Kingfisher's chairman VJ Mallya is following in the footsteps of Virgin's Richard Branson and Niki Lauda of Lauda Air in taking a personal interest in choosing the cabin crew that walk the aisles of his airliners.

Find out what this great Indian looks for in this good piece in the Telegraph today.

We talked recently to VJ at Farnborough and got him on video.

Here's the cover interview our Singapore Editor Nicholas Ionides did with VJ and the latest on Kingfisher's international route plans.

That well-respected airline analyst at ABN Amro, Andrew Lobbenberg, has pointed the readers of his regular industry commentaries to this piece on the website of the UK's Times newspaper. And following his lead I will too.

It is a graphic example, in the UK at least, and I am sure readers around the globe can offer similar ones, of carriers slashing fares to keep people flying.

In this case the story is not about the economy section as such but about great offers on business class fares from British Airways, bmi and Virgin Atlantic.

Now here at Reed (the parent of Airline Business/Flight) we are not allowed to fly business but I can tell you the same applies to Premium Economy fares.

I recently booked a New York return with BA in this souped up economy class for just over £600 return - now that's not a half bad price.

In his conference call yesterday to unveil yet another downgrade in the industry's financial forecast, IATA director general Giovanni Bisignani was unusually mild in this comments about airports.

Usually they get a good "basta" or two, and some good old monopoly bashing.

The stick was wielded less ficiously than before I thought. Although he said "our partners need to bite the bullet" on being more efficient and helping airlines through this difficult time, the response from airports was a "bit disappointing".

IATA has written to 134 airports and 66 air navigation service providers (ANSPs) asking them to help contribute to the troubles airlines are finding themselves in (these providers suffer too of course if traffic falls). This is essentially a plea for price cuts. No harm in asking is there?

Not content with throwing the Virgin brand behind a string of airlines, a radio station, a media company and even cola, Sir Richard Branson is now reported to be mulling a bid for London's Gatwick Airport as part of a consortium.

The UK's Daily Telegraph quotes Branson as saying he is "open to being courted by anyone who is interested in bidding" for Gatwick, should BAA eventually be ordered to sell two of its London airports, as has been recommended by the Competition Commission.

What an interesting development that could be. With the long-simmering rivalry between Virgin Atlantic and British Airways hotting up again amid BA's third attempt to secure antitrust immunity with American Airlines, one can only imagine the sparring that might take place if Virgin became the owner of one of BA's biggest bases!

Whatever ends up happening to Gatwick, most of the people I've spoken to who have used the facility believe things can only get better under new ownership.

A recent example is a colleague of mine who was on a flight from Austria to Heathrow earlier this week. His flight circled Heathrow for 40 minutes, unable to land, and instead decided to land at Gatwick.

Once on the ground at Gatwick, he and other passengers were forced to remain on the aircraft for THREE HOURS because...wait for it...there were no stairs available to allow them to disembark. You couldn't make this stuff up!

It helps to speak Icelandic to get all of this clip, produced by Sveinn Gdmarsson, the London correspondent of the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, but yours truly is in there giving the Airline Business perspective of the industry's outlook.

That bit, you'll understand, but the rest of it you won't because it is in Icelandic, unless of course you come from the island. In it, I make the hardly earth-shattering revelation that more airline failures are likely in the second half. This was shot before the Zoom grounding, so my prediction already came true.

The INBS naturally keeps tabs on its home flag carrier Icelandair. Sveinn tells me the latest from the north is that it has announced further lay-offs. I can't confirm this because all the newspaper reports in the past few days are in Icelandic - can anyone help?

Just a quick note to tell you that way out over in our sister blog Left Field, there's a post outlining a bitter dispute that pits the Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, the FAA, and some thinkers against the airline industry, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and some other thinkers. The FAA is set to auction off a set of landing slots at the Newark Liberty airport near New York City, and the port, which owns the airport, as well as the Air Transport Association and a New York senator, are trying to block it. Even though the September 3 auction has been postponed, the issue and the precedent it will set are far from settled.

Consolidation activity appears to be hotting up in Europe. The latest is that Lufthansa has decided to put its fingers in more pies with a plan to acquire a 45% stake in Brussels Airlines parent SN Airholding.

The German carrier also confirmed to Airline Business sister publication Air Transport Intelligence recently that it is interested in the available stake in Austrian Airlines. Lufthansa has already acquired Swiss and appears to be intent on spreading its wings further to solidify its position as a European heavyweight.

Meanwhile, the future of Alitalia could also finally become clear later today with the Italian government set to make an announcement on a re-launch of the beleaguered carrier. The big question is, will Air France-KLM still want a piece of the pie?

An elderly woman in Sweden is reported to have accidentally checked herself in as baggage after misunderstanding what to do at the baggage belt.

According to the report, the 78-year-old climbed on to the luggage belt at Stockholm Arlanda Airport and was whisked away down the chute where she was met by baffled baggage handlers.

I find it hard to believe that nobody was around to witness her mistake and escort her off the baggage belt before she disappeared behind the curtain.

Luckily the woman is reported not to have suffered any injuries and later caught her flight to Germany. Maybe she just couldn't face queuing for security and instead decided to chance her luck with a more direct route.

Ever wanted to bomb along the runway in an airport fire truck and give a mighty blast on the water cannon?

OK, not in a real life incident of course, but for fun?

Now could be the chance, for move over Playstation and Nintendo Wii, Singapore's Aviation Academy has installed the world's first airport fire-fighting vehicle driving simulator.

It comes equipped with a full motion simulator - just like its aircraft simulator cousins - and can simulate day and night driving.

The sim was developed with Chartered Asia Technology Enterprise, a Singapore-based firm that specialises in airport-related technology and services.

It may seem ironic, being one of the fastest growing airlines in the world with a huge amount of aircraft on order, but Emirates is touting its commitment to protecting the environment.

In a press release, the carrier says it has adopted "a new environmental policy for the Emirates Group, a global staff awareness campaign and internal goals to reduce energy consumption and waste, as well as increase recycing and training".

The programme is entitled Emvironment, which at first I thought was a spelling error but no, it's a good old amalgamation of two words. Catchy. You can read more about the airline's emvironmental commitments here. 

Heavily involved in all this is Emirates vice-president public and environmental affairs Andrew Parker, who says: "From an environmental perspecitve, Emirates has much to be proud of, particularly our advanced fleet and use of technology to minimise our footprint.

"While much of this work has been underway for many years, the new Emvironment programme will provide a strategic underpinning to further improve our environmental performance."

Emirates is not the only airline shouting about its commitment to saving the earth - see our recent feature "Seen to be green" to see what others are doing to try and hammer home this message.