London, Oct 28 : British Airways has stopped being the UK’s national carrier and effectively become London Airways. 

Though the airline still operates flights from Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen, but passengers choice of destination from these cities is limited: They can fly to any other city they like – so long as it is London, The Independent reported. 

At the weekend, the airline axed the last international flight that neither departed from nor arrived at one of the London airports, the 44-year-old link from New York to Manchester. 

The slots at JFK have been redeployed for a new BA route from Gatwick. 

In the times of financial meltdown and rising oil prices, the aviation industry had to suffer a lot. Since it seems that the industry is finding it hard to pay dues to the airports, it has called for government intervention to pay it in installments, in the same manner as they have been allowed to pay for the fuel. 

London - London police gave the all-clear Friday afternoon after a suspicious piece of luggage had earlier forced the evacuation of the London City Airport.

Authorities said there was no connection to terrorist activity.

The airport was evacuated around 1330 GMT after several passengers began coughing and complaining of medical irritations. No passengers fell seriously ill and the airport was re-opened two hours after it was closed. Some flights were canceled or re-routed.

New York - The airlines' losing streak continued Thursday, as high fuel costs and sagging economy put a drag on operations.

The country's sixth largest passenger carrier US Airways flew deep into the red in the third quarter, like most of its rivals.

JetBlue, partially owned by Lufthansa, on the other hand narrowly missed the profit zone.

But in both cases, the losses were less than analysts expected.

Vienna  - German airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG has submitted a valid bid for Austrian Airlines AG (AUA), the Austrian takeover commission confirmed Thursday, but it said it was still uncertain if there would be a deal.

"Against the background of AUA's economic development and an apparent wide gap between the negotiating positions, it is uncertain whether the transaction can be concluded," the commission said in a statement.

The Austrian government is in the process of selling its 42.75-per-cent stake in the country's ailing flag carrier, but Air France has dropped out of the bidding process.