Air France sees rise in traffic

People taking flights to India with Air France could be interested to hear that the airline saw a slight increase in passenger numbers last month.

Assessing its figures for October 2011, the carrier reported that it saw a 5.7 per cent increase in traffic over the four-month period.

In addition, the number of people who travelled with the company in the time frame also rose, with the 4.9 per cent increase meaning 6.76 million passengers boarded Air France flights.

Across its Asian network, it reported a rise in traffic of 5.8 per cent and a growth in capacity of 8.4 per cent.

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Alluring Fare Sale Started By Oneworld Alliance Members

With Christmas around the corner, American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia – Oneworld alliance members have organised a fare sale to celebrate the first anniversary of their joint business, as revealed by American Airlines’ recent news release.

The airline trio plans offering tickets as low-priced as $224 each way for round-trip economy class travel. However, to obtain cheap tickets passengers need to book the economy class tickets atleast seven days and business class tickets atleast 14 days prior to travel.

Interested flyers can log onto http://www.aa.com to find the detailed schedules and book cheap flights. However, these airline tickets would be non-refundable and non-transferable and may not be obtained on all flights. In addition, the federal excise tax, local airport charges, September 11th Security Fee and government taxes and fees are not included in these special fares.

Flyers interested in booking cheap flights under this scheme must procure ticket not later than 11:59 p.m. Nov. 15th 2011 (Central Time).

From Sundays through Thursday, special economy class fares for travel to the continental Europe are lowest. Economy class fares for travel to the UK would be lowest from Mondays through Wednesdays. However, discounted business class flights fares are valid throughout the week.

While the travel origination dates for economy class travel are valid from Nov. 8th 2011 through Dec. 16th 2011 or from Dec. 25th 2011, through April 1st 2012, the travel origination dates for business class travel are Nov. 15th 2011, through May 22nd 2012. However, the return travel for both classes should be competed by midnight June 15th 2012. For more information travellers can log onto www.aa.com.

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Virgin Atlantic to Offer Vancouver - London Flights

Virgin Atlantic Airways is hoping to cash on the hoopla Olympic 2012 is set to make. The airline has launched a new seasonal route between Vancouver and London Heathrow Airport that is scheduled to operate four times in a day.

Vancouver - London flight will be operational from May 24th till Oct. 25th, and as per reports it is going to boost Vancouver’s tourism revenue by $54 million. Some 40,000 travellers will be take advantage of the new service.

Apart from the Olympics, the diamond jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II’s accession to the throne is another event that Virgin Atlantic is counting on sell tickets on the new route. Thousands are expected to travel to the UK during both these massive events.

The airline said that Airbus A340-300s will be plied on the new route. Upper Class, Premium Economy and Economy will be the three travel classes that will offered to the travellers by the airline. With more than 170 economy class seats available, passengers will be in much better position to grab cheap flight tickets.

Talking about cheap flights, Steve Ridgway, Virgin Atlantic’s Chief Executive believes that the increased competition on the route will make sure that travellers get cheap tickets on flights as well as better services.

Virgin Atlantic also announced the launch of a second flight between London and San Francisco. This one will start operations from March 2012 and will run until October 2012. London - San Francisco will be a three times a week service (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays).

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Unleash the Nocturnal Charms with Air Tickets to Phuket

Phuket proudly brags its sandy beaches, extravagant shopping and multi-ethnic culture. However, one of the key draws of Phuket is its wild and fantastic nightlife. The nightlife in Phuket is loud and raunchy, and never fails to attract.

Nightlife has been the leading Phuket attraction for numerous party enthusiasts who are tempted to buy tickets to Phuket. Phuket witnesses a huge influx of returning travellers taking airline tickets to Phuket to spend exotic evenings exploring the exciting nightlife charms like beer bars, go-go bars, discos and karaoke joints.

There are heaps of Phuket nightlife entertainment avenues to opt from. Not without any reason numerous airlines provide several flights every week with cheap air tickets to Phuket!

Here are some key draws that lure night owls to buy airline tickets to Phuket.

Phuket Discos

The lure of clubbing overnight with hedonistically alive ambience and great music persuades party-enthusiasts to book cheap flights to Phuket. Countless posh discos like Tiger Disco, Banana disco, Tai Pan Disco and Safari club deliver unlimited fun and are hard to resist.

Phuket Beer Bars

The pocket friendly beer bars are the finest charm of Phuket nightlife for travellers. These beer bars exhibit soothing environment and serve ice-cold beers with some lip-smacking ethnic and global cuisines.

Phuket Go-Go Bars

Go-go bars are peppered throughout Phuket and are renowned for offering after-dark entertainments. These notorious go-go bars offer a gratifying experience of binging on incredible drinks, gorging on yummy dinner and enjoying the sensual dance performed by Thai girls.

Table Mountain 'could be named Wonder of Nature'

People taking flights to Cape Town could decide to help out one of the iconic local landmarks and vote for it to be named as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature.

Tourism Cape Town has called on all the people living in the city to vote for the mountain in order to ensure its place on the listing.

At present, it is rated outside of the top ten.

Bernard Weber, Founder-President of the New Seven Wonders of Nature campaign, said residents needed to find inspiration in Nelson Mandela.

"Every South African and those worldwide who admire Mr Mandela owe it to him to vote for Table Mountain, his mountain of hope," Mr Weber said.

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Qantas Airways Acts ‘Santa’, Give Out Free Flight Tickets

Christmas has come early for travellers who were left stranded by Qantas’ grounding late last month!

That’s right, after pain comes pleasure, and after travel disruptions come free air tickets! Well at least this is what Australia’s flag carrier believes in!

Forget free tickets, Qantas is normally miles away from even cheap flight tickets but the Australian airline knows that the last few months haven’t been exactly a good PR exercise for the company. Industrial action, delayed flights and then finally grounding of entire fleet is not what we call ‘brand building measures.’ Therefore the airline is all set to provide free flight tickets to the affected travellers. This is seen as the airline’s desperate bid to attract customers.

A free return economy flight within Australia or to New Zealand over a two-year period from Dec. 14 will be offered. While this announcement largely caters to regional travellers, a new announcement targeting overseas customers and frequent fliers is expected soon. It remains to be seen what ‘Santa Qantas’ brings for them. While free flights remain improbable, cheap flight tickets and other travel related incentives are expected.

Alan Joyce, Qantas Chief Executive Officer, said this is the airline’s way of saying “sorry”. It sure is an expensive ‘sorry’ as reports are doing the rounds that the move might cost Qantas as much as A$20 million.

Meanwhile, Qantas Airways met union members on Monday to start off the negotiation process. This was the first meeting of the two warring parties after the Australian carrier grounded its entire fleet.

'Scoot' Is the Reason to Smile for Singapore Airlines

Singapore Airlines, which was long relying on its top-spot in the long-haul first and business class market in the Asia to Europe routes and has finally found a reason to ‘Scoot’ around.

Singapore Airlines hopes to gain solid grounds in the burgeoning no-frills air travel market with the advent of its wholly owned subsidiary, Scoot. The airline might kick-start its services by June 2012. Scoot plans to operate four Boeing 777-200 jets by the end of next year.

Initially, the airline might route flights to five to ten hour destinations from the Changi International Airport. As per reports, the airline might start cheap flights to four or more cities in China and Australia.

Campbell Wilson, CEO of Scoot informed that the new long-haul budget market was rapidly germinating and Scoot hopes to increase the business for Singapore Airlines.

Wilson was also reported as informing that Scoot will initially offer two cabin classes, with approximately 40 percent cheaper tickets as compared to other premium airline’s tickets. Also the customers would be enabled to choose seats, meals and baggage options.

Additionally, Scoot also plans to offer various customized options to the budget travellers to offer a delightful flying experience.

Scoot plans to buy several Boeing 777-200ER planes to route regular flights to European and African destinations. The airline’s plans further include hiring 52 pilots, 250 flight attendants and 40 ground staff next year.

However, the new carrier might face challenges from Air Asia X and JetStar which already operate cheap flights in the region.

Analysts expect Scoot to add extra frills to beat the challenge.