Okey Airways (Okair), the country’s first private air carrier, hoped to resume operation as soon as possible but was not sure about the exact date, the company’s chief executive officer Liu Weining told Xinhua Wednesday.
“Shareholders and staff were all against suspension” and “really looked forward to the restart”, he said, noting there would be a conference focusing on the issue. But no other details were given.
Wednesday’s Beijing News newspaper reported that the firm was expected to resume operation on January 15, 2009, after it had ceased service on December 6 because of disputes among shareholders.
The company said it was preparing to resume business and planned to file an application next week. The carrier expected to lose nearly 100 million yuan in business during the December 6 to January 15 suspension period, according to the report.
An unnamed official from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) said Okair had not submitted any application to resume operation to CAAC.
Wan Junjin, Okair’s legal representative and chairman of Juneyao Group, the biggest shareholder, applied to the CAAC North China Regional Administration for suspension. The regional office approved the application and ordered the company to suspend its service from December 15 to January 15, 2009.
But the company suspended passenger service on December 6, 10 days ahead of schedule as a result of financial and management problems, according to a spokesman of Juneyao Group, a major shareholder of Okair.
Its partners – including airports, fuel suppliers and Fedex Express – all terminated their contracts with Okair.
Okair started cooperation with Fedex on freight service in 2006 and they signed a five-year contract. However, their cooperation came to halt after only one year and nine months.
“I felt so depressed about the loss”, the newspaper cited an unnamed company senior official as saying, noting air companies faced a tough time this year but the private carrier had gained profits for its cooperation with Fedex.
Last month, Juneyao Group, which held a 63 percent stake in Okair, applied to the CAAC North China Regional Administration for withdrawal from the aviation firm, offering the explanation of fears over safety.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: Australia, flights, japan, travel
Singapore Airlines is to phase out the Boeing 777 and replace with their brand new “stretched” Airbus A330-300’s on some Australian and Japanese flights. The first of the new A330-300 aircraft (which is a stretched variation of the A300-600) will be delivered in mid January and will initially be used for pilot conversion. By the end of February the craft should be in revenue earning service on the shorter routes between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia and Jakarta in Indonesia.
30 March is the target date for the first A330-300 flight to Australia and this will coincide with the 25th anniversary of the airlines the first flight between Singapore and Brisbane.
Singapore to Perth will be the next route to be converted from the 777 to the new A330 followed by Adelaide by the end of June. The same month Singapore Airlines will see the A330 replacing the 777 on flights to Nagoya and by 2010 Osaka will see the A330-300. When fully in service the A330-300 will operate daily from Singapore to Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Nagoya and Osaka.
The A330-300 twin-engine wide-body aircraft will be configured with 285 seats in two classes – Business and Economy. A new Business Class seat, especially designed for regional and medium-haul flights, as well as other cabin product features, will be unveiled when the aircraft is delivered in January.
Business Class will consist of 30 seats, in a 2-2-2 configuration (distinct from the existing B777 on these routes, which is in a 2-3-2 layout). Economy will feature 255 seats, in a 2-4-2 configuration. All seats will feature the new KrisWorld, Singapore Airlines award-winning in-flight entertainment system.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, London, news, travel
Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd. has signed a deal to start running direct flights between London and Puerto Rico next year.
Puerto Rico tourism director Terestella Gonzalez says the weekly flights will generate about $30 million a year in tourism revenue for the island.
Gonzalez told local radio Tuesday that each flight will reserve 80 percent of its 240 seats for visitors who are also booked on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines.
The first flight is expected to depart London in November 2009
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, japan, news, travel
All Nippon Airways Co. and Japan Airlines Corp., the country’s largest carriers, canceled flights heading to and from Hokkaido’s New Chitose Airport due to heavy snow across northern Japan.
All Nippon Air canceled at least 24 flights and delayed 24 flights going to and from the airport as of 5 p.m. local time, according to the airfield’s Web site. Japan Air canceled 40 flights, it said on its Web site. New Chitose is the main airport on Japan’s northern-most island of Hokkaido. 
The flight disruptions come amid Japan’s New Year’s holiday, one of the country’s busiest travel seasons. About 61 centimeters (2 feet) of snow had fallen at the airport by noon, forcing runways to be used alternately to keep them clear, the Sankei newspaper reported earlier.
The snowfall peaked earlier in the day and is expected to continue through tomorrow, the Japan Meteorological Agency said on its Web site.
It is the second heavy snowfall in the region since Dec. 26 when Sapporo, Hokkaido’s biggest city, received at least 32 centimeters. That storm closed the airport and caused the cancellation of almost 200 flights affecting more than 27,000 travelers.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, news, travel
BUDGET airline flyglobespan will decide next month whether to continue services from Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA).
The company’s chief executive, Rick Green, said a review of its operations would be completed early in the new year.
A decision is being made because the aircraft based at the airport is approaching the end of its lease. 
The airline, which started flying from DTVA in March last year, has flights available next month to Alicante, Benidorm and Tenerife.
But Mr Green could not guarantee that the airline would continue operating from DTVA beyond the new year.
He said: “Under normal circumstances, we would have the summer’s itinerary finalised by now.
“The reason we are still deciding it is that the plane flying from Durham Tees Valley reaches its end of lease life in February.
“For us, we make the decision on the economics of a new plane, the market and demand, as we know the world is in financial meltdown.
“However, we see a reasonable demand from Durham Tees Valley.
“The situation is under ongoing review and we will conclude our findings by January 10.
“Then we will decide either we can source an alternative aircraft or we can’t.”
Mr Green said that part of the review was whether to continue from DTVA, but with fewer flights.
He added: “We are in continuous discussions with Durham Tees Valley, they are our first port of call with dialogue.”
Over the summer, flyglobespan denied rumours it was considering pulling out of DTVA.
And in October, the airport said it was “very close” to finalising an agreement with the airline for next year’s itinerary.
Like most of the aviation industry, DTVA has seen services impacted by the economic downturn.
Thomson is axing its Alicante route from April and Hungarian carrier Wizz Air has pulled its service to Warsaw, Poland.
Bmi, which operates three daily flights from DTVA to London Heathrow, also started using smaller aircraft because of a drop in demand.
Robin Tudor, spokesman for Peel Airports, which operates DTVA, said: “Flyglobespan have had a good association with the airport and we are very keen they continue business through the airport.
“It is a commercial decision only they can make and we are giving them every encouragement “It is a difficult climate for everybody involved in aviation but we are very optimistic about the airport’s future.”
