Costly, congested and poorly run airports and environmentalists with daft ideas are the two biggest barriers to the continued growth of European low-cost carriers, EasyJet CEO Andrew Harrison said last week at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London. “We need a revolution” when it comes to airports, Harrison declared to representatives of more than 100 airlines gathered here.

Barbados and the Netherlands Antilles have agreed to start negotiations regarding a Double Tax Agreement (DTA) and Mutual Customs Assistance Treaty. The Netherlands Antilles´ State Secretary of Finance, Alex Rosaria, was recently in Bridgetown where he was received by the Barbadian Deputy Prime Minister, Mia Mottley.

Air Berlin PLC transported 12.9 percent more passengers in August than during the same month of the previous year. In total, 1,607,834 passengers used the carrier to meet their travel needs. Due to the increase in offers to business travel, which is subject to seasonal fluctuations, the capacity usage of the company´s jetliners slumped from 86 to 84.5 percent.

Colombia´s AeroRepublica, a subsidiary of Copa Holdings, announced the unveiling of its new corporate image. The new image is the result of a comprehensive market study performed by well-recognized branding experts/advisors. This new image, which will maintain the company´s name, leverages AeroRepublica´s most valued attributes and introduces Copa Airlines´ logo, livery and overall image.

Continental Airlines reported an August consolidated (mainline plus regional) load factor of 82.4 percent, 0.6 points above last year´s August consolidated load factor. The carrier reported a mainline load factor of 83.0 percent, 0.5 points above the August 2005 mainline load factor, and a domestic mainline load factor of 85.5 percent, 1.2 points above August 2005.

The North American cruise industry chipped in $32.4 billion to the U.S. economy in 2005, 7.9 percent more than in 2004. However, it was the smallest year-over-year increase in 48 months, according to an annual study on the economic impact of cruising commissioned by the International Council of Cruise Lines. The annual survey, conducted by Business Research and Economic Advisors, found that passenger embarkations increased by 6.3 percent in 2005, compared with a 13.9 percent increase in 2004.