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Virgin Blue has pitched nose down into a steep, high-volume share price dive today, and is now planning to destroy the benefits of what remains a profitable domestic network.

Before last Friday, Airservices Australia intended to introduce straight line “glide in” lower noise approaches to Sydney Airport by the end of the year. But that ruins the fun for pollies in Canberra, who decide just who gets more loud jets in which electorates.

Airlines have been turning their “loyalty” points into selling opportunities rather than rewards. The days of “free” for flyers are coming to an end.

Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand have come up with a proposed alliance that makes them friends across the Tasman and continued enemies inside New Zealand.

It looks like game, set and match for Melbourne when it comes to taking the title of the growth centre for Australia, as Tiger announce that Avalon will become its second Melbourne airport.

Disaffected pilots and staff are discussing moves to force the Qantas management to disclose secret transfers of assets from Qantas to Jetstar to make the low-cost subsidiary look more profitable than it is.

Qantas is inflating its stock exchange filings of monthly data for its Jetstar International operations with those of its Jetstar New Zealand domestic operation.

As PR stunts go, the cracked Qantas wind-screen near disaster story doing the rounds this morning is a gripping read. Too bad it’s merely a routine incident that didn’t affect safety at all.

Major airport buyers bought the right to charge customers at the airline, retail and individual level anything they think they can get away with in the medium- to long-term.

Disagreements between Jetstar and airport owners have flared into the open, with the airline ditching flights to Rockhampton and threatening to cap or quit services to Darwin and Hobart airports, says Ben Sandilands.

Qantas has just released its latest half-yearly financial report. In a nut-shell: Jetstar is booming, mainline isn’t and shareholders get nothing by way of dividends. Ben Sandilands has more.

Jetstar has launched the first customer guarantee by an Australian airline today. Ben Sandilands filters through the spin to work out exactly what you’ll get if they screw up.

There is no remotely practicable combination of procedures and technology that can remove the risk of a terrorist attack on the population at large, writes Ben Sandilands — and the government knows it.

Qantas is engaged in a heated discount fare battle with… itself, with its own low-cost carrier Jetstar undercutting it on Melbourne to Bangkok flights, says Ben Sandilands.

Jetstar’s much-hyped new alliance with AirAsia will deliver better customer service and a more efficient and effective business model — but it won’t make your next holiday any cheaper, explains Richard Webb.

Hanoi wants Jetstar out of Vietnam, and the “country arrest” of its two Australian executives is nothing more than crude bargaining, says Ben Sandilands.

The notion of betting on business failures is up there in terms of taste and sensitivity with framing the odds on which celebrity will die next, yet Paddy Power’s betting odds of airlines going broke is still interesting, says Ben Sandilands. What are the real odds of Qantas going bust?

The luxury business air fare will not come back at nearly the same rate as the economy rebounds in 2010. And that’s just one change that frequent flyers have to look forward to.

Qantas is now predicting a first half profit before tax of between $50-150 million, and today reported a strong rise in passenger numbers for the group airlines of 9.7%, reports Ben Sandilands.