Welcome

30th June 2008

In this issue:

• Foreign Office Advice
• 40,000 wish he hadn't bothered
• BA is only average
• Get caught pricefixng and it could cost you dearly
• More trouble brewing for BA
• Fuel prices take their tolll
• General airline news
• Hi-tech hotel

The Foreign Office is advising against all travel to Zimbabwe as the unpredictable situation there could get worse.

According to British Airways, George Bush's arrival at London's Heathrow Airport on his farewell tour left 40,000 travellers facing delays or cancellations.  BAA confirmed that 32 arrivals and 36 departures, mostly British Airways flights, were cancelled but the BAA had no accurate figures on delays related to the president's visit. 

BA has been named the most frequently used airline, but overall it was rated as "average" according to a survey of more than 30,000 members of the consumer group Which?. It came 18th in the satisfaction table and Which? said BA's ratings for both long-haul and short-haul customer satisfaction were "distinctly average".  Top long-haul airline was Singapore Airlines, which has just started flying the world's largest passenger plane, the Airbus A380 superjumbo, and which scored 85% in the survey.

Five airlines have agreed to pay fines totalling $504m (£253m) for conspiring to fix prices for air cargo rates, the US Justice Department says.  The airlines include Air France and KLM, now operated by a single holding company, which is to pay $350m. The other airlines involved are Cathay Pacific, Dutch airline Martinair and Scandinavia's SAS.  The payments come after a wide-ranging inquiry into the air cargo industry by the department's anti-trust division.  A statement by the department said the fine imposed on Air France-KLM was the second-highest levied in a criminal anti-trust prosecution to date.

British Airways faces opposition from Unite, Britain’s biggest union, which has written to the airlines chief executive demanding a meeting after the airline began a review of its costs.  The concern amongst the airlines 14,000 cabin crew is caused by rumours or severe cost cutting at BA. Other rumours have surfaced including the possible outsourcing of the entire inflight workforce to a third party.  Unite, which represents about 11,000 BA employees, has written to Willie Walsh, the airline's chief executive, to seek a meeting over possible job and pay cuts at the airline.

American Airlines has told employees that the carrier expects to cut about 8 percent of management and support jobs as it copes with record high fuel prices.  American has about 82,000 employees.

United Airlines has said 950 - about 14% - of its pilots will lose their jobs as spiralling fuel costs and weak consumer spending has hit earnings. The job cuts are in addition to existing plans to eliminate 1,600 positions from the firm's workforce.

Northwest Airlines announced that it will end three of its transatantic services from October,  Dusseldorf to Detroit, Paris to Minneapolis/St Paul and Amsterdam to Hartford.  Northwest said that the reductions were due to the continued rise in fuel prices and decreased customer demand.

Icelandair will cut 20% of its workforce of 1,230 employees as a result of financial pressures brought on by rising fuel prices, it announced last week.

Due to continuing growth, Luxair will be adding services from London City to Luxembourg from 25th October and will be withdrwing services from heathrow.

BMI has announced plans to increase its services to Saudi Arabia after the UK and Saudi officials have agreed to increase the number of weekly services permitted between the two countries to 35.

Ryanair has announced a new route from Birmingham to Prague from 26th October.

Clickair has launched a new route with thrice-weekly services from Gatwick to Vigo.

Private Indian airline Kingfisher has signalled an early September start of flights to London. The route would be either to Mumbai or Bangalore and would be the carrier's first international service.

FlyDubai is the name of the new budget airline backed by Emirates Airlines. The move is seen by Emirates as a way to win back passengers who have been shifting to Sharjah-based Air Arabia.  FlyDubai will initially focus on regional flights within the Gulf and surrounding countries.  Its operations will be separate from Emirates once the airline launches its first flights in mid-2009.

Travellers faced with yet another surcharge on their flight - this time a non-refundable fee to borrow a luggage trolley.  The £1 charge for each trolley will be introduced at the UK's fifth busiest airport - Luton - next month.  If passengers do not pay the fee then they would be forced to lug their suitcases through the terminal by hand.  The controversial new fees will raise millions of pounds in extra revenue for the London airport, but angry passenger watchdog groups says the charge represents a £1 tax on travellers. 

The BAA has paid £3.1m in rebates to airlines at Heathrow and Gatwick for failing to meet service standards in April and May. The penalty payments are part of the tougher service regime introduced at the biggest UK airports by the Civil Aviation Authority.

Dutch hotel group citizenM has opened its first futuristic hotel at Schiphol airport in Amsterdam this week. The company also announced plans to open 20 others in Europe. The 230-room hotel allows guests to choose their room preferences when they book or at any point afterwards. They can select specific themes such as 'relaxation', 'romance' or 'business'. Other options include the choice of favourite TV channels, music, preferred temperature and lighting scheme. The audio features include an alarm clock that be programmed with options such as 'wake me gently' or 'wake me wildly'. Once the guest has used the self check-in screens, the room will be automatically adjusted for them. These changes are then stored for the next time the guest books a citizenM property.