Flights delayed

BIA currently uses the CAT-I ILS (it requires a minimum runway visual range of 550 metres) for landings. In heavy fog, however, the visibility at BIA drops much below 550 metres. On such days, a CAT-II ILS, or a CAT-III ILS, comes in handy.
Winter's here, and flight delays at Bengaluru International Aiport (BIA) will follow suit. All the airport needs to avoid the delays is an upgradation of its Instrument Landing System (ILS), say aviation experts.

"In December and January, Bangalore has fog for at least 35 to 40 days, and visibility at BIA drops drastically. This is when it is very difficult, or sometimes not possible, for flights to land using CAT-I ILS," an air traffic controller (ATC) said, on condition of anonymity.

"During such times, a CAT-II ILS is very much needed. Bangalore, however, does not require a CAT-III ILS as the fog does not last for a long time, like airports in northern India."

BIA is located at a higher altitude and is surrounded by water bodies and vegetation, which make it prone to fog cover during winter. On December 21, 2008, visibility at the airport dropped to 100 metres in the morning, between 4.30am to 5.30am. January 25, this year, was worse as visibility dropped to 50 metres, between 6am and 7.30am, making it impossible for flights to land.

"On many occasions during last year, BIA had to constantly rely on updates from the weathermen to reschedule flights," an IMD official said.

Finnair flights may ground because of strike

Some flights will be cancelled as early as Sunday to minimise disruption, including almost all long distance flights and European flights, and all flights will be cancelled on Monday.

SLL will start a strike impacting all Finnair flights on Monday, November 16 at 0:01 am, it said in a statement.

Finnair pilots will go on strike on Monday after wage negotiations at the weekend broke down, the Finnish airline pilots association SLL said Saturday.

But the airline aims to operate all of its charter flights despite the strike.

The walkout, which will continue until an agreement between the pilots and Finnair has been reached, is expected to affect thousands of passengers. On an average day the airline serves some 20,000 customers with its 200 flights.

Finnair has been negotiating a new wage deal for a year and half, and a cost cutting programme introduced by the airline has made the discussions thornier.

On Saturday, the board of SLL discussed the wage plan drafted by national conciliator Esa Lonka, but decided to reject it because it did not provide a solution to Finnair's plans to outsource pilots.

The airline has started to outsource its flights to Finncomm airlines, a domestic carrier, and ordered its pilots to teach Finncomm's pilots.

Finnair had said it was happy with Lonka's draft proposal and was shocked that pilots had turned it down.

"We are totally stunned and apologise sincerely for the inconvenience this (strike) causes to our customers," Anssi Komulainen, head of Finnair's human resources said in a statement.

Finnair spokesman Christer Haglund told AFP that new discussions with the pilots had yet to be scheduled. He said customers with tickets on Finnair flights on Monday or later could obtain more information on the company's website.

Last month Finnair reported a net loss of 20.7 million euros in the third quarter and repeated it aimed to cut annual costs by 200 million euros.

Like the whole airline industry, Finnair has been struggling with lower passenger numbers and fares amid the global financial turmoil.

Quebec to Toronto flights

Porter Airlines will add three flights per day from Quebec City to Toronto's City Centre Airport as of Nov. 26.

"This improved schedule is much more appealing to business travellers and it offers more options to passengers across the network," said Robert Deluce, the airline's president and CEO.

Porter has been offering one flight per day from Quebec to Toronto six days per week during peak season, since it first arrived in the city during the summer of 2008.

The airline is still waiting for six new Bombardier Q400 aircraft, scheduled to arrive this far, that will allow the company to improve several of its flights.

For the rest of the year, the company offered two flights on the weekend from Quebec City to Toronto.

With the added flights, Quebec's airport will soon be able to offer 11 flights bound for Toronto per day, which include those offered by Air Canada and West-Jet.

Pascal Belanger, president and CEO of the Quebec Airport, said that its new infrastructure allows the airport to accept more passengers, add special offers and attract and retain airlines.

Business travellers represent nearly 65 per cent of passengers going from Quebec to Toronto.

Cheap flights deals

Malaysia Airlines' sale ends on September 30. The airline is offering flights to some popular destinations such as Kuala Lumpur, Phuket, Perth and Sydney from £659 return including taxes. Here's the line-up of bargains:

London Heathrow to Penang, Malaysia, from £719
London Heathrow to Perth, capital of Western Australia, from £869
London Heathrow to Sydney, now clear after this week's dust storm, from £939

London Heathrow to Denpasar, and flights to Bali, Indonesia, from £659
London Heathrow to Phuket, Thailand's largest (and stunningly beautiful) island, from £669
London Heathrow to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, from £719

At these prices, flights are neither refundable or changeable. The minimum stay is seven days and the maximum stay is one month. The baggage allowance is 20kg, infants get a 10kg allowance. The child fare is 67 per cent of the adult fare and infants pay 10 per cent of their parent's fare.

Cheapflights searches: We looked for flights to Phuket, flying out on Wednesday, November 18, and back on Wednesday, December 2, and turned up return flights for £520.

daily flights to New Delhi

Finnair will begin daily flights to New Delhi in India from Helsinki today.

The airline offers a flight time of only six hours and 30 minutes on the route owing to Helsinki's geographical location in northern Europe.

Petteri Kostermaa, the airline's vice-president of network strategy and planning, said: 'Our route is the shortest between the EU and India, so it has found wide interest amongst travellers.'

Flights to Delhi from Helsinki have been a popular travel option since they were launched in October 2006, Finnair revealed.

Finnair provides the only direct flights to Delhi from northern Europe, enabling connections for people travelling from the Baltic region and major cities such as London and Paris.

Delhi flights as one of India's main flight hubs, offering travel links to several destinations across the country.

Finnair recently announced that a new shopping area and restaurant had been opened at Helsinki Vantaa, representing the second phase in the redevelopment of the airport's terminal.

New International flights in Honduras

Ricardo Maradiaga, manager of the Aeropuertos de Honduras company, concessionaire of the four airports, said that the company received the official notification to restart these flights. The Honduran authorities decided Thursday to re-start the flights at the four airports of the country...

These flights were suspended Monday after the return of ousted president Manuel Zelaya, and the four airports have been under the control of the Honduran Air Forces.

But Alfredo San Martin, director of the Honduran Civil Aeronautics Direction, said Thursday morning that the airports were only open for domestic flights for the time being.

Maradiaga said that airlines will restart their flights on Friday and the operations will be completely normal by Saturday.

The four airports of Honduras are Toncontin in Tegucigalpa, Ramon Villeda Morales in San Pedro Sula, Goloson in La Ceiba and Juan Manuel Galvez in Roatan Island.