News on Air Transportation

British Airways PLC announced Friday it will ground aircraft, slash seat numbers and postpone taking delivery of a dozen new Airbus A380 superjumbos as it faces a recession-driven decline in passengers. The airline said it carried 2.93 million passengers in June, 5 percent fewer than in June 2008. BA said that in response to the "challenging economic conditions" it was cutting its summer capacity by 3.5 percent, rather than the originally forecast 2.5 ...

Troubled British Airways said Friday that it would slash capital expenditure by one fifth in the current financial year after posting another sharp drop in monthly passenger numbers. "Market conditions continue to be very challenging with trading at levels well below last year," the struggling airline said in a trading update. "In response to the challenging economic conditions British Airways has reviewed its business plan. "Forecast capital expenditure has been reduced from 725 million pounds to 580 million pounds for 2009-2010 and is likely to remain at that level in ...

Employees of India's national carrier Air India staged a nationwide two-hour strike on Friday to protest what they said was management's failure to pay salaries on time. The walkout was called by the airline's two largest unions, despite a warning from company executives that they would deduct wages from employees who participated in any stoppage. Last month the management of the struggling state-run airline -- which merged with government-run domestic carrier Indian Airlines last year -- sent a notice to its employees saying it would defer 73 million dollars ...