Well the long march continues, with Miles and More Members now able to earn Executive bonus and HON Circle miles on BMI.

Normally, earning these bonuses is restricted to fully integrated (ie fully owned) members of Miles and More. FTL and SEN can earn 25% too (expect on BMI Baby flights).

So for all Miles and more Members, this is good news.

BMI announced that it would offer 35% bonus on miles flown for Diamond Club Gold members when flying Lufthansa as well (so Diamond Club members are disadvantaged by 10% if they choose to fly Swiss, Austrian or LOT).

Tigher integration is happening slowly. It’s only a matter of time alas till the fat lady begins the opening aria for Diamond Club…

Earnings season is in full swing at the moment, with British Airways and Virgin Atlantic releasing their numbers today.

And for both, neither is good reading.

BA reported a pre-tax loss of £164m, larger than the £148m loss it made in the same period last year, whilst Virgin Atlantic announced a pre-tax operating loss of £132m in the 12 months to February.

BA of course has been through strike actions and Volcano’s, whilst Virgin Atlantic has just suffered volcano fun.

Again, both airlines are recovering from the downturn, but there will be challenges ahead for both if a double dip recession comes about…

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-10813680

Let it not be said I pay attention to my inbox, as I had a lovely public voucher drop through it today for Alitalia.

Providing you book between now and 31st August, and flying 1st November to 15th December, you can get £20 off using code AUTUMN2010 at the checkout providing you do it via www.alitalia.co.uk. Usefully, it’s also valid across the network, apart from domestic and one way exceptions.

T&C;’s:

• E‐coupon vouchers can only be redeemed on Alitalia.co.uk
• Discount vouchers are valid for return tickets purchased until 31 August 2010, for travel between 01 November and 15 December 2010
• Discounts cannot be used on one-way tickets, Italian domestic flights and children and infant tickets

If you can use it – go for it!

In a not too unexpected move, Shanghai Airlines will be leaving Star Alliance.

Recently, Shanghai Airlines have merged with China Eastern Airlines – who themselves are joining SkyTeam and as such keeping one airline in two alliances is a no-no.

This opens up one hell of a hole in China for Star Alliance and leaves Air China as the sole partner within China, and a bigger hole of comparatively limited coverage at Shanghai-PuDong/Shanghai Hongqiao.

Both Star Alliance and Shanghai Airlines have agreed to terminate it’s membership by 31 October 2010, marking the end of 3 years of membership.

Whilst not the shortest membership of Star Alliance, it is damaging enough – and will force Star to find a new partner out in the area.

Another day, another set of account out. This time, it’s the Lufthansa group posting another loss of of €104m for the first half of 2010, an improvement of the loss made last year.

Of course, it’s time to trot out the reasons why, and in no particular order:

• Pilots strikes
• Costs of integrating BMI
• Costs of integrating Austrian
• “That” Volcanic ash cloud causing EU Airspace to be shut.

Revenues across the group rose by 24% to €12.6bn, with positive demand for freight and intercontinental passenger transit, and perhaps more importantly, First Class and Business Class passengers are starting to book again.

Now, if First and Business class passenger traffic is picking up, there is a sign of a recovery – but also, it could be a case of traffic poaching from one carrier that has had a few issues recently.

Neither the less – it’s a sign on the ongoing recovery.

GhettoIFE.com will be flying on  Lufthansa’s Intra-EU product next month, so keep an eye out when the big trip report comes out in September….

Unlike yesterday’s crash where the pilots survived, a crash today did not have same fortunate results.

An AirBlue Flight 202 (a private Pakistani Airline) Airbus A321 crashed today, at around 10:00hr on the outskirts of Islamabad, running a a Karachi to Islamabad service, with 146 passengers and6 6 crew aboard. The Aircraft left left Karachi at 0750 local.

The aircraft crashed into the Margalla Hills, where it is heavy forest, making access hard.

At least 45 bodies recovered, however there it is now confirmed with no survivors of the crash.

Weather conditions have been reported as poor, and fog is lying over the rescue area.

Another sad day in aviation, and the fragilely of life.

Updated: 12:41 to note no survivors.

Well, the upturn is in full effect, with the news from Singapore Airlines has made a first-quarter profit of 253 million Singapore dollars ($184.7m; £119m).

Singapore Airlines put this down to a rise of passenger and freight traffic – which is good to see, and are expecting these numbers to hold for the remainder of the year.

Passenger numbers climbed by 5.5% in the first quarter, while cargo space usage rose from 60.6% a year ago to 65%.

Well, maybe the recovery has arrived. Let’s just hope we don’t hit a double-dip recession…

So as revealed yesterday, Air Berlin has formally invited to join OneWorld with a memorandum of understanding signed.

So lets take a deeper look.

Air Berlin itself will join OneWorld as a full member, with Niki joining as well as a OneWorld affiliate (as at is owned partially by Air Berlin).

They will both be joining OneWorld in early 2012 (with no defined actual date yet), although they are trying to join just before the new Berlin Airport is opened.

Air Berlin is more “the friendly face of Low Cost Carriers”, with some better features like free luggage and full on board service (including their long haul services which they obtained when purchasing LTU). In short haul, it’s the usual single class cabin, whilst on longer haul services, they offer two-class services onboard their A330′s.

Air Berlin carriers 28 million passengers a year, with 165 aircraft, to a total of 160 destinations over 40 countries, and when it joins OneWorld – this will expand its coverage to 900 destinations in 150 countries. Nearly all OneWorld members serve Air Berlin Germany, and the interlining and codesharing will increase access to the world.

Which increases the coverage of the alliance by a fair amount.

Air Berlin now has the hard task of preparing its systems to move over to OneWorld, and developing the codeshare and bilatteral agreements to make this work – that’s why there’s a minimum of 18 months before they formally join OneWorld (and typical of most airlines – save Air India who is still dawdling over it’s Star Alliance membership)

British Airways (who is also looking after S7 and Kingfisher) as they complete their joining of OneWorld) will be supporting it’s membership and it’s implementation.

This is a very interesting play, and there are two things to look at carefully (and neither directly related to Air Berlin.

Firstly – LCC’s (or “better class” LCC’s) are now serious contenders for major alliance memberships. As some major legacy carriers scrape the barrel and try to cut costs, they’re looking more looking like LCC’s.

And that puts JetBlue sharply into focus – again, a single class airline, but again – an acceptable face of LCC’s. With it’s recent tie up with American Airlines, could alliance membership be around the corner for it?

And will that push some of the legacy carriers that own LCC’s to push them into the major alliances? I’m not sure at this point, but surely, this is causing minor concern in Star Alliance HQ/SkyTeam HQ, and will force them to consider their future membership plans….

Secondly, I can’t help thinking that the about to be formed “International Airlines Group” is paying very close attention. A ready made footprint like that, combined with the might of BA and Iberia would really allow it to go toe-to-toe with Lufthansa and Air France-KLM in Europe…

Not good news coming from Riyadh airport, with reports of a Lufthansa Cargo MD-11 Flight LH 8460 crashing at King Khaled International Airport in Saudi Arabia.

The plane was piloted by a two-man crew, according to initial reports. Both pilots are being treated in hospital.

On board Flight LH 8460 were 80 tonnes of freight. It is not yet known exactly what type of freight it was or which customers are affected.

On crashing, it appears the aircraft separated in two, with a possible fire within the plane on approach.

Thankfully, there are no deaths, but the two pilots are being treated in hospital.

The fire on the plane is ongoing, and is being attempted to be put out by the local teams.

Whilst it is sad to see a plane go up in smoke, it is a small miracle that the crew have survived – even though they are in hospital.

More later.

American Airlines have released an iPhone app, with mobile boarding pass built in and AA AAdvantage built in.

It’s downloadable free at the Apple Appstore, but before you head there, you might want to head over to my list of iPhone Airline Apps if your airline has an app for that.

Happy Apping! 

Well Farnborough is over for another 2 years (as next year, we’re back to Paris), so lets look at the which carriers have decided to splurge some pennies at equipment makers.

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Okay? We can have airplanes!

China’s Okay Airways has ordered 10 Boeing 737-800s which will be delivered from 2014. Previously just a lessee, this will be the first purchase directly from Boeing.

This will be in the addition to the 4 they currently lease, along with a variety of other aircraft.

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Royal Jordan goes for a full replacement – adds follow-on’s for 787′s

Royal Jordan Airlines has submitted a order for an additional 3 787-8s, to complete a long haul fleet renewal.

Deliveries are due to be complete by the end of 2016

This will replace the exist A310s and A340s and in the longer term – the A330s it flies.

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And that’s your lot. No doubt there will be more orders agreed, more haggling done and a few surprises soon. GhettoIFE.com will continue to monitor and report the fun that is the civil aviation industry when new planes are being ordered – and more importantly – when they’re up in the air with passengers bums on seats.