Aviation Sector

Alitalia not sure it can honour flights, official says

Rome - Alitalia's Italian government-appointed commissioner on Saturday told labour union representatives that dwindling fuel supplies at the near-bankrupt airline meant that it could not guarantee flights beyond another day, news reports said.

"For tomorrow we have our flights guaranteed, but not for Monday. They are no longer supplying us with fuel," Commissioner Augusto Fantozzi told the unions, according to the ANSA news agency.

He also warned that Alitalia would begin to lay-off flight crews from 34 planes which have already been grounded as part of cost-cutting measures, ANSA said.

Berlusconi accuses "suicidal" unions for Alitalia's woes

Berlusconi accuses "suicidal" unions for Alitalia's woes Rome - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi lashed out Saturday at unions representing Alitalia employees, saying their opposition to a government plan to save the troubled state-controlled airline is politically motivated.

Berlusconi was speaking a day after a group of private Italian investors, CAI, broke off talks with the unions who reject an estimated 7,000 job cuts as specified in the cost-slashing rescue plan.

Spanair crash aircraft "had a record of wing defects"

Spanair crash aircraft "had a record of wing defects" Madrid - The Spanair MD-82 passenger plane that crashed in Madrid on August 20, killing 154 people, already had problems with wing slats that help provide takeoff lift, El Mundo reported Saturday.

The Spanish newspaper said the technical logbook showed that two days before the crash, defects had been detected twice within a few hours in the mechanism operating slats in the wings' leading edges.

Already 11 days before the crash a defect had been registered. In all three cases, pilots had reported that the slats had not deployed properly.

Alitalia's future in doubt as talks with unions collapse

Alitalia AirlineRome  - An Italian government-approved plan to save Alitalia was in disarray Friday with the collapse of talks between unions representing employees and a group of Italian investors seeking to take over the troubled state-controlled airline.

Following a week of unsuccessful talks with the unions, the grouping of investors, CAI, said in a statement Friday that "conditions to continue negotiations do not exist."

CAI blamed the unions for not "not recognizing the dramatic nature of Alitalia's situation and of the need for the profound break with the past that the rescue plan calls for."

Jet airways to celebrate Onam on Kerala bound flights

Kochi (Kerala), Sept 11 : Jet Airways will celebrate Onam, the popular harvest festival of Kerala on flights, by serving specially prepared Onam Sadya for all its domestic and international passengers travelling on flights out of Kochi and Kozhikode on September 12.

Passengers will be treated to delectable Onam meals such as Kalan (raw banana cubes cooked with curd, coconut paste tempered with curry leaves and south Indian spices), Erussery (raw banana and yam cooked with coconut corrainder paste and pulses), and Ela Ada (rice flour cake spread on banana leaf steamed with banana, jaggery and grated coconut stuffing).

Lufthansa upgrades services out of Italy, bigger jets

Frankfurt  - Lufthansa disclosed Thursday plans to upgrade its services operating out of Italy, but denied that the move was prompted by the maladies of its Italian rival Alitalia.

The German airline is to use six Airbus jets instead of the smaller Embraer planes it originally ordered for the new flights set to begin in February 2009.

A Lufthansa subsidiary, Air Dolomiti, will carry passengers direct from Milan's Malpensa Airport to Barcelona, Brussels, Madrid, Paris and other cities, said the group in Frankfurt.

To date, Air Dolomiti has mainly operated feeder flights to Lufthansa's Frankfurt and Munich hubs.

Pages