British Airways expands flights to Rio de Janeiro

British Airways is increasing its services to Brazil by doubling its weekly frequency to Rio de Janeiro from three to six flights. Flights to Rio de Janeiro will now depart Heathrow for Rio every day, except Mondays. The departure time remains at 12.15pm, landing in Rio at 9.55pm local time. The flight will continue to be served by a three class B777, enabling customers to choose from 3- classes mentioned below:

1. World traveller-Economy class
2. World Traveller Plus-Premier Economy class
3. Airline's fully flat beds in club world- business class

Neil Cottrell, British Airways’ head of network planning, said: “We are experiencing a real increase in demand for Rio and by doubling the number of frequencies, we are able to offer our customers more choice and greater availability. Brazil is also experiencing strong economic growth and this capacity increase is a great opportunity for British Airways to be part of that growth.”

Holidays in Rio de Janeiro offer visitors white sandy beaches, rainforest clad mountains and cultural must-sees including the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. British Airways offers a choice of hotels including the 3 star Center for a comfortable stay or the 5 star InterContinental Rio next to the Gvea Golf Club and the Fashion Mall shopping centre. The 5 star Porto Bay Rio Internacional has a rooftop swimming pool and views of the beach while the 5 star Copacabana Palace offers luxurious accommodation opposite the famous Copacabana Beach.

World's largest model airport opensin knuffingen, Hamburg

The world's largest model airport opened this week in Hamburg. It's described in nearly every media account as a spectacular display with a stunning attention to detail. The model loosely based on Hamburg's airport -- took more than six years to build. And, the price tag? Around $5 million.

Australian's media report as the model -- dubbed the Knuffingen Airport -- "features 40 model aircraft and 90 vehicles that move and 'fly' around the airport, and 15,000 mini people. Not a single moment of air rage, however." The airport joins the broader exhibit at Germany's Miniatur Wunderland, where the Knuffingen joins a system of model railways and villages.

The incredible model is based on Hamburg Airport and features 40 planes and 90 vehicles that autonomously move around the airport. It took seven years to build and cost a staggering $4.8 million. The model includes a “carsystem” that manoeuvres the vehicles by computer. Meanwhile tiny wires move the planes, making them appear to fly. There are approximately 40,000 lights, 15,000 figurines, 500 cars, 10,000 trees, 50 trains, 1000 wagons, 100 signals, 200 switches and 300 buildings.

Flybe adding fuel surcharge

Regional airline Flybe is adding a £3 surcharge to bookings for flights departing from the autumn due to increasing fuel costs. The surcharge will apply for bookings made from today for flights departing on or after September 1, but added that the charge would be removed if the price of crude oil dropped below $75 per barrel for a period of 28 consecutive days.

The airline is set to maintain profit levels despite higher fuel costs and a fall in the number of UK leisure travellers in recent months. Flybe admitted that the UK market “remained challenging” with a 4.4 percentage point fall in load factors for the final three months of its financial year which ended in March.

Despite this fall, the airline increased the total number of seats flown by 4.5% to 2.6 million in the three-month period while revenue per seat went up by 2.2% to £46.14 compared to same quarter last year.

Losses cross Rs 100-cr mark

The strike by Air India pilots entered into its 8th day today, with losses incurred crossing the Rs 100 crore mark. "We haven't received exact figures of losses incurred due to the strike, but the average calculated loss points to approximately Rs 105 crore," a top official in the Civil Aviation Ministry told MiD DAY.

Repeating their demands, ICPA members yesterday wrote a letter to the prime minister asking him to intervene in the deadlock. The letter, written by Rishabh Kapur, the general secretary of ICPA, highlighted the role played by Arvind Jadhav, the Air India CMD, for the present dismal scenario. "We apologise for the inconvenience caused to the general public because of our industrial action in Air India, but it is of extreme importance for the people to understand the circumstances under which the pilots have been forced to take this drastic step. It is open knowledge that Air India is being plundered under the leadership of Mr Arvind Jadhav.

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Second Air France Black Box Found

Brazil's northeast coast have recovered the second of two flight data recorders from the Air France aircraft that crashed into the Atlantic in 2009, investigators said on Tuesday.

The discovery of the audio recorder, two days after the flight data recorder was fished up, brings investigators even closer to the reason for the crash as it should hold recordings of cockpit conversations during the flight's final moments.

"The investigation team localised and identified the Cockpit Voice Recorder at (2150 GMT) on Monday 2 May, 2011," France's BEA air accident inquiry office said. The device was hauled up to the team's ship at 0240 GMT on Tuesday.

A photograph of the recorder on BEA's website shows a bright orange cylindrical device that looks scuffed and battered but otherwise intact. So-called black boxes are painted orange so that they can be spotted more easily in wreckage.

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United Begins Nonstop Service Between Los Angeles and Guadalajara, Mexico

United tomorrow begins daily nonstop service between Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and Guadalajara, Mexico (GDL). This service will be operated by Continental Airlines. "We're delighted to add this nonstop Los Angeles – Guadalajara flight, which connects the second-largest cities of two nations and demonstrates our commitment to Mexico," said John Slater, United's vice president Sales – Americas. "United serves 30 destinations in Mexico, more than any other airline from the U.S., and we offer more departures from the U.S. to Mexico than any other airline."

Flight CO672 departs Los Angeles at 8:20 a.m. daily, arriving in Guadalajara at 1:15 p.m. The return flight (CO673) departs Guadalajara at 2:10 p.m. daily, arriving in Los Angeles at 3:30 p.m. The Los Angeles – Guadalajara service is operated with a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, with seating for 160 customers.

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