Latest airline price increases stall yet again
Latest airfare hike stalls again — Another round of airline fare increases faltered Monday as two carriers backed down, including Continental Airlines Inc., which had started the price hikes of $10 per round trip on many U.S. flights to offset rising fuel costs.
Forecast: hotel rooms will get scarcer — At a time when many buyers already are having trouble finding the hotel room coverage in key cities midweek, the availability outlook is expected to tighten further through the remainder of 2005 and into 2006, according to a forecast released today by PricewaterhouseCoopers.
It’s (almost) official: Lufthansa buys Swiss — German airline Lufthansa will announce a takeover of its loss-making neighbor Swiss International Air Lines on Tuesday, sources close to the deal said. Swiss’s shares were suspended on Monday as negotiators put the finishing touches to Europe’s biggest airlines merger deal since Air France took over Dutch KLM last year to form the world’s largest airlines group by revenues.
Another P&O ship scuttles cruise — P&O Cruises has cut off Pacific Sky’s present cruise in Noumea last week and had advised those concerned about the change. Passengers on board returned to Australia by charter flight at the end of the week. The move follows mechanical problems with Pacific Sky’s starboard gearbox, which requires repairs that are unable to be performed during the cruise.
Mariah’s diva fit at London hotel — As demands from divas go, Mariah Carey’s latest must be among the most outrageous. When the singer’s aides arrived at a London hotel at 2am yesterday to check preparations for her imminent arrival, they were dismayed to find the red carpet had not been rolled out.
Japanese teen hijacks airport bus — A Japanese youth who wanted to go to Tokyo’s Haneda airport boarded a bus heading there before threatening to hijack it unless it took him to … the airport. The unemployed 19-year-old bought a ticket for the early morning bus on Monday. During the journey he stood up and shouted to the driver that he was going to hijack the bus.
Contributing: John Frenaye