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.”

The offer comes into effect on most of the carrier"s domestic flights excepting certain popular routes with the initiative applying to spouses of passengers who have purchased an Executive Class ticket on a domestic route.

Air India"s new Spouse Plus scheme would take effect on Wednesday 7th January. Under this offer, the carrier has also waived fuel surcharges. However, both the passengers must have to pay a passenger service fee and user development fee.

Dubai"s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) is to launch the new initiative as part of its efforts to attract a swathe of new tourist arrivals to the country. The proposal features offering attractive discounts on hotel room rates by up to 40 - 60 percent in addition to reducing the cost of food and drinks by about 25 percent.

The campaign will stretch between 10th January and the middle of February, aptly coinciding with the Dubai Shopping Festival 2009.

Travel Money Online service offers consumers a wide choice of over 70 different currencies. Those orders placed before 3pm will be delivered on the next business day directly to any address in the UK.

The service offered by easyJet"s web portal comes as an added bonus to travellers since they are able to get foreign money with zero percent commission. Commenting on their association with easyJet, David Thomas, First Rate"s business development director, said their firm was very pleased to have established the service.

Thousands of UK holidaymakers are finding the traditional week abroad by the sea out of reach due to rising prices at "bargain basement” destinations including Egypt and Turkey and the lower exchange rate of the pound against several currencies.

In addition, several major travel companies including TUI and Thomas Cook have cut the number of their portfolio of holidays by at least two million of their 13 million package holidays as part of their efforts to enhance their profit margins and improve stability.

In the year 2007, number of incoming tourists and spending showed very little change from the previous year, but for 2008, VisitBritain is expecting that tourist arrivals will fall by 2.7 per cent, down to 31.9 million, with total spending showing an increase of 2.5 per cent, up to £16.4 billion.

For 2009, the tourism organisation has predicted an internationally competitive environment. The organisation has warned that the most significant effect will be due to the global economic slump, which might prolong or worsen further. In addition, there is also likelihood that the UK government would extend visa requirements to the nationals of other countries early during this year including Brazil, Malaysia and South Africa. It is said the price of a UK visa might go up which would highlight the difference in pricing between a Schengen visa and the one to enter the UK.

Addressing the Times, Adonis said the development of the airport, which is at present packed to full capacity, would also include investments in new rail links.

He stated, "It"s vital that we have an integrated approach to planning new rail capacity and any new airport capacity that"s also required," Adonis told the newspaper, suggesting that a joint rail-runway proposal could be in the pipeline. It makes good sense to plan improvements to Heathrow and the rail system together.”

Despite Karsten Bentz, a senior Lufthansa executive, refusing to comment on rumours that the German airline is looking to purchase SAS, the Jyllands-Posten daily has cited him, as saying there had been many talks between the two.

He said, "After the German and the Italian markets, the Scandinavian market is the most important for Lufthansa. We want to take an active part in the consolidation that is taking place in the European airline industry, and that subject is often the focus of Lufthansa management meetings.”

A report published by the Post states that the new car parking charges implemented at Liverpool Airport have disappointed some motorists. The airport inaugurated its new multi-storey car park last Thursday, which also saw the dramatic rise in the charges for the former short stay and drop-off car park - now designated as a drop-off area only.

The situation means that motorists must now decide between parking in the drop-off area with the risk of having to pay a high charge if they happen to go over the free 10 minutes, or make use of the cheaper multi-storey car park. Usage of the drop-off car park for the first 10 minutes is free. However, longer stay will invite an additional charge of £2 for every 10 minutes making it £10 for an hour"s stay. However, before the multi-storey opened, the cost of an hour"s stay was only £3. Drivers parking at the multi-storey are charged £1 for up to 20 minutes, £2 for up to 40 minutes, £3 for an hour or £5 for two hours.

Stating the rationale behind the price rise, Neil Phillipson, car park operations manager at Liverpool Airport, said, "The multi-storey car park was opened last week and is designed for short stay parking. As multi-storeys go, it is cheap. We used Manchester Airport as a benchmark. People using the drop-off area now pay more after the initial free 10 minutes because there is less space. However, £1 for 20 minutes in the multi-storey gives people more time to say goodbye.”

The announcement of this free policy by Flybe is part of its effort to enhance the traveller"s confidence in the airline at a time financial difficulties.

Commenting on the strategic importance of this offer, Mike Rutter, Flybe"s chief commercial officer, said that this offer was the airline"s response to "unprecedented" economic times. In addition, the present measure has also taken into account the findings of recent surveys which reveal that financial safety has become one of the major concerns for travellers as the collapse of several airlines in the recent past had left thousands of passengers stranded at foreign airports besides leaving their pockets empty.

The carrier said that the new flight would replace the existing route between Cleveland and London Gatwick. The launch follows requests from the airline"s customers to introduce a non-stop service to Europe"s most important business airport.

Commenting on the strategic importance of the new flight on the route, Cleveland mayor Frank Jackson said it would offer a significant boost to the airline"s business development measures.

The airline has said that passengers will now be able to benefit from more comfortable seats and a better view from the windows, in addition to more space for baggage.

Commenting on the advantageous features of the new aircraft, Adria chairman Tadei Tufek said that the new aircraft was more economical since its fuel consumption was "significantly lower" than the limits permitted by international laws.

Data published recently reveals that the facility has handled the largest increase in passenger turnover for the period. With 487,311 fliers passing through its doors, the number shows a significant increase of about 6.5 percent when compared to the same period in 2007.

It is said that a number of new flights offered to destinations including Cyprus, Italy, Poland and Jersey have helped stimulate the growth, in addition to the decision of other airlines to boost their flight frequency on certain key routes.

A recent report by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Association of British Travel Agents A recent report by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) and the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA) indicates that 2009 will see more British people booking flights to Turkey, Egypt and Mexico.

FCO and ABTA"s 2009 Travel Trends Report says the number of bookings for flights to Egypt from the UK has increased by about 28 percent over the last 12 months. Also, visitors to Turkey has risen by 32 percent. The data reveals that an increasing number of Brits are choosing to travel to countries that don"t have the Euro, mainly on account of the poor exchange rate with the pound.

Commenting on the trend suggested by the data, Frances Tuke, from ABTA, said that travellers had turned "more adventurous" over the last few years, especially because non-eurozone countries offered good value for money options.

The buoyant predictions by the airline come a day after the International Air Transport Association (IATA) reported a 4.6% drop in air passenger traffic during November over the same month in 2007. The association also stated that markets for European carriers in North Americas and Asia had "declined." In fact, Giovanni Bisignani, IATA director general and CEO, had stated that the gloom would stretch forward into 2009 besides predicting "deep losses" by airlines.

However, Richard Tams, BA"s head of sales for the UK and Ireland, remarked, "It"s not all doom and gloom for travel in the current economic climate as destinations such as Dubai and the Caribbean Islands of St Kitts and St Lucia continue to experience growth and investment, so we anticipate greater numbers of customers wanting to travel there. South Africa will be popular thanks to the relative strength of the pound against the rand and the upcoming British Lions tour.”

In a recent test flight, an Air New Zealand jumbo jet left Auckland with a 50-50 mix of jet fuel and oil from jatropha trees in one of its four engines. The two-hour test flight by Boeing 747 over the Hauraki Gulf revealed that the jatropha bio-fuel could be used in airplanes without making any modifications in the engines. The entire exercise forms part of the carrier"s plan to source 10% of its fuel from sustainable sources by 2013.

Air New Zealand"s chief pilot David Morgan, who was on the test flight said, "At an emotional level, it was an exciting day today. We achieved everything we wanted to achieve and it as a significant milestone for the aviation industry, doing the very first jatropha-fuelled flight. We"re thrilled."

During his final press conference of 2008, he said, "We are making the investment in transport to ensure our infrastructure is fit for the needs of the 21st century including a decision on the third runway at Heathrow.”

While he stopped short of saying that he will approve the third runway, The Guardian newspaper reported him as saying that he was prepared to overrule ministerial objections to the runway.

Media reports have indicated that most low-cost airliners have initiated a price war, as they cut fares to attract ever more precious passengers as the recession bites them hard. Ryanair has recently put a million seats on sale for just £15 each across its network as part of cutting down its winter ticket prices by up to 20 percent.

Ryanair"s offer followed that of bmi, which has cut prices on several flights operated to Europe and the Middle East. EasyJet is to announce its seat sale next week.

Last week, BA and Virgin initiated a fares battle by slashing their ticket prices by as much as 25 percent on some flights.