At the end of every summer vacation season, there's a magic date to fly. It varies from year to year but this year it falls on Aug. 25.
Here's what makes the magic date so special, and why you should take full advantage of it.
Showing posts with label Low Cost. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Low Cost. Show all posts
Friday, 22 August 2014
Monday, 18 August 2014
Ryanair teams up with PayPal for online payments
Ryanair has today launched a new payment partnership with online payments service PayPal.
The airline said the agreement was the latest addition to improvements in its customer services. Other improvements include allocated seating, a second free cabin bag and a new website and app.
"As the pioneer of faster, safer online payments, PayPal is delighted to help Ryanair develop its customer experience by making it even easier and quicker for travellers to book and pay for their flights online", commented PayPal’s Vice President for Global Operations Europe, Middle East and Africa Louise Phelan.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
easyJet passenger is jailed for foul-mouthed rant and breaking police officer's thumb
A man has been jailed for 15 months for subjecting crew on board an easyJet flight to a foul-mouthed rant and then attacking the police officer who tried to arrest him.
Michael Warrilow was travelling on board a flight from Amsterdam to Liverpool John Lennon airport in October last year when the incident took place.
Liverpool Crown Court heard that Mr Warrilow began looking for food in the flight attendant’s trolley once the plane had taken off.
When he was asked to stop he reportedly replied: ‘Drop the f***ing attitude.’
He was later asked to pick up some crisps that he had dropped on the floor and was reported to have replied: ‘I’m not a f***ing dog, especially not your f***ing dog.’
A male flight attendant also accused Mr Warrilow of making a homophobic comment, which the defendant denied, according to the Liverpool Echo.
But when he was told that the captain was going to call the police he said: ‘I don’t give a ****. Get away you **** before I hit you.’
Police officers were waiting to arrest Mr Warrilow when the plane landed in Liverpool but he tried to resist arrest.
He struggled so violently with the police officers that he broke one of their thumbs and ligaments.
When Mr Warrilow was eventually escorted to the police van he began to butt his head against the cage inside the van.
The injured police officer had to undergo surgery on his hand and take sick leave from his job to recover.
But the day after the incident, Mr Warrilow insisted that he had not assaulted the officers. He also said he hadn’t taken any drugs while in Amsterdam and claimed to have only drunk water during his trip.
Two weeks before the trial the defendant pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm, along with a public order offence and two further charges under the civil aviation act.
He was jailed for 15 months.
The court heard that Mr Warrilow, who is unemployed, had 65 previous convictions. These included burglary, battery, assault and affray, resisting arrest and disorderly behaviour.
Judge Andrew Menary, QC, called Mr Warrilow’s actions ‘appalling’ and said the defendant had ‘lost control’ causing a ‘nasty injury’.
He said: ‘Your offences and the injury to the police constable were the culmination of a quite appalling episode of violent aggressive and intimidating behaviour displayed by you toward cabin crew of the easyJet flight.
‘It must have been intimidating and threatening not just to the cabin crew but other passengers nearby.
'Travelling on an aeroplane is stressful enough without passengers behaving as you were behaving.'
Tuesday, 12 August 2014
Why awesomely cheap airline flights are actually terrible
Taking a round-trip flight from New York to San Francisco means you’regenerating the global warming equivalent of two to three tons of carbon dioxide. That’s a lot—as much as a third of the total CO2 emissions created by the average European each year, and about 15% of that created by the average American. But because most air travel is done by only a tiny percentage of people, air travel only generates around 2% to 5% of total global carbon emissions each year.
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That’s changing fast. By 2017, worldwide passenger numbers will surge by more than 30% over 2012’s number, an addition of 930 million additional passengers, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). This is thanks to steady declines in ticket prices: Domestic US flights fell 1.3% each year between 1979 and 2012, and international airfare prices have shed 0.5% per year between 1990 and 2012.
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Can the global airline industry slash its CO2 emissions fast enough to offset this rise?
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Probably not—or at least not unless regulators force it to, as engineers from the University of Southampton argue in a recent article (paywall). To stop generating additional carbon by discouraging flying and keeping the number of passengers the same, the paper argues, ticket prices would have to rise 1.4% each year.
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That doesn’t sound like a lot. Given that the average international air ticket bought in the US costs $1,235, a change from a 0.5% price decline to a 1.4% increase amounts to less than $25. But it adds up. By 2017, the differential would be almost $120.
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Trends in US airfare prices.Airlines for America
Still, ticket prices are unlikely to rise on their own, conclude the researchers. Not only will the airline industry and many national governments resist any move to suppress demand, but the budget airline boom—a result of deregulation—is forcing down prices and encouraging leisure travel. A recent study found that when US budget carriers such as JetBlue, Spirit, Frontier, Alaska and Southwest launch new routes, they drive down prices charged by all carriers by as much as 67%.
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So, with prices plummeting and flights increasing, the major way to put the lid on CO2 emissions is by increasing efficiency. The fact that fuel costs account for at least a fifth of carriers’ operation costs means it’s also in their interests to use less fuel per passenger. The industry has done a bang-up job in recent decades, making aircrafts more fuel efficient and packing in more passengers per plane. But it’s getting harder to produce fuel-efficiency gains at the same pace.
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And beyond profit margins, there’s no real incentive for the commercial air travel industry to change anything. The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), the body overseeing the industry, has set targets, including fuel efficiency improvements of 2% a year and keeping net CO2 emissions at the same level from 2020 onward. However, ICAO doesn’t have any legal authority over this aspect of the industry—and neither does any other body.
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What’s needed, conclude the researchers, is a global regulator “with teeth.” And history would suggest that’s hard—if not impossible—to achieve.
Friday, 8 August 2014
Lufthansa likely to expand long-haul low-cost ops - CEO in FT
German carrier Lufthansa is likely to expand its planned low-cost long-haul operations if their launch goes well, its Chief Executive Carsten Spohr told The Financial Times.
Lufthansa last month announced a new strategy that includes expanding low-cost services in Europe and on intercontinental flights as it battles competition from Middle Eastern and budget airlines.
It has said it would build up the inter-continental budget service to seven Boeing 767s or Airbus A330s readily available on the market.
"If it works we'll be rolling it over into A350s or 787s and we probably won't stop at seven planes," the paper quoted Carsten Spohr as saying in an interview published on Friday.
Lufthansa currently has 25 A350-900s and no 787s on order, according to its website.
It has not yet decided whether to team up with a partner for the low-cost business or go it alone and has been in talks with Turkish Airlines on the matter.
"I want to be in the air by next fall," Spohr told the FT.
Tuesday, 10 June 2014
Flydubai plans Zagreb and Sarajevo service
Low cost airline Flydubai is set to launch flights to both Zagreb and Sarajevo this winter season. According to the “Aviokarta” portal, flights from Dubai to the capitals of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina will be inaugurated at the start of the 2014/15 winter season in November, pending government approval. Services to Zagreb will run three times per week while flights to Sarajevo are planned to operate twice per week. Flydubai has previously announced plans to fly to both cities, however, these fell through on both occasions. The new flights will mark the first time Zagreb and Sarajevo have been linked with a scheduled service to the largest city in the United Arab Emirates.
Flydubai first announced plans to fly to Sarajevo from April 2013. At the time, the low cost airline said, “Flydubai is doing good business and we are planning on launching two weekly flights from Sarajevo”. However, only two months prior to the service launch the airline shelved its planned flights, explaining that crew duty times would have been exceeded on the return leg to Dubai. Thus, this would require a mandatory rest period for the crew in Sarajevo, which would increase costs for the no frills airline and make the route unprofitable from the outset. In addition, the airline also considered launching flights to Zagreb in 2012 but decided against the move due to the same reasons. It is unclear how the airline will bypass these technical obstacles this time around.
Flydubai has a solid presence in the former Yugoslavia as it maintains flights to both Belgrade and Skopje. During the peak of the summer season, the low cost airline will operate up to five weekly flights to the Serbian capital and a further two weekly flights to Skopje. Recent rumours that the airline’s service to the Macedonian capital will be suspended have been unfounded as Flydubai recently scheduled and put on sale flights to Skopje throughout the 2014/15 winter season. On the other hand, it will maintain three weekly flights to Belgrade over the coming winter.
Flydubai operates a fleet of 35 Boeing 737-800 jets to 68 destinations. Despite its low cost model, the airline offers a dedicated business class cabin on select routes. Flydubai is expected to put tickets for its planned new flights to Zagreb and Sarajevo on sale once it is granted all necessary permits.
Wednesday, 30 April 2014
Ryanair buys 5 more Boeing 737-800 series aircaft
Ryanair, Europe’s favourite low fares airline, today (30 Apr) confirmed that it has agreed to buy 5 more 737-800 series aircraft directly from Boeing, 4 of which will be delivered in early Summer 2015, with the 5thin February 2016, in a deal which increases Ryanair’s order book from 175 to 180 new Boeing aircraft. These 5 new aircraft brings the value of Ryanair’s order book to over $16 billion at current list prices. Ryanair will now take 21 aircraft deliveries (up from 17) between September 2014 and July 2015, which will enable the airline to open more routes and additional frequencies on existing routes for Summer 2015.
Ryanair’s Michael O’Leary, said:
“We are delighted that our partners Boeing have identified 5 new aircraft slots (4 of them before the 2015 Summer peak), which allows Ryanair to increase our order book from 175 to 180 new Boeing 737-800 aircraft. These new Boeing aircraft enable Ryanair to keep the fleet average age below 5 years, while providing our customers with unmatched punctuality, reliability and an improved customer experience. Now that we have 4 more aircraft (21 in total) for Summer 2015, Ryanair will offer more new routes and increased frequencies to more customers than ever before.”
Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO, Ray Conner, said:
“Ryanair and Boeing share a relationship that spans 20 years. We are honoured that in that time Ryanair has become the largest 737-800 customer in the world – and with today’s announcement have a backlog of 180 airplanes on order. The 737-800 is recognized for its reliable operating performance and will provide Ryanair passengers with the flexibility they need for their low-cost travel.”
Thursday, 24 April 2014
Budget flights on the rise, prices too
Budget airlines are expanding their range of routes from Germany but ticket prices are climbing along with them, a report from the German Aeronautics Centre (DLR) revealed on Thursday
Airlines in the industry's low-cost segment flew 466 routes from Germany last winter - an increase of 43 connections over the same period the previous year. Budget flights between Germany and Spain were up 28 percent, while connections to Britain increased by 14 percent and to Austria by ten percent, the DLR's "Low Cost Monitor" study found.
While low-cost airlines launched new connections to destinations such as Estonia from Germany, the number of German domestic routes fell by ten percent. Meanwhile ticket prices have taken a hike, with journeys costing between €70 and €160 in comparison to a range of €60 to €120 the previous year.
"Flying on a budget has got a good deal more expensive," said the DLR report's authors.
Air travel expert and consultant Heinrich Großbongardt told the Rheinische Post newspaper on Thursday that flights cost around five percent more than in spring 2013 and 30 percent more than five years ago.
"The reason is that the budget airlines are no longer coming into contact on the same routes. That has loosened the competition,” he said.
Despite creeping fares, over 65 million passengers flew with low-cost airlines from German airports in 2013, giving the cheap providers a 32 percent share of the total 203 million passengers. Air Berlin remains Germany's top budget airline, with its 1,700 flights a week taking up around 42 percent of the country's low-cost market, but Lufthansa's daughter company Germanwings is closing the gap.
Taking over a chunk of Lufthansa's flight plan, Germanwings flew 60 percent more routes over the winter than in the previous year and now run around 1,200 flights per week, the DLR report found.
As a result of Germanwings' expansion, Berlin's Tegel airport, from where Lufthansa runs many of its European flights, has boosted its roster of low-cost flights to 800 a week.
But London Gatwick airport remains Europe's capital for budget flights, launching 7,000 of them a week.
And across Europe Irish firm Ryanair is the biggest budget airline, running 7,500 flights each week and holding a 22 percent stake in the European low-cost market.
Wednesday, 23 April 2014
Wizz Air Expands network in Bosnia and Herzegovina
With this expansion Wizz Air is now offering 13 weekly flights on 5 routes to 4 countries from Bosnia and Herzegovina, representing 60% capacity growth year on year (July 2014). Seats on the new Tuzla routes are already on sale from just EUR 39.99** and can be booked on wizzair.com.
At a press conference in Sarajevo today, György Abrán, Chief Commercial Officer at Wizz Air said: "Today’s announcement underlines Wizz Air’s commitment to Bosnia and Herzegovina. We started our operations in Tuzla less than a year ago, and we welcome that Bosnian consumers are enthusiastic about our low fares and that the residents of Tuzla Canton already discovered our low fare routes to Gothenburg, Malmo and Basel Mulhouse Freiburg. Today we are announcing 2 new routes to Germany and the Netherlands and we hope these will be highly popular among consumers, stimulate job growth and benefit the tourism and aviation sectors as we look forward to bringing more low fares to Bosnia and Herzegovina.”
Low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines is coming to KCI
Spirit Airlines, which offers “ultra low base fares,” is coming to Kansas City International Airport. The Kansas City Aviation Department, city and civic leaders, and an unidentified airline executive will make the official announcement in Terminal C at the airport today. City officials declined to comment Tuesday except to say that a new airline is coming.
Spirit also didn’t comment but posted on its website Kansas City flights to Chicago O’Hare, Dallas, Detroit, Houston and Las Vegas with connections to other cities. No other service details were available. The entry of Spirit promises new competition for Southwest Airlines, which has become the dominant carrier in Kansas City with more than 40 percent of the market. It creates the possibility for travelers that the two airlines will directly compete for business to such cities as Chicago.
The last carrier to start service at KCI was Alaska Airlines about two years ago, the Aviation Department said. Alaska offers one flight a day to Seattle. The largest U.S. carriers not already serving KCI are JetBlue Airways and, until now, Spirit. Spirit, headquartered in Miramar, Fla., uses Airbus planes on routes in the U.S. and Latin America, including the Caribbean. It boasts of low fares but crams more seats, which don’t recline, into a plane. It also has myriad fees including for carry-on bags, soft drinks and assigned seats.
A report released last week by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group found that Spirit had more passenger complaints than any other U.S. carrier from 2009 to 2013. The report was based on U.S. Department of Transportation data. “Spirit Airlines, which markets itself as a low-cost, no-frills airline, generated the most complaints per 100,000 passengers every single year in the study, by a large margin,” the consumer group said in its report. Spirit executives said eight out of every 100,000 of the airline’s customers filed complaints with the Department of Transportation, which meant that about 99.99 of its customers didn’t complain. The airline said customers who had problems were probably not familiar with its business model.
“Many of the DOT complaints about Spirit are driven by our customers not fully understanding that we offer unbundled fares that let them control how much they spend,” the carrier said in response to the consumer group report. “In 2013, we had a total of 1,021 DOT complaints and served over 12 million customers. While we want every customer to have a great experience, eight complaints per 100,000 enplanements is a pretty small number.”
Spirit, according to its website, was founded in 1964 as Clippert Trucking Co., a Michigan corporation, and in 1974 changed its name to Ground Air Transfer Inc. In 1983, it started doing business as Charter One, a Detroit-based tour operator providing travel packages to destinations such as Atlantic City, Las Vegas and the Bahamas.
In 1992, Charter One changed its name to Spirit Airlines, brought jet equipment into the fleet, and began scheduled passenger service to destinations such as Fort Lauderdale, Detroit, Myrtle Beach, Los Angeles and New York.
Spirit, which is publicly traded, moved its headquarters to Miramar in December 1999. Spirit reported a profit of $43.2 million in the fourth quarter last year, and full-year earnings of $177 million.
Sunday, 2 March 2014
Air Arabia Prepares For RAK Take-Off
Low-cost carrier Air Arabia is planning to fly to up to nine destinations from its new base at Ras Al Khaimah within the next two months.
CEO Adel Ali gave the operational update on the sidelines of Qatar Airways’ route launch in Sharjah yesterday.
