British Airways scraps free meals on short haul flights to cut costs

September 30th, 2009 British Airways launches luxury London-NY flightsLONDON — British Airways is launching its pricey new business class service between London and New York. The first flight takes off at 12:50 p.m.

September 13th, 2009 India's Jet Airways pilots end strike after 5 daysNEW DELHI — Pilots at India's Jet Airways resumed work Sunday ending a five-day strike that led to the cancellation of more than 800 flights, company officials said. The standoff between the airline and its pilots ended late Saturday after the company agreed to reinstate four pilots who were fired for trying to form a pilots' union.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - National carrier Air India Tuesday said it had both aircraft and crew on stand-by for immediate deployment should Jet Airways be forced to cancel more flights in the coming days. We are in talks with the government and Jet Airways officials, Air India spokesperson Jitendra Bhargava said.

September 8th, 2009 MUMBAI/NEW DELHI - For the second consecutive day Jet Airways flights were disrupted following an ongoing agitation by pilots, leading to cancellation of 160 flights across the country Wednesday, an airline official said. Many pilots continued to report sick Wednesday despite a Bombay High Court order last evening restraining them from resorting to any form of strike in the country's largest private airline.

September 8th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Faced with cancellation of nearly 200 flights by Jet Airways Monday, several stranded passengers claimed rival carriers even doubled their fares arbitrarily to cash in on the sudden rush for tickets. "I had to pay Rs.6,000 extra.

September 7th, 2009 MUMBAI - Chaos prevailed at Mumbai, Delhi and other airports across the country as over 400 pilots of Jet Airways stayed away from work on 'sick leave' since early Tuesday. Nearly 20 domestic flights, including several early morning flights on trunk routes like Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, and other major sectors like Jaipur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad were cancelled.

August 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Jet Airways Konnect, the low-cost arm of leading private carrier Jet Airways, will increase the number of daily flights it operates from 135 to 180 by Oct 1, it was announced Thursday. "Effective September 3, Konnect will launch services on several key domestic routes previously operated by Jet Airways and will have 180 daily flights by Oct 1," the airline said in a statement.

August 10th, 2009 BAA reports pickup in long-haul trafficLONDON —British airports operator BAA said Monday that European and long-haul traffic returned to growth in July, while London's Heathrow recorded its third-busiest month on record. BAA, which is majority owned by Spain's Grupo Ferrovial, said the number of passengers grew 1.2 percent in Europe and 4.8 percent across the long-haul network, excluding North Atlantic routes.

July 31st, 2009 Drop in premium tickets hits BA, European rivalsLONDON — As demand for premium class air travel is steadily whittled away by the global recession, British Airways PLC is leading moves among European flagship carriers to strip out costly services like onboard meals that had previously distinguished them from budget airlines. BA Chief Executive Willie Walsh, who has warned that the key premium market may never recover, said Friday that his cost-cutting ax would swing for some years yet as the airline posted a 94 million pound ($155.5 million) quarterly loss.

July 13th, 2009 BA pilots accept pay cutLONDON — British Airways PLC pilots voted on Monday to accept a 2.6 percent pay cut as part of a package of measures to save the airline some 26 million pounds ($41.9 million). The British Airline Pilots Association said its members voted by more than nine to one in favor of the pay cut, as well as a reduction of 20 percent in some allowances.

June 24th, 2009 Lufthansa increases fuel surchargeBERLIN — Deutsche Lufthansa AG said Wednesday that it is increasing its fuel surcharge on domestic and European flights, blaming a steep rise in oil prices this year. Lufthansa said the surcharge would increase to euro24 ($34) from euro21 ($30) per flight for all tickets issued on or after July 2.

June 18th, 2009 Pilots union backs pay cuts at British AirwaysLONDON — A pilots union on Friday called on members at British Airways to accept pay cuts and productivity concessions to save the troubled carrier 26 million pounds ($42.2 million) a year. In return, pilots would be offered shares of BA stock if the company achieves certain growth targets.

June 17th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Air travel on Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines has become costlier, with both carriers Wednesday increasing fuel surcharge on tickets by Rs.400 on all domestic sectors. Attributing the decision to an increase in aviation fuel prices, Jet said the fuel surcharge would be applicable on all Jet Airways, Jet Airways Konnect and JetLite flights from Wednesday.

May 11th, 2009 KOLKATA - South African Airways (SAA) will operate six additional flights between India and South Africa on account of the Indian Premier League (IPL) season, the company said Monday. 'These additional flights will be deployed on this route between May 18 and 26 to meet the rush for the semi finals and final IPL matches,' the company said.

March 29th, 2009 KOLKATA - British Airways suspended its direct service to London from here Sunday, with the last flight taking off at around 5 a.m., even as national carrier Air India resumed operations on the route the same day. British Airways, which operated three direct fights a week from the city to Heathrow Airport in London, decided to suspend operations as it found the route unprofitable.