In response to demands by air passengers, effective November 12, Ethiopian Airlines is set to begin direct flights to Nigeria from Ethiopia. This flight will be Abuja ’s first direct link to East Africa . “Our new service to Abuja is part of our strategy of expanding to more stations in Africa,...

PARIS: Unions have called for Air France flight personnel to stage a five-day strike starting Tuesday to protest a plan to push back their retirement age. The eight unions threaten an even longer work stoppage if the plan is not withdrawn. They say in a statement released Thursday that a planned government...

British Airways and Qantas have been fined by the Australian competition authorities for their roles in an international conspiracy to fix air cargo charges. Both carriers have already been fined heavily by the US justice department for their cartel activities in the cargo sector and have had former...

British Airways has launched a promotion in the UK which gives travellers discounts of up to 40% off flights worldwide. Sun revellers can escape to Mauritius from just £603 (saving up to £112), seek an adventure packed safari in Johannesburg from £544 (saving up to £149) or fall head over heels...

Remote check-in service has been launched by British Airways. It allows passengers who are mobile to be able to check-in to their flights in most places they may be which can be done via their mobile handsets. The new service from the airline is available in 11 languages and a major plus point is that...

Air France and OnAir launch World’s First In-Flight Mobile Phone Service on Board International Flights Send and receive emails, sms and mms messages at 10,000 m! Air France has become the first airline in the world to offer an in-flight mobile phone service on international flights. Using to...

Singapore Airlines (SIA) will reduce flights to Asia and increase services to the Middle East over the next five months. The progressive changes, which will take place throughout the Northern Winter schedule starting October 26, will “better match capacity with demand”, said SIA. Penang...

UK airline BMI is being taken over by Germany’s Lufthansa. Lufthansa, which already owns a 30% stake in BMI minus one share, is buying the 50% of the company owned by BMI chairman Sir Michael Bishop. The deal will give Lufthansa control of more flights from London Heathrow airport than any other...

Virgin Atlantic has launched a second service between London Heathrow and Hong Kong. The new flights, which will be daily from 4 December this year, will complement the airline’s existing daily program to Hong Kong, which connects to Virgin Atlantic’s flights to Sydney. Virgin Atlantic first launched...

The Dubai carrier kicks off nonstop service to the Middle East with a lavish party befitting its opulent accommodations. The world’s fastest-growing airline — and one of the most extravagant — began nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Dubai this week, and tonight it will throw...

BAA has paid out more than £7m to airlines after missing service targets at Heathrow and Gatwick. Britain’s largest airport group was warned that it was persistently missing benchmarks for cleanliness, seating and signs at some terminals. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) ordered BAA to pay back...

JETSTAR has launched its inaugural service from Perth to Bali amid fresh warnings from Australia’s foreign affairs department about travel to Indonesia. Foreign Minister Stephen Smith yesterday advised Australians to check official travel advice before travelling to Bali. The Department of Foreign...

A blinding downpour and perhaps an erroneous marking of the taxi-bay at Kolkata airport nearly triggered a mishap in the wee hours of Sunday. A Lufthansa flight, bound for Frankfurt with 230 passengers on board, took a wrong turn while taxing for takeoff and was stopped in the nick of time. It was around...