Disapointingly, the ESTA fee will become live after 8th September to apply for permission (not guarentee permission, but merely ask for it) for travel to the United States of America under the Visa Waiver system.The Visa Waiver system is valid for 36 countries, and will allegedly dump the old I-94W's.  For UK viewers, that's £9 every two years.  The fee is $10, … [Read more...]

Well it seems the money is still abound - this time Porter Airlines of Canada have been shopping for some more Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 Next Gens for its fleet with orders for four aircraft direct , and options for 6 more if needed.Deliveries are set to begin in the second quarter 2011,  and will be delivered up to third quarter 2012.Porter currently operates a fleet of … [Read more...]

Things are heading into tailspin with Mexicana alas, with the announcement via Reuters that they have suspended selling tickets from Wednesday.Flights will continue to operate and existing tickets honoured.The unions are being called in today in a attempt to reach an agreement with management, although judging by the previous actions of the union, I would not be surprised if … [Read more...]

Well there seems to be some money floating around - this time in Asia with Cathay Pacific in the mood to buy.Cathay has signed a letter of intent to purchase 30 A350-900 aircraft from Airbus, whilst at the same time to exercise existing purchase rights for six Boeing 777-300ERs.Cathay expects the A350s to be delivered between 2016 and 2019, which Cathay say will form its … [Read more...]

Drama over the skies of Birmingham this evening a Monarch A321 suffering an engine fire after take off (and for Birmingham Airport - that's high drama).A Monarch Airlines Airbus A321-200, on flight ZB932 from Birmingham to Tenerife with 213 passengers, departed Birmingham's yesterday, and during the initial climb, when the left engine emitted a loud bang,streaks of flames and … [Read more...]

Mexicana has fallen, and has filed for bankruptcy protection both in Mexico and the USA after failing to reach a deal with trade unions on cost cutting.To stave of bankruptcy, the airline had proposed deep pay cuts for the crews, pilots and a 40% slash on staff. To which the unions disagreed too. Mexicana has said flights would continue while it restructured its … [Read more...]

It's been some weeks or days since I've talked about BA and Unite. So lets waste some pixel space seeing what both sides are at.BA and Unite have had a round of talks this week in an attempt to hold off any industrial action - and whilst no fruit is bearing at the moment, they will be meeting again next week.Both parties met at Acas, and discussed what they wanted under their … [Read more...]