Aurora Group, run by hotel tycoon Surinder Aurora, has put forward a proposal for revisions to the currently government-preferred plans for the expansion to London’s Heathrow Airport, which could create savings of up to £5.20bn on the current price tag of £17.5bn. Heathrow is considering the alternative proposal which would involve changing the design of
IndiGo, the Indian budget airline has expressed a keen interest in acquiring the international operations of fellow national carrier, Air India. However, IndiGo has made it clear from the onset that it would not be interested in any form of joint venture with the Indian government. IndiGo’s founders, Rakesh Gangwal and Rahul Bhatia, have also
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released May’s global passenger traffic results, revealing that compared to May 2016, revenue passenger kilometers (RPKs) was up 7.6%, though down from 10.9% growth in April. Capacity was up 6.1% and load factor was up 1.2% to 80.1%, a record high for the month of May. For the
As it looks to consolidate its foothold in the African commercial airline market, fastjet has acquired all intellectual property rights from easyGroup. Up until now the carrier had paid royalties to the easyGroup and Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannu, who established the brand in 2013. fastjet has paid the sum of £2.5 million (US$3.2 million), which represents
After 26 days of strike action taken already this year in connection with a protracted pay dispute, BA cabin crew began a further 16-day strike at 00:01hrs on July 1, which will last until 23:59hrs on July 16. The strike is being held by members of the Unite union who work on both long-haul and
The Indian government has given the go-ahead for the privatisation of the loss-making and debt-ridden Air India. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley confirmed that subsequent to a cabinet meeting, “in principle” approval has been given for the sale of a stake in the airline. This is one of a series of initial steps that needs to
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has released data which reveals that the South African air transportation sector is responsible for contributing US$12bn to the country’s GDP, while providing employment for approximately 490,000 people if tourism-related jobs are also included. The figures were revealed in a study conducted by Oxford Economics on behalf of IATA
American Airlines has announced that Qatar Airways is looking to acquire a 10% stake in the world’s largest carrier, though the board would have to approve it in advance if it is to progress. Currently the American carrier has made it abundantly clear that its bylaws prohibit “anyone from acquiring 4.75% or more of the
In collaboration with L3 Technologies, Airbus is to implement new deployable and fixed flight recorders on its airline programs. Two versions are to be produced, one which is a crash-protected Cockpit Voice and Data Recorder (CVDR) capable of recording 25 hours of data on one single recorder. The second version is an Automated Deployable Flight
Based just south of Denver, Colorado, Boom has provided updated figures on orders received for its supersonic jet, which is currently still undergoing trials with a one-third size demonstrator, XB-1. To date 76 orders have been received, which include non-refundable down payments. Boom is a startup company which is promising to produce a supersonic passenger
