News in brief from Jet2.com, VLM, the EU and Gulf Air
Jet2.com signs up with Travelport
Low cost carrier Jet2.com has signed a deal to put its inventory onto a GDS for the first time.
Under an agreement with Travelport GDS, jet2.com will put its full content onto the Galileo's LCC direct connect facility.
Travelport said it was the third airline to sign up to the service this year.
It said it expected to announce more LCCs joining in the coming weeks.
www.travelport.com [1] www.jet2.com [2]
VLM gets re-branded
CityJet has started re-branding the Fokker 50s fleet of VLM which it took over earlier this year.
After the re-branding is complete the VLM name will disappear after 16 years of operations.
The carrier, which was bought by CityJet's parent company Air France KLM, flies out of London City on short haul routes to the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg.
www.cityJet.com [3]
EU looking for aviation CO2 cuts
The European Union is looking for aviation to cut its carbon emissions to 10% below 2005 levels over the next ten years.
The EU is expected to propose this measure as well as a 20% in shipping emissions at UN-led global climate talks in Bangkok this week.
The call comes after the aviation industry, led by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), last week said it aimed to cut emissions to half that of 2005 by 2050.
Reuters reported that EU officials said its cut could be linked to a tax on fuel to generate billions of dollars to help poorer countries cope with climate change.
An EU official was quoted as saying: "We are concerned about the slow international negotiations and are keen to shift gear.
"This is a concrete measure from the EU side in order to contribute to this step-up."
http://ec.europa.eu/index_en.htm [4]
Gulf Air adds two more Iraqi cities to network
Gulf Air is to fly from London to two more Iraqi cities.
From next month, the Middle East carrier will operate a daily service to Najaf and a three times a week service to Erbil via its Bahrain hub.
The new services are launched after Gulf began a service to Baghdad in September.
Samer Majal, Gulf's ceo, said: "On the back of the successful launch of our services to Baghdad I am delighted that Najaf and Erbil will be following close behind.
"This is a great achievement for Gulf Air as we look to the future and start to target niche routes.
"Like Baghdad, we expect significant demand to these Iraqi cities. The type of traffic travelling on these two routes will be quite different."
www.gulfair.com [5]