Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, india, news, Pakistan, travel
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) has decided to reschedule some of its flights to India after registering a dramatic drop in passengers. It has not admitting to shedding services but merely advised potential passengers that services to India are liable to be rescheduled at short notice.
In a handout issued here the flag carrier has asked passengers traveling to Delhi and Mumbai from Karachi and Lahore to provide their contact numbers while booking seats so that information could be provided with regard to change of flight schedule, local newspapers have reported.
The handout said that traffic to and from Delhi and Mumbai had decreased substantially. “So some of the PIA flights for these sectors are being rescheduled as per the passenger load factor,” it said.
Meanwhile, given the security environment in the country the flag carrier has now asked passengers for all domestic and international flights to reach airports in Pakistan at least half an hour before the standard check-in time. These are four and a half hours before departure time for international flights and two and a half hours for domestic flights.
Because of security checks airports in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, Peshawar and Quetta are witnessing long queues that commence at entry points for vehicle checking, followed by scanning of luggage at terminals. Issue of boarding cards is consequently getting delayed and at times confirmed passengers miss their flights.
PIA check-in counters close 45 minutes before departure time for international flights and 35 minutes before departure time for domestic flights.
Filed under: airlines news, cheap flights, main | Tags: flights, news, travel
Deutsche Lufthansa AG said 15 flights were canceled Wednesday morning due to a short pilot strike at Contact Air, a regional partner airline.
Lufthansa spokesman Peter Schneckenleitner said that the flights affected were on domestic German and short-haul European routes. Contact Air operates flights on some of those routes for Lufthansa.
The five-hour walkout, which affected flights at Duesseldorf, Hannover, Hof, Nuermberg and Stuttgart airports, started at 4.30 a.m. (0330 GMT).
The pilots’ union, Cockpit, was pressing its demand for progress in pay negotiations, which it says have gone nowhere since a previous contract between employers and the company expired last July.
A leading British airline has criticised the Government’s decision to build a third runway at Heathrow.
Tim Jeans, managing director of Monarch Airlines, said that the expansion of the airport would have a detrimental impact on the lives of a million people living in west London, and would prevent the aviation industry from being taken seriously over environmental issues. 
He added that the Government’s reliance on new technology to reduce emissions was “highly optimistic”.
The £9 billion extension of Heathrow was given the go-ahead last week, despite strong environmental objections.
Alhough legal challenges could hamper the completion of a third runway – and a sixth terminal – the decision has given the green light to at least 125,000 more flights to and from Heathrow each year.
“British Airways and the other airlines with vested interests have built an effective lobby in favour of expansion at Heathrow,” said Mr Jeans. “But the decision to increase capacity will affect countless people living under the flight path.”
Mr Jeans added that, though he believed aviation would continue to grow in the coming years, the move would set a precedent that could turn people against airlines.
“Environmental considerations must be taken seriously and decisions which may seem unpalatable for business need to be taken,” he said.
“Due to bilateral restrictions on international flights, BA have a monopoly on departures from Britain – approval for such plans should be given by an independent body, not the Government.”
The Labour government has been criticised by some media commentators for siding with the pro-expansion lobby despite reservations within its own party.
Mr Jeans said that expansion at Gatwick – not possible until at least 2019 due to a legal agreement with West Sussex County Council – or the growth of regional airports would be preferable, due to a reduced environmental impact on nearby homes.
Should expansion take place at Gatwick, around 300 homes would be demolished – far less than at Heathrow, where in the village of Sipson alone 700 houses are under threat.
Furthermore, five times fewer homes would be affected by aircraft noise greater than 54 decibels.
However, Mr Jeans’s enthusiasm for Gatwick as an alternative should be tempered by the fact that the airport is Monarch’s main base.
Mr Jeans has also cast doubt on the Government’s claim that new technology and more environmentally-friendly fuels would mean that aircraft will emit 50 per cent less carbon dioxide than current planes by 2020.
“If you talk to people in the industry, they will tell you that the physics of jet propulsion will not allow for any more significant developments to aircraft,” said Mr Jeans. “A reduction in fuel consumption is not likely as after the Dreamliner (Boeing’s oft-delayed 787) there are no new narrow-bodied aircraft in development.”
As snow fell at the Fayetteville Regional Airport late Tuesday morning, Airport Director Brad Whited ran a snowplow up and down the runways.
And a half-dozen stranded passengers were settled in the airport lounge for a long wait.
Flights in the morning were canceled or delayed, according to the airlines’ Web sites. A snow-covered plane was parked at the end of a boarding concourse. In the airport, US Airways and ASA-Delta Connection passengers waited to see which flights would take off in the afternoon.
“I just want to go home,” said Cindy Eckersley, who is from Robertsdale, Ala. She had made an emergency trip to Fayetteville to be with her daughter, who delivered a premature baby last week.
Marie Millard of San Diego and Diana Chase of Madisonville, La., and several others were ready
Chase filled the time with a book of Sudoku puzzles. Millard used the airport’s free wireless Internet service to surf the Web.
Eckersley watched some of the coverage of President Obama’s inauguration on TV.
“It’s going to be a long, boring day,” Eckersley predicted.
The group said ASA told them it would try to get them on a flight Tuesday afternoon. Barring that, it promised them flights today. They had not been told whether the airline would cover any hotel costs.
Eckersley assumed the airline wouldn’t pay, and after spending $1,600 on the emergency trip, she was prepared to stay overnight on the plastic airport seats and get dinner from the vending machines because the snack bar was closing.
“I have to stay,” she said. “I can’t afford a hotel.”
An ASA spokesman said the airline rebooks weather-delayed passengers at no cost, or gives them refunds if they choose to find another way to travel. But the airline generally does not pay for hotel rooms during weather delays. He said customers should ask a customer service representative to see if discounts are available at local hotels.
Cab driver Jimmy Alford of Sam’s Taxi service said the snowstorm gave him more customers than usual. He got some passengers because the city’s bus service wasn’t running. And he gave an airline passenger two rides: The first was to the airport. The second was from the airport to the train station after her flight was canceled.
By midafternoon, all US Airways flights from the Fayetteville airport were canceled. But ASA resumed its landings and departures shortly after 4 p.m., according to its Web site.
Shortly before 5 p.m., Whited said the runways were clean and dry and he expected no delays today.
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SAS has started using fuel-efficient CRJ900 aircraft on its Birmingham to Copenhagen flight, Birmingham International Airport has announced.
The aircraft, which is manufactured by Bombardier, will drastically reduce noise pollution levels by being four times quieter than its forerunner. It is also the most fuel-efficient type of aircraft in its class.
Commenting on the utilisation of the NextGen CRJ900, Lars-Ove Filipson, Scandinavian Airlines’ general manager in the UK and Ireland, said that Birmingham International Airport represented the “premier gateway” for flights between Scandinavia and the Midlands.
“The introduction of the NextGen CRJ900 shows our commitment to the route and will help us maintain the high standards of punctuality that SAS is known for,” he said.
Mr Filipson added that it was “very satisfying” that SAS would be able to offer an improved service to its customers, with the new aircraft featuring new-generation seats, larger storage facilities and bigger windows.
