News from Travel Technology Update: AirTran, which dropped out of Worldspan in November because the two companies could not come to terms on the cost of participation, is back in the GDS with a new multiyear, full content agreement, effect Jan. 24.

Alitalia looks set to face a withering week of wildcat strikes, as unions took aim at CEO Giancarlo Cimoli and his cost-cutting plan to rebuild Italy's largest airline.

Turboprop manufacturer ATR has revealed its year-end order figures in Paris today and has emerged joint top of the regional aircraft sales league for 2005 with Embraer.

Russian airframer Sukhoi's civil aviation division has signed a definitive agreement with the Snecma-NPO Saturn joint venture PowerJet for supply of the SaM146 engines to be installed on the newly-developed Russian Regional Jet (RRJ).

Bombardier completed first flight of the Challenger 605 large cabin business jet yesterday at the airframer's facilities at Montreal Trudeau international airport.

Boeing will invest USD$185 million in facilities in India and source 85 billion rupees (USD$1.94 billion) in products and services over a period of 10 years, India's civil aviation minister said on Wednesday.

US Airline stocks took their biggest plunge in 11 weeks on Wednesday on what an analyst said were valuation concerns after a rally which bolstered the sector by 40 percent from a two-year low in September.

India's second-biggest private airline, Air Sahara, on Wednesday denied reports that it was selling out to Jet Airways and said it was only in talks with Jet on strategic alliances.

British airport operator BAA said on Wednesday that it handled 10.7 million passengers in December, an increase of 2 percent from the year before.

OctopusTravel.com has reportedly become the official global accommodation provider for LAN airlines.