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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

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.”

Anti-government protesters caused chaos in the terminal triggering assumptions of impending military intervention after tightening their grip over Bangkok"s Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday.

It was stated that army chief Anupong Paochinda would hold a news conference after discussing protests by the People"s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) with security officials and business leaders.

Several times Anupong had insisted he would not launch a coup after the military"s removal of Thaksin Shinawatra as prime minister, although he had publicly urged Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to step down.

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has said that families and individual passengers looking to carry liquid medicines onboard could now benefit from a new security lane at airports this holiday season.

The new lanes are part of the TSA Diamond Self-Select program that has been launched at about 48 airports across the U.S., which enables families and individual passengers who are not familiar with security procedures, and those passengers who have exclusive needs to move through security at a more leisurely pace.

TSA administrator, Kip Hawley said, "Passengers have clearly demonstrated their preference to go at their own pace. Expanding these lanes to all other airports and directing families and passengers with medically necessary liquids to them increases passenger convenience and security.

The results of a new survey have revealed that good service, edible food and departures on time are some of the top concerns in a list of what business travellers in Asia were seeking from air travel. However, the whole travel experience was voted as less pleasant this year.

About half of the passengers surveyed by Finance Asia magazine"s 2008 business travel survey stated that business travel was rather less pleasant this year, with the number up from 48 percent in 2007.

The major number respondents travelled in either first or business class. However, with 60 percent of them stating that they were under the constraint of shrinking travel budgets, more than a third said they were squeezed into economy class too often.

In a recent statement, Weerasak Kohsurat, the country"s Tourism and Sports Minister, announced that tourism in Thailand has reported a significant growth of about 3.49 percent during the first three quarters of the year. Weerasak stressed that unlike several countries that reported a negative growth in tourism, so far Thailand only saw a positive trend during this year. He added that the results are more encouraging since they are reported at a time when Thailand was not spared by the credit crunch in addition to the anti-government demonstrations that had been dominating the news in the recent past.

Weerasak added that a number of countries including China, the UK and the US, voted Thailand as one of the most attractive tourism destinations in the world, even during the global economic downturn.

Weerasak also observed that the government would extend its support to the launch of a variety of campaigns intended to promote international tourist arrivals. One such highlight in a series of events is called the "Iron Chef Nationwide," which will be organized in the country to promote Thai food. According to the tourism official, the Thai government has sanctioned about 374 million baht for empowering the Tourism and Sports Ministry to undertake special developmental projects during next year.

Work on a £40 million refurbishment project is to be given a start shortly at Edinburgh Airport. The project would see an extension to the main departure lounge of the facility, which the airport said would enhance passenger comfort.

Scotland"s busiest airport has recently reported that it witnessed an 11.5 percent increase in international traffic this year. The airport has recently completed a multi-million pound project to resurface its runway, on budget well ahead of the schedule proposed earlier. The airport said that the resurfacing project involved workers laying about 25,000 tonnes of asphalt. The project commenced in April 2008 involving a total cost of £16 million.

Gordon Dewar, Edinburgh Airport"s managing director, has stated that the forthcoming investment in the departure lounge "augers well for the future".

New figures released recently state that the number of foreign visitors to Britain dropped during the peak summer season in addition to the amount of tourist spending. The number of foreign visitors came down by three percent, down to about 9.3 million, compared with the figures reported for the July - September period last year. In addition, overall visitor spending was down by two percent to £5.1 billion.

The figures reveal that for the first nine months of 2008, the country could not attract foreign visitors, says VisitBritain, the national tourism organisation. During the period, about 24.9 million overseas visitors travelled to Britain. There was no growth in the number of arrivals when compared to the same period in 2007. However, the total visitor-spend for the period was £12.5 billion, up by four per cent.

During the first nine months of the year, visitors from North America came down by nine percent down to 3.2 million. Analysts attribute this to the tough economic scenario in the US in addition to low consumer confidence and the rising cost of air travel. Until early summer months, the weakness of the dollar was a factor. However, Britain has not yet seen the benefits from the strengthening of the dollar against the pound, observes Visit Britain.

If new proposals are approved, the terminal at Bristol Airport could nearly double in size. The airport said recently that it has planned to submit a planning application in March seeking permission to expand the terminal to enable it handle about 10 million passengers by the year 2016. The extension with a glass-front would be located to the east and west of the present terminal. Further developments would be on the north side of the airport site.

New facilities for parking cars would feature spaces for about 3,600 cars. The plans also include establishing an overflow car park on the land to the east of the A38. This land is located under the flight path and would be in use for 13 weeks in a year during the peak season and would remain grassed. There is likelihood that a developer would submit a separate planning application for constructing a new airport hotel. The size and the brand of this hotel are yet to be confirmed.

The aircraft stands at the site would go up by 9, taking the total number of stands to 33. The other proposals for the extension include enhancing the aircraft parking areas connected to the enlarged terminal building by constructing walkways, which will eliminate the use of airside buses for boarding the majority of flights. There will also be an exclusively dedicated zone for passenger pick-up and drop besides a new fuel storage facility and new office accommodation.

An all-inclusive holiday operator based in Jamaica has warned that there would not be enough services to cater to the demands for the Caribbean and South America next summer.

SuperClubs has stated that some exclusive destinations including Panama and the Bahamas need more aircraft capacity to balance the "explosion" in demand for resort accommodation, a report by TTG Live said.

Paul Pennicook, the president of international lifestyles for SuperClubs has expressed his fears that there would not be enough flights from the UK next year.

With a recent report stating that the red tape is hampering efforts to enhance the holiday experience in Britain, the government has been urged to increase its support to the country"s tourism industry.

Commenting on the present scenario in the industry, VisitBritain"s chief executive, Christopher Rodrigues, remarked, "The recent fall in sterling and the approaching Olympics in 2012 give us a tremendous opportunity to promote Britain as a holiday destination, provided we are given the appropriate financial tools and policy support." VisitBritain is the organization entrusted with the responsibility of promoting tourism in UK.

Since there were problems with the public transport system of the capital city, thousands of attendees who represented important tourism markets across the globe found it very difficult to get to the event venue in Docklands during the World Travel Market in London this week. Barbara Follett, the Minister for Culture, Creative Industries & Tourism, conveyed her apologies for the transport problems.

A leading travel expert says that airline passengers in the UK are increasingly resorting to booking flights online since they claim that the levels of mobile phone customer service needs to improve.

Industry sources have quoted Gerry Samuels, founder and executive director at Mobile Travel Technologies, who made a remark that UK travellers still considered their mobiles primarily as a search device while organising their trip abroad.

While addressing delegates at a conference, Gerry Samuels said, "If you look at Japan, which is accepted as being a few years ahead of us, in 2006 it reached a tipping point where there are more people accessing the internet through mobiles than PCs."

Boeing said recently that it was confident of offering a final work contract to its white-collar engineers union by the end of this week, well before the existing contract terminates. The move by the plane maker follows in an attempt to avoid a second crippling strike at its Seattle-area plants. Industry sources have said that the present three-year works contract for about 20,000 members of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (SPEEA) will expire on 1st December.

Late on Wednesday, Boeing said that it had already reached a tentative agreement with the union over all the non-economic issues forming part of a new four-year contract. It also conveyed its hopes of wrapping up negotiations during this week.

However, the firm said "substantial differences remain" over the economic issues, stating that the two sides would hammer them out on Thursday.

In a significant recent move, both Morrisons and ASDA have reduced the price of unleaded petrol to 99.9p at the 457 outlets operated by them. Over the next few days, it is very likely that other UK retailers would follow this lead. Therefore, motorists are set to experience great relief as the price of oil has hit US$70 per barrel, which is about 50 percent less than what was recorded in July when the prices peaked.

BP made an announcement recently that it would reduce the price of petrol by about 5 pence per litre thereby enabling about 100 of its 350 petrol stations sell the fuel at 99.9p. So far, Tesco has not responded to the drop in oil prices. As per the information given by the spokesperson of the firm, it appears that the unleaded petrol sold by the firm at its outlets would be over £1 per litre.
 
Despite ASDA charging less than one pound per litre in January this year, most of the retailers have been selling it at more than a pound since 5th November 2007. These reductions in prices are the latest developments that have come to benefit the travelling public of the UK. The announcement of these price reductions came within a few hours of Virgin Atlantic and BA lowering their fuel surcharges on flights. The lowering cost of petrol is also likely to witness the cost of deliveries thereby significantly reducing the prices of products sold by supermarkets.

On Wednesday, American Airlines ordered 42 Boeing 787 Dreamliners. As per list prices, the deal is worth around USD$8 billion. The deal has given a crucially required boost for the plane maker amidst a five-week strike by assembly workers and an uncertain economy. This is the first order made by American Airlines since 2001 for the wide body aircraft. The move by the airline follows the need to overhaul its existing fleet in addition to the airline being optimistic about the future of air travel.

The carbon-composite and titanium of the 787 is built to carry between 200 to 300 passengers on long-haul routes. The aircraft is known to be 20% more fuel efficient than its predecessors. American Airlines is at present purchasing the larger version of 787-9 planes, which according to the company would help in expanding the network of its international routes under its proposed agreement with Spanish Carrier Iberia and British Airways.

American is the biggest airline across the globe in terms of traffic. The airline has confirmed that between 2012 and 2018, it would take delivery of 42 787-9s. In addition, the carrier also took purchase rights for 58 more 787s to be delivered between 2015 and 2020. Following its rivals Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines, American is just the third major carrier based in the US to order for 787s.

While confirming a newspaper report, a spokesman of the company said Airbus has suspended its plans to increase the production of its passenger jets. The move by the plane maker follows the global financial crisis.

The firm usually manufactures about 36 single-aisle aircraft in addition to 10 wide-body A330/A340 aircraft a month. By 2010, the company wanted to boost this up to 40 and 11 respectively to keep pace with record order backlogs. Amidst the widespread credit squeeze and high fuel prices, increasing number of its airline customers are cancelling orders. This scenario has created a serious doubt whether the production rate must be maintained as per the present. Addressing the Wall Street journal, John Leahy, the Airbus sales chief, said the company had been forced to re-examine its production plans under deteriorating financial situation across the globe.

The spokesman said, "We are leaving production where it is for the time being until market conditions improve. But we still have very strong demand, and we are confident that these aircraft are needed."

Industry analysts said on Thursday that the Chinese airline is set to end up with a heavy loss in 2008 amidst the country"s slowing domestic economy and the severe economic recession across the globe. During recent days, Air China, the flagship carrier and Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines have been warning that they are most likely to post losses for three quarters of the year due to high fuel costs and weak economy.

A senior executive with China Eastern said, "Traffic did not pick up after the Olympics as we had previously expected. The situation improved a bit during the weeklong national holiday in October but the outlook is still murky, given the faltering global economy. There is little doubt that the whole industry will make losses now that the flag carrier has also issued a profit warning."

Since mid-July, there has been a sharp decline in the appreciation of the yuan, which is said to be one of the principal reasons for a drop in earnings during second half of the year. During the first half, rise of Chinese currency enabled top three airlines of China to book a combined foreign exchange gain of CNY6.41 billion yuan (USD$938.5 million).

Recently, the company responsible for scanning luggage at Stansted Airport has withdrawn the contract. The move follows a series of strikes over pay rises during the recent past. In an announcement, Gate Aviation Services has stated its decision to end the baggage-screening contract on 10th October. The firm has however added that the 34 staff of the company would be able to keep their jobs if a new contractor assuming the responsibility.

About thirty-four GMB union members employed with Gate triggered off a strike action during summer after rejecting the 2% increase over the pay offer announced by the company. A spokesman for Gate noted at that time that the strike was called by disappointed staff who wanted "to reject the company"s improved pay offer of 2% and a further 2.2% in January 2009".

A spokesperson for the company stated further that the workers would keep their jobs under the rules of continuation of employment even if Gate Aviation terminated the contract after a given period of notice since it was "untenable". It appears that a new contractor will assume the responsibility of scanning luggage after 10th October when Gate Aviation Services has decided to withdraw. Welcoming this development, the GMB has stated that it looked forward to work with the new contractor to settle the row. The employees feel that the present arrangement would provide a positive way out of the issue.

Triton Travel Group has recently revealed that during the aftermath of the collapse of XL Leisure Group, there has been an "unprededented" surge in the number of applications to join their Atol protection scheme. The firm stated that during last week alone, the company accepted not less than 300 calls and enrolled 60 additional members to the scheme.

It is said that the surge of this popularity is on account of the fact that people who make their bookings with firms protected by Atol are guaranteed compensation in the event of an airline or travel operator collapsing.

The collapse of XL in September left more than 80,000 British holidaymakers stranded in about 40 destinations across the world. In addition, not less than 200,000 forward bookings became void.

In a highly welcomed move, Blue Islands has declared its decision to introduce new ski routes from Southampton Airport. As per the announcement, it appears that the carrier, based in the Channel Islands, will start offering its flights to Zurich and Geneva from 26th October. The airline has stated that the two flights introduced in this route will be operated six days in a week between Sunday and Friday. It is said that the carrier will deploy a 31-seat Dornier 328 aircraft.

In a statement made regarding this route, Derek Coates, the chairman of Blue Islands, observed that the new routes would connect to Switzerland through Jersey.

He too stated that the airline had perceived the increasing demand in this route based on the analysis of market trends, wherein last year alone not less than 360,000 people flew to Switzerland through an airport other than Southampton. He added that the airline was positive the new route would prove  popular and highly profitable for the airline.

In a recent statement, China Airlines announced that its new Kaohsiung-Manila services will start on 1st October 2008. The airline has decided to offer a daily services on this route. As part of this new launch, Flight CI 637 will depart from Kaohsiung at 09:05, and will arrive in Manila at 10:45. The return flight CI 638 has been scheduled to take off at 11:45 and will arrive in Kaohsiung at 13:25. It is important to note that the new schedule offers more frequencies and added convenience for passengers travelling from southern Taiwan.

The airline is to deploy an Embraer E190 jet in this route. Notably, China Airlines has leased this aircraft from its subsidiary, Mandarin Airlines. Most notably, the said aircraft has been configured into two classes. There are 8 seats in the Premium Economy Class and 88 seats in the Economy Class. It is further interesting to note that the E190 jets are high-tech, medium-range jet airliners manufactured in Brazil, which Mandarin Airlines began to introduce into its fleet in June 2007.

At the outset, the present move by the airline forms part of the new round of capacity redeployment attempted by the CAL group in the said region. Also, it is very important to note that CAL is continuously enhancing the range and portfolio of its products and services as part of its commitment to serve more number of passengers in the southern Taiwan region.

Through a recent statement, the Civil Aviation Authority has joined hands with the group that has been demanding that BAA should sell off about three of the seven airports owned by the firm.

At the outset, it is to be noted that several airlines have backed the preliminary report issued by the Competition Commission, which concluded that the Spanish-owned regulator is enjoying an unhealthy monopoly on airports located across the southeast region of England.

In response to the report, BAA has recently said that it was keenly looking for a buyer for Gatwick Airport. However, it has not given any heed to the calls by the commission directing the airport owner to sell off another London airport in addition to one in Scotland.

The largest airport owner in Britain, BAA has said that it would rather consider taking legal action against the Competition Commission of UK, challenging the "substantive errors" made by the watchdog group in its recent report suggesting a break-up of BAA"s business holdings.

On the other hand, the Manchester Airport Group, one of the prospective buyers of the Gatwick Airport owned by BAA is seriously trying to push the move forward by enjoining the competition commission to designate an exclusive trustee for independently supervising the sale of this property.

BAA, which is owned by Ferrovial, the Spanish firm, has strongly criticised the report published by the commission, which has said that there was a severe lack of competition across all seven of the operator"s airports, which had drastically reduced their performance. Eventually, the monopoly watchdog group has suggested to the government that BAA should be compelled to sell off three of its airports, including two in London and one in Scotland.

In a prediction made on Thursday, an industry analyst has noted that the parent company of Air Canada is well poised to buy back the 25 percent of the country"s biggest airline for a sum of CAD$215 million (USD$209 million).

Remaining significantly down for more than 12 months on the Toronto Stock Exchange, the shares of Air Canada have recently surged by more than 15 percent or 65 Canadian cents to CAD$4.85. 

According to Jacques Kavafian, the Research Capital analyst, it appears that ACE Aviation will pay about CAD$8.50 a share for the stake, which is nearly double the closing price recorded on Wednesday.

After a long delay, the much-awaited public offering of Poland's public carrier will take place in late 2009, with the airline restructuring itself to return to profitability. The chief executive confirmed this on Wednesday. Earlier during this month, LOT warned that the state-controlled airline was in dire need of restructuring in order to avoid an impending cash crunch amidst the soaring prices of fuel and mounting competition from no frills carriers, Ryanair for instance.

Commenting in this regard, the recently appointed CEO of LOT, Dariusz Nowak noted, "After the third quarter of 2009, if we find the level of restructuring as satisfactory, it will allow us to move to other strategic targets, including an IPO (initial public offering). I wouldn't see it before the end of the second quarter of 2009.”

He too noted that the new management would decide on this matter within a year to affirm if LOT is "floatable".

Posting a first-half loss on Wednesday, Macquarie Airports (MAP), a fund managed by Australian investment bank Macquarie has said that it will significantly reduce its stakes in two airports to cut debt. If implemented, this move is expected to send up the shares up nearly 10 percent.

According to MAP, the said plan would assist in funding a share buyback of up to AUD$1 billion (USD$872 million) and considerably help the firm further boost up its share price, which had miserably fallen so far by around one-third during this year.

The present initiatives by the firm simply meant MAP is not after chasing any upcoming privatization efforts pertaining to airports in the short term. The company cited the examples of the lease of Chicago's Midway Airport and Prague Airport in this regard.

In a statement made on Wednesday, the civil aviation secretary noted that India is not presently considering the sale of stakes in Air India, the state-run carrier and the helicopter services provider Pawan Hans Helicopters.

Earlier in the month of December, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel had noted that Air India had planned to sell not less than 15 percent of its equity through an initial public offering in a move to raise funds required for its further expansion.

However due to the present turmoil in the local and international share markets, investors are losing their appetite for new issues. This condition has forced not less than 10 Indian firms to significantly delay or shelve their IPOs that value about USD$4 billion during this year. Notably, this outlook seems to remain constantly downbeat for the rest of this year.

With DHL, the German parcel carrier planning to stop using the services of Air Transport Services Group, the group said on Wednesday that it will have to force its main air cargo operator ABX Air shed about 6,000 or more jobs, if DHL does so. Most notably, the number noted by the airline works out to not less than 75 percent of the total staff forming part of the unit.On the other hand, DHL, the firm owned by German mail group Deutsche Post, has decided to make use of the services of United Parcel Service, one of the main rivals of Air Transport Services Group. The move from DHL comes forth as part of a USD$2 billion restructuring of its business that is making a loss in the United States.

The company has said recently that the carrying cargo for DHL provided not less than 73 percent of the revenue ensuing from the Air Transport Services for the first six months of this year. In the month of May, DHL noted that it had decided to terminate the services of 55 DC-9 aircraft operated by ABX on behalf of DHL during the course of the next 12 months.

With euro becoming stronger, thousands of Brits are looking out for holiday destinations that offer better value for their pounds. Most interestingly, Turkey has recently emerged as one of the top spots in the list of such destinations. The most attractive feature of turkey combines the alluring seaside experience with reasonable prices over accommodation and dining in addition to an exclusive range of shopping options. A recent report published in M&S Money has ably captured this aspect.

The figures published in the M&S Money reveal that there is a sharp 53 percent increase in sales of Turkish Lira. Most notably, next only to Russians and Germans, the travellers from the UK top the list comprising visitors to this wonderful destination. ABTA notes that last year alone not less than two million UK tourists visited Turkey. Over and above, it has also observed that this number can further go up by not less than 20 percent during this year.

Commenting on the present trend, Fraser Millar, the head of travel services at M&S observed, "The huge increase in sales of Turkish currency is not surprising, with the relative power of the euro against the pound meaning Brits are getting more for their money by opting for destinations like Turkey. This trend is confirmed by the fact that there has also been a large increase in sales of Egyptian currency this year.”

July 2008 turned out to be a record-breaking month for Monarch. Celebrating this overwhelming success story, the airline has confirmed that it has transported over 460,000 passengers on scheduled flights in July 2008. This figure is notably 5 percent up over the figures noted during the same time last year. In addition, the carrier has also said that this number is the highest that the carrier has seen in any single month. A close analysis of the scenario reveals the fact that the record numbers have been made possible by the new launches made by the carrier during the recent months. Notably, this list comprises the service launched by the airline from the hubs of Manchester and Gatwick to Larnaca (Cyprus) and from Gatwick to Menorca.

During the month of July 2008, the scheduled services of Monarch carried not less than 459,914 passengers. Notably, this figure is about 5.09 percent up by the figures obtained during the same time last year. For this month, the load factor for the airline was 86.15 percent, which is up by 2.67 percentage points over the figures obtained last year. Interestingly, the Internet sales percentage of Monarch was 89 percent. Considering both scheduled services and charter services put together, Monarch carried a total number of 826,815 passengers during the month of July. The said achievement by the airline has been greatly appreciated by the industry circles during a time when several other major airlines are struggling for their survival amidst soaring oil prices and economic crunch.

In a surprising move, the three biggest airports of Scotland have posted significantly falling passenger numbers for the month of July. According to a recent statement made by their owner BAA, the said condition is a symptom of soaring fuel prices and pressing credit crunch. Across the globe, factors like the economic slowdown and an alarming rise in the price of oil have been wrecking havoc, leading to capacity cuts, suspension of routes and termination of employees, in addition to the breaking up of several airlines.

Most notably when compared to the passenger numbers recorded during the same month last year, the figures for this year showed a 2.3 percent drop. During the month of July, not less than 2.2 million passengers passed through Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen Airport. Considering that July is the peak month for summer getaways, the figures noted prove to be remarkably lower than the actual figures expected. For the month of July, the international traffic was up by 2.3 percent. However, the domestic business was down by about 6.8 percent.

According to the opinion of experts, the above said numbers go in to suggest that among several other problems haunting the industry at present, BAA and its airline customers are facing new and really tough competition from the passengers of rail that travel within Britain.