Qatar Airways and the parent of Italian airline Meridiana have signed a memorandum of understanding on “a potential partnership project,” Meridiana said Feb 4. Few details were given by Meridiana following several recent “inaccurate” stories in the Italian media about a link between the two carriers, according to a spokeswoman. “The two parties have agreed upon the pillars of the business proposition, which envisages a reinforcement of Meridiana with the objective of making it a solid player in the very competitive European aviation industry. The two parties have signed a memorandum of understanding which outlines the conditions precedent for the partnership,” the spokeswoman said. If those conditions are met, an agreement would conclude in the first half of this year. <br/>
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Airberlin, which fitted more XL economy seats on its A330-200 long-haul fleet in Sept 2015, are proving to be very popular with passengers with an 80% occupancy rate. The airline, which added 5 economy class rows of XL seats on each of its 14 A330s, said these 48 XL seats give passengers 20% more legroom for improved comfort and faster boarding or disembarking. At around 91 cm , Airberlin said it has the largest seat pitch in the industry in economy class on transatlantic flights. “Whilst other airlines rely on premium economy, Airberlin’s decision to offer XL seats in economy class at a relatively affordable price was absolutely right. The XL seats are very popular with our passengers, especially on long-haul tourist routes, and already have an average occupancy rate of over 80%,” Airberlin CCO Julio Rodriguez said. <br/>
A video produced by British Airways to promote the airline’s routes between the UK and India has taken off online. The advert tells the story of a flight attendant making her first trip to India and falling in love with the country after an elderly woman befriends her on the flight and invites her home. The tagline for the commercial, which is inspired by a true story and has been viewed over 350,000 times on the airline’s YouTube channel, is “Loving India back since 1924.” Around 12% of tourists arriving in India in Dec 2015, were British, according to the latest figures from the Ministry of Tourism, making the UK the third-largest source of foreign tourists that month after the US and Bangladesh. In the same period in 2014, the UK had the second-highest percentage of visitors to India after America. <br/>