SAS says to boost Scandinavian flights due demand

July 13 (Reuters) – Loss-making airline SAS (SAS.ST) said on Tuesday that it would increase flights on some Scandinavian routes due to strong demand.

SAS was badly hit by the global downturn and has had to slash costs and raise cash via a rights issue. But the airline was upbeat about its home markets

“Apart from the fact that we have planes which are record full, we also see a positive development in our Scandinavian network…,” SAS commercial chief Robin Kamark said in a statement.

“SAS will raise the number of depatures in the autumn within Scandinavia due to strong demand,” the company added. The new flights would come on the Stockholm-Copenhagen and Stockholm-Oslo routes. (Reporting by Patrick Lannin)

Iranian planes are getting fuel: foreign ministry

(Reuters) – Iranian planes are getting fuel at airports around the world, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday, denying reports that some countries were refusing supplies due to sanctions.

“No such limitation has been imposed,” he told a news conference, saying reports that fuel supplies had been blocked were part of a propaganda war against the Islamic Republic.

On Monday, the secretary of the Iranian Airlines Union was quoted on Iran’s ISNA news agency as saying Iranian planes had been refused fuel at airports in Britain, Germany and UAE because of U.S. sanctions.

The German Transport Ministry said there was no ban on refueling Iranian flights in Germany and a British government source said London was not aware of any cut to supplies and that any such a decision would be up to private companies.

A source in the UAE familiar with the issue said a private company there had refused to refuel an Iranian plane, but the UAE had imposed no ban of its own.

(Reporting by Robin Pomeroy; editing by David Stamp)

UPDATE 1-EasyJet June passengers rise 9.4 pct

LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) – British budget airline easyJet (EZJ.L) flew 9.4 percent more passengers in June year-on-year, its largest monthly increase since before flights were interrupted by a volcanic ash cloud from Iceland in April. The airline carried 4.54 million passenger in June, up from 4.15 million a year ago, while its load factor — a measure of how it fills its planes — increased 0.9 percentage points to 87.2 percent.

Passenger numbers at rival Ryanair (RYA.I) rose 15 percent in June, the Irish airline said on Monday, while they fell 11.1 percent at strike-hit British Airways (BAY.L). [ID:nWLA7687] [ID:nLDE6640HR]

(Reporting by Paul Sandle, Editing by Rosalba O’Brien)

Iran planes are getting fuel — foreign ministry

July 6 (Reuters) – Iranian planes are getting fuel at airports around the world, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said on Tuesday, denying reports that some countries were refusing supplies due to sanctions. [ID:nLDE66418N]

“No such limitation has been imposed,” he told a news conference.

RIA Financial Services anuncia donaciones sin costo para la campaña “Un Gol por un Techo”.

CERRITOS, California.–(Business Wire)–
RIA Financial Services (“Ria”), una empresa líder en transferencias de dinero a
nivel mundial, anunció hoy transferencias de dinero sin costo, para aquellos que
deseen colaborar con la campaña “Un Gol por un Techo”, organizada por “Un Techo
para mi País” en El Salvador.

“Un Techo para mi País” es una organización sin fines de lucro que busca mejorar
la calidad de vida de familias que viven en extrema pobreza, a través de la
construcción de viviendas de emergencia y de la implementación de planes
sociales. Esta organización ha estado estrechamente involucrada en la ayuda a
las víctimas de los terremotos de Haití y Chile. El propósito de “Un Gol por un
Techo” es recolectar suficientes fondos para ofrecer una casa por cada gol que
se anote durante la Copa Mundial.

Ria se ha asociado con Scotiabank para permitir a clientes en todo el mundo que
hagan donaciones por medio de una transferencia de dinero sin costo, a través de
Scotiabank con destino a “Un Techo para mi País” hasta el 15 de julio.

ACERCA DE RIA FINANCIAL SERVICES

RIA Financial Services, una filial de Euronet Worldwide, Inc. (NASDAQ: EEFT), es
la tercera empresa de transferencias de dinero más grande del mundo. Iniciando y
finalizando transacciones a través de una red de agentes de envío y tiendas de
propiedad de la compañía, ubicadas en toda Europa y Norteamérica, y
desembolsando transferencias de dinero a través de una red de pagos en todo el
mundo, Ria es líder global en envíos de dinero y es un punto de referencia tanto
en calidad como en servicio.

En 2009, Ria procesó más de 17 millones de operaciones de transferencias por un
valor nominal total de aproximadamente $6.000 millones USD. Los principales
servicios de Ria incluyen transferencias de dinero, pagos de facturas, giros
postales y pagos de cheques. Los productos de Ria están disponibles bajo las
marcas identificables de Ria Money Transfer, Ria Envia, AFEX Money Express y Kim
Phu Money Transfer. Con una red de transferencias de dinero de cliente a cliente
de aproximadamente 82.200 oficinas que atienden en más de 100 países, Ria es
firme en su compromiso con los clientes y permanece arraigada dentro de las
comunidades donde ellos residen. La sede central corporativa de Ria está ubicada
en Cerritos, California, EE. UU. Para obtener más información, por favor visite
el sitio web de la empresa www.riafinancial.com.

El texto original en el idioma fuente de este comunicado es la versión oficial
autorizada. Las traducciones solo se suministran como adaptación y deben
cotejarse con el texto en el idioma fuente, que es la única versión del texto
que tendrá un efecto legal.

RIA Financial Services
Liliana Hung, 562-345-2100
Gerente de Mercadotecnia

Copyright Business Wire 2010

UPDATE 1-Aer Lingus May traffic down on ash disruption

DUBLIN, June 8 (Reuters) – Irish airline Aer Lingus (AERL.I) carried fewer passengers in May year-on-year after a volcanic ash cloud disrupted flights again.

Aer Lingus, which has been cutting costs to survive against former suitor Ryanair (RYA.I), carried 876,000 passengers, down 9.9 percent on May 2009 however its load factor — a measure of how well it fills planes — rose by 5.6 percentage points to 79.3 percent.

The spread of ash from an erupting volcano in Iceland grounded much of European air traffic for nearly a week in April. It also periodically forced the short-term closure of parts of airspace across Europe in May.

As a consequence of the disruptions caused by the ash clouds, Aer Lingus said there there were 11 days in May when it did not operate all of its scheduled flights.

The former state carrier has said that the closures would cut earnings by about 20 million euros ($24 million). [ID:nLDE64304U]

Ryanair said last week May booked passenger numbers rose 17 percent year on year to 6.44 million, before accounting for ash cloud closures. [ID:nWLA5565] (Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Mike Nesbit) ($1=.8375 euros)

Tiger Air to advance deliveries of 2 more Airbus A320

June 1 (Reuters) – Singapore-listed budget carrier Tiger Airways (TAHL.SI) said it will advance the delivery of two more Airbus (EAD.PA) A320 this financial year ending March 2011, taking the total number of planes in its fleet to 26.

Industrials

“The total number of aircraft being delivered in this financial year will now increase to 9, resulting in an increase in total fleet of at least 37 percent by March 2011,” the company said in a statement to Singapore Exchange [ID:nSNZ3z6kTj]. (Reporting by Harry Suhartono, editing by Saeed Azhar)

Wayne Rooney loves to hear a buzz while sleeping!

London, May 20 (ANI): Wayne Rooney’s obsession with hearing a buzz in the background as he sleeps extends much beyond the hairdryer – the Man U footie sleeps on the floor of planes when he flies to feel the jet engines’ vibration.

“If I”m staying in a hotel or I”m sleeping on my own I have the hairdryer on,” the Sun quoted Rooney, as saying.

He added: “When I”m with COLEEN I have the fan on. I don”t know what it is, but the noise just helps me sleep.

“If we”re on long-haul flights I”ve been known to sleep on the floor so I hear the engine, and on occasions when the manager has walked past he”s asked, ”What are you doing?”” (ANI)

Airport toilets ”teeming with germs and filth”

Melbourne, May 14 (ANI): The profusion of germs at airports can cause travellers to fall ill with colds and flus, a top Aussie travel doctor has warned.

According to Dr Deborah Mills, from the Travel Medical Alliance, several people believe airconditioning on planes spreads illness, but actually the airport are a hotbed of germs.

“The airport toilets are filthy,”” News.com.au quoted Mills, as saying.

Mills said studies show almost a third of people don”t wash their hands when going to restrooms at airports.

She said: “Cold and flu viruses live for at least two days on surfaces.

“You probably have a few hundred people on a plane and a million people at an airport like Bangkok.””

Taking about airconditioning on a plane and chances of catching colds, Mills said: “The air on the plane is funnelled through the jet engines to purify it which kills all the germs.

“The way the airconditioning works is that when the plane is running it only goes over a few seats and then gets sucked in.

“It”s dangerous on planes when the plane is stationary and the airconditioning is off, but when the plane is running and the airconditioning is on the chance of getting something is the same as your local shopping centre.”” (ANI)

How volcanic ash plumes end up in the jet stream

Washington, April 20(ANI): The area in the atmosphere that pilots prefer to fly in, known as jet stream, is most likely to be impacted by plumes from volcanic ash, according to an expert.

Marcus I. Bursik, professor of geology in the UB College of Arts and Sciences, explained the reason behind the problem.

He said: “That”s a problem because modern transcontinental and transoceanic air routes are configured to take advantage of the jet stream”s power, saving both time and fuel.

“The interaction of the jet stream and the plume is likely a factor here. Basically, planes have to fly around the plume or just stop flying, as they have, as the result of this eruption in Iceland.”

Often the plume can be tracked satellites and pilots can steer around the plume.

However, it didn’t work in the current ash cloud cover over Europe, following volcanic eruption in Iceland, since the ash drifted right over Britain.

Bursik has further explained the problems in a 2009 paper called “Volcanic plumes and wind: Jet stream interaction examples and implications for air traffic”.

He said: “In the research we did, we found that the jet stream essentially stops the plume from rising higher into the atmosphere. Because the jet stream causes the density of the plume to drop so fast, the plume”s ability to rise above the jet stream is halted: the jet stream caps the plume at a certain atmospheric level.”

Bursik says that new techniques now in development will be capable of producing better estimates of where and when ash clouds from volcanoes will travel.

He and his colleagues have proposed a project with researchers at the University of Alaska that would improve tracking estimates to find out where volcanic ash clouds are going.

He added: “What we get now is a mean estimate of where ash should be in atmosphere but our proposal is designed to develop both the mean estimate and estimates of error that would be more accurate and useful. It could help develop scenarios that would provide a quantitative probability as to how likely a plane is to fly through the plume, depending on the route.”

The study has been published in the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. (ANI)

Qantas apologises for recent problems

Qantas boss Alan Joyce has defended the airline’s safety record after a string of mechanical problems.

Seven Qantas planes have suffered equipment failures over the past two weeks including a cracked windscreen, brake issues and wing flap defects.

Mr Joyce says he is sorry about the delays but safety is not an issue for the airline.

“The issues that occurred over Easter we apologise for – the inconvenience that would cause to customers,” he said.

“But they don’t signal a deterioration in Qantas safety and maintenance records because the statistics clearly indicate that this happens to every airline in the world.”

Direct flights set to boost tourism

A major airline is showing confidence in the Coffs coast as a premier tourist destination.

Virgin Blue will introduce larger planes on peak days for the Coffs Harbour-to-Sydney route from May.

Direct flights to Melbourne will also be introduced in June, encouraging southern tourists to make weekend visits to the Coffs coast.

Virgin spokeswoman Amanda Bolger says the upgrade is demand driven.

“We’ve been watching the amount of people who have been connecting through Sydney on to Melbourne and that’s given us a bit of confidence to say obviously the demand is there, particularly on weekends,” she said.

“What it will do is allow people from Melbourne to come up to Coffs Harbour for a weekend visit, which will be terrific for tourism.

“That’s what they’ve been doing via the Sydney flight and we’re just going to make it a little bit more convenient to go direct.”

Ms Bolger says direct flights are also a sign of the strengthened economy.

“We’ve been watching quite closely and we’re obviously demand-driven, so the demand is there in particular on weekends,” she said.

Unpaid Spanish air hostesses strip off for saucy calendar in protest

London, April 1 (ANI): A group of flight attendants from now bankrupt Spanish airline Air Comet has stripped off for a saucy calendar in a bid to publicise their battle to recoup their lost wages.

The airline went bust last December after the High Court in London ordered the firm to stop using its planes and selling tickets, reports the Sun.

Air hostesses who worked for the company decided on their naked protest after failing to get up to eight months of unpaid salaries.

Over 1,000 calendars featuring nine women in their flight caps, gloves and high heels have gone on sale for 13 pounds.

Adriana Ricardo, who poses as Miss August on an aircraft engine in high heels and a tiny bikini, said: “I think it”s a different and very elegant way of highlighting our plight. The rest of our colleagues are completely behind us.” (ANI)

Noisy planes banned from major cities

Noisy freight planes will be banned from operating out of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth airports later this year.

The Federal Government has announced that from September older freight aircraft such as Boeing 727s will no longer be able to run services in the four cities under a plan to reduce aircraft noise.

Transport Minister Anthony Albanese says freight operators have known about the changes for some time.

“This is an important initiative in order to ensure that these noisy aircraft are unable to be used over densely populated suburbs in our capital cities,” he said.

“We’re giving the companies a period of time to adjust.”

Call for Port Macquarie catheterisation lab

A health campaigner on the New South Wales mid-north coast is hopeful that funding will be made available so cardiac patients can be treated in Port Macquarie.

Anne Meister is concerned about the number of patients who have to travel to Sydney to have catheterisation done when they have a heart attack.

She says there are three cardiologists in Port Macquarie but there is no catheterisation lab for them to do the procedure.

Ms Meister has discussed the issue with the State’s Opposition spokeswoman for health, Jillian Skinner.

“Ms Skinner said basically what most politicians say – that she will help as much as she can,” she said.

“She was well aware of everything and she had a lot of paperwork on it and she was very aware of our health problems here in Port Macquarie, so hopefully something will come out of it eventually.

“With the cost of the planes – which is over a million and a half dollars a year – it’s a lot of money to be sending people away when we have the expertise here in Port Macquarie.”

Argentina arrests torturer blamed for 600 deaths

Argentina has arrested an accused torturer who is blamed for 600 cases of torture and homicide, including prisoners being thrown alive from planes, under the 1976 to 1983 military dictatorship.

Carlos Galian, 64, also known by the alias Pedro Bolita, has been accused of human rights violations against at least 600 people while he worked at the Naval Mechanics School between 1976 to 1978.

About 5,000 regime opponents went through the school, essentially a killing field, and just about 100 are known to have survived.

Galian was linked to the “death flights” on which opponents, real or perceived, of the military government were tossed out of planes into the Rio de la Plata or Atlantic Ocean.

Human rights organisations say about 30,000 people went missing after being arrested during the right-wing military regime that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.

Many of those abducted were accused of being leftist sympathisers or deemed subversive by the regime. They were sent to torture centres then murdered and their bodies disposed of in mass graves.

- AFP

Posh ‘left heartbroken after missing Becks on airport’

London, Mar 24 (ANI): Victoria Beckham was left with a lump in her throat when she could not kiss injured hubby David goodbye at Heathrow airport, owing security issues and flights from different terminals.

The celebrity couple could not be together at airport as injured Becks, 34, jetted to Los Angeles, while Posh changed planes in London on her way from California to a fashion launch in Moscow.

The 35-year-old former Spice Girl could only talk by phone to David, who was returning home to Los Angeles after recuperating at their mansion in Hertfordshire following ankle surgery.

“It was upsetting for them both. Victoria burst into tears when she realised they wouldn”t even be able to say ”hi” at the airport,” the Sun quoted a source as saying.

“This is the life they lead – their jobs mean they have to travel all over the world at short notice,” added the insider.

The couple will be reunited when Posh flies home on Friday. (ANI)

Gyrocopter pilot found safe

A gyrocopter which was overdue on a flight from Weipa on a Cape York flight has been found.

The pilot called police just before midday to report he was safe and uninjured.

Police planes were searching south of Weipa after the chopper failed to arrive late yesterday at a remote station.

The pilot has told searchers he put the aircraft down south of Weipa yesterday afternoon after mechanical problems.

Airline strike fails to halt BA

British Airways cabin crew have moved into day two of their strike in protest against job cuts and changes to work practices.

But the airline says many of its passengers have still been able to fly.

BA says it is the biggest contingency plan it has ever launched – leasing planes from other airlines to keep two-thirds of its passengers flying.

BA says it has got off to a good start at Heathrow and Gatwick, but the union Unite claims some planes are starting to “stack up” on the ground as a result of the strike.

It has accused BA of wanting to “go to war” after talks broke down.

British prime minister Gordon Brown has condemned the strike, saying it is in no-one’s interest.

Given railway signal workers also plan to strike in coming weeks, political commentators say the action could damage Labour ahead of the election that is tipped for May 6.

BA strike to ground thousands

Qantas says a strike by British Airways staff will not impact on the Australian airline’s services to and from Britain.

BA cabin staff will walk off the job after two days of talks with BA management failed to resolve a dispute over pay and work practices.

More than 1,000 flights are set to be cancelled in the three-day action, followed by a potentially more disruptive second walkout for four days from March 27 ahead of the busy Easter holiday period.

But a spokeswoman for Qantas says its customers booked on BA services have been contacted and accommodated on Qantas services or offered other flight options.

The joint leader of Britain’s biggest trade union Unite, Tony Woodley, says all BA had to do was reinstate the original deal, but instead came back with a proposal during the last-minute talks that reduced the amount of pay on offer.

“It is ridiculous to expect any union to go to its membership with a worse offer than was withdrawn last week,” he said.

But BA chief Willie Walsh says it has been trying to negotiate with the union for 13 months.

“I think if people want to point fingers in relation to why these discussions have failed, I think they need to look somewhere else,” he said.

A total of 1,100 BA flights out of the approximately 1,950 scheduled to operate during the first strike will be cancelled.

BA has vowed to keep at least 60 per cent of passengers flying during the action, using staff who are not striking, as well as leasing up to 22 planes with pilots and crew from up to eight other European airlines.

For the flights that do make it out, ground staff in Australia may impose some bans in solidarity with the union.

Adding even more pressure to Britain just weeks before its general election, rail workers have also voted to strike over Network Rail’s plans to cut 1,500 jobs.

If they walk over Easter, it will be the first national rail strike in 16 years.

-ABC/AFP