So, passengers must now jump through another hoop to avoid Ryanair’s heinous extra charges, but it isn’t the only baddie of the airline world. There are plenty of ther carriers charging pounds for a transaction that costs a few pence, particularly in the case of debit card transactions.

Glen Bracegirdle and Kathryn Beaton, a blind couple, were attempting to board a flight out of Melbourne, when Jetstar staff told Ms Beaton that she was not allowed to board her guide dog – even though the airline’s own policy permits “seeing dogs” to fly.

When the couple approached the Jetstar check-in counter with Prince, Ms Beaton’s four-year-old black labrador guide dog, the clerk on duty shouted at them: “No dogs, no dogs, no dogs.”

Nice on Jetstar!

Air Arabia (Maroc), Morocco’s new low cost carrier (LCC) announced that it will start services to Mulhouse, France beginning October 25, 2009.

Basel is a tri-national metropolitan City bordered by Switzerland, France and Germany.

Roundtrip flights will operate two times per week between Air Arabia’s hub in Mohamed V International Airport, Casablanca and Basel-Mulhouse ?Airport in France.

The LCC will fly to Basel on Fridays and Sundays departing …

Existing Air Arabia, is convinced their success will be by partnering with the right company. Travco Group brings travel power to the table. Travco Group employs over 24,000 people, operates several hundred hotels and resorts, and owns cruise ships.

Their facilities and cruises are available in Europe, Egypt and the Middle East. Travco Group posted consolidated revenues exceeding $800 Million, and over one million customers used their services. Travco plans to offer consolidated travel packages to customers through the newly launched budget airline.

During the next four years, Jazeera Airways will take delivery of a further 30 Airbus A320s – like Air Arabia, their selection of this airplane has worked tremendously well for the clientele that it serves – in fact, a few European and US carriers should sit up and take notice of what they have on offer and frankly be utterly ashamed of themselves.

If you are heading to Kuwait you should ensure you have taken out holiday insurance as healthcare can be very expensive.

The airline is facing growing competition from local rivals including Kuwait’s Jazeera Airways (JAZK.KW) and Dubai-owned flydubai, as well as from fully-fledged carriers such as Emirates [EMAIR.UL], struggling to cope with a sharp drop in international passenger travel.

Aerocalifornia was grounded for failure to pay air-traffic-control fees, Avolar for air-right fees. Alma suspended flights in November 2008 citing financial constraints and Aladia has taken time out to restructure its debt. The majority of these carriers had served 20 to 30 often overlapping destinations.

However, it is not all bad; other discount airlines have stepped up and filled the gaps left by the other airlines, picking up their routes and airport bases. The reduced number of options makes deciding the best route/fare options easier for the customer, and additionally, more flights are now departing from U.S. airports. Viva Aerobus offers flights out of Austin, Texas, as well as Las Vegas. Volaris began providing daily flights from Los Angeles to Toluca in June, and will add daily flights between Oakland and Tijuana from late-August.

The Virgin Group, who own 25.5 per cent of Virgin Blue, has committed to buying 305 million further shares in the company. Branson aims to inject £40m to help out the carrier, which is predicting losses of over £80m for this financial year.

Whilst Virgin Blue, Australia’s second-largest airline, continues to make profits from its short-haul flights, where their market share has increased to 30 per cent, their long-haul wing, V Australia has been hit hard by the recession, making massive losses.

In an attempt to raise capital, the airline has also released heavily discounted shares, raising $133 million (AUD) so far from institutional investors, with an additional $98 million expected from retail investors.

Ryanair has reduced the number of flights departing from London Stanstead by 30 per cent from October. Despite these cutbacks, the budget airline has said it has reduced fares on flights by a 13 per cent average. However, despite this attempt to attract more custom, net profits for the year are expected to fall short of the estimated figures.

However rivals Easyjet maintain they should reach their end of year profit margins, confidence stemming from third quarter revenues rising 12 per cent. Plans for the future include an expansion of 35 new aircraft by 2012, although founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou is said to be concerned over the proposed rate of expansion.

If you are flying with Easyjet or Ryanair you should take out appropriate travel medical insurance too as EHIC cards might not cover you for all issue.