So far this year airlines have raised rates six times, compared with just three increases last year, partly to keep pace with rising oil prices, according to Farecompare.com, which tracks ticket prices. overall, fares are up about 18 percent for travel in late may through early June, compared with the same period last year, according to Bing Travel, which offers predictions on whether fares will go up, down or hold steady on a given route.

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AIRLINES have begun checking their planes for contamination after Europe’s leading atmospheric safety agency warned that airspace might be affected by radiation from Japan’s stricken reactors.

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American Airlines has not made any changes in its flight schedules from the U.S. to Tokyo in the wake of last week’s earthquake and the resulting radiation fears from damaged nuclear power plants.”We’ve flown our normal schedule every day since Saturday,” American spokesman Tim Smith said Thursday.American operates two flights daily from Dallas/Fort Worth Airport to Tokyo’s Narita Airport, one each from Chicago and Los Angeles, and one flight from New York’s JFK Airport to Narita and another to Tokyo Haneda.”We’re seeing our busiest traffic, not surprisingly, coming out” of Japan, Smith said, with few empty seats aboard American’s Boeing 247-seat 777-200ER jets.Flights from the U.S. to Tokyo “are by no means empty,” Smith said, although he declined to give any load factors. “More than 75 percent of our scheduled customers have been flying as usual.”The Tokyo airports are in good shape and operating near normal, Smith said, and transportation in the city to get people to and from the airports is functioning well.American has no plans to alter its current level of Tokyo service because of the earthquake, Smith said.but other airlines are adjusting their Tokyo flight plans.Delta Air Lines said Thursday that it will suspend new flights to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport beginning next week. and Singapore Airlines had planned to put the massive Airbus A380 on a flight from Singapore to Tokyo to Los Angeles later this month, but instead will keep using a Boeing 747 until further notice.United Continental Holdings, the biggest U.S. carrier to Asia, isn’t cutting flights but is monitoring the situation. Both United and Delta use Tokyo’s Narita Airport as a hub for Asian flights.Germany’s Lufthansa rerouted all its Tokyo flights to Osaka and Nagoya instead. “The natural disaster in Japan has left us all in deep shock,” Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz said Thursday, when the carrier also announced financial results.Airlines had planned to increase U.S.-Japan flying by 10.2 percent next month compared with April 2010, according to Barclays Capital. Instead, Delta said it would “temporarily suspend” its daily flight to Haneda from Los Angeles beginning March 23, and one from Detroit beginning March 24.in the short run, however, more planes are going to Japan. several Asian carriers added flights as more governments urged their citizens to leave.Cathay Pacific Airways, Hong Kong’s biggest airline, usually operates seven flights a day to Japan; it added an extra flight to Tokyo for Thursday, after adding two Wednesday.”We are experiencing rapidly increasing demand from people wishing to return home to Hong Kong and elsewhere, and as Hong Kong’s home carrier we will do everything possible to meet this demand,” Cathay Pacific Chief Operating Officer John Slosar said in a statement Wednesday.A Cathay spokeswoman who declined to be identified because of company policy, said the airline has seen more empty seats on flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo.Air China, the country’s biggest airline, said it’s using bigger planes for flights to Japan this week. Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines added an extra flight Wednesday to Niigata Airport in western Japan, where 1,500 Chinese nationals were waiting to get back home, according to a Xinhua News Agency report. and China Southern Airlines is adding an extra flight on its Dalian-Nagoya route until March 21, with a bigger jet “to meet the surging evacuation demands,” Xinhua said, citing a statement from the airline.Staff writer Bob Cox contributed to this report.

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an independent Connecticut Airport Authority could streamline operations of state-owned airports, according to a budget proposal by Gov. Dannel P. Malloy. the bill, approved by the General Assembly’s commerce committee last week  and now headed to the full Legislature, calls for creating an Airport Authority to oversee the six state-owned airports, including those in Windham and Danielson. the Airport Authority also would serve as its own bonding commission, develop and promote airports, enter into contracts, hire its own employees and handle land acquisition deals. the Department of Transportation, the state Bond Commission and the Department of Economic and Community Development are among the agencies now working with airports on bonding, marketing and general oversight, DOT Spokesman Kevin Nursick said. More businesslike Consolidating would cut layers of red tape that stem from the airports’ being run similar to other state agencies and make airport management more businesslike, Nursick said. “Airports are often considered more of a business operation than a governmental process and, in everyday practice, must be able to respond to changing conditions in much the same way as business must react in order to be highly successful and stand out among the rest,” he said. “If multiple layers of approval and review, as exist today, are required prior to the purchase of a necessary part or service, the airport may not be fully functional or capable of taking advantage of opportunities to grow.” Liz Donohue, the governor’s policy director, said the proposal is revenue-neutral in the short term, as the state would continue to subsidize the airports. “It’s about creating revenue in the long term, but for now it’s about fostering flexibility and creating a nimble authority,” she said. “the idea is that the state bureaucracy is holding things up.” Woodstock Airport owner Rudy Tomasik said any new revenue from the change likely won’t come from Danielson and Windham airports. After 57 years managing the smaller, more rural private air strip, he’s found there’s not much money to be made in smaller airports, he said. “It’s never been a cash cow. You do this because you like it, not because you want to make money,” he said. Danielson Airport has “a nice airport, a nice runway and nice facilities compared to what I have, but it’s a dying business as far as I’m concerned. of all the airports in the state, the only one paying its own way is Bradley (International Airport in Windsor Locks).” the airport manager of Danielson and Windham airports declined to comment on the issue.

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CHARLESTON, SC (WCSC) – Charleston's future “low fare leader” may not be living up to its motto, even before the first flight touches down.

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GLENN CONWAY

Nearly 50,000 people have flown out of Christchurch since last week’s earthquake with the exodus expected to soar as cheap fares are snapped up.

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Major U.S. airlines raised prices again this week on their most expensive fares by up to $120 for a round trip, a sign they think a rebound in business travel is here to stay.

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In Detroit, airlines canceled roughly 230 flights though the city’s Metro Wayne County airport, while more than 200 flights through Chicago’s O’Hare airport were off.

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KARACHI, Pakistan – Employees at Pakistan’s state-owned airline went on strike Tuesday in protest against a proposed route-sharing agreement with Turkish Airlines, an airline spokesman said. The move grounded two international and four domestic flights.

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British airlines do not want the government to reduce its dominant stake in the country's air-traffic control system below 25 percent, the Observer said on Sunday. Skip related content

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