Virgin Atlantic, one of the world's largest long-haul carriers, today turned out to be the first carrier to announce that Economy Class travellers will pay lower fuel charges than passengers travelling in Premium Class.

It will be for the first time that the fuel charges will go up by different sums to reflect the higher quantities of fuel used per traveller, and greater luggage allowances, in both Upper Class and Premium Economy cabins.

The fuel prices continue to be at record highs, recently reaching $135 a barrel, resulting to higher prices for various items including gas, electricity and petrol at stations.

Air Berlin, the German carrier, has walked out on its goal for full-year profits and said that it would cut all the non-profitable routes from its network in order to deal with increasing fuel costs.

The carrier still hopes to reach an operating profit for the full year based on the current prices of jet fuel but it has abandoned its estimate for 2008 earnings before interest and tax of 73 million euros to 120 million euros.

In a statement released on Thursday, the carrier said, "As a result of the current difficult market environment, in particular the high fuel prices, it is anticipated that operating income will be adversely affected during the further course of the year, making it difficult to obtain the envisaged EBIT corridor".

From May 28th, SWISS will be offering its clients culinary delights from Switzerland's capital, Bern.

Gregor Zimmermann, executive chef at the Bellevue Palace, the 5-star establishment located adjacent to the Swiss parliament building in Bern, has invented some new combinations exclusively for the airline's First and Business Class customers in association with food service provider, Gate Gourmet.

The new innovations will be offered on SWISS flights until 26th August in a new chapter of the carrier's 'SWISS Taste of Switzerland' in-flight catering idea.

SWISS will be increasing its fares a little at the end of the month of May. For a SWISS flight from Switzerland, the ticket prices will be increased by nearly 2.5 per cent.

As the crude oil prices have touched historic highs during the last few weeks and months, which are also unlikely to come down in short as well as long term perspective, the carrier has reached at the decision to follow its rivals and raise its fares slightly. It should not be surprising to the passengers as almost all the airlines of the world are made to increase prices by some percentage.

The ticket price of a SWISS flight from Switzerland will thus be increased by an average of around 2.5 per cent on the 27th of May. So, you will need to adjust your budget according to this new price if you want to fly with SWISS after 27th of May.

After the deal inked in the month of November and introducing Spanair's mobile boarding service. Spanair and Vodafone have now pulled out their collaboration to include spanair.mobi on Vodafone live, which would be very beneficial for the passengers.

As part of its pledge to mobility services, Spanair has created its portal spanair.mobi that allows accessibility from all mobile phones with a direct internet access without paying any extras.

The introduction of spanair.mobi on Vodafone Live allows nearly 10 million users having a Vodafone Live handset to have access to a number of services including Check-in, flight changes, consulting the times and flight status; and Information on Spanair, the new Spanair x 4 structure, checking their Spanair Plus points, offers, Spanair hotels and Express sales,

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, has revealed that it will start 14 new routes from the month of October this year, including 5 new locations and 3 new routes from Glasgow Prestwick Airport. This is great news for passengers of Ryanair as they would have wider schedule to choose from and more options of destinations to travel to.

The Irish based low fares carrier will launch these new routes from its bases in Glasgow, Marseille, Bournemouth and Bremen and will bring the total number of routes it serves to 660. The grand total also includes its services to 4 new airports at Lille in France and Agadir, Tangier and Nadoe in Morocco. Truly, this would be a great advancement in recent times when other airlines are struggling to maintain some of the routes in the wake of rising oil costs through the world.

The new routes that the low-cost carrier will be launching during the week ending 27th October include: Bremen to: Gothenburg, Fuerteventura, Tenerife and Marrakesh; Bournemouth to: Paris and Milan; Glasgow to: Malaga, Faro, Tenerife; and Marseille to: Brest, Agadir, Nador, Tangier and Lille. So, if you are planning to visit any of these destinations, you can book a ticket with Ryanair.

The new route of Jet2Holidays.com-the low fares carrier-from Leeds Bradford to New York has proven to be very popular with female customers more than male passengers.

The budget carrier has revealed that 72 per cent of the seats on the route have been booked by female travellers. The carrier said that should this trend persist, its route from Leeds to NY, which was introduced on 8th May, would turn out to be the most popular route for female passengers out of Yorkshire.

Jet2holidays.com's general manager, Mandy Round, said, "We knew this would be a popular route for Christmas shoppers, but we didn't anticipate it would have such a strong female bias.

After running a successful trial for its premium upgrade service, Jet2Plus, the Leeds Bradford airport-based low fares carrier, Jet2, has said that the service is being made available from all of its 6 bases in the UK and on all flights taking off from the UK over 2 hours' journey, a total of 27 destinations. Now passengers of Jet2 would be able to take advantage of this scheme from all the airports where the airlines operates.

Jet2 passengers leaving from its bases at Leeds Bradford, Belfast International, Edinburgh, Blackpool, Newcastle and Manchester will be able to take advantage of the its premium upgrade service for an additional £24.99 per head.

The benefits offered in the service include: Priority check-in; Security fast track; VIP lounge access with complimentary drinks and snacks; Seating in the front cabin; and Premium in-flight meal and drink. So, you can expect a lot of improvement in the services and surely you will have an enjoyable air travel.

Spain's Iberia said on Thursday that it would give up its bid for Spanair, shortly after the Chairman said that the carrier was reconsidering its stand on the move due to tough times in the industry.

In a statement issued to the Spanish Stock Exchange after the closing of the market, Iberia said that it would take out its bid as there was no agreement on conditions of the offer.

Shares of the airline all over the world have been affected in recent months as a result of a huge rise in oil prices and a slowdown in economic development, making its bid steeper than when the board of the Spanish carrier passed an offer in the month of February.

British Airways, the flag carrier of United Kingdom, announced an additional £60 fuel surcharges on its long-distance return flights. The biggest rise in fuel surcharge in the carrier's history comes just a month after its earlier price rise.

The rise in BA's fuel surcharge will mean an additional burden of £200 on a family of four that is already paying £672 in surcharges.

The fuel surcharge comes at a time when households are struggling with high food and fuel bills and only weeks ahead of the beginning of the holiday season. More than 5 million travellers a month will leave from UK airports and around 1.2 million of these will travel with BA.

British Airways, one of the largest airlines in Europe, will carry out the shifting of its long-haul services from Terminal four to Terminal five in two phases.

In an announcement made on 28th May on its official website, the flag carrier of United Kingdom revealed that it had come to its decision together with BAA, the airport operator.

Some of the remaining long-haul services will be shifted on the 17th of September, including its flights to destinations such as Sao Paulo, Mumbai, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City and Philadelphia. So, passengers who are taking any of these flights, they will have to take the flights from the existing terminal only and after 17th of September, the flights will be shifted to Terminal 5.

Today, Virgin Atlantic celebrates its 20th anniversary of its operations on the route between London Gatwick Airport and Orlando. This is a great landmark in the aviation industry and no wonder that Virgin has fulfilled its promise by being one of the most preferred airlines among the passengers.

To mark the occasion, the carrier has joined forces with Walt Disney World to present Mickey and Minnie Mouse ears to the children flying on the Orlando flights today.

Furthermore, a 'Disney Dream' will be offered by Disney to one lucky family in honour of the Year of a Million Dreams 2 celebrations presently being held in the resorts.

On Wednesday two leading carriers in Australasia, Qantas and Air New Zealand shrunk their wings in the face of rising fuel prices, with Qantas cutting more seats.

Air New Zealand predicted a steep fall in its annual profits and said that it would replace its planes with more fuel-efficient aircrafts on some long-haul routes and keep on reviewing ticket prices, network of routes and costs.

In a statement, Qantas Chief Executive Geoff Dixon said, "We have to look harder at areas where we do have control".

Confirm your bookings by the 31st of May free seats: Aer Lingus, the Irish-based carrier, is offering free seats on flights on all of its UK routes. This could sound a bit ridiculous but the airlines is offering free seats on all UK routes offered by Aer Lingus.

Those who will make bookings by Saturday will be able to purchase tickets for flights to a number of destinations across the nation by paying only the taxes and charges.

Travel period runs until the 31st of December, 2008 and travellers must note that there may be limited seats available on some flights, which is quite obvious noting the nature of the offer made by the airlines.

The long-established formal closure of Berlin Tempelhof Airport in the month of October has added force to the decision of ExecuJet Aviation Group to open out its facilities at Berlin-Schänefeld Airport.

It is projected that almost 90 per cent of the German capital's general and private jet air traffic will be shifted from Tempelhof to Schänefeld from this autumn.

Prior to the result of the Public Referendum on 27th April, ExecuJet started a major improvement of its Fixed Base Operation (FBO) and began to aggressively court private jet operators, who will be required to have fresh handling arrangements.

VLM Airlines, the business airline, has said that it will fly more flights to the Isle of Man in order to deal with an increased demand from those who want to see this year's TT Races. This is great news for fans of TT Races, as they will be able to take flights with widened schedule.

The airline will fly 3 additional flights operating on: Friday, the 30th of May; Saturday, the 31st of May; and Saturday, the 7th of June from London City Airport. So, this is a great chance if you want to visit Isle of Man.

The business airline is operating the additional flights to compensate for reduced services to the Isle of Man due to the failure of EuroManx.

American Airlines said that it would scrap its services between John F. Kennedy Airport New York and Stansted Airport on the 2nd of July.

The service between JFK and Stansted was started in the month of October last year. The US carrier will continue to operate its full schedule of services between New York JFK and London Heathrow Airport.

A spokesman for the carrier said that the decision of cutting its Stansted route was one of the several first-round reductions to the carrier's services as part of the carrier's plans to cut capacity in an attempt to considerably reduce costs and establish a more sustainable between supply and demand in the market. Recently, due to fuel costs rising, many airlines have scrapped many flights around the world. However, American Airlines is cutting flights to make the services more sustainable.

Advantage Rent A Car has vowed to run out to be the most environmentally-friendly car rental firm in the US over the period of the coming two years.

Mr. Denny Hecker made this announcement late yesterday, when he appeared at the American Car Rental show arranged in Las Vegas with a green T-shirt.

Mr. Hecker set off the demanding pledge of becoming the first car-hire company in the United States to have an 'all green' fleet of cars.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) have demanded for airlines to be taken in the emissions trading programme a year before the scheduled time. With increased carbon emissions from travel and tourism, environmental groups are also stressing the need of emissions trading.

According to the Guardian reports, members of the environment committee of the parliament want to see airlines included in bidding for carbon credits by the year 2011 rather than the year targeted earlier by the EU, 2012. However, the decision is yet to be taken.

Caroline Lucas, UK Green MEP, who has worked against development at London Heathrow and Stansted airports, said, "This vote demonstrates the Parliament's determination to get tough with the aviation sector".

Next week, Dubai's position as a growing international air travel hub will be brought to light with the opening of Airport Show.

The show, which will be attended by more than 600 traders from 40 countries, is expected to attract more than 6,000 visitors. This year, the show has grown by almost twelve percent in accordance with the current air travel boom across the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

Makers and dealers coming from all over the world to take part in the show have key incentives.

Low-cost airline bmibaby has started its new service to Warsaw at Birmingham International Airport. This is great development for passengers who are looking to visit Poland as they will be able take flights from Birmingham Airport.

The budget carrier operated its first flight to the Polish capital on the 27th of May. The new service will be operated three times per week on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

One-way tickets are available at a price starting from only £21.99. Fares are inclusive of all taxes and charges. Passengers can now book their seats via the airline's website at www.bmibaby.com.

Eastern Airways has uncovered its plans to change the terminal from which it operates its services at Birmingham International Airport.

In a statement issued on the 27th of May, the carrier said that by next month, it would be flying from the airport's Terminal 1 and not from Terminal 2. So, passengers would need to take care while taking flights of Eastern Airways at Birmingham International Airport.

The airline's shifting will take place on the 4th of June and will be a permanent alteration of the terminals and all the flights would be taken from the new terminal.

On Tuesday, Alitalia, the ailing Italian carrier, said that it posted a 2007 loss of 495 million euros and said once again that it needed fresh capital quickly to keep operating. The decision of the government is still waiting about possible funding for the airlines.

In a statement, the Italian carrier said that the loss was narrower than a loss of about 627 million euros in the year-earlier period, after a 197 million euros record on its fleet pulled the results down, but it was still wider than 363.9 million euros pre-tax loss for the year 2007 revealed in the month of February.

The carrier's finances have been falling rapidly, making it a matter of concern that whether it can prevent bankruptcy following an intended takeover by Air France-KLM fell apart.

airBaltic, the Latvian airline, will start operating direct services from RÄ«ga to the Russian resort town of Sochi from the  18th of June, this year.

In the beginning, the carrier will operate its services two times a week: on Wednesdays and Saturdays. This is great news for passengers of airBaltic as they would be able to travel to Russia with more availability of flights.

Bertolt Flick, airBaltic president and CEO, said, "Sochi is a wonderful destination, because it offers all types of recreation, whether swimming, skiing, beaches or mountains.

Delta Air Lines will carry on its industry-leading development between the US and the Middle East with its new non-stop service to Kuwait City, Kuwait from Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, scheduled to be started on 7th November.

Delta's new service supports its leadership position in the region, adding to its existing services from New York-JFK to Istanbul and Tel Aviv; from Atlanta to Dubai and Tel Aviv; and new link from New York-JFK to Cairo (beginning on 5th June) and Amman (beginning on 6th June).

World's fourth richest nation, Kuwait was the only key destination in the Middle East not served by Delta.

In next to no time, more passengers travelling to and from London with Singapore Airlines will be able to enjoy the airline's world-famous A380 cabin products and flying experience.

The carrier is to introduce an additional A380 service on the route between Singapore and London, operating on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays.

The world's largest passenger plane will be used to operate the carrier's flights SQ 318 (from Singapore to London Heathrow), and the SQ 321 (returning flight). This is in addition to the airline's existing daily A380 service offered on flights SQ 322 (from Singapore to London) and SQ 317 (from London to Singapore).

A top official of Austrian Airlines has gone public with his disagreement to a promising alliance between the Austrian flag carrier and Lufthansa-the Germany based carrier.

Alfred Junghans, a member of the supervisory board of the carrier, said that he did not think that an alliance with the German carrier was in the best interest of Austrian Airlines, arguing that the carrier should look to work with Air France-KLM, reports Forbes. So, Lufthansa will possibly not be able to set up an alliance with Austrian Airlines.

His logic is that Lufthansa operates 3 key locations within 400 km of the Vienna International Airport, the home base of Austrian Airlines, and this would surely mean that the long-haul routes of the Austrian flag carrier would be considerably cut, in order to promote Germany's national carrier.

Silverjet, the Luton Airport based all business carrier, is still positive that it will get its rescue package of £12.6 million as its supporters are still interested in investing, an airline spokesman told travelmole.com.

On Friday, the all-business class airline requested that the trading of its shares be put on hold on the London stock exchange due to delays in getting the funds it requires to keep operating. There is much speculation about the possibility of the airlines being able to operate the flights, but as assured by the spokesman, there are still chances that the airlines would be able to get the funds and operate again in the business of air travel.

While it remains hopeful, Mike Stoddart of city business Daniel Stewart, a persistent reviewer of the carrier, has said it is unlikely that Silverjet's shares will again get listed.

In times when most airline companies are trying to cut costs and reduce traveller services, the French flag carrier Air France's announcement regarding the up gradations to its in-flight entertainment serves is really good news for customers.

Now, passengers travelling on Air France's long-haul services will not only be enjoying a wider choice of music, but they can be able to enjoy the carrier's offering alternatively on a monthly basis, offering a variety for them. What's more, passengers will also be enjoying some of the latest songs.

Travellers in all the cabins of Air France's long-haul flights can choose from 15 categories of music, which allows them to make a choice from a total of two-hundred CDs of music and an impressive 3,000 individual tracks per flight.

North's low fares carrier, Jet2.com, has put some sunny Canary routes on sale, offering UK sun-lovers the chance to get some winter warmth. Jet2.com is famous for offering low-cost flights to its passengers to some of the most preferred destinations around the world, and no wonder that this offer would also be welcomed by its passengers.

The flights on winter sun routes will take off from Blackpool, Manchester, Leeds Bradford and Newcastle to Tenerife, and Lanzarote will be offered from Leeds Bradford, Newcastle and Manchester. It is clear that passengers are offered a wide variety of choices to take the flights and destinations.

The airlines is offering one way tickets at a price starting from as little as £59.99, including all the taxes.

A new route to Turkey from Glasgow Prestwick International Airport has been launched by Scottravel Holidays. This is a wonderful opportunity for people of Glasgow to visit Turkey, which is growing in popularity as a preferred destination among holidaymakers.

The airline started operating the new service from the Scottish airport on the 26th of May.

The carrier will operate its flights to Dalaman once in a week, and from there holidaymakers can enjoy an easy access to a number of popular holiday destinations including Icmeler, Ovacik, Marmaris and Olu Deniz. So, you just need to plan your itinerary and you will be able to visit all the famous spots of this beautiful country.

Flybe, the low-cost carrier, has asserted that all bookings confirmed with collapsed carrier EuroManx will be honoured. This is welcome news for passengers of EuroManx who had booked the tickets with the airlines but are not able to fly with it. Flybe will be offering them the travel.

According to the carrier's chiefs, claims made by travellers that they have not been relocated without charging an additional fee as assured are unfounded, reports iomtoday.co.im.

A couple from the Isle of Man, Sarah and Cedric Flower, have said that they were informed that they would not be able to change their ticket if they don't have the written proof of the booking they had made through telephone.

bmi, the low cost carrier, is carrying out tests for a new boarding pass which is sent directly to the mobile phones of customers.

bmi passengers travelling on routes from London Heathrow Airport to Manchester, Belfast and Edinburgh will be able to have the chance of experiencing the new paper-less feature, sent as a text message directly to their mobile phones and displaying a barcode which will be scanned at security and at the boarding entrance. The barcode will be valid for use only once. This is a new development and if it goes successful in its experimentation, it would be a revolutionary concept to avoid paper-based boarding passes.

The carrier is hopeful that the new service will help reducing the amount of time travellers spend at the airport, as it allows those who have no baggage to avoid check-in and have the boarding pass directly without spending too much of time at check-in lines.

The economy minister said on Tuesday that a government decree converting an emergency loan of EUR 300 million euros to Alitalia into an asset on the books of the struggling carrier will come into effect this week, which will be very decisive in the fate of the airlines.

The decision, which according to the government is a temporary move, is made to secure auditor blessing for the unstable finances of the ailing airline.

The board of the struggling carrier was meeting on Tuesday to pass its 2007 accounts, but it may need to consider the decree published in the Official Gazette before going ahead with the earlier plans.

As OpenSkies, the new Europe to US flights subsidiary of British Airways, gets ready for start-an online marketing shot for the new carrier has been opened. British Airways is spending considerable time for the development of its subsidiary and it won't be surprising if we some more developments in the coming future.

The new drive, developed with Web Liquid-a digital agency-aims at the premium leisure and business travel segments, by making use of social media along with normal search and display arrangements of marketing.

For the promotion of the carrier's opening route between New York and the French capital city of Paris, display ads will appear on a number of New York-based sites including The New York Times, Bloomberg.com and The Wall Street Journal, and the search keywords will include 'premium flights to New York' and 'business travel to Paris'. This is a great development for air travel to the cities of New York and Paris.

Lufthansa, Germany-based carrier would begin operating five flights from the Indian city of Kolkata to Frankfurt from the coming week. This is a very good development for relationship between two countries-India and Germany.

The new air link would encourage exchange with Germany, and Bavaria. It would be a significant development for both the countries as lots of passengers from India travel to Germany and now they will be able to take flights directly to Frankfurt from one of the metros.

Bengal looked at Bavaria as a joint business partner which could play an important role in the development of the state, the chief minister of West Bengal, Buddhadeb Bhattarcharjee, said at the Bengal-Bavaria Business summit 2008.

Besides ensuring sustainable water for Cebu, the Buhisan Watershed Rehabilitation Project will also make the lives of local people better.

The plans uncovered yesterday include the creation of a nature park with a tree-planting drive guided by the Philippine Business for Social Progress (PBSP), Visayas. This effort is being put in to increase the awareness about sustainable tourism sites across the world.

Engr. Jun L. Sarmiento, manager of Lexmark International Philippines Inc, said, "The goals of this project are to ensure sustainable water to the city, improve the quality of life of 498 families in Buhisan, and promote Buhisan as an eco-tourism destination".

While speaking after the meeting of IACA Board of Directors in Brussels, Christoph Mueller, the President of IACA, asked the European Parliament's ENVI committee to make out the harsh truth of the present situation of air travel business and to choose an effective and affordable Emissions Trading System (ETS).

The Board of IACA keeps on supporting the inclusion of air travel into the EU ETS and remains devoted to deal with the environment responsibilities of their members.

However, it has serious issues with the Rapporteur's (Peter Liese MEP) panel draft changes which suggest 100 per cent auctioning from 2013 and a closed trading system for air travel business.

This year, summer in Brest will set off with a big hit: cyclists are going to take part in 'Tour de France' and only a week later, Brest will host superb sailing vessels from all over the world.

Leaving on the 5th of July, the Tour de France will include a route of nine km passing through the centre of the town. It will give the public an opportunity to be witnesses of this great event, as they can gather on the side roads.

Between 11th and 17th July, ships and crews of the international maritime heritage will draw together in Brest attracting large number of viewers.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, highlighted its negative response to permit third parties to put up its flights for sale at a travel conference in London last week, reports Travelmole. There was a big demand for the airlines to start doing it but it has supported its decision which was in negative to such an idea.

The Irish-based budget carriers head of sales and marketing, Sinead Finn, told representatives that such a decision will have a negative impact on its passengers and fly in the face of its aim of driving ticket prices down, which are increasing almost every day.

Ms. Sinead Finn told representatives at the Eye for Travel Distribution Summit conference that the company felt permitting online travel agents and Global Distribution Systems to put up its flights for sale would net rates increase and bring about higher ticket prices for the customers..

Plans have been uncovered by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and Delta Air Lines for the huge redevelopment of two terminals at John F. Kennedy International Airport.

The Port Authority Board of Commissioners has approved a $20 million (approximately £10 m) planning study for the reconstruction of Terminal 2 and 3 at the airport.

Operated by Delta Air Lines, the terminals handle more than 9 million of a total of 48 million passengers using the airport in a year, and are the oldest traveller facilities at JFK.

An intercontinental team of 'Premier Aussie Specialists' recently acted as judges for the opening 'Travelling in Australia Magazine (TIAM) 20 Best Experiences Awards'.

Proudly backed by Virgin Blue, the Awards included 20 categories: Best Eco, Dive, Adventure, Spa, Indigenous, Paddle, and Luxury Experiences are some of the categories covered.

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