Airline industry

The rising price of oil is likely to bring about the demise of numerous low cost airlines with tight profit margins, Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Irish budget airline […]

It’s been over two weeks since the last ever Air Berlin flight landed on October 27th and anyone who has bought domestic tickets since then has almost certainly noticed the difference.
Passengers flying domestically are paying on average 32.5 percent more for short haul flights compared to four weeks ago, according to an analysis carried out by MyDealz.de. The shopping portal analyzed prices on 25 short and medium haul routes in October and again in November before coming to its conclusions.

Ryanair is to postpone its new cabin bag policy until January 15, 2018 "to allow customers more time to adjust to the changes", it says. The new policy, which was to have come into effect from November 1st, axes free 10kg carry-on bags for all but Priority Boarding Customers.
Passengers who do not pay its €5 priority fee will have to check the larger of their two cabin bags (10kg, 55cm x 40cm x 20cm) into the hold at the boarding gate.

An Air Berlin flight was grounded in Reykjavik over the airline’s unpaid airport charges. The Icelandic aviation authority would not allow the plane to take off without paying its bills.
Cash-strapped Air Berlin, one of Germany’s largest airlines, filed for insolvency in August after shareholder Etihad announced it would no longer be providing financial support. A €210 million ($247 million) bid by Lufthansa to buy the airline was accepted last week.

UK low cost airline and holiday company Monarch Airlines has collapsed and been placed in administration leaving 110,000 customers stranded abroad.

The accountants KPMG announced in the early hours of Monday that Monarch, Britain’s longest-surviving airline, had been placed into administration and that all further flights from the UK had been cancelled and would not be rescheduled.

The Dubai Civil Aviation Authority (DCAA) has begun testing on a proof-of-concept autonomous air taxi, flying for five minutes approximately 650 feet above a windy residential neighborhood.

The air taxis (AATs) are built by the German company Volocopter. Looking like a helicopter with a drone’s rotors attached at the top, it is meant to seat 2 with 18 propellors. Unmanned for its first run, the test and surrounding ceremony was arranged by Dubai Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.

Wizz Air today introduces its new “Flexible Travel Partner” service, allowing customers to create a new reservation without including all passengers’ names at the time of booking.

This innovative new product has been designed for customers who want to book their trip securing low-cost fares well in advance, yet are uncertain who their travel partners will be.

Millions of Ryanair passengers will be forced to put their weekend bags and small suitcases in the hold from November 1, unless they cough up £10 per return flight for priority boarding.

The low-cost airline said only those who pay the fee will be allowed to take a larger 10kg bag, measuring up to 55cm x 40cm x 20cm, into the cabin. Everyone else will be able to keep a small handbag or laptop bag (35cm x 20cm x 20cm), but will have their bigger cases taken from them at the gate and placed in the hold (free of charge).