Bloomberg London Stansted airport, best known as Europe’s biggest discount hub, joined the major leagues with a first flight by Mideast giant Emirates and said it aims to add 30 more long-haul routes within five years. A catchment area that includes Cambridge, England — the focus for Britain’s technology and pharmaceutical sectors — as well as London’s City and Canary ...
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Hainan Air to sell stakes to S’pore’s Temasek in rehaul
Bloomberg Hainan Airlines Holding Co. is seeking to sell shares listed in Shanghai to investors including a unit of Singapore’s sovereign investment fund Temasek Holdings Pte, according to a statement to the stock exchange Saturday. The air carrier said it plans to raise as much as 7 billion yuan ($1.09 billion) by selling as much as 20 percent of its ...
Read More »Air France labour unions plan to resume strike from June 23 to 26
Bloomberg Air France labour unions called for a strike from June 23 to 26, reigniting a costly labour conflict at the height of the busy summer travel season. Workers will strike unless an agreement is found to end the dispute in coming days, the unions said in an emailed statement after meeting with management of parent Air France-KLM. The decision ...
Read More »Southwest Air chases elite flyers, poaches from rivals
Bloomberg Southwest Airlines Co. is going after its rivals’ best customers by matching the elite-flyer status of some passengers on other US carriers. Members of Southwest’s Rapid Rewards loyalty program who prove upper-tier standing at other airlines will be upgraded to the carrier’s “A-List†for 90 days. Those who qualify can earn an additional 12 months on the list by ...
Read More »Unions, Washington state woo Boeing in race for ‘797’ work
Bloomberg Boeing Co. hasn’t decided whether to build a new midrange jet, but Washington state is already teaming with aerospace workers to try to keep any new work in the planemaker’s industrial heartland. The Puget Sound region around Seattle holds an advantage as a “dense supercluster of advanced aerospace manufacturing and skilled aerospace workers,†according to a Teal Group study ...
Read More »Delta drags down airlines after fuel cost spurs cut to forecast
Bloomberg Delta Air Lines Inc. dragged down US airlines after the carrier trimmed its profit outlook, citing the rising price of jet fuel. Second-quarter earnings will be no more than $1.75 a share, Delta said in a statement. That’s down from a previous forecast of as much as $2 a share. Fuel prices have risen about 12 percent since the ...
Read More »Airlines have bigger nightmare than fuel, a runway shortage
Bloomberg Pity the airlines: fuel prices are soaring, pilots are in short supply and political spats threaten global trade. And worse may be to come. With global passenger numbers forecast to almost double to 7.8 billion by 2036, runways, airports and even airspace could rapidly become too crowded to cope. In Asia, which will contribute more than half of the ...
Read More »Emirates wants to give more legroom for those flying coach
Bloomberg Emirates aircraft are synonymous with luxury, offering premium-class passengers shower on board while cruising at 30,000 feet. Now the carrier wants to give some legroom for those flying coach. The world’s biggest long-haul airline outlined details of a new premium economy seat that it plans to help stem “leakage†of passengers who can’t afford business, but want a more ...
Read More »South African Air touts spare crew as it shrinks network
Bloomberg South African Airways is offering surplus pilots and cabin crew to major global carriers as part of a bid to cut costs and secure alliances in its three-year turnaround plan. SAA, as the unprofitable state-owned company is known, needs fewer staff of its own as it scraps under-performing routes, and views the experienced personnel as a path to discussions ...
Read More »Honeywell aims to make flying safer in India
Bloomberg With more than 100 languages and the ambition to connect even its smallest villages by air, India has become a testing ground for a new software being developed by Honeywell International Inc. that aims to make it easier to understand pilots speaking English with strong local accents. The conglomerate is, at the behest of the government, developing software that ...
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