Air France KLM has recently announced that it will offer high-speed rail travel in addition to adjusting its winter seat capacity to manage the rising fuel costs. Notably, the airline is the biggest in the world in terms of revenues. Earlier this year, the carrier pulled out of a bid to release Italy's Alitalia. The airline is competing with the emerging transatlantic partnership between British Airways, American Airlines and Spain's Iberia.

In its one of its statements addressed to the media, the airline confirmed that it was seriously considering a high-speed rail alliance with Veolia, the French utility that operates several rail connections. However, Veolia is not very active with respect to high-speed travel, which is dominated by state-owned firms like SNCF, Deutsche Bahn, Thalys and Eurostar.

An Air France-KLM spokesman noted, "As part of the opening to competition of rail transport in 2010, Air France and Veolia are looking into the possibility of a partnership to create a new high-speed rail player on the European scene. We are reviewing the feasibility and possibility of such a project, but it is too early to discuss its terms."

In a highly welcomed move, easyJet, the low cost airline has introduced a brand new service connecting London Gatwick Airport with the French seaside resort of Biarritz.

On its launch, the low-cost carrier is to offer four times weekly services to this most popular southwestern town. The flights under this service are scheduled to depart four times a week, with flights available on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The airline has also introduced most attractive one-way fares starting from just £25.99. Amazingly, this price included all taxes and other charges. The airline is highly positive that this route shall prove to be highly popular among the passengers flying to the region. The airline says it expects not less than 10,000 passengers who would take advantage of this amazing offer and make their flight during the first year.

According to a recent newspaper report, American Airlines, British Airways and Spain's Iberia are just about to finalize an antitrust immunity to give way to a joint venture. Citing the executives of the three airlines, the Financial Times noted that the airlines aim to reach an accord on profit and revenue sharing during this month.

American and BA are intending to argue a case with US regulators since they both feel that the competitive landscape has been changed due to the "open skies" accord. Notably, the open skies agreement came into force between the United States and the European Union in March, permitting airlines to access any US city from any location in the EU and vice versa.

The agreement assures to increase the competition between different carriers besides cutting ticket prices and eventually give way for transatlantic mergers to create the first global airlines. BA and American are also arguing that the recent wave of mergers and new alliances have invariably made many of their biggest transatlantic rivals grow stronger, which have antitrust immunity with their partners across the North Atlantic. This has been told in the paper.

In a significant move, Jet2 has announced two brand new routes from Belfast International Airport for the year 2009. Through the new routes, the airline has decided to operate new flights to the beautiful and scenic Channel Island of Jersey and Menorca's sun-soaked Balearic Island. With the launch of these new routes, the number of routes operated by the airline from its North Ireland base increases to 13.

MD at Jet2, Philip Meeson noted, "We are dedicated to providing our customers with more choice when it comes to their holiday. The launch of these new routes means even more people can take advantage of our great fares and leading customer service."

Managing director at the Belfast airport, John Doran observed, "We are delighted with Jet2's continued commitment to Northern Ireland's travellers. Jersey has long been a popular destination with holidaymakers in Northern Ireland and we are delighted that this, alongside the introduction of the Menorca route, will bring the number of direct scheduled routes available from Belfast International to 48."

Recently, Virgin Atlantic announced that it has planned to encourage more and more of its passengers to take the benefit of the online check-in facilities offered by the company. Notably, to achieve this end, the airline has introduced an offering of £10 discount effective on onboard purchases for passengers who check-in online for the flights departing from Gatwick, Heathrow and Manchester airports.

Interestingly, the airline will also be issuing vouchers to those passengers who fly from Gatwick and Heathrow, for using at the duty-free outlets in Gatwick's South Terminal and in Heathrow's Terminal 3.

Paul Dickinson, Virgin Atlantic's sales and marketing director noted, "We hope that this promotion will encourage passengers to check-in online before their trip as it means that on arrival at the airport, they simply hand over their luggage at the 'Bag Drop' desk and go straight through security, making the whole process much quicker and stress free for them.

In an interesting move, British Airways marks the American Revolution and the independence of 13 colonies from Britain. On account of this, the flagship carrier of the UK is offering attractively discounted business class tickets for just $1,776 by way of reflecting the exact year of the actual breaking up of the revolution in the price of the tickets.  This discounted rate applies to most of the tickets for flights that depart from the airports of any one of the 13 colonies to the United Kingdom.

It is amazing to note that normally Club World seats cost nearly double this amount when regularly purchased. This means that the revolutionary and unbelievable promotion offered by the BA is one of the most wonderful and lifetime opportunity for those wishing to enjoy the luxuries and comforts of the premium class service for the price of economy class. Over and above, the $1,776 price tag also includes round-trip airfare from a range of US cities to London, with the list including New York-JFK, Atlanta, Washington DC, Boston and Philadelphia. The promotional period comes to an end after the Fourth of July holidays on 6th July. Therefore, to take advantage of this attractive offer, passengers need to act quickly.

There is yet another attractive aspect of the same discount. For instance, those availing this offer and visiting London can also upgrade their hotel room from four to five star accommodations totally free of charge. The offer extends over a good number of establishments in London including Kensington House, the Ritz, Park Lane and Grosvenor House.

In a highly significant move, British Airways is all set to acquire the French business class carrier L'Avion paying a price of £54 million. The national carrier of the UK has planned to employ the French fleet of Boeing 757 jets on the routes operated by Open Skies, the new subsidiary of the airline. Most interestingly, these routes also include the connection between Paris Orly Airport and New York JFK.

Most notably, following the demise of rivals MAXJet, Eos and Silverjet, L'Avion happened to be the last surviving member among the executive carriers. According to an analyst, the interest of British Airlines in this fleet bodes well as the sector is in bad shape threatening to collapse.

Douglas McNeill of Blue Oar Securities said, "OpenSkies really isn't an all-business offering but it does look a bit like one and that impression is strengthened by this move. It represents a vote of confidence in the trans-Atlantic premium market, which is very important to BA. People have been concerned about the strength of demand there."

In a highly interesting move, British Airways has entered into a deal with insurance company Mondial Assistance to provide its customers the company's insurance cover during as the customers go ahead with the online booking process. As per the deal, the airline will offer a 'opt-in' step to insure as the passengers book their tickets via the portal www.ba.com to purchase their tickets online. 

Most notably, BA's bid to give a boost to its ancillary revenue coincides with a time when rocketing fuel prices are pressurizing the industry. The three-year deal will stretch itself across 18 different markets and will be the first in Bulgaria, Romania and Cyprus where services like Mondial's do not exist.

Explaining the unique features of this partnership, BA contracts manager Keith Vipan noted, "Through this partnership, we will be able to enhance the British Airways passenger experience and in addition, open up a new revenue stream revenue for the airline."

In a highly appreciated move, two airlines based in the UK have recommitted to the Newquay Airport despite rising fuel costs. Notably, one of the routes was cancelled due to alarming rise of fuel costs. Air Southwest, the largest operator of the airport and Flybe have reconfirmed their commitment to Newquay during this week. Flybe has included the pledge regarding this support in an announcement pertaining to the scrapping of its NewQuay Glasgow route commencing in the month of August because of the soaring fuel costs.

It is a highly bothering fact that the rising fuel costs have an adverse effect on airports and carriers across the globe. For instance, unless there is a positive improvement in the condition, Quantas, the Australian carrier has announced during the earlier part of this week that it shall scrap many routes in addition to staff layoff.

On the other hand, Lufthansa has introduced a brand new weekly service connecting Dusseldorf's international airport and Newquay. Most interestingly, the carrier records amazing forward bookings with 71% seat load factors for the month of July alone.

Jet2, the budget airline based in Leeds Bradford Airport has introduced fuel surcharges on its flights. This move follows though its boss recently assured that the airline has bought fuel for the next twelve months at attractive rates. This has been reported in the Yorkshire Evening Press. But on the other hand, the airline has responded to criticisms that it has sincerely tried its best to avoid the extra cost by assuring the passengers that it is now up front with passengers regarding the full cost of its flights.

While responding to the claims that the airline is in the danger of busting because of rising fuel costs, Philip Meeson, the chief executive of Jet2 observed, "Jet2 has bought all its fuel for this summer, this coming winter and next summer at attractive rates. Our passengers can rely upon us for many, many years to come. But that hasn't stopped the airline from bringing in a fuel surcharge, which varies depending on the distance of the flight involved."

According to a spokesman for the airline, it appears that the airline has ensured that all the fares advertised on its website and in the press henceforth include all taxes and charges. He too noted that the fuel surcharges had been introduced only recently and that the amount charged varied according to the distance of the flight and hence the amount of fuel used. However, the fact as to why the surcharge had been introduced despite the boss's earlier comments has still not been clarified.

The chief executive officer of Virgin Atlantic, Mr. Steve Ridgway said in an interview with the Newsweek magazine that increased ticket prices are unavoidable.

Mr. Ridgway also said that his company might make use of its financial strength to expand and to buy struggling carriers in this tough situation in the sector.

He said: "We're all going to have to re-price. The world needs a viable air travel industry; global trade demands it. In terms of fares and fuel prices, none of us are at a place we could have recognised clearly two years ago.

According to a statement made by the chief executive of Scandinavian carrier SAS, the airline industry is compelled to face a tough and challenging time during this year and the next year due to the issues of alarming rise of oil prices and overcapacity.

Telling about the airline industry as a whole, SAS chief executive Mats Jansson told Norwegian daily Dagens Naeringsliv, "There will be short-term rescue actions, drastic measures."

According to him, a "deadly cocktail" of factors are combining during these times threatening to weaken the airline industry. He noted, "This is worse than after 9/11, worse than during the oil crisis of the 1970s. There is no direct bankruptcy threat to SAS anymore, but measures must be taken."

In an announcement released on Friday, Ryanair confirmed that its director Sean Coyle had left its services to become the chief financial officer at Aer Lingus, one of its main rivals. Notably, Ryanair holds a 29 percent stake with Aer Lingus following a takeover bid that did not come through.

Releasing a separate statement, Aer Lingus, the former Irish State Carrier noted that Coyle, Ryanair's director of scheduled revenue, had consented to join the group on August 11.

Aer Lingus Chairman John Sharman observed, "Challenging times bring unique opportunities and we are delighted that Sean is joining us."

Recently, the US Justice Department said that Air France-KLM and three other airlines have consented to pay fines amounting USD$504 million for settling US price-fixing charges involving huge shipments of consumer goods from electronics to medicines. Notably, the plea deal occurs as the latest among a number of cargo price-fixing settlements that has highly boosted the total fines from the US antitrust investigation to a record value of USD$1.27 billion.

As per the new agreement, Air France-KLM is required to pay USD$350 million. Interestingly, this is the second-largest criminal fine ever charged by the Justice Department's antitrust division. This was confirmed by the statement made by the government. Until the start of the price fixing investigation in May 2004, Air France and KLM functioned as separate companies after which they combined into a single company when they combined under a single holding company.

According to the Department of Justice, Cathay Pacific is to pay a USD$60 million fine while Scandinavian airline SAS is required to pay USD$52 million and Martinair USD$42 million.

In a recent strategic move, bmi has announced its concrete plans to further increase the frequency of many of its flight services to Saudi Arabia. Notably, bmi is the second largest carrier operating out of London Heathrow. The airline has recently confirmed that it will add extra new services from the UK hub to Jeddah, Dammam and the capital city of Riyadh.

It is interesting to note that the expansion plans of the airline follows a series of bilateral talks held between the British and Saudi governments. The outcome of the talk has resulted in the increase of weekly flights between the two countries to 35. Talking about the recent developments and the outcome of the bilateral talks between the two countries, Nigel Turner, the chief executive of bmi said that the airline has considerably increased its presence in the said region. However, the significant development followed after the cessation of BA's flights in 2005.

Nigel Turner remarked, "Bmi has amassed a considerable amount of experience and expertise since we took over services from Heathrow to the Kingdom. Our route network to the region was further enhanced last October when we commenced services from Heathrow to a wide range of destinations throughout the Middle East and beyond. Bmi now has a major presence in this part of the world with considerable experience and knowledge of serving these markets."

In a recent statement, British Airways has totally denied the accusations that the airline is scaling back its operations in Scotland. Earlier, some business groups have claimed that British Airlines is gradually dropping its links between Heathrow and some major Scottish airports for freeing up the slots for accommodating some long-haul services that shall prove to be lucrative then these links.

By way of proving its claim, the British Chamber of Commerce points out to the recent roll back of the "red-eye" 6am flight from Glasgow to the London hub. Most notably, this service had been highly popular among the business travelers as the time schedule proved to be highly convenient for a range of business activities at the capital.

On the other hand, the airline has totally denied the above said accusation and has said that even after the above said service was rolled back for several other important reasons, the airline is still operating not less than 100 flights in the route connecting the Scottish and the London airports every single day. 

Celebrating the arrival of the eleventh aircraft based at the Milan Malpensa Airport, easyJet announced that it has concrete plans to expand further at this most important airport in the Northern Italy.

In the month of October, the airline is to base two additional aircrafts at Malpensa, taking up the total number of aircrafts of easyJet based in this airport to 13 as the winter schedule commences. Notably, this progress has been achieved within two and a half years of launching its services from this important base.

These new aircrafts shall be employed on five new routes to the European capitals of Copenhagen, Stockholm and Sofia besides offering domestic links to destinations like Brindisi and Lamezia Terme. Over and above, the airline has also plans to increase frequencies on some of the key routes operated to Barcelona, Naples, Amsterdam and Paris in the month of October.

Recently, bmi regional has announced that the airline will add a third extra return flight to the route between Edinburgh to Copenhagen. Offering this additional service from 21st July, the airline will offer 18 return flights per week in total between these cities. Most notably, the return flights are priced from just £145 return, with the charges inclusive of all additional charges and taxes. The services can be booked online by logging into www.flybmi.com

It is interesting to note that the extra service operated daily between the two capitals will enable passengers connect to several destinations offered by the star alliance partners of bmi regional including destinations like Oslo, Tokyo, Helsinki and Stockholm. Over and above, the extra service will benefit the passengers flying from destinations like Oslo and Istanbul enabling them easily connect to Edinburgh via Copenhagen.

bmi regional has the credit of being named as the most punctual airline in the UK as observed by an official statistics published by the CAA. Notably, the airline has won this title for the third consecutive year. The airline is to employ modern Embraer jet aircraft on the new route, offering the passengers highly attractive business and economy fares in addition to complimentary in-flight refreshments and renowned service.

A recent report observes that there is a strong likelihood that bmi, the British airline is taken over next year. However, since a good number of rivals are eyeing up the portfolio of the airline's London Heathrow slots, analysts observe that the airline can make a loss in 2008.

50 percent (plus one share) owned by Sir Michael Bishop is expected to change ownership in 2009 as the result of a private agreement entered into between Bishop and the co-owner Lufthansa, which owns 30 percent minus one share.

Interestingly, Bishop certainly has the option of placing the majority of his share of the airline with Lufthansa. However, a source familiar with the situation says that the German carrier can also 'call in' the stake. If the second deal comes through, the deal will be carried out for a pre-set price agreed upon nearly a decade ago.

As part of Italy's plan to salvage Alitalia, a fresh capital injection has been launched before hunting for the partner is resumed. According to its Chairman, this is one of the strategic ways in which the government is planning to settle the fate of the airline.

Following the bankruptcy of the carrier, earlier two attempts to sell its controlling stake failed. Following this, the government has taken up the present exercise to settle the fate of the airline. However, the government has not revealed the shape of the plan launched.

Addressing a parliamentary hearing, Giulio Tremonti, the Economy Minister of Italy said that Air France-KLM had already commenced the "actions" connected to Alitalia. In fact, an Italian Treasury source acknowledged the move as part of legal actions after the takeover of the carrier fell apart. Later, Tremonti said that he was certainly not aware of any legal actions by Air France-KLM against Alitalia and that the French airline was only evaluating industrial future of the Italian carrier.

In a significant move, easyJet has launched a facility to enable passengers purchase extra weight allowance for holding their baggage ahead of their flight. According to the new facility, passengers can pay for their excess weight charges online, at a highly attractive rate.  This move is also a measure to save them time at the airport check-in.

The facility will be made available in 3 kg denominations. The scheme also enables that passengers save £3 when compared to the rate of £15 per 3kgs charged at the check-in desk charged on the day of travel.

According to the earlier scheme, if a customer wants to pre-pay for excess luggage carried while travel after the booking has been made, this can be done only through the contact center. On the launch of the new scheme, the customers can pre-pay for the excess baggage right at the time of booking, either online or over the telephone according to their convenience. Even as the new scheme comes into force, the earlier scheme of paying the extra charges at the airport still continues, however at a higher rate. 

In a strategic move, British billionaire Richard Branson is holding talks with Brazilian partners to start an independent airline in the largest country of Latin America. Notably, the new airline will be that of "Virgin Brazil" kind and will give a start offering domestic flights. Further, the later additions will include some notable international destinations.

Branson, the controller of Virgin Atlantic Airways observed, "Brazil is a very dynamic market and we haven't paid enough attention to it in the past. We know there is a lot of room to grow given the country's size and the need to develop the air transportation system for Brazil's own growth."

According to Branson, the talks are on progress and an announcement following the talks can be expected very soon. In addition, it is interesting to note that the civil aviation laws of Brazil cap the foreign ownership of the domestic airlines at 20 percent.

Recently, British Airways has announced its decision to axe its earliest morning flight leaving from Glasgow Airport to Heathrow. The move follows the decision of the airline to merge the first two flights of the day departing to Heathrow into one service. The new flight is scheduled to leave at 07:05 instead of 06:00. The revised schedule will come into effect on 27th October when the 07:30 service will be cut. The second flight of the day will depart at 09:05.

The revised schedule has given way to concerns in the wider circles that the Scottish business and leisure travellers can arrive at Heathrow not before 08:30 and are likely to be delayed for a 09:00 meeting at the city centre. However, according to BA, the changes made in the schedule are part of its general review of services and assures that disruption for the passengers will be bare minimum.

The airline has decided to fly a larger 188-seater A321 aircraft as the first flight to London by way of making up some of the lost capacity. Over and above, BA will continue to offer four services to London City and five services to Gatwick. Notably, the earliest Gatwick flight departs at 06:15 and the earliest to London City departs at 07:00.

Virgin Atlantic, the British carrier, yesterday introduced a new summer flight on the route between Glasgow airport and Orlando, Florida-a great delights for the passengers of Virgin Atlantic.

This is great news for passengers of Virgin Atlantic as they would be able to visit the famous city of Orlando taking direct flights from Glasgow Airport. In the times when lots of airlines are not able to meet the requirements and are downing lots of flights, this is a step that vindicates that Virgin Atlantic is not suffering much from the continuing fuel price hike around the world.

To celebrate the first flight, a traditional Scottish band played on the main concourse of the airport.

Flybe, the low fares carrier, has completed the work of setting up three new self-service check-in kiosks at Cardiff International Airport.

The budget airline is the first carrier to make investments in the latest queue-busting technology, which according to it shows its firm commitment to passenger service at the hub. This is great step towards providing easy way through the check-in process, which is reported to waste a lot of time of passengers and is a sort of headache for airlines also.

Apart from enhancing convenience and options for customers, the new check-in kiosks also offer a more cost-effective alternative of channelling travellers through terminals, thus minimising losses due flight delays. This would help the passengers tremendously and would be welcomed by the passengers of Flybe.

Lufthansa is positive that it can attain the operating profit of last year even with high costs of fuel, and will make use of the crisis facing airline companies to look at acquisitions, the carrier's chief finance officer said.

"Matching the 2007 results will be ambitious, but we are convinced that we will be still be able to reach it", Stephan Gemkow, Lufthansa CFO, revealed it to the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview that appeared on Monday.

The carrier has said that it is intending to match at least the 1.38 billion euros in operating profits it achieved a year ago, and its chief executive Wolfgang Mayrhuber said previously this month that high costs of fuel had reduced the scope for the company to do better than it did previous year.

Europe's fourth largest carrier easyJet, will start making use of Lufthansa Systems Lido Operations Centre (Lido OC) to plan all its service routings from the month of October this year.

With the Lido OC flight planning solution, the carrier will be able to optimise its flight planning, minimise fuel consumption and bring considerable cost-savings, according to a spokesman. This is a great step towards implementing technology for the saving of resources and fuel by the airlines and it will help them tremendously.

The carrier's Operations Director, Cor Vrieswijk, said, "The recent surges in oil prices are having a dramatic effect on European aviation. As a result easyJet are taking a range of measures to reduce our costs and improve fuel efficiency".

British Airways, the flag carrier of United Kingdom, has introduced an increase in the fuel surcharge imposed on travellers who fly on its premium class seats.

With the new tiered system for calculating charges, those travelling in the carrier's First Class, World Traveller Plus and Club World will be paying up to £24 more than people travelling in economy class. This is not a surprising move as almost all the airlines of the world are increasing fuel surcharge due to increased costs of fuel and it is also expected that further increase is also possible due to the fact that oil prices are expected to grow further in future.

The new system, which mirrors one newly introduced by Virgin Atlantic, marks the third time as many months that the carrier has increased its fuel surcharges in an attempt to deal with the all-time high fuel costs.

Confirm your bookings by midnight on the 24th of June and enjoy up to 30 per cent discount on a vast range of flights.

bmibaby, low-cost carrier, is offering a discount of up to 30 per cent on all of its flights on all booking made before midnight tomorrow. This is great news for passengers as almost everywhere they are getting the news of price rising due to hike in crude oil prices.

The budget airline is reducing the costs of its flights operating out of its bases at Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester and East Midland airports.

Vueling, the low fares Spanish carrier running at loss, said on Friday that it still expected to post a profit in the coming year despite high costs of fuel.

The carrier, which is in merger negotiations with Clickair, said in a presentation that it was calling off loss-making services, targeting corporate travellers, cutting it costs and attempting to make its fares more accommodating. It could prove to be a great effort from the airlines as lots of airlines are facing tough task to sustain their operations at such a crucial juncture, but some efforts from the airlines could really revive their chances for a longer run in the industry.

The airline, whose first-quarter loss increased to forty-seven per cent to 32 million euros due to higher competition and fuel prices, said that it expected to considerably improve its performance this year with more planning and alternative efforts in their operations.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low fares carrier, has introduced four new routes from Liverpool Airport.

The Irish-based budget carrier will operate flights from Liverpool to Knock in Ireland, Gdansk and Szczecin in Poland, and Faro in Portugal from the end of the month of October. This is great news for passengers of Ryanair as it would help them take flights to these destinations with more ease and at a low price, when actually the aviation industry is facing fuel price crisis for quite a long time.

Flights to Knock will be operated daily, routes to Faro and Gdansk will be served three times a week and the flights to Szczecin will be operated two times a week.

Confirm your bookings by the 23rd of June and avail the special offer: Lufthansa, the German national carrier, is offering special fares on a number of its African destinations. This is great chance for you to visit the African adventure with one of the best airlines of the world at a time when aviation industry is facing one of the toughest problems.

The carrier is offering cut priced seats in economy class on its services to the capital cities of Khartoum, Addis Ababa and Cairo, with outbound flights operating from five major airports in the UK.

Those who want to fly to Cairo can fulfill their wish for just £319, taking off from London Heathrow, Birmingham, Manchester, Edinburgh and Bristol.

Confirm your bookings by the 26th of June and enjoy discounted fares.

bmi, the low-cost carrier, is offering cut priced tickets on flights to two of its most popular Caribbean links.

The carrier, the second largest airline at London Heathrow airport, is running a sale for seats for its routes from Manchester airport to Barbados and Antigua, with return tickets available at a price starting from £349 (economy class).

On Thursday, Scandinavian carrier SAS said that it had abandoned its schemes to sell its loss-making unit Spanair as a result of challenging market conditions, bringing its shares ten per cent down.

The carrier, half-owned by Sweden, Denmark and Norway, revealed in a statement that a tough market in Spain, sky-rocketing prices of fuel and turbulence in the financial market meant it had not accomplished its targets and conditions for the bookings.

Mats Jansson, chief executive of the carrier, said, "The value we could realize does not reflect the underlying value in Spanair".

OpenSkies, the new business-class subsidiary of the UK's flag carrier British Airways, is to start operating its services from today, the 19th of June. This could prove to be a path-breaking inauguration for the aviation industry as it will open a lot of new ventures across the countries.

The carrier's inaugural flight will take place on the route from Paris Orly to New York, and according to an airline spokesperson bookings for the connection are going well and are beyond expectations.

The airline has been offering promotional ticket prices on its flights to US travellers, with premium economy seats available at just $750 one way. Taxes are not included in the offer price.

bmibaby, the low fares carrier, has started operating two new routes from its base at Manchester Airport.

Starting from this week, the budget airline will be operating its services to the Spanish capital city of Madrid and Portuguese capital city of Lisbon. So, if passengers want to travel any of these destinations, they will be able to take the flights of bmibaby from Manchester Airport.

The carrier's new Madrid service will be operated four times a week, on Mondays, Thursdays, Fridays and Sundays; while the Lisbon link will be served with two times a week service, operating on Tuesdays and Sundays.

Ryanair, the largest low cost carrier in Europe, has introduced a new Flight Tracker option, which will assist friends and families in keeping track of travellers while they are in the air, sending flight information directly to mobile phones in Ireland and UK for an additional fee of just £1.50.

This is a great innovation and it could win a lot of trust of passengers for the air carrier and no wonder that passengers would love to enjoy the facility of this offer where they can get connected to their family members and friends while being in air.

The new service delivers a text message that contains flight information to Irish and UK cell phones.

Ryanair, Europe's largest low-cost carrier, launched nine new routes from Birmingham Airport, all starting from the month of October this year, as it introduced yesterday its 25th European base at the Birmingham airport. This is great news for passengers as most of the news are filled with routes being cancelled by the airlines.

In addition to earlier announced routes from the UK airport, the carrier said that it would introduce another 9 routes from the month of October.

The new routes are flights to Derry, Alicante, Katowice, Fuerteventura, Krakow, Kaunas, Palma, Murciar and Malaga.