Boeing has, at last, witnessed the first commercial flight of its long delayed 787 Dreamliner. The All Nippon Airlines flight was between Tokyo and Hong Kong, carrying a select group of passengers. The planemaker had originally planned to have the Dreamliner in service by 2008, but has been hit by a raft of setbacks, including [...]

The European Court of Justice has indicated that a carbon emissions trading scheme to be introduced for all airlines taking off or landing in the European Union is legal. Juliane Kokott, the ECJ’s Advocate General, made the decision after a challenge was issued by airlines in North America. The court is not due to make [...]

Airline associations have slammed plans by the European Union to begin charging carriers’ for carbon emissions. The European Commission said that the scheme would produce revenues of around $27 billion over the next 10 years, a claim that three associations have labelled completely misleading. The International Air Carrier Association, the European Regions Airline Association and [...]

A formal investigation is underway by the Office of Fair Trading to establish whether some airlines are not making it clear to customers that they will be paying a surcharge when they book their tickets. Following complaints from consumer groups, the regulator has asked travel operators to provide more transparency to consumers when it comes [...]

European airlines Lufthansa and Swiss have announced that they will be charging customers who book tickets using debit cards or credit cards extra. The decision comes in spite of the Office of Fair Trading in the UK saying that it supports a Which? complaint over surcharges which calls for such fees to be banned or [...]

A high-speed train crash in China has left 35 people dead and dented confidence in the safety of the country’s train system. The government has called for 58 other train services to be halted while safety inspections on the network are carried out. The incident involved two train carriages which derailed near Wenzhou in the [...]

Airlines are having a busy time at the Paris Air Show as they rush to place orders with Airbus and Boeing for next-generation passenger jets. Although still to be confirmed, budget carrier AirAsia is expected to place an order with Airbus for 200 of its A320neo planes. At list price, the deal will be worth [...]

Airline analysts are expecting there to be strong orders at the Paris Air Show this week for Boeing’s new giant 747-8. The intercontinental jetliner will go head-to-head with the Airbus A380, which is also expected to sell well. Boeing’s jumbo is currently being delivered as a freighter with is passenger configuration to go out to [...]

Last year’s quicker than expected recovery from the global economic downturn for the airline industry is likely to stall in 2011 because of the high price of oil, according to the International Air Transport Association. The organisation predicts that profits will be down by nearly 80 per cent. Profits will be around $4 billion this [...]

As warnings that Iceland may be entering a phase of increased volcanic activity come from experts, the UK government has appointed a top scientist to oversee how the country should react to future ash clouds. Airlines in the north of England and Scotland had their schedules disrupted recently after the Grimsvotn volcano spewed ash into [...]