China’s largest online travel company, Ctrip, is looking to expand its reach beyond its home market by agreeing to buy Scotland-based Skyscanner, the air-ticketing specialist, for an agreed £1.4 billion. Back in January the Scottish startup had been valued at £1.0 billion after a round of financing. Skyscanner was founded 13 years ago, and currently
On Thursday November 24, Airbus staged the maiden flight of its latest and largest A350-family jet, the A350-1000, which will have a passenger capacity of 366 seats within its lightweight carbon-fiber structure. MSN059 took off at Blagnac in Toulouse, France at 10.42 hrs local time and the flight lasted more than four hours. Powered by
TUI AG‘s Supervisory Board has given the green light for further steps with the goal to create a new European airline joint venture with Etihad Aviation Group. TUI Group’s supervisory body approved the plan to contribute its German leisure airline subsidiary TUI fly GmbH to a joint venture with Etihad. Etihad is in negotiations with
Hundreds of Lufthansa flights may be delayed on Wednesday as Lufthansa’s pilots will be going on strike for 24 hours in support of a current pay dispute. The 24-hour action will start at 00:01 CET on Wednesday November 23, and will finish at 23:59 CET, affecting short- and long-haul Lufthansa flights. Other Lufthansa-group airlines such
Introduced in 2011, aviation taxes in Austria have become a burden for the Austrian aviation industry and are understood to have had a substantial negative impact on tourist numbers. This situation will now be partially rectified through two 25% reductions in these taxes in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Currently, passengers boarding a plane in Austria
Brazil’s competition authority, CADE, has given the go ahead for Qatar Airways to take a 10% stake in Latin America’s largest airline, LATAM, at an estimated value of US$600 million. However, CADE has certain misgivings about an investment from International Airlines Group (IAG) who owns LATAM oneworld partners British Airways and Iberia, which has caused
Having previously and openly avoided in investing in the volatile sector, Warren Buffet and Berkshire Hathaway have chosen to invest heavily in a number of airlines, including United Continental Holdings, American Airlines Group Inc. and Delta Air Lines. The investments were disclosed in filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The investments included the purchase
On November 14, Alaska Airlines Flight 4 made history when its Boeing737-800, with 163 passengers on board, flew from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport to Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C. – the first ever commercial flight to use an alternative renewable jet fuel made from forest residuals. The fuel blend was 20% sustainable aviation biofuel which
With the opening of three automatic screening lanes at Chicago O’Hare airport, United Airlines becomes the first carrier to exclusively dedicate automated lanes to a TSA Precheck® security checkpoint in multiple US airports. These lanes at O’Hare will allow up to five passengers to fill bins simultaneously and move through the security checking process more
ViaSat Inc. has announced that it has acquired Arconics, an innovative provider of software solutions to the aviation industry. Through this acquisition ViaSat, a global broadband services and technology company, acquires further expertise, aviation-grade software and mobile applications to make flying safer and more efficient for pilots, cabin crews and flight operations teams. The Arconics
