The Australian

Bankstown is one of Australia’s busiest airports and there are more than 240,000 aircraft movements through the airports a year. Bankstown has potential for growth as there have been suggestions that regional carriers will be redirected from Sydney airport to free up its capacity, although there is currently opposition against it.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

The Australian airports are gathering in July for the Airports World Australia Pacific Conference. To find out more about the event, get in touch with camilla.kamsvaag@terrapinn.com

In an email on Thursday headed ”A message from Michael”, Mr James told staff that like any airline in its infancy, it was managing costs and opportunities carefully.

”Please ensure that you and your colleagues understand that the only correct information regarding our company’s performance or group strategic developments will come from me,” Mr James wrote in the email, obtained by Fairfax Media.
”All other unattributed rumour is exactly that, distracting speculation raised by those without our best interests at heart.”

Staff have since accused Mr James of deception, saying he must have known about the airline’s dire financial problems.

Several insurance companies withdrew their cover of Air Australia passengers late last year. The airline was put into administration in the early hours of Friday after a fuel supplier in Phuket refused to extend it credit.

The airline was subsequently grounded, leaving thousands of passengers and flight crew stranded. Staff have expressed their ‘disgust’ at the behaviour of the company which left them jobless, with no way home and no word from executives over the failure.

One of 29 crew who say they were forced to illegally overstay their US crew visas in Hawaii when stranded there, said the airline’s problems had been common knowledge.

”I worked for the company for 12 months and I knew the entire time that my employment was quite rocky,” one said. ”Staff hold Michael James 100 per cent at fault, he has led everyone astray, including senior management. Many, from my understanding, had absolutely no idea what was to occur.”

To read the full article, click here.

The Aviation Outlook Summit will be happening on the 23-25 July 2012. It will discuss opportunity and strategy for airlines, airports and investors. For more information, click here.

Ryanair was formed in 1985 and was the first of the European lost cost carriers. The airline was formed and produced based on the principles used within the United States (e.g. South West Airlines). Watch the below video and find out the answers to your questions:

• Why Ryanair are the 2^nd Largest airline in Europe?
• How many routes do they operate out of?
• How many aircrafts do they operate?
• How they stopped British Airways from using the tag line “the people favourite airline”?
• What is their growth rate since 1985?
• Where do they operate from and how many routes do they travel to?

Ryanair case study is just one of the many case studies and topics that is presented throughout the online 12 hour MBA training course in Airports.

Download the brochure to find out more. Don’t’ miss out on this opportunity! Register online and save an extra 10% by entering the promotional code 07D488EA43.

One of the most important aspects of running an airport is identifying who your customers are:

• Passengers
• Airlines
• Retailers (business customer)
• Non passengers (e.g people meeting and greeting passengers arriving)

In the below video Nigel Walker emphasises the importance of passengers and outlines how to make them happy in order to successfully run an airport.

To continue learning about the fundamentals of airports and its customers visit the 12hour MBA in Airports. Understand key terminologies, processes and technologies at your own pace, at your own place!!

Don’t’ miss out on this opportunity! Register online and save an extra 10% by entering the promotional code 07D488EA43.

From the 9th to 10th February 2012, top leaders from both the airline and travel industry gathered at Marina Bay Sands for the 9th Annual Low Cost Airlines World Asia Pacific. Throughout the years, this event has grown from strength to strength to become the premier event for Low Cost Airlines (LCA) and Travel stakeholders over the world. Within the two days, industry leaders gathered to share tips and insights on how they have grown and sustained their businesses.

On the second day of the conference (10 Feb), the importance of reaching out to the growing internet generation was addressed at the E-commerce, Mobile and Innovation session. Consumers are increasingly internet-savvy and they are constantly connected to the Net via their computer and now even through mobile applications. Therefore to maintain a competitive edge, LCAs need to look at providing an online experience that is catered to this mobile generation. Samuel Lacarta, IT director of Vueling, shared with the attendees on how his airline is making their presence felt in the mobile space. He explained that Vueling actively looks for ways to provide customers a unique mobile experience in order to engage them and drive long-term brand loyalty.

Increasingly, consumers are also purchasing travel online. Through the online platform, they find out which airline can deliver them the best value for money or which hotel can give the most bang for their buck. On this topic, Florian Cornu, Co-Founder of Flocations, shared about how his company was easing the travelers’ search for the perfect holiday destination or airline ticket. He illustrated how his website is able to deliver a slick and easy to use user interface which presents users a visual representation of where their dollars can take them.

Have you missed out on the Low Cost Airlines World Asia Pacific conference this year? Stay tuned to find out what we have in-store for you in 2013!

Sydney Airport said on Monday that international traffic in January hit a monthly record of 1.17 million passengers, up 2.3 per cent from the same month in 2011.

Melbourne Airport said Chinese New Year celebrations were behind a 5.8 per cent lift in international passengers to 667,535 in January.

"Chinese New Year is a significant celebration and people made the most of the holiday with passport holders from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan all increasing by more than 20 per cent," Melbourne Airport chief executive Chris Woodruff said in a statement.

Brisbane Airport said its monthly international passenger numbers eclipsed 400,000 for the third time in the past seven months in January, having risen 6.7 per cent to 414,370 from the same month a year before.

To read the full article, click here.

The Airports World conference will be held n the 2-4 July 2012. It will discuss strategy and innovation for airports, tourism, government and partners. For more information, click here.

United Airlines

As part of the upgrade initiative, United says it also will rebrand its premium services on long-haul international flights.

"The rebranded cabins offer premium-cabin customers the highest levels of service, every time they fly," Mark Bergsrud, United’s senior vice president of marketing, says in a release. "We are keeping the products that our customers tell us they value the most as we continue to build the world’s leading airline."

Source: USA TODAY

Learn about more industry news at the Low Cost Airlines World Americas conference taking place May 3–4, 2012 in Miami! Low Cost Airlines World Americas is where carriers across the Americas and worldwide will gather to know the most cost-efficient methods that will increase their profit margins and keep their airlines flying high in the skies.

Download the event brochure for more information!

Read the original article here

This summer Virginia expects to see the launch of a new low-cost airline operating out of the Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport. The airline will be called PEOPLExpress and will start out offering flights to Pittsburgh, West Palm Beach, Providence, and Newark.

PEOPLExpress will offer what it describes as "deeply discounted fares" once it meets government approval. Both the FAA and the Department of Transportation have to ok everything before operations are allowed to begin.

Chief Operating Officer Mike Morisi plans to cut down on pricing by getting rid of unnecessary fees "for items such as checked bags and seat assignments aboard our fleet of Boeing 737-400 aircraft".

Read the original article here

Involved in the low-cost airline industry? Check out our Low Cost Airlines World Americas 2012.

Read the original article here

This week JetBlue Airways and Southwest Airlines have led a fare increase – a move that is expected to be soon followed by United, Delta, American, and US Airways.

According to JetBlue spokeswoman Alison Croyle, the prices increased to "cover operating costs including the high price of jet fuel."

Apparently, the fuel used by the aircraft makes up one third of airlines’ costs, and as anyone who fills a gas tank on a weekly basis knows, the price of fuel has been going up. I doubt I’m the only one who has been spending more of their time behind the wheel pleading with the "low fuel" light.

Anyway, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the current price for Gulf Coast jet fuel is up 12.1 percent from a year ago…So don’t expect ticket prices to be dropping much anytime soon.

Read the original article here

Involved in the airlines industry of the Americas? Check out our Low Cost Airlines World Americas event.

As a result, several routes and flying slots remained unutilised.

However, Air India’s operational plans would get due consideration when traffic rights and entitlements are allocated, new changes made in the bilateral policy show.
The civil aviation ministry has now decided to allow all scheduled Indian carriers, including Air India, to utilise allocated bilaterals till they reach the maximum permissible limit under air service agreements (ASAs) with various countries, an official spokesperson said.
The ASAs fix the maximum number of flights or seats to be operated by designated carriers of both countries each week.
The allocation of traffic rights to Indian airlines would now on be done well in advance upto a maximum limit of five schedules, keeping in mind the demands from them, their capacities and capabilities, operational plans and other factors, the spokesperson said.
The utilisation of these rights by airlines would be regularly monitored and oversight maintained on them by the Ministry. In case of underutilisation or non-utilisation of these rights, the ministry could cancel them and levy penalties on the airlines, according to the changes made in the policy.
While code-share operations between an Indian and a foreign carrier would be encouraged under the new arrangement, all steps would be taken to promote development of hubs to enable Indian airlines to carry sixth freedom traffic and attain a dominating position in the region, the spokesperson said.
Sixth freedom is the global aviation right to carry passengers or cargo from a second country to a third country by stopping in one’s own country. For example, a passenger is carried from London to Sydney by a Singapore Airline flight via Singapore.
The ministry would regularly review the bilaterals to promote global connectivity keeping in mind the demands by the Indian carriers, international passenger traffic, trade, commerce and potential global and regional issues, the spokesperson said.
In order to cater to the travel, trade and commerce needs to countries which do not have air service agreements with India, the ministry would consider signing ASAs with them.
The policy changes were carried out on the basis of the approach outlined in a discussion paper of an inter ministerial group on the issue.
According to official estimates, private airlines have sought 50,000 international seats in 2011, over 40 per cent of which are for destinations in the lucrative Middle East.
In Europe, Indian carriers use less than 10 per cent of the allowed capacity, leaving up to 90 per cent of the market share to foreign carriers. Air India, Jet Airways and Kingfisher fly to France and Germany and no one flies to Spain, Denmark, Norway, Sweden or Switzerland.
In the Asia-Pacific, foreign carriers have 55 per cent of the share.

Source: www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com

If you are interested in Airlines you may also be interested in the Aviation Outlook 2012 conference, held between the 21st and 23rd March 2012 in Dubai. In 2012 you will learn how to adapt your business model to compete with service innovation. You will also find out how to improve yields with effective distribution strategies and assess the role of GDS in different airline business models.

Download the brochure

Make sure you book today to secure your seat.