New Delhi, Feb 9 - Private carrier Tuesday said it has registered a 30 percent surge in international operations for the fourth month in December last year as against the corresponding period in 2008.

Also, a 30 percent growth was recorded in domestic operations in January this year against the like period last year.

In a regulatory filing, the airline said its average seat factor for its international operations last month was at 84.9 percent, while it stood at 75 percent for its low cost subsidiary JetLite (all economy class).

The bad weather conditions might once again delay NASA's launch plans, as it is determined to fuel the space shuttle Endeavour ahead of a possible Monday morning countdown.

It is clear from the move to fill the shuttle's gigantic external fuel that the U. S. space administration hopes to profit from a gap in the weather, however, it was specified by a spokesman that a 60 percent chance of launch-friendly conditions meant mission controllers were only "cautiously optimistic" of getting Endeavour away.

Mumbai, Feb 7 : An Emirates EK 505 plane from Mumbai to Manchester was diverted to technical area Tango 5 of Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus here on Sunday after airport officials received an anonymous call that a Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) suspect was onboard inside the plane.

The flight returned 15 minutes after take off, an airport official said.

The flight that took off at 9:30 a. m. was asked to return following the call.

The caller said that a LeT suspect was seated in seat no 17f of the aircraft.

Around 350 passengers were onboard and they were deplaned for security checks.

The investment arm of the emirate of Dubai, Istithmar has sold most of its 13.4% stake in the domestic low cost carrier SpiceJet. This move is most likely fallout of the financial crisis faced by the emirate during recent months.

On Friday, Istithmar sold the stake for Rs 170 crore in two block deals at Rs 53.75 per share. About 66% of this stake was purchased by domestic mutual funds and the remaining by a foreign Institutional investor.

India's largest private carrier, Jet Airways recorded a net profit of Rs 105 crore in the third quarter of the current financial year against Rs 214-crore loss in the year-ago period. The Airline benefited from the lower cost of fuel and income from aircraft leasing.

The sales for the company declined 6.5% to Rs 2,722 crore in the period. The airline has market share of 26.9% in the domestic sector. Jet managed to reduce costs by 19% to Rs 887 crore.

India has put its elite commando force, the National Security Guard (NSG), on high alert and stationed helicopters at its base for quick movement of troops in view of “credible” intelligence that Pakistan-based terrorist groups plan to hijack an Indian commercial aircraft in south Asia.

The Home Ministry had sounded an alert — reportedly based on Western intelligence — on Wednesday and followed it up with another on Thursday.

New Delhi, Jan 23 - The formal induction of Air India as a member of Star Alliance, the largest pact among global carriers, is expected to be delayed further as it is yet to integrate its systems, a top official from a founding member of the alliance said.

The remarks by Wolfgang Mayrhuber, chairman and chief executive of Lufthansa, came after a meeting with Arvind Jadhav, Air India's chairman and managing director, to discuss among other issues the progress being made by the Indian carrier to join Star Alliance.

On Thursday, Atul Bakshi scheduled all his business meetings in Delhi post-lunch.

The Malad-based businessman, who travels to the capital twice a week, took this decision after a nightmarish experience last week when several flights were disrupted due to thick fog cover in North India.

“My flight was diverted to Jaipur and I wasted nearly the entire day,” said the 39-year-old who landed in Delhi an hour behind schedule on Thursday.

Several travellers like Bakshi who go to and return from Delhi on the same day are adjusting their travel plans.

The Bengaluru International Airport (BIA) is going to get bigger as the developers have begun the process of expanding the terminal. The expansion is expected to make the airport of the software city a mega world-class airport.

The expansion planned for the next four to eight years will make the airport capable of handling passenger traffic of 51 million per annum from the current 12 million. The airport now operates at about 80% of its capacity.

The air passenger traffic in the city is to rise 15% in 2010-11.

Japan Airlines Corp has filed for bankruptcy protection in one of Japan’s biggest bankruptcies. The restructuring is planned with the help of Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan.

The restructuring will reduce the presence of Asia's top carrier around the world. The airline has faced difficulties during recession. The Japanese government refused to bail out JAL again.

It has a fleet of 279 aircraft and carries12 million passengers a year on more than 400 routes. The ETIC said that the Airline is operating too many routs and aircrafts.

The number of domestic routs will be reduced from 119 from 136 while international routs will be reduced from 79 from 93

AMR Corp.'s American Airlines has increased fees for checking bags last week, while all other full fare airlines, Delta Air Lines, Continental Airlines, US Airways and United Airlines have already implemented bag fees.

The airline said in a statement that the charge for a first checked bag will be $25, and a second piece will be $35. The prices will apply to coach fares in the U. S., Puerto Rico and U. S. Virgin Islands on tickets purchased on or after Feb. 1. Earlier the bag fee was $20 and $30.

The hike will be applicable on American Airlines, American Eagle and American Connection flights.

Sydney, January 18 : Air New Zealand has drawn strong criticism with its online campaign that depicts single middle-aged women as "cougars" on the look out for sex with young men.

The country''s national carrier came up with the documentary styled clip, showing women in their 30s, 40s and 50s hunting men in their 20s, many of whom "pretend to be gay" to avoid their claws.

The promotion was put up to encourage women aged 35 and above to invite their pictures with their "cougar mates" and enter the draw for a deal including a flight and ticket to a sporting event, reports the Sydney Morning Herald.

On Saturday afternoon, after a potential security breach, travelers were quickly evacuated from a terminal at the John F. Kennedy International Airport.

As confirmed by a Port Authority spokesman, a person, who was traveling on a flight from Orlando, walked right through the door that was supposed to be used only by employees, and this set off an alarm across the Terminal 8 at around 3:30 PM.

Passengers from across the terminal, as well as those on three boarded plans on the tarmac, were requested to evacuate. The terminal was re-opened at about 6PM and the travelers then had to go through a long screening process.

After two difficult years, the aviation sector is finally recovering as air traffic recorded a growth of 7.8% for the calendar year 2009 over the previous year. The revival in global economy along with eased corporate travel norms have resulted in an increase in the traffic.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation released data that showed domestic airlines carried 445.13 lakh passenger against 412.71 lakh in 2008. The previous year was very hard for the sector as the high fuel prices had pushed up costs while tickets fares dropped because of low demand. During 2008-09 the passenger traffic recorded a dip and the sector lost an estimated Rs 10,000 crore because of high fuel costs and excess capacity.

Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Continental Airlines (CAL) will start imposing customers with the highest fees in the industry this week for checked bags, enticing other legacy carriers to follow suit.

The new fees apply to flights within and between the U. S., the U. S. Virgin Islands, Canada, and Puerto Rico except for premium-class fliers, frequent fliers and active U. S. military members.

The recent jump in the crude prices touching a 15 month high benchmark has resulted in soaring pressure on the airline industry.

Representatives for UAL Corp's United Airlines and U. S. Airways revealed that the carriers were analysing the changes.

India's largest private carrier, Jet Airways registered a growth of 53 per cent in domestic and about 28 per cent in international passenger traffic in the month of December 2009 from the same period last year.

As the demand rises, the average seat factor for the airline’s international operations was recorded at 84.9% for December. Jet Airways’ subsidiary and low cost carrier JetLite too registered a
23% growth in passenger traffic with an average seat factor of 81.5% for the month.

“We are confident that Jet Airways is on a growth curve, and our improving results in November and December 2009 reconfirm this,” said Nikos Kardassis, chief executive officer Jet Airways.

On Sunday, a United Airlines jetliner landed safely in Newark, without one of its landing gears completely deployed, after a terrifying few moments for all travelers aboard, who were all braced in the crash position before an "unbelievably smooth" landing which led the crowd to cheer.

All 53 passengers managed to get off the plane safely.

Boeing, the US defence major has informed that India has been planning to buy 10 C-17 Globemaster heavy lift aircrafts. Concerning in this matter, the US government has received a 'letter of Request' from India.

The Indian Air Force has intended to procure the with a payload of around 75 to 80 tonnes, which is the only aircraft of this category which stand comparable with the Air Force's fleet of Russian IL-76 and An-32 transport aircraft.

The C-17 is capable of carrying 200 fully geared troops and can be used for carrying armoured vehicles, artillery guns and medium- sized helicopters from place to place. Moreover, the plane requires only 3000 feet runway for take-off and a very small crew to operate.

New Delhi, Jan 9 - Nordic carrier Finnair Saturday said its business class passengers grew 16 percent in December last year, despite a scheduled reduction in flights.

"Business class passenger numbers fell in 2009 by a couple of percent, but grew in December by 16 percent, despite scheduled traffic capacity cuts," Finnair's senior vice president Christer Haglund said in a statement.

"A pick up in business travel between Europe and Asia is perceptible. Growth is now coming from markets outside Finland in particular. We have improved service in long-haul traffic business class. Passengers on a flight to Asia can travel in a full-flat bed seat," said Haglund.

Continental Airlines has sounded an optimistic and delighted chime, as the carrier increased the number of flights as more passengers hogged up.

The airline reported that an increase of 6 percent was seen in December flights of the company. There was a 2.1% rise in capacity compared to the same period last year.

The company said that passengers flew 7.54 billion revenue passenger miles last month, compared with 7.11 billion revenue passenger miles flown in December 2008. Revenue Passenger Miles is the industry metric measuring one paying passenger flown one mile.