Re-launched in July 2002 from British European UK as
carrier FlyBe is to launch a new West of England low fares base
at Exeter International Airport in March next year. The UK’s third
largest low fare airline will offer three daily flights to Alicante, Malaga
and Murcia in Spain and three domestic flights to Belfast City, Edinburgh
and Glasgow in the UK.
Domestic one-way fares will start at GBP£19 (USD$31)
and on the Mediterranean routes at GBP£49.
Good news for air fatalities: Flight International's
Airline Safety Review of the first six months of 2003 notes that the number
of people who died in airline crashes in the first six months of this
year nearly halved in comparison with the same period of 2002.
Between January and June 2003, 362 people around the
world lost their lives in 12 fatal accidents. In 2002 there were 712 deaths
and 18 fatal accidents.
The biggest cause of accidents is still “controlled
flight into terrain” incidents (flying into mountains). The report
states that airlines from poorer or more immature economies record most
accidents, suggesting that safety standards and aviation safety cultures
still need to be looked at.
Qantas have been having a hard time recently,
and not just being affected by the recent Iraq war and SARS. Mid July,
a Vietnamese passenger en route from Bangkok to Sydney was stabbed in
the neck with a fork. In May, a man armed with sharpened wooden staves
tried to force his way into the cockpit of a Qantas flight to Tasmania
and hi-jack the plane. Despite this, Qantas remain one of the Beetle’s
favourite airlines.
UK carrier Virgin Atlantic has announced the Upper
Class Suite – reclining leather seats, more space for meals and the longest
airline flat bed in the world for sleeping. Virgin says it will charge
business class rates for a first class service. The service will be available
on all of Virgin's Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-600 planes from
this summer, and will be on all aircraft based at London Heathrow by spring
2004 and those at Gatwick by autumn 2004.
