Chesley ‘Sully’ Sullenberger, who successfully landed a stricken plane of the US Airways in the Hudson River in New York in January 2009, is sad about the state of the airline industry which he said was “in disarray.”

The European Union (EU) and Pakistan have signed an agreement on civil aviation.

Emirates Airline plans to grow the number of flights across its network by 14 per cent in 2009, increasing cargo capacity by 17 per cent.

US Airways, the low-cost airline based in Tempe, Arizona, the United States, will resume serving non-alcoholic drinks such as sodas, coffee, tea, juices and bottled water to economy-class passengers free of charge from March 1, 2009.

Gulf Air, the national airline of Bahrain, has signed an agreement to lease four new wide-body Boeing 777 ER planes from Jet Airways, the privately owned carrier based in India.

President Obama is providing indirect economic stimulus to passengers traveling via WestJet airlines!

Inflight mobile phone calls on Ryanair flights have taken off, with the Dublin-based airline saying that it has enabled mobile telephony on 20 of its planes. Later, technology for inflight mobile phone calls will be extended to all 170 Ryanair planes.

Keeping people connected, Emirates in-flight mobile telephone service has clocked up its 100,000th user this week, confirming a dramatic increase in calls this year. A total of 31 Emirates passenger aircraft are now installed with the AeroMobile service, the largest of any commercial airline.

SriLankan Airlines, the national carrier of Sri Lanka has opted for Kerala-based IT company IBS Software's iFly Loyalty, a product line under its iFly solution suite, for handling its airline loyalty management system.

SriLankan Holidays, the leisure arm of SriLankan Airlines is unveiling its new 'Second-Passenger-Travels-at-One-Rupee-Only' Holiday Package inviting Indian tourists to a 2 day/3 night tour of Sri Lanka.

Singapore Airlines, the national airline of Singapore, will suspend flights to Vancouver in Canada from April 2009.

Air Canada, the flag-carrier airline of Canada, recorded a colossal loss of $1 billion in 2008 because of what the airline described as record-high prices of fuel, declining demand for air travel, and unfavourable foreign exchange that hit earnings.

Air France-KLM, the biggest airline in Europe, has suffered losses in the three months to December 2008, which it blamed on the global economic recession.

Aircraft manufacturer Hawker Beechcraft Corporation (HBC), headquartered in Wichita, Kansas, the United States, has posted a net post-tax loss of $139.9 million for the 12 months ending December 31, 2008.

The Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), the aviation watchdog of Australia, is to be given greater powers to check the safety of foreign airlines.

Four top airlines of the world have requested that greenhouse-gas emissions by the aviation industry be included in a new, broader global climate pact.

The Kingfisher airlines will not have airplanes flying from Solapur to Mumbai and back from February 17.

AirTran Airways has said that it woluld launch seasonal flights between Denver and Milwaukee from 21 May 21, 2009. The flights would be between Denver International Airport and General Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee. One round-trip flight between the two cities is planned through 8 September, 2009.

Italy’s biggest Aerospace and defense company Finmeccanica unit AgustaWestland signed a Memorandum of Understanding with India's Tata Sons for the assembly of helicopters in India, the Italian company said on Thursday.

The European Commission has initiated an investigation into allegations that Deutsche Lufthansa, the flag-carier airline of Germany, may not have paid enough to buy Austrian Airlines, the flag carrier of Austria.

The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has told its employees that one of its computers was hacked and that “personally identifiable information” of over 45,000 employees and retirees was “stolen electronically.”

The United States-based aircraft manufacturer Boeing Company and Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), owned by the government of India, have signed a memorandum of understanding to set up jointly an analysis and experimentation centre in India.

American Airlines, based in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, has announced that it will begin, from the summer of 2009, transition to “cashless cabins” onboard flights within the United States and to and from Canada. Receipts will be given to passengers on request.

Malaysia Airlines, the flag-carrier airline of of Malaysia, has reduced its fuel surcharge on several routes. On the India-Kuala Lumpur route, the airline has trimmed its fuel surcharge by $50, leading to lower return air fares from destinations in India.

American Airlines, headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the United States, had to inspect and begin follow-up action in order to bring its fleet of about 270 McDonnell Douglas MD-80 aircraft into full compliance with the safety rules after mistakes in maintenance led to damage of the passenger-evacuation slides on the rear of many MD-80 jets.

Emirates Airline has stepped up its presence in Australia with the introduction of a second daily service to Brisbane and a third daily service to Melbourne.

V Australia, the long-haul international airline owned by Virgin Blue Holdings Limited, has announced two new routes – between Melbourne in Australia and Los Angeles in the United States from September 15, 2009, and between Sydney in Australia to Johannesburg in South Africa from a date yet to be decided.

Kunming Airlines, based in Kunming, Yunnan province, People’s Republic of China, has announced that it would launch its first service on February 15, 2009, flying from Kunming to Changsha and then on to Harbin.

IT major IBS, based in Kerala, has yet again added a feather to its cap with London Heathrow’s second largest airline and Star Alliance member bmi having selected iFly Loyalty, a product line under IBS’ iFly solution suite, to manage the loyalty programs for its passengers. bmi flies to destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

The Bill that Representative James Oberstar (Democrat- Minnesota), chairman of the United States House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, introduced a few days ago requiring the US Department of Transportation to renew airline alliances’ antitrust immunity (ATI) every three years has invited protests from many major airlines.