Ryanair will shutter its Basel operation on Dec. 2 and cancel its 18 weekly flights to Alicante, Cagliari, London Stansted, Marseille, Porto and Stockholm Skavsta. It said the airport "refused to lower its high airport charges to reflect the lower fares being paid by passengers in the current recession." Ryanair offered to add 13 more weekly flights to the airport in exchange for lower charges but Basel refused, according to the LCC.
Gategroup announced an extended four-year contract between its Gate Gourmet subsidiary and LAN Airlines covering catering and provisioning at eight South American and four long-haul destinations. LAN also reached a four-year deal for asset management and galley planning services with Gate subsidiary Pourshins. Deals are worth a combined CHF200 million ($196.6 million).
On its first visit to a European travel fair in more than a decade, Iraq is attending World Travel Market in London with its partner Dunira Strategy to investigate market development opportunities. Led by the Tourism Board of Iraq, the delegation isalso participating in the World Tourism Organisation's Ministers' Summit.
Marco Livadiotti, founder of Universal Touring Company, Yemen, has secured a prestigious World Travel Market Global Award in recognition of his lifelong commitment to promoting Yemen as a tourism destination.
flydubai, Dubai's first low cost airline, celebrated its eighth inaugural flight in less than six months last night when the airline's first flight to Sudan touched down at Khartoum International Airport.
Etihad Airways - the national airline of the UAE - has taken the top award at this year's World Travel Awards (WTA), being voted World's Leading Airline by more than 180,000 travel industry professionals from over 175 countries.
Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) received the 'New Airport Development' award, during a Gala Dinner that took place at the prestigious Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation Awards for Excellence (CAPA) in Beijing, China.
Etihad Airways and Flybe announced a codeshare deal under which the UK airline will place its code on EY's flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt and Manchester to Abu Dhabi while EY will add its code to "a number" of BE flights between CDG, FRA, MAN and 35 UK airports.
Oman Air is to continue its expansion into tourist routes as part of its strategy to develop a niche in order to compete with the region's cash-rich major carriers Emirates, Etihad and Qatar.
