Dubai Passenger, Freight Traffic Climbs

 Passenger traffic at Dubai Airport climbed 6.0 percent in July from a year earlier, with monthly traffic surpassing 5 million passengers for the first time, the airport said on Wednesday.
Dubai, one of the world's busiest, handled 5.01 million passengers in July, up from 4.72 million in July 2011.
Annual growth slowed from June's 16.0 percent, however, because of the impact on traffic of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began in July this year and affected Gulf and Middle East routes.
Freight passing through Dubai International climbed 6.2 percent from a year earlier in July to 204,510 tonnes.
"July's traffic volumes mean that an average of 112 passengers passed through our airport every minute of every day," Paul Griffiths, chief executive of Dubai Airports, said in a statement.
"By 2018, when we expect to complete the expansion of Dubai International, that will soar to just under 170 passengers per minute."
Dubai is investing USD$7.8 billion on the expansion of the airport. Concourse 3, the world's first purpose-built A380 facility, is expected to open once it completes operational readiness tests likely to occur in the first quarter of 2013.
(Reuters)

EgyptAir Resumes Flights After Cabin Crew Deal

EgyptAir said it would resume international flights from Cairo that had been suspended for most of the day on Friday after reaching a deal with cabin crew who had gone on strike over pay and conditions.
An Egyptair official said flights would resume at 6 pm (1600 GMT). It had suspended them from 4 am (0200 GMT).
A second airline official said an adviser to President Mohamed Mursi had helped convince cabin crew to end the strike at the national carrier after committing to meeting demands.
A spokesman for the cabin crew, Tamer al-Sioufi, said the strike was called off after a deal was reached but said the crew would walk out again on Sunday if it was not fully implemented.
The airlines said it had operated six international flight departures during the hours of the strike using crews of private airlines. Domestic flights were not affected by the strike.
Witnesses reported crowds of frustrated passengers. The airline urged passengers to check before turning up at the airport to confirm when their flights would depart.
(Reuters)

Heathrow Expansion Decision Set For After 2015

Planes queuing for takeoff at Heathrow airport. Photograph: David Pearson/Alamy

A decision on whether Britain will expand airport capacity around London will be taken by the next government, the country's new transport secretary said on Friday, meaning a decision is unlikely before 2015.
A commission chaired by former Financial Services Authority head Howard Davies to examine ways to expand airport capacity in southeast England will report in the summer of 2015 after releasing an interim report next year, Patrick McLoughlin wrote in his first ministerial statement as transport secretary.
Several options are being considered to increase the southeast of England's strained airport capacity: a third runway at London's Heathrow airport; a second at Stansted northeast of London, or a new airport in the estuary of the river Thames.
"This is a very difficult debate, but the reality is that since the 1960s Britain has failed to keep pace with our international competitors in addressing long term aviation capacity and connectivity needs," wrote McLoughlin.
"A decision on whether to support any of the recommendations contained in the final report will be taken by the next government."
Britain's Conservative-led coalition government had ruled out building a third runway at BAA's capacity-constrained Heathrow before the next election, in part to appease the junior Liberal Democrat partners and boost its green credentials.
However, several Conservative ministers have called for a third runway to be built at Heathrow.
McLoughlin's appointment as transport secretary earlier this week - replacing Justine Greening, a vocal critic of a third runway at Heathrow - indicated it could rethink its opposition to airport expansion in southeast England.
(Reuters)

Etihad Raises Virgin Australia Stake

 Abu Dhabi's flag carrier Etihad Airways has raised its stake in Virgin Australia to 10 percent through open market purchases, the state airline said in a statement on Sunday.
Etihad, founded eight-years ago, received approval from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) to increase its stake from five percent to 10 percent, it said in the statement.
Etihad has already bought stakes in three other carriers -- Aer Lingus, Air Seychelles and Air Berlin -- in a push to chase the big Gulf state-backed airlines such as Dubai's Emirates and Qatar Airways.
Based on Virgin Australia's current market value, the stake is worth about USD$100 million. The airline had previously said it was keen to increase its Virgin Australia stake to at least 10 percent.
But the airline does not plan to acquire a majority stake in Virgin Australia, Etihad's President and chief executive James Hogan said in the statement.

 Virgin Australia is 26 percent owned by Richard Branson's Virgin group and 20 percent by Air New Zealand.
Etihad began flying to Australia in 2007 and along with Virgin Australia they operate 24 flights a week between Abu Dhabi and Australia.
(Reuters)

Lufthansa Says 190 Flights Hit By Strike

Lufthansa said it would cancel 190 flights at its main hub, Frankfurt airport, on Tuesday due to a second round of strikes by cabin crew in a row over pay and conditions.

Lufthansa said only a handful of long-haul flights would be impacted, while around half of short and medium-haul flights were cancelled.

The airline initially expected only 64 cancellations in the first eight-hour strike on Friday but ended up scrapping almost 200 flights, leaving 26,000 passengers stranded and costing it millions of euros.

The German cabin crew union, UFO, said its workers would strike in Frankfurt from 0400-1200 GMT and in Berlin's Tegel airport from 0300-1100 GMT.

This morning it was calling on its members working at Lufthansa to go on strike in Munich from 1100-2000 GMT.