Singapore Airlines, Cathay Pacific to add new flights

(CNA) Singapore Airlines announced Wednesday that more flights will be added to the Taipei-Singapore route next month, while Cathay Pacific Airways also plans to increase flights between Hong Kong and southern Taiwan's Kaohsiung City at the same time. Singapore Airlines said the number of its flights between Taipei and Singapore will be increased from 14 to 18 every week from March 27 to meet growing demand. The newly added flights will all be in the morning, as the airline at present only provides flights in the afternoon and evening. Meanwhile, Cathay Pacific said it is planning to increase the number of its flights between Kaohsiung and Hong Kong to 42 from 32 every week from the same date. The number of its Taipei-Hong Kong flights will remain at 101 per week, according to the airline. (By Wang Shu-fen and Alex Jiang) ENDITEM/J

source: http://focustaiwan.tw

Etihad to market Abu Dhabi brand

Abu Dhabi: Etihad Airways launched its marketing campaign "essential abu dhabi" yesterday to promote the UAE's capital around the world as a tourism and business destination.

Supported by the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) and marketed with the tagline of "your pass to the magic", the campaign will allow visitors to Abu Dhabi to use their boarding passes to get special rates at hotels, tour operators, restaurants and various cultural and entertainment events within seven days of arriving in the emirate.

The aim of the campaign is to "enhance the city's position on the international stage and help it reach its potential as one of the world's top tourist and MICE destinations," Peter Baumgartner, Chief Operating Officer of Etihad Airways, told reporters yesterday.

Etihad Airways also unveiled an A330 aircraft which will fly to Europe with a new look, carrying the Abu Dhabi logo as part of the promotion of "essential abu dhabi."

"With the unveiling of this new aircraft today, our message to the world is to come and visit us," he said. "We are determined to make 2011 a year of Abu Dhabi.

"We ensure that the tourism authority is fully behind this initiative and we intend to support it with marketing," said Lawrence Franklin, Director of Strategy and Policy at ADTA.

While the campaign aims to increase the number of visitors, there's also an active opportunity to increase the stopover market, which is very significant, he said. "We're talking about several million people a year at least in that market which could easily convert to a first time visitor."

The tourism authority is also working on an international consumer activation campaign and programme whose mechanics will be unveiled in the next few months, Franklin said yesterday.

Hareb Al Muhairi, Vice President of UAE Sales at Etihad Airways, told reporters that this campaign will be the start of a series of partnerships for Etihad with ADTA this year.

source:   ttp://gulfnews.com

United Airlines grounds 96 planes

The world's largest airline grounded nearly 100 planes Tuesday.

United Airlines grounded the planes to comply with federal regulations. They said its full fleet of 757's may not be back in the air for a day or two.

The issue is with the computer software on 96 of United's biggest planes. That software doesn't comply with FAA requirements. Untied is in the process of upgrading the computers but until that is done, travellers may see some cancellations. The software fix could take up to 24 hours. Seven flights have already been

source:   http://www.fox59.com

Qantas to put 747s on domestic Perth route

Qantas Airways has struck a pre-emptive blow against Virgin Blue's aspirations of evolving into a business travel airline by flooding the East-West route with thousands of seats on international-grade planes.

From April, 90 per cent of all flights to and from Perth will be done on larger and more comfortable international planes.

The airline, which recently admitted it was making good money domestically but haemorrhaging internationally, said it would provide 4,300 new seats each week on wide-body international planes equipped with seat-back inflight entertainment and laptop power sockets on some flights.

The international planes have a far superior business class offering, with SkyBed seats compared to the tired seats in regular domestic planes which are more comparable to international premium economy.

The aircraft will also have premium economy seating, giving Qantas the option of selling premium economy domestic seats for the first time, or upgrading its most valuable frequent flyers to premium economy when they book economy.

For the Sydney-Perth run, Qantas will shift 747-400 aircraft onto the route six times a week, as well as increasing its internationally-configured Airbus A330 flights (with power sockets in all seats, including economy) from three to five times a week. The changes to the Sydney route will start in April.

In the same month, Brisbane-Perth will get the Airbus A330 on seven round-trips a week, and Qantas says it will also be upgrading six of its existing Boeing 737 planes (these upgrades may involve the new 787-inspired Boeing Sky Interior that Australian Business Traveller recently reported).

A month later, in May, Melbourne-Perth will get thousands more seats on the larger and more comfortable A330 aircraft with international flight perks.

Qantas said in a statement that new A330s being delivered to the airline would be reconfigured to provide more space for passengers in the Business Class cabin -- a 2-2-2 seating configuration rather than the unpopular 2-3-2 configuration it introduced in some A330s only two months ago.

“Increasing the premium service we provide business customers flying from east to west will help further cement our position as the ‘Best for Business’ airline,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said.

“Our competitors can simply not match the service that Qantas offers, particularly the Skybeds, which provide increased comfort on the longer routes between the eastern states and Perth."

Virgin Blue has been gearing up for the relaunch of the airline as a business-grade airline, since Qantas marketing chief John Borghetti defected and took up post as Virgin Blue CEO.

It has recently offered free-of-charge status matching for Qantas Frequent Flyer Gold members, has been upgrading its lounges in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, and has formed an alliance with international airline Etihad, to allow Virgin Blue customers to reach destinations all over the world. It also recently formed a tie-up with Air New Zealand, allowing it to tackle the lucrative trans-Tasman market which accounts for almost 2.9 million passengers per year, or 10.9% of Australia’s total passenger movements.

Borghetti has been outspoken in his belief that "no competitor is invincible", though he admits that he is forced to team up with other airlines rather than building his own international airline, because "to go out and spend three, four, five billion dollars’ worth of shareholders’ money on 30 or 40 aeroplanes is just not practical."

It is this weakness that Qantas is clearly playing on, shifting some of its heavy aircraft from its underperforming international division to domestic routes where it can quickly combat the threat posed by Virgin Blue.

source:   http://www.ausbt.com.au

United flight from LAX makes emergency landing in Colorado

A United Airlines flight that took off from Los Angeles International Airport made an emergency landing Tuesday morning in Colorado after the pilot reported smoke in the cargo hold, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

United Flight 306, headed to Baltimore, safely landed around 11 a.m. in Grand Junction, Colo., said FAA spokesman Ian Gregor.

There was no fire aboard the Airbus A319 jetliner, Gregor said. Airline officials are investigating the cause of the smoke, he said.

source:    http://www.dailybreeze.com

Delta Lifts SkyMiles Expiration Without Adding a Fee

Travelers received a little good news from Delta Airlines. Delta announced its SkyMiles program will no longer have a rolling 24-month expiration for frequent flier rewards with no additional fees. While business and frequent travelers are likely somewhat unaffected by this decision, anyone who flies sporadically or uses a number of different airlines now has an additional reason to choose to fly with Delta. Families planning vacations can accumulate some great perks over the course of several vacations flying with Delta, though that may take ten years of flying with the carrier.

In addition, Delta will begin offering an economy comfort section on long international flights starting this summer. This special section of the economy class will offer 4 inches of additional leg room and carry a surcharge of $80 to $160 one way on top of the base ticket price. Still, travelers looking to stretch out will likely appreciate any concessions the airline can make, and anyone needing a few inches of additional space will gladly shell out a few extra dollars in the name of comfort.

While Delta is trying different tactics to appeal to customers, US Airways has announced hikes on baggage prices. Overweight bags of 50 to 70 pounds will jump from $50 to $90, while bags over 70 pounds will cost a whopping $175 for transport. Plus, the carrier raised the fees on customers traveling with more than two bags. The third through ninth suitcase will cost $125 each. Apparently, airlines have decided to reward anyone travels lightly, literally.

Airlines have been increasing fees and implementing a la carte charges for a range of products and services to offset rising fuel and operating costs. Airline carriers charge a base fee for items like checked bags, except for Southwest. Plus, other amenities can also be purchased such as in-flight Wi-Fi, beverages, snacks, special seating and boarding and even a pillow and blanket. With so many fees and choices to make, airlines may soon have to offer menus to travelers and present them with a check at the end of the flight.

While airlines have similar structure as far as fees go, the fees are often different from carrier to carrier. So travelers should double check fees before booking nonrefundable tickets to avoid sticker shock at the counter or on the plane. The other factor anyone booking an airline ticket needs to realize is that the baggage fees and other fees are often one way prices, which means the flier needs to plan for the fee twice for round trips.

source: http://news.yahoo.com

800 million more flyers predicted by 2014

An extra 800 million people will be travelling by air by 2014, many of them from China, necessitating more efficient traffic management, airports and security, the IATA trade body said yesterday.

In a statement, the International Air Transport Association forecast an estimated 3.3 billion air travellers in 2014, up 32 per cent from 2.5 billion in 2009.

"China will be the biggest contributor of new travellers," the global aviation trade body said in a press statement.

"Of the 800 million new travellers expected in 2014, 360 million (45 per cent) will travel on Asia-Pacific routes and of those, 214 million will be associated with China," it said.

"The United States will remain the largest single country market for domestic passengers and international passengers."

International aviation is also projected to handle 38 million tonnes of air cargo by 2014, up 46 per cent from 26 million tonnes in 2009.

IATA director-general and chief executive Giovanni Bisignani said the growing quantity of air travellers and cargo will require "even more efficient air traffic management, airport facilities and security programs."

He added that "industry and governments will be challenged to work together even more closely."

He said the industry would continue to feel the effects of the latest global economic crisis for some time, with sluggish growth expected in Europe and the United States, not only because they are mature markets.

"Lingering consumer debts, high unemployment and austerity measures will dampen growth rates," said Mr Bisignani.

Individually, the fastest growing markets for international passenger traffic during the 2009-2014 period will be China, the United Arab Emirates, Vietnam, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

The Middle East is forecast to be the fastest growing region, with international passenger demand expected to rise 9.4 per cent, followed by Africa at 7.7 per cent, the Asia-Pacific region at 7.6 per cent, Latin America (5.7 per cent), North America (4.9 per cent) and Europe (4.7 per cent).

IATA in December raised its overall forecast for airline earnings in 2010 to a record $15.1 billion but warned that profits would slide to $9.1 billion this year.

source: http://www.smh.com.au