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The business services division of Orange SA has expanded its relationship with airline comms provider SITA SC with a view to seeking work as prime contractors on the industry’s entire IT outsourcing requirements.

In its previous guise as Equant, Orange Business Services had a longstanding relationship with SITA, from which the global network operator was spun out in 1995, before being acquired by France Telecom SA in 2001. In May Equant was renamed as part of Orange, which is now the French group’s global brand for mobile and broadband consumer and business customers. (more…)

Blocked at U.S. Ports, Foreign Capital Comes After U.S. Airlines
Flight Attendants Launch Massive Grassroots Effort to Save U.S. Aviation

CHICAGO, June 13 /PRNewswire/ — Directly in line with the Dubai ports
deal, the Bush Administration bypassed Congress and arbitrarily set a rule
that changes long-standing aviation law to allow foreign control of U.S.
airlines and their operations. United Airlines Flight Attendants,
represented by the Association of Flight Attendants, AFA-CWA, AFL-CIO, has
launched a massive grassroots campaign to protect U.S. aviation. United
Master Executive Council (MEC) President Greg Davidowitch made the
following statement about the critical call to action to save U.S.
aviation:
“Allowing foreign investors to slice up our airline industry is not
good for workers, the traveling public or the communities we serve. The
Bush plan to carve up our airlines and serve them to foreign interests on a
silver platter is one that deserves serious Congressional scrutiny.
Congress should be concerned not only about the impact on our safety and
security but the viability of our jobs and the communities we support. (more…)

Air Canada Jazz has suspended four mechanics a day after they publicly raised concerns about safety at the airline.

Dave Avella, Gianni Ballestrin, Grant Anastas and Ron Anstey, all mechanics at Jazz’s Toronto facility, were suspended with pay pending an investigation by the airline into comments they made to the Star, including allegations they are pressured to release planes with defects that could compromise public safety.

Meanwhile, Transport Canada yesterday said it was launching an audit into Jazz’s mechanical operations in the next three months. (more…)

Its a new look for a local airline. NAC Air unveiled a new logo and website in an event at the Thunder Bay International Airport Tuesday.

Thunder Bay Mayor, Lyn Peterson was on hand to assist CEO Tom Meilleur with the unveiling and seat sale announcement.

North American Charters was created in 2000, to offer airline service to First Nation communities in the region. It is the first 100 per cent First Nation-owned airline and has changed the face of air travel in Northwestern Ontario. The decision to lower airfares by 40 to 50 per cent and introduce high frequency, seven-days a week flights to remote areas has captured a large part of the market. (more…)

Geneva.– Nearly one out of two airline tickets issued to travellers is currently in electronic form and paper tickets are on track to disappear completely by 2007, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced recently.

The association, which represents 265 airlines accounting for 94 percent of international air traffic, indicated that it would begin penalising members that failed to introduce electronic tickets by the end of next year. (more…)

US Airways Group Inc. is stepping up its Philadelphia operations this fall with more flights to and from three cities.

The company said Monday there will be one more flight per day to and from New Orleans and Wilmington, N.C. There will be two flights added per day to and from Buffalo, N.Y.

The change starts Sept. 6. US Airways (NYSE: LCC) said it is adding flights to meet demand for the markets. (more…)

Think your commute is bad? Try Wichita to New York, Vancouver, B.C., to Dallas or Panama to Miami.

For pilots and flight attendants, those commutes are not just routine but long-standing matters of choice, supported by two of the perks that make working for an airline special: They can hitch a ride on almost any airline with an empty seat, and they usually have to work only 15 to 18 days a month, making it easy for them to live anywhere they want.

But nowadays, they find it hard to get home because planes are so full. “Sometimes it takes me two days,” said Jason Miller, 36, an Airbus 320 captain for JetBlue Airways. (more…)

Air Canada is imposing stricter new weight limits on passengers’ carry-on luggage.

Like every carrier, Air Canada is battling to pare costs as the price of jet fuel has skyrocketed in recent months. In an effort to lighten each plane’s load, the airline has tried measures ranging from dumping empty wine bottles in the middle of a round trip and, in one high profile experiment, even stripped paint off the fuselage of one plane.

With the busy summer flying season now at hand, the ACE Aviation Ltd. unit has shifted its gaze to the check-in counter.
(more…)

GERMANY’S biggest airline is blocking a British plan to make passengers pay for the environmental damage caused by their flights.

Lufthansa has rejected proposals put forward by British Airways for an emissions-trading scheme, under which airlines would buy permits to cover their production of carbon dioxide.

Britain strongly supports the scheme and, with the backing of France and the Scandinavian countries, hopes to introduce it within Europe by 2008.

The scheme would add up to £6 to the cost of an airline ticket, depending on the length of the flight and the market price of permits. The European Commission is studying the idea and is expected to produce firm proposals in September. (more…)

MEMBER-nations of the Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area (BIMP-Eaga) have forged a new agreement, which is expected to increase the load factor of airlines companies in the growth area.

The agreement was reached during the recently concluded BIMP-Eaga Transport Ministers Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam.

Mindanao Business Council chair Romeo Serra said the granting of full fifth freedom traffic rights in the BIMP-Eaga region is a start to further smoothen air transport linkages in the region. (more…)