Moscow Government Airline (Moskva) Stops Selling Regular and Charter Flights Airline Tickets

The Moskva airline (former Atlant Soyuz, the airline of the Moscow government) has stopped selling tickets to regular and charter flights, an airline representative at the Moscow Vnukovo Airport told Itar-Tass on Tuesday.

“The Moskva airline has informed its partners and aviation authorities that it stops selling tickets to regular and charter flights on January 18, 2010. The decision was caused by large debts and inefficiency of operations,” he said.

The passengers “were informed about the cancellation of flights and would get full refunds,” he noted.

Measures are being taken to provide the passengers with seats in flights of other airlines, he said. Less than 800 passengers have tickets to Moskva flights after January 17.

Meanwhile, the Moscow Arbitration Court has scheduled for February 4, 2011, preliminary hearings on the lawsuit of the Rostekhnologii state corporation to the airline for the collection of 2.36 billion rubles in debts. Prime Tass said that the court had registered three lawsuits of the kind with the total sum of 3 billion rubles. The preliminary hearing for the collection of 169.4 million rubles is scheduled for February 3, while the collection of 493 million rubles in debts will be heard on February 3.

The Soglasiye insurer of the airline demanded earlier that the airline must stop flights abroad on December 30. Executive Director of the Russian unit of the Aon Rus international insurance broker Vladislav Ivanov told Prime Tass that the insurance policy of the airline had expired and it did not extend its validity.

How to Buy American Airline Tickets

As a result of a commercial dispute, in the past several weeks there have been changes to how American Airlines sell its tickets.

Last month, the flight service removed its fares and schedules from Orbitz.com, and effective Jan. 1, Expedia.com stopped offering American Airlines fares on its website.

Additionally Sabre, a company that distributes airline fares and schedules, made it more difficult for travel agents to find and select American’s flights by moving its fares lower in the display order than they normally would be listed.

American said in a statement that tickets for travel on American Airlines and American Eagle — including all international and domestic classes of service — are widely available through a number of outlets, including American’s website, AA.com, which features its Lowest Fare Guarantee.

Tickets, fares and schedules also are available through American’s reservations agents, travel agencies in locations worldwide, other online travel agencies such as Priceline.com and travel search engines such as Kayak.com.

Hawaiian Airline Launches Non-stop Flight Service Between Honolulu and Seoul with Business Class

Hawaiian Airlines has launched non-stop flights between Honolulu and Seoul in South Korea.

Seoul is Hawaiian’s first destination on the Asian continent and one of three Asian destinations overall. Hawaiian also currently operates services to Manila in the Philippines and Tokyo.

To celebrate the launch of the new service, there was a pre-flight ceremony at Honolulu International Airport before the aircraft took off for Seoul’s Incheon International Airport. The ceremony took place at the boarding gate with Hawaiian music, a hula performance, and a traditional Hawaiian blessing. Each passenger was given a fresh flower lei before they boarded the aircraft for South Korea.

To attract Korean business travellers and meet their high standards, Hawaiian Airlines is offering a customized service adapted to the Korean culture. Hawaiian will offer pan-Asian cuisine, Korean entertainment and special on-board amenities as well as the usual “Hawaii Starts Here” service, celebrating the natural beauty and culture of Hawaii.

There will be four direct flights per week to Incheon, capitalizing on the growing number of Koreans visiting Hawaii. Hawaiian is offering 54,000 new seats annually with this new service, and it is predicted that 115,000 Koreans will visit Hawaii in 2011.

Flights will depart from Honolulu on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays at 1:20pm, arriving at Incheon International Airport at 8:05pm the following day. The return leg takes off from Incheon on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays at 10:15pm, arriving in Honolulu at 11:00am the same day.

The aircraft plying the route will be a twin-aisle Boeing 767-300ER, which seats 18 passengers in Business Class, which Hawaiian calls “First Class”. Hawaiian has announced plans to introduce a new and larger Airbus A330-200 aircraft onto the route at a later date. Tickets for the Seoul-Honolulu route are on sale now.

Passengers travelling in Business Class receive premium champagne, wine, beer, selected spirits and other beverages, plus meals with a tapas-style presentation from Chef Beverly Gannon. They can listen to hours of movies, TV and music on their own personal digEplayer with noise cancelling headsets and receive a personalised service from the flight attendants.

Mark Dunkerley, Hawaiian’s president and CEO, stated, “This is another history-making day for Hawaiian as we expand even farther into Asia with our new flights to Seoul and introduce our unique brand of inflight service that promotes the Hawaii travel experience. We are thrilled about flying into Incheon International Airport, which is one of the world’s most modern airports and a major hub for connecting flights throughout Asia.”

Vayama Offers $30 Discount on Airline Tickets to Europe, Africa and the Middle East

International travel Website Vayama has announced a special weekend only sale that offers $30 off their already low airfares on international air bookings to Europe, Africa and the Middle East. To qualify for the discount, all itineraries must originate in the U.S. and be booked between Friday, September 19 at 7:00 pm ET and Sunday, September 20 at 11:59 pm ET. The discount will be deducted from the fare at the time of purchase. Read more