Irish carrier Ryanair Budget Flights has announced plans to establish two new bases in Italy. The airline will initially position a single Boeing 737-800 at Forli from March 2009 for use on domestic routes, while from March 2010 two aircraft will begin flying from Bologna with plans to grow the fleet to five aircraft in the future. Ahead of the opening of the two bases the company will transfer seven of its existing routes (Birmingham, Charleroi, Dublin, Frankfurt / Hahn, Girona, London / Stansted and Valencia) from Forli to Bologna from this winter.
Virgin Atlantic Airways has reported a pre-tax profit before exceptional items of £60.9 million for the past financial year and attributed this to a significant increase in business passengers. The UK airline says it has seen a 22% rise in premium passengers, while total passengers increased by 7.6% to a record 5.7 million. Virgin Atlantic claims it has benefited from what it describes as the T5 Effect and said it has attracted custom away from British Airways.
Virgin Atlantic has started the current year strongly, reporting a pre-tax profit of £23.5 million for the first quarter of this financial year. Its also says its cash position remains strong with nearly £600 million in the bank at the end of the financial year.
