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It doesn’t look good for Mexicana Airlines. According to their website:

• Grupo Mexicana suspends flights until further notice
• Current management received the company in a state of technical bankruptcy seven days ago after it filed for protection under Mexico’s insolvency laws
• Financial deterioration and lack of agreements force Grupo Mexicana to stop flying
• Grupo Mexicana deeply regrets any inconvenience caused to passengers

This is the rest of the press release Grupo Mexicana published on their site:

Mexico City, August 27, 2010. Nuevo Grupo Aeronáutico, S.A. de C.V. (“Grupo Mexicana”) announced this morning that as a result of the group’s delicate financial situation when it changed owners a week ago, compounded by failure to reach agreements that would allow for the capitalization of its three airlines, Mexicana Airlines, MexicanaClick and MexicanaLink flights will suspend operations until further notice as of midday (12:00 p.m.) on Saturday, August 28, 2010.

Among the factors that have contributed to this announcement are:

1. Grupo Mexicana’s fragile financial situation, which has deteriorated further over the last four weeks due to the previous management’s decision to suspend ticket sales, forcing the company to continue operating in the interests of passengers without receiving any revenue.
2. No substantial agreements were reached to give companies in the Group long-term viability.
3. Lack of effectiveness in the insolvency (Concurso Mercantil) process intended to protect additional financial resources available to the company so it could to continue operating.
4. Given the uncertainty of the situation, certain suppliers have begun demanding advanced payment of services that are essential to the airlines’ operations.

Today’s decision is a painful one for the 8,000-strong Grupo Mexicana family, but we will continue seeking out ways of securing the company’s long-term financial viability, so our passengers can once again enjoy the quality services they are accustomed to. We hope to be back in the air soon and would like to thank everyone involved in this process for their support and understanding.

If you have bookings or/and have paid for a Grupo Mexicana flight and have a reservation code, we would like to inform you that:

1. All Mexicana, MexicanaLink and MexicanaClick flights will be suspended until further notice as of midday on Saturday, August 28, 2010. All flights programmed to depart after this hour will be canceled.
2. Grupo Mexicana deeply regrets any inconvenience this decision may cause and will continue to assist passengers to the full extent of its abilities. Passengers who have already flown a leg of their journey and who are scheduled to fly with a Grupo Mexicana airline after Saturday, August 28, 2010 are advised to consult the websites or contact us at the numbers listed below. Priority will be given to minors traveling unaccompanied, passengers traveling with children under age 3 and special needs passengers.
3. If you have not yet begun your journey, we recommend you make alternative travel arrangements.
4. For information on how to apply for a refund, visit mexicanainforms.com (Tickets issued in the United States and Canada; – Tickets issued in Mexico and the Rest of the World), or contact us at any of the numbers listed below:

5448-8634
5998-5998
in Mexico City

01800-837-6150
01800-801-2010
from anywhere in Mexico

1-888-882-9994
1-877-801-2010
from the U.S. or Canada

In other countries please contact the local Mexicana office.

via about.com’s post on the topic.

BREAKING NEWS: Flying car company Terrafugia gets key FAA clearance for its ‘roadable aircraft’ and looks to deliver first one next year

From the article:

With that FAA clearance under the its belt, the company said it is on track to deliver the first Transitions to customers late next year.

The Transition, which is designed with foldable wings, successfully completed its first flight on March 5, 2009, after six months of road testing.

Check out Air Fare WatchDog’s chart comparing the air fare alerts here.

The Denver Post reports in their article, Lean times for airlines means bumped fliers have a harder time finding flights:

“Planes are running so full that they don’t have any spots,” Tulsa, Okla., resident Anne Green said last week as she waited between flights. “It’s like a domino effect where you can’t get another flight when something goes wrong.”
…
U.S. airlines cut capacity nearly 9 percent last year, taking planes out of service or using smaller planes on some routes in a scramble to better match the number of seats to customers. That was on top of a 6.7 percent capacity cut in 2008.

The world of cheap-flight search may be changing now that Google’s jumping into the game: GigaOM reports on Google’s acquisition of ITA Software Inc. here, and Google writes about it on its own blog:

Today, almost half of all airline tickets are sold online. But for many people, finding the right flight at the best price is a frustrating experience; pricing and availability change constantly, and even a simple two city itinerary involves literally thousands of different options. We’d like to make that search much easier, which is why I’m pleased to announce that today we have signed an agreement to acquire ITA, a Boston-based software company specializing in organizing airline data, including flight times, availability and prices.

I’m no Apple fanboy, and I’m no Australian either, which means I won’t be able to take advantage of Jetstar’s iPad rental service when it starts next month or whenever.

See all the Flight Club cheap flights posts from our archives here: Cheap Flights.

Over in Australia, Jetstar Airlines is being investigated because of claims that a pilot was text-messaging while landing a plane, and because they were distracted they were forced to abort a landing attempt at an airport in Singapore.

Read the article, Pilot ‘texting during landing’, here.

The New York Times says much of airline passenger frustration is related to outdated technology used by airlines:

Airlines have made great technological leaps in recent years, allowing passengers to check in from home or download boarding passes on their smartphones. But if you’ve ever been stranded at an airport during a raging thunderstorm, chances are you will end up standing in a long line watching a gate agent typing furiously on an outdated computer.

Here are some interesting notes from the article:

• The airline industry replaced its traditional magnetic-strip tickets with electronic tickets, saving $3 billion a year since 2008.
• Airlines usually spend 2.5 to 3.5% of their budget on IT — last year, when the economy tanked, they spent 1.7%.

Read the full article, Airlines Work to Catch Up to the Digital Age, here.

Lifehacker wrote a post breaking down how they go about finding cheap flights online in 2010. There are some new bits of info, like how to use twitter to your advantage, and tracking refunds after your ticket’s been bought.

Read the full post, The Frequent Flier’s Guide to Finding Cheap Airfare, here.