Airline News - Europe.

For more airline news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/order_formsubs.htm Jul 17, 2006

Assn. of European Airlines blasted last week's resounding European Parliament endorsement of fuel taxes on domestic and intra-EU flights and other measures aimed at reducing aircraft emissions. AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus warned that the policy would lead to "the systematic dismantling of a key industry by political manipulation of its price structure." He argued that the proposed measures would price a large number of airline passengers out of the market, saying, "The mobility of European citizens would be greatly reduced, the competitiveness of European business would be damaged, the economies of Europe's tourist regions would be devastated." Jul 10, 2006

Adria Airways 

Adria Airways appointed CRS Airlines Representatives as its first cargo GSSA in Spain following the launch of twice-weekly Barcelona-Ljubljana service. CRS will fill the same role for Norwegian, which launched a thrice-weekly Madrid-Oslo service. Jul 12, 2006 Air One

Assn. of European Airlines formally introduced Italy's Air One as its 31st member. Jul 10, 2006

Austrian Airlines 

Austrian Airlines Group said its ontime performance has suffered as a result of poor ATC at its Vienna hub and it expects several million euros of extra costs. Labor issues and union squabbles at Austro Control have reduced slots at the airport from 40-45 per hr. to just 25. Austrian expected 83% ontime performance, but in the past several days it has dropped to 60%. Jul 14, 2006

Austrian Airlines

Austrian Airlines will implement several organizational changes on Sept. 1 that it said should boost quality and productivity. Activities centering on customer contact, both on the ground and in the cabin, will be folded into a new Product Management & Customer Services division headed by Peter Baumgartner, a former Siemens manager. The Network and Sales divisions will merged and supervised by Rudolf Mertl. Former flight operations head Christian Fitz will lead the new Quality, Collective Decision Making and Process Management division, which will be in charge of increasing cooperation with Vienna Airport and Austro Control. Friedrich Strahammer will take over the Flight Operations division. Jul 14, 2006

British Airways

British Airways is set to take the stress out of family travel this summer as it extends its new on-line check-in facility to children and infants from July 25 (with the family but not as unaccompanied minors). The easy to use system is available on more than 97% of routes, including BA Connect flights from UK regional airports. On arrival at the airport, the family just can hand over their luggage at the 'Fast Bag Drop' desk and go straight through security to the boarding gate. Special child meals, including healthy options, can be booked on mainline flights up to 24 hours before departures. The airline has also re-launched its offerings to children. For the little ones, that is three to five, there is the 'fun backpack' and for the next group, that is up to 12, it's a funky shoulder pack. New giveaways include a set of Top Trumps cards, foldable binoculars, write-and-wipe magic boards and an electronic game. http://www.ba.com Jul 15, 2006

Condor Airlines

Condor Airlines will start a twice-weekly Frankfurt-Santo Domingo service and weekly flights from FRA to Samana and Zanzibar by November, using 767-300ERs on all routes. Jul 12, 2006

Finnair

Finnair is to fly non-stop from Helsinki to Manchester at the start of the winter season, and to Madrid as well. Improved passenger numbers mean that the Stockholm stopover is discontinued and timetable changes make for a better connection with Finnair's expanding Asia network. The route is operated by an Embraer 170 in a two-class layout. From the British Isles Finnair has services to Helsinki from Dublin, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Heathrow and Manchester. http://www.finnair.com Jul 15, 2006

Finnair

Finnair will fly nonstop from Helsinki to Madrid by September and to Manchester from Oct. 29, eliminating the Stockholm stopover on each flight. It will start four-times-weekly Helsinki-Ljubljana flights in April 2007 aboard Embraer 170s. Jul 13, 2006

Lufthansa

Lufthansa wants to increase the number of long-haul destinations it serves from Munich from 18 to 40 by the end of the decade, an LH spokesperson said. Jul 14, 2006

PrivatAir

PrivatAir hopes to unveil another airline client for its all-business-class operations this summer. The Swiss company, which flies for Lufthansa, KLM and Swiss International Air Lines in addition to operating Airbus's corporate shuttle, said interest in its services is growing. "We are talking to several carriers, because the others [airlines] see that it is a success," CEO Greg Thomas told. PrivatAir's business plan for the next five years calls for the addition of 17 BBJs or ACJs. Jul 10, 2006

PrivatAir

PrivatAir, the Swiss company based in Geneva, operates 53 aircraft and transports 110,000 passengers per year. Half its business and 50,000 passengers come from operating business-class services for other airlines. The same number fly the Airbus shuttle and approximately 10,000 fly PrivatAir's ad-hoc VIP charters. Thomas expects 2006 revenue to climb 2.7% to $190 million. Jul 10, 2006

Transaero Airlines

Transaero Airlines wants the Russian government to lift duties on imported aircraft in order to spur fleet renewal. DG Olga Pleshakova said in Toulouse that the A330, A340 and A350 "perfectly suit Transaero's development strategy in the field of servicing long-haul routes from Moscow and St. Petersburg airports." It currently flies to Canada, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia and intends to expand its network to the US, Brazil and Australia. Jul 12, 2006

Transaero Airlines

Transaero and bmi signed a commercial agreement yesterday in London that will see each carrier launch a daily London Heathrow-Moscow Domodedovo flight beginning Oct. 29. The carriers will codeshare on connections from their respective hubs. Bmi will use an A320 on the route, on which British Airways and Aeroflot have a similar arrangement. Jul 12, 2006