Northwest Airlines has asked a US bankruptcy court for an extension of about six months to file a reorganization plan, according to court documents filed on Friday.

France's parliament approved a tax on airline tickets to finance aid for developing countries, particularly for health-related problems such as AIDS and malaria, and the French government will host a conference next month to persuade other countries to do the same.

According to AFX News, the spokeswoman said that cutting its payments to GDS is part of the flag carrier 2006-2008 strategic plan which aims at a wide range of cost-cutting measures with all suppliers. As per the report, she noted that cost-cutting measures will be `discussed in the normal conversations between between Iberia and its reservations centres.

The development follows country open skies deal with the EU to spur tourism growth. Recently, Morocco signed an open skies agreement with the EU, which will come into force in 2006, to promote tourism, as the country intensifies plans to double the number of tourists to 10 million by 2010, with a turnover of 10 billion US dollars.

THE nation's peak aviation safety agency is under fire after revelations that the engine of the aircraft involved in Monday's skydiving accident, which killed five people, had a history of "abnormal" failures.]

Airline insurance providers could start to leave the market in search of more profitable sectors in 2006, pushing up premiums for airlines in the process.

Airbus and Boeing finished the year strong as several airlines announced aircraft orders or confirmations during the final week of 2005 and the first few days of the new year.

Continental Airlines said Dec. 28 it will withdraw 69 of 274 Embraer RJs from its capacity purchase agreement with ExpressJet Airlines because the latter's rates "are above the current market."ExpressJet may continue to sublease any of the 69 aircraft at higher rates but cannot operate them into any of CO's hubs. The ERJ-135s and dash 145s operate in the Continental Express network. ExpressJet at one time was a wholly owned subsidiary of CO but now is publicly traded.

Delta Air Lines reported a November net loss of $181 million in a Dec. 30 filing with the US Bankruptcy Court compared to losses of $1.14 billion during the six weeks following its entry into Chapter 11 (ATWOnline, Dec. 2) and approximately $300 million in October.November's net loss minus reorganization items and taxes was $164 million. Operating loss was $107 million on revenues of $1.29 billion and expenses of $1.4 billion.

While some analysts are forecasting a spike in airfares out of Washington Dulles as a result of the shutdown of Independence Air tomorrow, others believe the departure of the carrier formerly known as Atlantic Coast Airlines will cause barely a ripple."There is no vacuum created by the elimination of this airline," analyst Mike Boyd told ATWOnline. "This was clearly excess capacity in terms of need." Boyd said FLYi routes with fares as low as $29 to destinations like Portland, Me., or Charleston, W.Va., will not be missed; "You won't have another carrier rushing in to fill that Charleston route."