Delta Airlines Plans Improved Facilities for New York Airports

Largely due to the massive volume of airline passengers in the New York Metropolitan area – a major hub for financial and cultural affairs – New York is now considered to be one of the most important and competitive aviation markets in the world; and Delta wants to be crowned king of the castle.

Currently in competition for number one airline are Delta, American Airlines, Continental, and JetBlue. To get ahead of the competition, Delta is making major changes at two of its New York airports – LaGuardia and John F Kennedy.

At LaGuardia, where Delta is in charge of Terminal D, the airline has announced a major upgrade to its food and dining areas; adding full-service restaurants, wine bars, and designer pizza parlours as well as upscaling its fast food offerings.

At John F Kennedy, Delta plans to vacate its current home in Terminal 3 and head to better, brighter ground. (Terminal 3 is well-known to travellers as an old and dark building that is long past its sell-by date.) Instead, Delta will be housing its International flights in a $0.2 billion US expansion of Terminal 4, with the airline’s domestic flights continuing to run from Terminal 2. As for Terminal 3 – the plans are to demolish the old girl; as Pan Am Worldport she served Kennedy well, but it is time to say goodbye.

The scheduled renovations will begin later this month and are expected to take about two years to complete.

New York has long been a favoured holiday and business destination for UK travellers.

Cabin Crew Strike Not Affect Decline British Airways Stock

As the British Airways cabin crews round out the third day of their four day strike against the UK-based airline, there is no sign of an agreement being reached to end the dispute which began when staffing levels and pay were cut back during the recession.

During the walkout around 60,000 passengers of the airline have been affected with most of their flights being grounded beginning from March 27 and carrying on until tomorrow. The company has estimated that cancellations of flights will take-out about 30 percent of the long-haul services from Heathrow Airport.

This newest wave of industrial action was a follow-up to the three day walk out which took place March 22, and according to the airline, cost the company a total of 21 million pounds. Willie Wash, CEO of British Airways, had last sat down with union officer Tony Woodley on March 19, but all talks have failed and arbiters have been unable to get either side to reach an accord.

Yesterday, British Airways was able to service about 75 percent of the customers who were booked on flights, according to a spokesman for the carrier. He added that at Heathrow 55 percent of short-haul flights and 70 percent of long-haul flights were in operation. The airline has stated that they were able to rebook a fair amount of their displaced passengers.

Since Unite announced the possibility of industrial action in March, British Airways’ stocks have risen 19 percent. According to economists, this suggests that investors are viewing the strike as a one-time event and focusing more on British Airways improving passenger traffic.

During the strike, the airline still expects to provide flight services to over 180,000 passengers. Of the passengers whose flights have been cancelled up to 18 percent were given alternative flights on different dates or with other airlines.

Brazil’s Azul CEO Sees Airline’s 2010 Traffic Up 50%

Brazilian low-cost, low-fare airline Azul Linhas Aereas SA will transport 50% more passengers in 2010 than in the current year, continuing its swift expansion, Chief Executive David Neeleman said Thursday.

Since beginning operations in late 2008, the airline grew to take 4.4% of Brazil’s $6.5 billion civil aviation market in October.

“We will continue to grow significantly faster than the overall market next year,” Neeleman said on the sidelines of an industry conference in Sao Paulo.

Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways Corp. (JBLU) in the United States, predicted the Brazilian airline market will expand 10% to 15% in 2010, returning to pre-economic crisis growth.

Azul is maintaining its fleet expansion plans. It will add seven new Embraer (ERJ, EMBR3.BR) jets next year to its existing fleet of 14.

“But we could still expand much faster than that,” he added.

The airline was struggling to raise funds for the new planes amid the wider financial crisis, but Neeleman said that the company has now secured $235 million to buy the aircraft.

Neeleman said Azul will add three new destinations in 2010 to its current domestic network of 16 cities.

The company is in “no hurry” to go public, he added. It is now privately held.

Meanwhile, it has no plans to add international routes.

U.S. Regulators Approved Propose Merger Continental Airlines and United Airlines

Continental Airlines Inc. and United Airlines cleared the biggest hurdle in their proposed merger on Aug. 27 after federal regulators said they had approved the deal.

United Airlines and Continental were informed by the Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice that it had completed its review of the proposed merger. That clears the way for the deal to close Oct. 1, pending shareholder votes in September.

“The completion of DOJ’s review is an important step on our journey of creating the world’s leading airline, benefiting our customers, co-workers, communities and stockholders,” said Jeff Smisek, Continental’s chairman, president and chief executive in a statement. “The DOJ’s decision permits us to clear one of the last regulatory hurdles to closing our merger.”

Houston-based Continental and Chicago-based United announced an all-stock merger on May 3. Both companies have set special shareholder meetings to vote on the deal Sept. 17.

United and Continental received clearance from the European Commission on the airlines’ proposed merger in July, which noted its investigation found the transaction would not raise competitive concerns in Europe or on trans-Atlantic routes.

Continental shareholders will receive 1.05 UAL shares for every Continental share they own. At the closing of the deal, Continental shareholders will hold 45 percent of the new entity, while UAL shareholders will own 55 percent. The combined company will have headquarters in Chicago.

Also on Aug. 27, Continental and United said they would lease 18 pairs of round-trip flights to Southwest Airlines at Newark Liberty International airport in an effort to address DOJ concerns.

Thai Airways Operates Special Flights Between Bangkok and Phitsanulok

Thai Airways International is operating special flights between Bangkok and Phitsanulok to assist government officials and people who need to travel to the lower northern and upper central regions of Thailand that are no longer accessible by vehicles through local roads.

Thai’s special flight to and from Phitsanulok will also help transport donated food and medical supplies from the Government’s Flood Relief Operation Centre (FROC) to flood victims.

Several provinces in the lower northern and upper central regions of Thailand are severely flooded and some areas are not accessible by vehicles.

The special flights will operate until 23 October 2011 using Boeing 737-400 aircraft with 149 seats, at 1,250 baht per trip (one-way fare).

Thai will operate two flights per day. On 18-23 October 2011, flight TG8706 departs from Bangkok at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 11:20 and arrives in Phitsanulok at 12:10. Flight TG8707 departs from Phitsanulok at 12:50 and arrives at Suvarnabhumi at 13:40 on the same day.

Thai is also providing free cargo shipments for food donated to the Government’s Flood Relief Operations Centre (FROC), as well as blood donations and medical supplies made through the Thai Red Cross Society that will be transported to Phitsanulok and sent to Nakhonsawan. Nakhonsawan has also been affected by flooding and is in need of immediate assistance.