“The Elys??Æ’?‚?©e palace is apparently none too pleased with Ryanair, after the airline yesterday ran an ad in the French press featuring a lovely snap of Sarko and squeeze Carla Bruni.
Ryanair ad featuring Sarko and BruniThe offending advert, designed to promote 100,000 cut-price tickets, showed the beaming couple staring up towards the line “Ryanair. For Every Occasion”, while the fragrant Bruni enthuses: “With Ryanair, all my family can come to the wedding”.”

Link: http://www.theregister.co.uk

“Ryanair is threatening to sack pilots after being criticised by air accident investigators over a series of dangerous approaches to airports. In the latest incident to emerge, an aircraft flew so low over rooftops that it triggered two warnings in the cockpit and sixteen complaints from alarmed residents.
It was the third serious incident in less than a year, and the fourth in two years, involving a Ryanair jet approaching an airport too fast or at the wrong height and being forced to abort landing. ”

Link: http://www.timesonline.co.uk

“EasyJet, the budget airline, has agreed to pay ???€š?‚?£103.5m in cash to buy GB Airways from the privately held Bland Group. The deal means that easyJet will operate 24 per cent of the landing slots at Gatwick airport and make it the airport’s largest carrier.
GB Airways operates as a franchise of British Airways, a deal that ends in March next year, although the easyJet acquisition is expected to finalise in January. British Airways plans to begin its own services to compete with GB Airways, which flies mainly to southern Europe and North Africa.”

Link: http://www.independent.co.uk

“The OFT has decided that the merger raises no competition concerns in any market. easyJet and GB Airways overlap in the supply of scheduled passenger flights on certain routes from London Gatwick airport to ‘sun and ski’ destinations popular with leisure travellers, such as the Balearics (Ibiza, Palma and Mahon) and Innsbruck. GB Airways operates these routes in accordance with a franchise agreement with British Airways plc (BA). This fact was significant in ruling out concerns based on the loss of potential competition on totally new routes in the future, because under the franchise agreement BA has a veto over new routes by GB Airways.”

Link: http://www.oft.gov.uk

“Starting in spring, 2008, Ryanair will offer seven new routes from Italy’s Pisa airport, Aeroporto Gallei, in Tuscany. Within Italy, flights will go from Pisa to Bari on Italy’s southeast coast. New European flights from Pisa include Birmingham, Edinburgh, Oslo, and Alicante. Pisa is convenient for reaching Florence, Cinque Terre and Tuscany beaches, and other destinations in Tuscany and central Italy. ”
Link: http://goitaly.about.com

“Airlines are devising new ways to levy extra charges on passengers, says a report from Holiday Which? Legal changes in 2007 forced airlines to include compulsory taxes and charges in headline prices.
Ryanair is the worst offender, according to the magazine. Last week, the one-bag restriction on hand luggage was lifted at 21 British airports but Ryanair, with EasyJet, continued to insist on one bag – no heavier than 10kg and no bigger than 55cm x 40cm x 20cm. With Ryanair’s charges for checking in hold luggage, a family of four could pay an extra ???€š?‚?£96 on a return trip (???€š?‚?£10 per bag and ???€š?‚?£2 for using the check-in desk, per person, per trip, if not booked online).”
Link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

“Irish low-cost carrier Ryanair, is examining options to operate regular flights to Israel from Scandinavia, Germany, Italy and center of Europe, the Tourism Ministry said Wednesday, even as El Al announced plans to raise fares by 4%.

Ryanair, which operates 516 routes from 26 cities in 23 countries across Europe, determines charges for each destination based on the length of the flight. One hour of flight time on Ryanair costs ???¢?¢?‚¬Å??‚?¬20-???¢?¢?‚¬Å??‚?¬30, so a one-way ticket to Israel from Europe is expected to cost travelers ???¢?¢?‚¬Å??‚?¬ 60-???¢?¢?‚¬Å??‚?¬120.

Benny Berger, head of new destinations for the carrier was in Israel for the third time last week and met with Israel Airports Authority heads, senior officials at the Tourism and Transportation Ministries, as well as with representatives of the handling companies that operate in Israel.”

Link: http://www.jpost.com