Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht strongly rebuffed negative remarks about alliances by "certain airlines" and called on national governments and regulators to ensure competition remains fair.
Air Canada asked a Canadian federal court Tuesday to scrap the recent award of takeoff and landing slots to Porter Airlines at Toronto's downtown airport, arguing that the allocation process was "fatally flawed," according to Reuters. Since launching in 2006, Porter Airlines has operated from Toronto City Centre, where for a time it was the sole scheduled airline. AC has been opposed to Porter's position at the business-passenger-friendly facility since the Toronto Port Authority pushed regional Jazz Air (and by extension AC) out of YTZ in 2006.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Panasonic Avionics yesterday signed an MOU to equip all CX and Dragonair passenger aircraft with full broadband connectivity.
The European Union's General Court ruled yesterday that the European Commission was right in June 2007 to block Ryanair's takeover of Aer Lingus on competition grounds and also was correct in stating that it could not force Ryanair to divest its minority shareholding in EI. The ruling derived from an appeal by Ryanair against the EC's refusal to clear its takeover bid and also an appeal by EI against the EC's rejection of its request to order Ryanair to divest its stake.
DHL, the world's leading logistics company, has further expanded its presence in the UAE with the announcement of a new logistics facility opening in the Hamriyah Free Zone (HFZ) in Sharjah.
News from Travel Technology Update: Google Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire ITA Software Inc., the company that revolutionized air fare shopping, for $700 million in cash. The deal requires regulatory approval. On a telephone call with analysts and reporters, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said airline travel and search represent a “perfect opportunity for more innovation, more investment and more interesting products.”
TripAdvisor buys U.K. vacation rental site Trondent service reduces paper invoices SITA survey sees effects of recovery on IT spending Pegasus to offer single point of entry for descriptive content American Express to offer Cisco Telepresence Suites Special report: China Online World news briefing
Google Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire ITA Software Inc., the company that revolutionized air fare shopping, for $700 million in cash. The deal requires regulatory approval. On a telephone call with analysts and reporters, Google chief executive Eric Schmidt said airline travel and search represent a “perfect opportunity for more innovation, more investment and more interesting products.” But neither Schmidt nor Jeremy Wertheimer, ITA’s founder and chief executive officer, would be specific about their future plans.
African Airlines Assn. Executive Committee appointed Tewodros Tamrat as acting secretary general following the recent resignation of Nick Fadugba ( ATWOnline, June 25). Tamrat currently is director-government, corporate and industry affairs for the organization, a position he has occupied since 2001. Prior to joining AFRAA he served with Ethiopian Airlines.
Two Qantas executives at the center of an investigation into multimillion-dollar fuel-hedging losses in Vietnam have been allowed to return to Australia.
The North American aerospace and defense industry will face significant challenges owing to problems in leadership development, talent sourcing, organizational structure and corporate culture problems, according to a report by Accenture.
An inquiry by French prosecutors concluded that a combination of pilot error and faulty sensors caused an Air New Zealand A320 to crash into the Mediterranean Sea during a November 2008 test flight conducted by XL Airways pilots, killing all seven people aboard.
The World Trade Organization yesterday publicly released its final ruling on the US's 2004 claim that Airbus received state aid for the A380 program in violation of international trade rules, siding with the US that Airbus was given "prohibited export subsidies" to help it develop and build the extra-large aircraft but also rejecting US charges that the subsidies had caused "injury" to Boeing.
Vueling Airlines flew 842.9 million RPKs in May, up 103.9% year-over-year, while capacity jumped 102% to 1.18 billion ASKs; large increases are attributable to its merger with Clickair in July ( ATW Daily News, July 13, 2009). Load factor rose 0.6 point to 71.5%.
Mercator, the IT solutions provider of Emirates Group, said that following acquisition of the tikAERO passenger services system solutions through Bangkok-based TIK Systems, it established an office in Bangkok to be known as Mercator Asia. The office "will provide a base for the ongoing development of the system and other passenger-related solutions," Mercator said. Roland Heller, founder of TikSystems, was appointed CEO of the Bangkok office.
SITA and TravelSky Technology last week signed a 10-year agreement under which TravelSky will host and operate SITA's Airfare solutions in the Chinese market. The deal follows a "very competitive evaluation process," SITA VP-Airline and Passenger Solutions Brian Cook told ATW, noting that the pact "secures SITA's position as a key supplier in this very rapidly growing market,which is expected to more than double to 700 million passengers in 2020."
IATA reported that international scheduled passenger traffic rose 11.7% year-over-year in May while international cargo traffic jumped 34.3% compared to May 2009. "Demand rebounded strongly in May following the impact of the European volcanic ash fiasco in April," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said. "Passenger traffic is now 1% above pre-recession levels, while the freight market is 6% bigger."
