British Airways has grounded one of its jumbo jets because a passenger said she was bitten by bed-bugs while she was on board. Zane Selkirk, a business executive from California said she had been a victim of the bugs on two flights. The first was between Los Angeles and London and the second time was when she was flying to London from Bangalore.

Selkirk claims that BA staff treated her appallingly when she attempted to address the issue. She decided that she would set up her own website on which to make the problem public where she discusses the problem in some detail.

Selkirk describes how the first occasion she came into contact with the bugs was when she saw one appear on the seat in front of her. She… Read the full story

by Riley Walker on February 28th, 2011

The union representing the interests of 22,000 employees of US airline giant American Airlines has announced plans to form a coalition with other airline unions representing the employees of other members of the Oneworld alliance. The idea is to form a labour council on a global scale which will be able to exert greater pressure on airlines over issues affecting workers.

The Transport Workers Union is currently in talks with American Airlines over contracts for ground-handling staff and maintenance workers which it hopes to secure from Oneworld members who use American Airlines’ domestic hubs within the US.

Union representatives from some of the 12 members of the Oneworld alliance are due to meet up in Washington to discuss long-term strategy. The meeting will take place in April. Garry Drummond, air… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 25th, 2011

Virgin Blue has refuted claims that it made two of its former employees redundant after they returned from taking maternity leave and were pregnant. The two women, who have asked not to have their identities revealed by legal representatives, claim the airline dismissed them last year and is also guilty of making inappropriate comments concerning their pregnancies.

Terri Butler, a lawyer with Maurice Blackburn who is representing the women, said while her clients were pregnant they were subject to offensive remarks from executive management. Allegedly they heard managers say that women should be placed on contracts which would make it easier for the airline to get rid of them when they became pregnant.

Virgin Blue has strongly denied that accusations’ saying its workforce is more than 50 per cent made… Read the full story

by Lily Thompson on February 23rd, 2011

SkyTeam airline alliance members Delta Airlines and Air France-KLM have expressed an interest in acquiring Sir Richard Branson’s stake of Virgin Atlantic. The founder owns a controlling 51 per cent. The remaining 49 per cent is in the hands of Singapore Airlines which acquired the share in 2009 for £600 million.

Singapore has said that it wants to concentrate its efforts in the Asian market and that if a decent enough offer made it onto the table the airline might be prepared to dispose of its Virgin shares.

Sir Richard has been working with Deutsche Bank to examine the possibilities for the future of the airline. The review comes following the merger of British Airways with Spanish flag-carrier Iberia. Sir Richard has long been opposed to the deal which also… Read the full story

by Riley Walker on February 21st, 2011

National flag-carrier Qantas and rival Virgin Blue have produced the best performance in terms of being on time throughout 2010. According to BITRE figures, the country’s largest carrier had the best on time departure statistics at 85.6 per cent as well as the best on time arrival figures of all the major domestic carriers at 85.6 per cent.

Virgin Blue came in at second with 83 per cent of its departures doing so on time and 82.3 per cent of all arrivals landing as scheduled. Jetstar’s departures for 2010 were 80.7 per cent on time and its arrivals were 80.8 per cent as per the carrier’s timetable.

Tiger was the poorest performer with only 71.7 per cent of all services taking off on time and 72.2 per cent of all… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 18th, 2011

The country’s largest airline, Qantas, has announced first-half profits of $241 million, an impressive increase on the $58 million declared for the same period a year earlier. The figure is made all the more admirable when the estimated $55 million loss from the grounding of its fleet of six A380 superjumbos following an engine explosion is taken into account.

As well as an increase in net profits, Qantas has announced that it will be extending the leases on a pair of Boeing 737-800s and taking out new leases on five more. The aircraft will be used to strengthen the airline’s presence in the Asian market.

Budget arm Jetstar will have the leases on 11 Airbus 320s extended and Qantas said it will take out an additional 10 leases on new… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on February 17th, 2011

Qantas could face industrial action from its pilots after a meeting between airline bosses and the Australian and International Pilots Association reportedly failed to come to an agreement over job security. According to Barry Jackson, president of the AIPA, Qantas has failed to give guarantees over plans to offshore jobs. The association is due to hold meetings in Melbourne and Sydney to decide how best to resolve the issues it has with the carrier.

In return for guarantees over job security, the union has said it is willing to put a 2.5 per cent limit on wage claims each year. Jackson said the pilots wanted assured career progression and job security and to tie themselves to the airline brand. He added that this was the reason pilots joined Qantas in… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on February 10th, 2011

Qantas is looking carefully at growing its international presence and expanding its long-haul operations as it tries to wrestle market share back from rivals including Emirates and Virgin Blue. Although the country’s largest airline still has the lion’s share of the domestic business market, it has been loosing out on international routes.

According to the Bureau of Transport and Economics, the airline’s long-haul traffic over the last fiscal year dropped by 8 per cent. In 2000 the carrier controlled 35 per cent of the market; now it controls 20 per cent. Jetstar, the carrier’s low-cost division had an 8.1 per cent share at the end of last year and Emirates had a share of 7.9 per cent.

Alan Joyce, Qantas CEO, has announced that he has assembled a team of… Read the full story

by Riley Walker on February 7th, 2011

Airlines including Qantas, Jetstar and Virgin Blue are monitoring the situation in Queensland as they consider whether to resume services to the north in the wake of Cyclone Yasi. Many major tourist destinations are currently breathing a sigh of relief because the damage has been nowhere near as severe as was expected.

Peter O’Reilly, chief executive of Tourism Whitsundays, said many locations had emerged unscathed by the heavy winds with resorts on Hayman Island and Hamilton due to reopen. Airline services are currently cancelled to the region, but could resume by tomorrow if the winds die down and an assessment of damage to airports is made.

Ferry services to the islands are set to resume and Mr O’Reilly confirmed that Hamilton Island’s Great Barrier Reef airport and Proserpine airport had… Read the full story

by Isabella Robinson on February 3rd, 2011

Jetstar chief executive Bruce Buchanan has announced that the airline is looking to take on Far Eastern carriers’ such as Malaysian and Singapore. Speaking at a conference in Singapore, he announced that the carrier is looking to expand in the Chinese market and that a number of destinations had already been identified.

The budget carrier, which is owned by Qantas, will be introducing three new airliners to its fleet. Mr Buchanan said that there was a huge opportunity to attract new customers, as no other airline was currently flying to the destinations from the hub.

With the addition of three new planes, Jetstar will be flying a total of 11 Airbus A330-200s, each of which has a capacity for up to 330 passengers. The airline already serves seven destinations in… Read the full story

by Aadyn Taylor on January 28th, 2011