Airlines and Destinations

April 9: A new hotel search engine, hotelicopter, launched as a free site today to help travelers find the right hotel at the best available price. Hotelicopter says its single-click search goes through 30 travel sites in real-time, aggregating hotel room rates, availability, photos and video to show the best hotel deals. The site claims to access to more than 65 travel partners and 150,000 hotels, and to offer the largest inventory of hotel information available anywhere online. After finding which travel site has the lowest available rate, hotelicopter takes travelers directly to that site's checkout page to complete their transaction. The service also lets travelers book directly with hotels by partnering with hotel chains and independent hotels directly via its Hotelier Suite extranet. Hotelicopter also partners with specialty travel sites to find boutique luxury hotels, vacation resorts, bed and breakfasts, and budget accommodations not available on other sites.

April 7: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Liberia Civil Aviation Authority are cooperating to enhance aviation security in Liberia. The two entities signed a joint statement of tntent for the development and enhancement of aviation security initiatives, including plans to conduct assessments, develop aviation security programs and share best practices. To support the partnership, TSA has deployed an Aviation Security Sustainable International Standards Team (ASSIST), a group of veteran security experts, to collaborate with local security officials in Liberia. TSA's primary focus will be to assist local officials in enhancing aviation security programs following an initial security assessment. The team will work to enhance aviation security capacity and build sustainable institutions and practices through local alliances. TSA will assess such things as training needs, equipment, current aviation programs and aviation security legislation. Liberia is the second nation to participate in TSA's ASSIST program, following St. Lucia. TSA hopes to continue to expand the pilot to other nations in the coming months.

April 7: The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) proposed to grant antitrust immunity to Continental Airlines  for its participation in the Star Alliance, and to approve a new transatlantic joint venture among four of the alliance's members, Continental being one of them. The Star Alliance as a whole also will receive antitrust immunity approval from the DOT. Antitrust immunity allows airlines to coordinate their services and act as a single carrier for international air services covered by the immunity. Additionally, in a show-cause order (others have to show cause if they want it disapproved), the DOT decided to allow Air Canada, Deutsche Lufthansa Airlines, United Air Lines, and Continental Airlines to place a portion of their international air services within a new joint venture (JV), to be called Atlantic Plus-Plus. Under the venture, the carriers would jointly arrange capacity, sales and marketing and would share revenues. To retain DOT antitrust approval the JV must be operating within 18 months. 

April 6: A federal district judge has dismissed a class action lawsuit filed by Cathy Ray of Fayette, AK, who brought suit for unlawful imprisonment for 9 1/2 hours by American Airlines on a flight in Austin, Texas, on December 29, 2006. In his April 2nd decision, U.S. district Judge Robert T. Dawson wrote that the court was "sympathetic to the plaintiff," but ultimately ruled that the airline has no duty to provide passengers with "a stress-free environment." He found that the named plaintiff had never personally "told the pilots or the flight attendants that she wanted to deplane" so there was no "willful detention." Passenger rights advocate Kate Hanni, director of FlyersRights.org, commented: "The Arkansas judge also found that these stranding situations are not controlled by Federal regulations. So Congress must legislate airline passengers' rights so that individual judges can look to uniform rules when making rulings in future cases rather than making up standards that are not connected to reality on a case-by-case basis. This decision only reinforces the need for Federal legislation to create a 'bright line' standard for how long passengers can be kept on stranded flights." Congress did not enact passengers rights legislation last year but new legislation (H.R. 915, S. 213) is moving forward this year.

April 3: Today, on the first anniversary of their partnership, JetBlue Airways and its partner Aer Lingus said joint bookings through March 31, 2009 have exceeded targets by 50 per cent, giving JetBlue the opportunity to connect more than 80 customers a day from Ireland. The strongest connecting markets in the JetBlue route network from Ireland have been to sunshine and city destinations such as Orlando, Palm Beach, Tampa, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers, Florida; as well as Phoenix, Arizona; Las Vegas, Nevada; L.A./Long Beach and San Diego, California; and Buffalo, New York. The partnership initially allowed for connections between Dublin and Shannon, Ireland and more than 25 JetBlue destinations via New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), but was extended last autumn to allow for connections via Boston Logan Airport, JetBlue's second largest focus city.

April 3: Lufthansa says it is the first airline worldwide to let passengers traveling on intercontinental flights receive mobile boarding passes with 2-D barcodes on their mobile phones. Since April 1 Lufthansa has offered passengers departing from Vancouver, BC, the option of using its new mobile boarding pass. Lufthansa introduced the service on all its German routes and many European flights last summer and now more than 75,000 passengers each month opt to have their mobile boarding pass sent to them by email or text message. Vancouver is the first non-European destination for which Lufthansa has made the service available. Vancouver passengers with Internet-enabled phones can now check in online at mobile.lufthansa.com and receive their electronic boarding pass by email or text message. The mobile boarding pass contains all relevant flight data, such as the name of the traveler, flight number, gate number and departure time, plus a 2-D barcode. Passengers travelling with carry-on bags can then proceed straight to the gate, where a scanner reads the 2-D barcode on their mobile boarding pass. All other passengers check their baggage at a drop-off counter before continuing to the gate.

April 2: Cathay Pacific Airways won the 2009 Airline of the Year award at the first live SKYTRAX World Airline Awards ceremony, held in Hamburg, Germany on April 1. The independent SKYTRAX awards are generally recognized as the most prestigious airline awards in the world, because the rankings are derived from a very large number of passenger interviews. The surveying for the 2009 rankings involved interviews with more than 16.2 million passengers from 98 nations over an 8-month period. Singapore Airlines was second in the Airline of the Year category, South Korea's Asiana Airlines third. Abu Dhabi airline Etihad Airways won the award for Best Business Class from Singapore Airlines. To see the rest of the awards, go to www.worldairlineawards.com.

April 1: The SkyTeam alliance is moving toward a centralized SkyTeam management organization handling marketing, sales, airport synergies and transfer product, cargo, advertising and brand, alliance operations, finance and corporate communications. On April 1 in Milan, Leo van Wijk, chairman of the SkyTeam alliance governing board, announced the move and said Marie-Joseph Male has been appointed as managing director of SkyTeam's newly created management and support organization. Male, who has extensive experience with Air France in the Commercial and International areas, will be responsible for finalizing the organizational structure of SkyTeam, including the appointment of a management team. The goal is to have the structure and management team in place by late 2009. Also in Milan, SkyTeam debuted its new alliance livery as Delta Air Lines flight 74 from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International touched down at Malpensa Airport displaying the SkyTeam colors.

April 1: Between April 1 and June 30, AAdvantage members who complete round-trip travel between the United States and the UK on an eligible First Class or Business Class ticket will earn 50,000 bonus miles. Members traveling on select Economy Class fares will earn 25,000 bonus miles. To start earning bonus miles, customers need to book a qualifying ticket between March 19 and June 30, 2009 (booking classes F, J, A, D, I, R, Y, B or H); register prior to travel at www.aa.com/offers using promotion code UK50K; and complete travel by June 30, 2009. The offer of 25,000 bonus miles for qualifying tickets in Economy Class can provide AAdvantage members a free round-trip award within the Continental U.S. and Canada (not including taxes and fees). With the 50,000 bonus miles for travel in First or Business Class, customers can book a free round-trip award from North America to Europe, not including taxes and fees.

March 31: Etihad Airways is completing the transfer of major routes operating from its hub at Abu Dhabi International Airport (AUH) to the new Terminal 3, an 800,000-square foot facility with 10 gates and capacity of five million passengers a year. From Terminal 3, Etihad will operate service to 32 destinations in North America, Europe, Africa and Asia/Pacific.

March 31: Chicago tops the list of the world's best 29 cities for men to live in, in a poll by online men's magazine AskMen.com. Barcelona came second, San Francisco third. The complete list of the "Best Cities for Men to Live In" includes: 1. Chicago; 2. Barcelona; 3. San Francisco; 4. London; 5. Sydney; 6. New York;  7. Berlin; 8. Hong Kong; 9. Copenhagen; 10. Paris; 11. Vancouver; 12. Rome; 13. Buenos Aires; 14. Tokyo; 15. Toronto; 16. Miami; 17. Madrid; 18. Vienna; 19. Los Angeles; 20. Montreal; 21. Panama City; 22. Portland; 23. Lyon; 24. Melbourne; 25. Tel Aviv; 26. Santiago; 27. Cape Town; 28. Hamburg; 29. Edinburgh. The poll's results were determined through eight different rating categories developed by AskMen.com, including: Dating & Sex; Sports & Entertainment; Culture; Fashion; Health; Power & Money; The Good Life; and 2009 Livability. Cities earned points and raised their rank on grounds such as whether or not the city had good men's clothing shops and the rate of male heart disease.

March 30: Lease Corporation International (LCI), which has an existing $3.5 billion-plus portfolio of commercial aircraft on lease to various major airlines, has become the second firm customer for the Bombardier CSeries jet, ordering three 110-seat CS100s and 17 130-seat CS300s and optioning 20 more CSeries aircraft. Lufthansa was the CSeries launch customer, ordering 30 for its subsidiary Swiss International. At list prices, Bombardier values LCI's firm order for 20 PW1000G-powered CSeries jets at US$1.44 billion. Deliveries start in 2014.

March 30: Now this is a service idea we like, even though to obtain it you might have to pay quite a bit. The Address Hotels & Resorts, the five-star premium Dubai hotel brand owned and operated by the Emaar Hospitality Group, has introduced a ground-breaking 24-hour-stay benefit  for premium-price guest at all its hotels. The service, which is a marked departure from the scheduled 12 noon (or even earlier) check-outs imposed by hotels worldwide, is available at The Address, Downtown Burj Dubai and The Palace - The Old Town, the two properties currently operated by the brand in Dubai. Guests opting for Suite or Club room accommodations can enjoy the privilege of a total 24-hour stay without incurring late check-out charges. So guests arriving in the evening or even after midnight have the option of keeping their room for a complete 24 hours without having to see their paid-for hotel night curtailed by the traditional check-out time of 12 noon. 

March 30: In 2009 the average aircraft utilization for the world's commercial fleet is expected to drop by 4 per cent compared to 2008, according to OAG's latest Commercial Aircraft Fleets and Utilization Forecast. The utilization forecast, which drives maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) demand, takes into consideration the significant global downsizing in schedules, frequency and capacity that have been filed with OAG in the past six months. Global aircraft utilization typically grows at an average of 3.4 per cent per year. John Weber, Managing Director, OAG Aviation, said: "We are projecting a worldwide drop of  about 4 per cent in average aircraft utilization in 2009 compared to 2008, with only modest recovery in 2010. Normal levels of aircraft utilization growth are not expected to return until 2011."

March 29: Air Berlin and TUI Travel have agreed the terms of a strategic cooperation deal that will see TUI Travel's airline TUIfly operate 17 of its 38 aircraft on Air Berlin routes on long-term wet-lease contracts. The other 21 will provide capacity for TUI Travel's German charter business. Air Berlin and TUI Travel will each take 19.9 per cent stakes in the other airline, TUI Travel paying €64.8 million for its stake in Air Berlin and Air Berlin €36.3 million for its stake in TUIfly. The deal needs anti-trust approval from Germany, Austria, Spain and Portugal and would be effective Oct 1.

March 29: From today, British Airways' Atlanta flights to and from London Heathrow use Terminal 5, which recently celebrated its first birthday and now has handled more than 20 millon passengers.