A recent media report has revealed that British Airways is considering buying a stake in GoAir. In a recent article, The Economic Times has stated that BA is debating whether or not to take up a 25 per cent stake in the low-cost Indian carrier.

Citing sources close to the potential deal, the newspaper said that a meeting is scheduled to take place between the two airlines in London somewhere during next month.

Asked about the media speculation, BA declined to comment. However, GoAir said that it "does not have any agreement with any other foreign carrier at the moment".

New figures have revealed that the number of flight arrivals and departures at major UK airports has dropped by about 10 percent. The implication of this situation for the residents of Suffolk is a decrease in the number of noisy planes zooming overhead. However, campaigners claim that the decline noticed at present is temporary.

Forecasts state that traffic will rise once again in the spring, besides growing more rapidly over the coming years on account of expansion projects to be launched at both Heathrow and Stansted airports, in addition to a range of other regional airports.

Industry circles indicate that the current fall in air traffic is due to winter service reductions, in addition to attempts by airlines to deal with financial difficulties besides a significant decrease in the number of air passengers.

Industry forecasts state that this year will see a continued decline in air passenger numbers leading to enormous losses for airlines in Europe.

A recent report published by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), has predicted that the total value of European airline losses would probably reach about $1 billion in 2009.

According to the prediction published by the industry group, it appears falling passenger demand combined with a weakening euro might result in losses that would be ten times the amount witnessed in 2008.

In a statement made on Tuesday, EU"s competition watchdog said the European Commission has decided to extend its review of a bid by Lufthansa to take over smaller Belgian rival Brussels Airlines.

The Commission confirmed that the deadline for its review of the deal was extended to 26th January from 12th January, with the total worth of the deal estimated at EUR250 million euros (USD$337 million). The commission said the move followed its interest to examine commitments targeted at remedying the concerns that the transaction might be anti-competitive.

The announcement was part of a daily list of mergers presently under review by the Commission, which supervises competition in the 27-country European Union. However, it declined to give any further details.

Morningstar analyst Basili Alukos observed, "I can"t see any of the airlines filing for bankruptcy unless you see demand drop like 30 percent. I think they"re in a lot stronger shape. Prices have come up across the whole spectrum.”

Clawing their way out of a downturn due to high fuel prices during the first half of 2008, most airlines were compelled to reduce the number of seats for sale during the second half in an effort to improve efficiency and support fares. However, plummeting oil prices from July insulated the carriers from the economic difficulties that challenged other industries.

The survey involved about 3,500 Britons, and has discovered that about 54 per cent of them have planned to take their summer holidays in the UK. Most of them said that they would prefer heading to the coast, with around 13 per cent said they would prefer visiting Blackpool. On the other hand, fifteen per cent stated they would be going for their holidays in the south-west.

Commenting on the survey data, Guy Parsons, the managing director of Travelodge, said this was great news for the country"s domestic tourism industry. However, he stressed that Britain was not doing its best to attract foreign tourists, who are most likely to visit to take advantage of the strength of the euro against the pound.

CAA said with every consecutive week, applications made by aviation companies for destinations and flight numbers have been increasing which has helped achieve a rate of 108 return weekly flights by the time it was four weeks from the inception of the programme.

The terms of an accord signed by China and Taiwan in November permitted a maximum of 108 weekly charters on the basis of a framework that had been set up in July during when weekend non-stop charters were launched.

Before the ruling was issued, passengers were not able to claim any compensation on grounds of flights delays or cancellations attributed to "extreme circumstances." This was because there was no clear definition of such circumstances and a loophole enabled technical faults to be treated under this exemption.

However the judges have now ruled that faults "which come to light during maintenance of aircraft or on account of failure to carry out such maintenance do not constitute, in themselves, extraordinary circumstances." The court has added that problems ensuing from lack of maintenance should be regarded as "inherent in the normal exercise of an air carrier"s activity.

Finnair, which offers 4 daily round-trips connecting Heathrow and its Helsinki hub, will shift its operations from Terminal 1 to Terminal 3 on 27 January. Iberia will shift its operations on 25 February from Terminal 2 to Terminal 3. The Spanish airline offers about eight daily services from Heathrow to Madrid in addition to four daily flights to Barcelona.

Four weeks later on 25th February, BA will complete its shifting out of Terminal 1, with its final flights offered to destinations including Barcelona, Madrid, Lisbon, Nice and Helsinki moving to Terminal 3. Following this, on 29th March, BA will transfer its routes serving Malaga and Vienna from Terminal 5 to Terminal 3. Also, BA"s Executive Club lounge in Terminal 1 is scheduled to close on 27th January.

Commenting on the strategic importance of introducing flights on this new route, Mike Coombes, Air Southwest"s deputy chief executive, stated that Grenoble represented an excellent winter ski destination.

Talking about the benefits offered by this service to skiers in the region, he said, "Air Southwest is delighted that it can offer ski breaks for people from across the region right on their doorstep, without having to take a long road journey to fly from a distant airport. Our new flights direct from Plymouth and Newquay have been extremely well received and this new service further demonstrates Air Southwest"s commitment to Devon and Cornwall.”