Peach becomes Japan’s first airline to accept payment in bitcoin 

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Peach will become the first Japanese carrier to accept bitcoin as payment for airline tickets as the discount airline aims to attract more tourists from other parts of Asia.

The cryptocurrency can be used to book seats starting by the end of the year, Peach said in a statement today, adding a change in Japan’s law on fund settlements in April helped to facilitate the move.

This is not fake news! We here at FDF thought this was something out of an American TV Show, but it is true!

Cathay Pacific cuts hundreds of jobs in major shake-up  

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As we have previously reported Cathay have been evaluating how to cut costs.

They have now announced some of their plans.

The Hong Kong flagship carrier has said it will cut nearly 600 jobs as part of the biggest restructuring in 20 years.

The cuts include 190 management jobs and 400 non-management staff working at its head office in Hong Kong.

In March, the airline said it would save 30 per cent in employee costs at its head office after it posted its first annual loss in eight years.

The cuts are part of a three year programme to turn around the losses.

Crossrail hits buffers at Heathrow

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Crossrail services may not now stop at Heathrow because of a legal row with the airport’s owners.
The Heathrow Express service was built by the airport for more than £1 billion but the arrival of Crossrail next year may see the Heathrow Express threatened. 
The airport’s owners want to recoup its past spending on the private train line with an ‘investment recovery charge‘ of £570 for every train that uses the track, plus extra fees of about £107 per train. 
The article suggested that Transport for London contingency plans could see Crossrail trains terminal a few miles short of the airport with passengers forced to transfer on to suburban trains at a different station.

More air travellers are expected to fly in the US this summer despite airline incidents

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 A record 234.1 million passengers are expected to fly on US-based carriers this summer, apparently not dissuaded by a series of customer-relations blowups in recent weeks.

Airlines for America, which represents the airline industry, attributes the projected four per cent increase in summer travel to improving economic conditions, higher household net worth and lower airfares. 

To accommodate the increase of about 100,000 more fliers a day, airlines plan to add 123,000 extra seats a day, according to the trade group. 

Singapore Airline runs into turbulence as shares slump on surprise loss 

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Investors sold off shares in the airline after it posted a surprise loss, with stock dropping more than six per cent. 

The carrier cited ‘intense competition’ amid increasing cost pressures, as well as a fine related to anti-competitive behaviour in its cargo division. Group revenues in the three months to March 31 were flat at S$3.72bn.

But Singapore Air group, which owns Singapore Air, as well as a regional airline and two budget carriers, posted a net loss of S$138.3m for the three months ended March, when analysts had been expecting a profit of S$54.3m.

It reported a S$132m hit to net profit relating to a European anti-competition ruling against its cargo unit, which had been previously announced.

Air traffic controllers at London City to work via videolink  

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A new control tower being built at London City Airport will be populated by a suite of HD cameras instead of humans as it looks to become the first big airport in the world to manage its traffic remotely.

From 2019, the controllers will view the skyline in east London on a bank of screens joined in a ‘seamless panorama’ in a digital control room at Nats in Hampshire.

City Airport believes it will allow staff to monitor aircraft on the runway and track the skies better than ever before, as the 360-degree view has been condensed into a 225-degree arc.  

It will also allow controllers to label their pictorial representation with radar info thus effectively giving tower controllers the best of both worlds. 

Norwegian offers Manhattan transfer for New York-bound passengers 

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Norwegian has announced it will now be offering a shuttle service transporting customers directly to Manhattan when the airline begins flights from Edinburgh to Stewart airport in New York State on June 15. 

Stewart is around 60 miles north of Manhattan and Norwegian’s shuttle service will be timed to meet flights.

The trip to the New York Port Authority Bus Terminal just west of Times Square will take around one hour 20 minutes, with a single fare being $20.

Norwegian begins flights to the US from Dublin, Shannon and Cork in July. 

Dublin and Shannon will allow passengers to pre-clear immigration and customs before departure, meaning that they avoid lengthy queues on arrival as they are treated as domestic passengers.

Canada’s new passenger bill of rights bans removal in cases of overbooking 

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Canada’s transportation minister says no one who has bought a ticket for a flight will be allowed to be removed because of overbooking under a new passenger bill of rights. 

Minister Marc Garneau said that the shoddy treatment of air passengers outlined in recent news reports will not be tolerated on any flight leaving or arriving to Canada. 

He says new rules will ensure ‘travellers are treated like people and not numbers’

This is a game changer in the industry in Canada and will no doubt impact on airlines revenue. Unfortunately it will naturally hit Canada’s airlines the hardest as all their flights will depart or arrive in Canada, or the vast majority.

US Global expected to be major player in the region

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 Officials of the new US Global Airways hope to offer overseas destinations from Stewart International Airport by the end of the year.

The airline is a rebranding of Baltia Airlines, a company that has been based at JFK Airport, but has never flown in its 27-year existence! 

US Global President Anthony Koulouris said they hope to eventually provide routes to St. Petersburg, Tel Aviv, Naples, Barcelona, Athens, Prague, Budapest, London and Paris. 

Due to their previous track record of not getting one aircraft off the ground in 27 years we won’t hold our breath!

Gatwick Airport plots growth in spite of no runway green light 

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Gatwick is pushing ahead on growth plans, with £240m investment for the year ahead, despite missing out on approval for a second runway last year.

The London airport announced this week the award of its airport planning services framework with Arup, Atkins and Jacobs on board to help with capacity assessments, as Gatwick looks at future growth. 

As the Government gave the green light to Heathrow expansion in October, for now, Gatwick says it has to plan growth from “clever use of infrastructure, technology and efficient processes”. The airport is halfway through a £2.5bn transformation programme.