines<\/b> ranked 12th.\n <\/p>\n
\n State-owned Air Malta<\/b> is setting up a base in Manchester,
\n north-west England, to operate charter flights to Greece, Spain and
\n other European destinations. The first flights will start in
\n May 2004, just days after Malta joins the European Union on
\n Saturday, May 1. Services will also operate between Catania
\n in Sicily to London.\n <\/p>\n
\n Malaysian low-fare carrier AirAsia<\/b> said it would offer air
\n tickets to Macau, known for its casinos, from Bangkok for as little
\n as USD$25 from June 15. AirAsia is an aggressive player in
\n Asia's budding no-frills market where competition is heating up
\n with entrants such as Singapore-based Valuair and Tiger Airways, a
\n venture between Singapore Airlines and the founder of Irish
\n no-frills airline Ryanair.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Continental Airlines have announced that they plan to eliminate paper tickets by the end of 2004 in a bid to cut costs, theft and paperwork. 95 percent of its domestic…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[16],"class_list":["post-1386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-sidebar","tag-april-2004"],"yoast_head":"\n