British Airways has confirmed orders for a fleet of 11 new generation fuel-efficient aircraft, which assure unrivalled levels of space and comfort on board. BA CityFlyer, the wholly owned subsidiary of BA is to take delivery of the first of its new Embraer aircraft, which will be operated exclusively from London City Airport starting from September 2009.

The airline has also placed firm orders for six Embraer 170 and five Embraer 190SR efficiency jets, labelled as E-jets, besides opting for three more. As per current list prices, the total worth of the investment would be US$376 million.

The airline said the new aircraft will replace the current fleet of 10 Avro RJ100 and two RJ85 aircraft operated by BA CityFlyer, adding that the key concern in ordering these new aircraft is that they are greener and more fuel efficient reporting lower carbon dioxide emissions. The Embraer 190SRs and Embraer 170s will serve on routes from London City Airport to Scotland, Ireland and Europe.

A price war is breaking out in the airline industry with several major airlines slashing their fares to their lowest levels since the Eighties. Several leading carriers afeel compelled to implement a cut of about 25% in their ticket charges amidst mounting fears that the economic downturn might give way to a post-Christmas slump in the demand for air travel.

British Airways has already announced its New Year sale featuring a significant reduction in ticket price to over 75 destinations. Now, a return flight to New York is priced only at £259. Following BA"s announcement, Virgin Atlantic has attempted to hit back by undercutting BA by £1 on fares to a number of destinations including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

Following last month"s terror attacks in Mumbai, return tickets to India have also come down with BA reducing its prices to Delhi by £121 to £359, Mumbai by £91 to £329 and Calcutta by £71 to £359.

The UK Government"s decision over whether to permit or suspend the expansion of Heathrow Airport has been held back until January.

In a statement made to parliament, Geoff Hoon, the transport secretary, said that the issue needed further consultation and called on all segments of the political spectrum to help the government come to an appropriate conclusion.

BAA, the owner of the UK"s largest airport, urges that the third runway at the facility be completed by 2020 claiming that it could help the operator increase the number of flights from 480,000 in a year to more than 700,000.

Lufthansa has initiated its bid for the ailing Austrian Airlines on Wednesday with the carrier"s board approving a plan to make it Europe"s biggest carrier.

The Frankfurt-based airline said it would be willing to pay around EUR377 million euros (USD$476 million) in a deal based on performance. The carrier conveyed its interest in Austrian in August, the pair have been holding exclusive talks on this deal since November.

The German carrier said it would pay an initial EUR366,000 to buy the 42 percent stake held by the Austrian government, assuring a further EUR162 million for it eventually, provided Austrian"s future performance and Lufthansa share price facilitated it.

British Airways has recently stated it did not view its proposed merger deals with Iberia and Qantas and a tie-up with American Airlines as alternatives adding that all these moves could happen if regulators approve.

In a statement made on Wednesday, BA"s group treasurer George Stinnes said, "We"d be very happy to consummate all these transactions. It"s certainly not an "either-or" situation.”

The airline said on Tuesday that it was examining a potential merger with Australian carrier Qantas Airways besides continuing its discussions regarding a possible merger with Spanish carrier Iberia.

A recent survey has revealed that about ten times as many UK businesses back the idea of a fast rail link to the North in place of expanding Heathrow. A survey report published by Continental Research, business-polling specialists says not more than 4% feel expanding Heathrow would help their business. It is said this is the first reliable business survey report about Heathrow expansion plans. The research covered a wide range of five hundred businesses across the UK including those from multi-nationals to small manufacturers. In each of these cases, the survey interviewed the Finance Director or his equivalent.

The results of the survey reveal that 4% of British businesses feel they will benefit from expanding Heathrow, while a vast majority of 95% said it would rather make little or no difference. On the other hand, about 23% of businesses said they would be certainly helped by a new high-speed rail line to the North, which has been proposed by David Cameron. When questioned specifically whether which would help their business more, about 37% of businesses chose the rail link while only 4% chose Heathrow.

Chris Shaw of Restore UK remarked, "This proves how wrong the Government is to say that British business is crying out for Heathrow expansion. In fact, only a tiny proportion of businesses stand to benefit. Given the level of opposition amongst MPs, campaigners, and concerned members of the public - let alone the people who live under the proposed flight path or face having their homes demolished - now is the time for the Government to drop these massively unpopular plans.”

Aegean Airlines, the Greek carrier, announced its decision on Friday to cut ticket surcharges by up to 3 euros (USD$3.84) on its domestic and international flights in response to the falling price of oil.

Greece"s largest private carrier increased the surcharges in July at a time when oil prices reached USD$146. However, this week, the oil price touched USD$43, which was the lowest for the past four years.

In a statement, the firm said, "Due to the drop in oil prices, Aegean is reducing surcharges on domestic and international routes tickets by two and three euros respectively, starting from January.”

On 2nd December, Australian cheap flights carrier Jetstar launched a new daily service connecting Perth and Singapore. The new route follows the launch of yet another flight service by the carrier linking Perth and the Indonesian capital Jakarta. In addition, the carrier has also stated that its route network will see one more addition offering a new connection between Perth and Bali scheduled to commence on 17th December.

Jetstar chief executive officer Bruce Buchanan said while commenting on the new routes that they are most likely to make a "significant contribution" to the carrier"s near-Asian growth strategy.

He stated, "Perth has excitingly become Jetstar"s seventh international market in Australia and will ably support our continued expansion of low fare services between Australia, Asia and beyond.”

Leeds Bradford International Airport (LBIA) has recently announced about 20 percent reduction on long-stay car parking for customers who book online in advance.

The airport has recently re-launched its online pre-book car parking facility. By way of celebrating the launch, the airport offers its customers more parking options in addition to announcing attractive discounts in parking charges.

Commenting on the reduction, Tony Hallwood, LBIA commercial and aviation director, observed that the airport was keen to give something back to its customers by introducing a cut on its pre-booked car parking charges.

Flybe, Europe"s largest regional airline has published its 2009 summer schedule, which features new services to Jersey. In addition, the airline has increased the frequency of its flights on many of its key routes.

Flybe"s summer schedule takes effect on 29th March, which sees new routes being introduced to Jersey from Inverness, Dundee and Manston in Kent. Apart from these additions, Flybe will also operate a greater number of flights from Birmingham, Doncaster/Sheffield, Cardiff, Exeter and Newcastle. The summer schedule of the carrier would run until 7th September.

Discussing the salient features of the summer schedule, Mike Rutter, Flybe"s chief commercial officer, observed that it would enable the airline to strengthen the network of its operations across the UK and Europe.

In a recent announcement, JetBlue Airways has announced that it will introduce two new international routes offering connections to Fort Lauderdale Hollywood International Airport in south Florida.

The US-based airline will offer a daily flight service to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic and Cancun in Mexico from May 2009. The service would be a non-stop one. However, the launch is subject to endorsement from the US government operating authority.

While describing the unique advantages of the proposed new routes, Marty St George, vice president of planning at JetBlue, observed, "We invite you to experience our low fares and lots of frills on our newest service between Fort Lauderdale and the Caribbean.”

Comedian Mark Thomas and the novelist Will Self joined 1,000 protesters to sign a petition opposing a proposed 400-metre extension of Birmingham International Airport"s main runway on environmental grounds. The total estimate of the project is £120 million.

The protestors dubbed it Flyagra, meaning "the miracle treatment that really keeps you up”. Two Liberal Democrat councillors accepted the petition. It is said that on 15th December, Borough planners would decide whether the extended runway should be approved. At present, the proposal has a strong backing by the political leadership of all seven West Midlands metropolitan councils, which includes Solihull. If approved, the runway could be in place by 2012.

Local authority leaders state that a longer runway is desperately needed to operate non-stop flights from Birmingham to India, China and the west coast of America. They claim that the extension would boost the region"s economy besides creating thousands of jobs and attracting inward investment.

BAA has accepted to delegate auditors to supervise the disposal of its London Gatwick airport, who would have the responsibility to report to the competition watchdog regarding the transparency and fairness of the process.

Following a discussion with the Competition Commission, the firm has commissioned Grant Thornton as shadow monitoring trustee in an attempt to rule out concerns among potential bidders and airlines operating at Gatwick regarding the proceeding of the entire deal.

It is said the final binding bids could be demanded by late March. However, the timing is still open.