Boeing said the allegations were “without merit” and stressed a multi-tiered control process in place for decades has been effective in maintaining quality and safety.

737s are commonly used by airlines and some companies, such as Ryanair, have fleets comprising solely of the aircraft.

The Dublin-based firm said net profits for the three months to the end of June soared 80% to €115.7m (£79m) on the back of higher fares, increased passenger numbers, more “sun” destinations and a late Easter.

Ireland will remain part of the oneworld network through services operated by the alliance's other member airlines such as BA.

Current OneWorld alliance members are: 

	Aer Lingus
	American Airlines
	British Airways
	Cathay Pacific
	Finnair
	Iberia
	LAN
	Qantas

The European Court of Justice has blocked an EU-US agreement that requires airlines to transfer passenger data to the US authorities.

European airlines have given US authorities passengers' names, addresses and credit card details.

The US said the data would help fight terrorism, but the European Parliament said the data could be misused.

The agreement demands that within 15 minutes of take-off for the United States, a European airline must send the US authorities 34 items of personal information about the passengers on board.

Washington had warned that it would impose heavy fines and deny landing rights for any airline failing to comply with the agreement.

The US authorities also said passengers would be subject to long security checks on arrival, if the data was not sent in advance.

Parliament opposition

The US demanded tighter airline security worldwide after the 11 September 2001 attacks on New York and Washington by suicide hijackers.

If we don't supply the information we're liable to fines… and if we do, potentially we're breaking the law Bob Preston, British Air Transport Association

But the European Parliament consistently opposed handing over the passenger details to the US, arguing that the US did not guarantee adequate levels of data protection.

It asked the European Court of Justice to annul the deal.

In its ruling on Tuesday, the court found that the EU Council of Ministers' decision to sign the agreement on "Passenger Name Records" lacked an adequate legal basis.

The Council and the European Commission based their actions on the EU Data Protection Directive, but the court said the directive did not apply to data collected for security purposes.

It gave the EU until 30 September 2006 to find a new legal solution.

'Difficult position'

"The court's judgement is about the legal basis, and about the legal basis only. It did not concern the content of the agreement," said the European Commission's chief spokesman Johannes Laitenberger.

The US Mission to the EU said it had already agreed with the Commission to look for "an agreed interim approach to data transfers that fully respects the court's ruling."

But executive officer of the British Air Transport Association Bob Preston told the BBC European airlines could potentially be left in a "difficult position, between a rock and a hard place".

"If we don't supply the information to the United States authorities then we're liable to fines of up to $6,000 per passenger and the loss of landing rights," he said.

"And if we do supply the data, potentially we're breaking the law [on data protection]."

FROM BBC NEWS Tue 30 May 2006

 Now watching angry passengers can be quite fun if you are trying to pass a few hours before your flight…it's a different story when you become an angry passenger, and BA has a talent (bettered only by American Airlines) for turning me into an angry passenger.

It looks as if they will restrict the size and number of pieces of cabin luggage you can take with you onto the plane…they have always had restrictions, but have turned a blind eye to them and most passengers just associate this with the benefit of flying on a full airline… No longer though. It looks as if staff will be instructed to stick rigidly to the rules. Part of this is due to security requirements that have caused long lines at the airport (notably BAA airports…but don't get me started on them). Now most people would employ more secuity personnel, but if you are profit-driven, rather than customer-service driven,you put the onus on customers; you restrict them from carrying on more than 2 bags and speed up the process. Even so, all carriers are subject to this, but BA is likely to be rigid.

And the changes extend to hold luggage. At the moment the amount of lugagge you can check in for free depends on your destination (there's a bit of a complicated formula that I doubt anyone understands). BA now wants to standardise this – which is reasonable – but some people are bound to lose out and have to pay up more for their luggage… We won't know who until BA announces what the standardised weight will be.
A lot of this is common on low cost airlines, but let's face it – even with its new low European fares – BA doesn't compete on price with these airlines. The question will be what will BA compete on. Its customer service is not great and you can always be guaranteed a delay from Heathrow on a BA flight.

The 555-seat Airbus A380 is making its UK debut as it flies from Berlin to Heathrow. Airbus has taken 159 orders for the plane from 16 carriers, including Singapore Airlines, which will make the inaugural commercial flight on its route between Sydney, Singapore and London later this year.

The plane arrives in London today to check out Heathrow airport's facilities which have been extensivel modified to cope with the 73m aircraft has.

Earlier this week the smallest member of Airbus' aircraft family flew into London's smallest airport. tThe A318, flew into London's City Airport for the first time on May 13. It successfully carried out a series of technical tests as part of a programme to demonstrate its suitability to operate at the airport.

Situated in the heart of central London, City Airport is popular with business travellers looking for quick flights to other major destinations in Europe. The type of aircraft able to operate at the airport is limited by the short runway and noise restrictions that are among the strictest in the UK. Currently only small regional aircraft and turboprops can serve the airport.

Travel sickness can put a real dampner on things, and the misery is compounded by the humiliation of spending your flight with your nose stuck in a sick bag, while those around appear to be annoyingly immune. There may be a couple of ways to avoid travel sickness, though sorry folks, I'm not talking about those self-induced troubles following a good night here (…your mum's told you how to avoid those alrady). Here are a couple of tips to avoid motion sickness:

•Try to stay clear of alcohol and don't have large meals – before, during and shortly after travelling

•Get fresh air – avoid stuffy atmospheres if you can (although this one isn't advisable if you're flying)
•Choose your seating – when travelling by bus, choose a seat by the wheels where you bounce around less; on ships stay in the centre of the vessel; and if travelling by plane, try to sit in the area over the wings.

Seasickness is pretty misrable,it's mostly to do with balance, so the best way is to go and look at the sea from up top – it does lessen the symptoms. Ginger is great for settling the stomach, you can take it in pill forms if you don't like the taste or even a ginger biscuit works (if it contains real root ginger).

I use Skype when I am in New York wanting to make phone calls home to the UK. At home I have signed up to SkypeIn (it's in a beta test phase at the moment, but basically you can rent a phone number in the UK, USA, Germany, France, Sweden, Australia and a growing list of places. The advantage of this is that if you are based in LA, but have a lot of friends in London, you can get a London telephone number and your friends (even if they don't have access to a pc) can phone you for the price of a local call.

Incredibly, with Skype I can call home from the centre of Manhattan on a cell phone considerably cheaper than I can call home standing outside my own front door using a UK mobile phone! Skype is by no means the only VOIP service. But the advantage is there is no monthly fee.

Skype also has zones where you can make calls from hotspots…not quite as useful as it first sounded – more on that later.