Owners of car rental companies operating from the airport were told at the annual meeting of the Rent a Car Association (RACA). Dr Emmanuel Mallia, the secretary general, told the car company owners that rent on the 182-car lot would increase by 2,200 per cent.

The RACA has paid just €11,647 a year until 2007, when the airport was owned by the government but the airport recently came into private ownership and things are changing. The airport is now asking for three years of rent in advance, totalling a payment of €803,634.

The parking space allows the rental companies to offer a high level of service to their customers because the rental cars can be picked up just outside the airport. Its also a convenient space for drivers to park when dropping off the car and catching their return flight home.

The association has not yet reached a decision on the matter. They have approached the government about building another car depot area close to the airport.

Stuart Chandler, from Fresno, is the lead plaintiff in the case. According to papers submitted to the court for the case, he was rear-ended in March last year, while driving a 2004 Acura.

His car insurance policy entitled him to a rental car while his vehicle was being repaired. State Farm covered 80 per cent of the costs of the rental, leaving 20 per cent, or $63.49, to be paid out of Chandler’s pocket.

When State Farm collected fees from the other driver’s insurance company, however, they collect 100 per cent of the rental costs, according to the lawsuit’s documents.

According to the lawsuit, the insurance company violated California’s laws. Stephen Garcia, Chandler’s attorney for the case, said: “California common law provides that when a policyholder suffers a loss from a car accident, the policyholder must be reimbursed for all of his losses before State Farm has a right to reimbursement for any money it paid out under its policy.”

State Farm kept the $63.49 and failed to compensate Chandler fully for his expenses, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also claims that other customers of the company have experienced similar losses.

State Farm did not comment on the lawsuit.

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Hertz, Mark P. Frissora said about the appointment: “Scott’s appointment reflects the rapid, profitable growth of our U.S. off-airport business which has achieved a critical mass. The off-airport business now requires separate, senior-level management to help us drive plans to accelerate profitable growth over the next few years. Scott’s success developing a large, profitable off-airport network in Hertz’s Western U.S. region, and his proven management capability over a 25-year career at Hertz, make him the right choice to lead our national off-airport business.”

Mr. Sider first started working at Hertz as an intern in college. He started his first full-time position with the company in 1983. Prior to his current position, Mr. Sider served as the Regional Vice President of the New England and West Central Regions.

Since the late 1990’s Hertz has been trying to improve its off-airport rentals. As a subsidiary of Hertz Global Holdings, Hertz has rental locations in 8,100 locations in 147 countries across the world. In America, Hertz is the top airport car rental brand and has offices in 69 major airports in Europe.

For perhaps the first time in a decade, the number of travelling Americans on the long weekend will likely decline, probably due in a large part to tightening economic conditions and soaring gas prices.

According to the travel group, an estimated 37.9 million Americans are likely to travel at least 50 miles on the Memorial Day weekend. While the number is significant, it represents a 0.9 per cent drop from travel during the same period last year.

The number of Americans getting into a car for Memorial Day weekend will probably drop by one per cent this year, with just 31 million people hitting the roads. An estimated 4 million will be catching flights, 0.5 per cent less people than last year.

Although high gas prices may keep some people at home, it is making other Americans more interested than ever before in the cheap vacation destinations like Galveston and Lake Conroe.

Public relations manager for the Galveston Island Convention & Visitors Bureau, Roshelle Gaskins, said: “As far as Galveston goes, we usually benefit when people are economically challenged. It is the close-to-home getaway to go to.”

Over the last few years, the number of beach rentals have been increasing in the Galveston area, according to Claire Reiswerg, the owner of a property rental company in the area. Reiswerg said that rentals are up by 11 per cent this year compared with last year.

Many Americans who can no longer afford to go abroad are looking to drive to nearby beach spots and camping locations this summer.

There are four Hertz Car Sales outlets in Melbourne, three in Sydney, one in Brisbane and one in Adelaide.

The Prius was one of the first hybrid cars to enter the market in Australia and is remarkably fuel efficient. The car uses just 4.4 liters of petrol to travel up to 100 kilometers and can go as far as a thousand kilometers on one tank of gas.

In addition to using less fuel, the car is environmentally friendly in other ways as well. The Prius emits around 55 per cent less carbon monoxide than most cars of the same size and makes far less noise. The car is equipped with a Continuously Variable Transmission system which means that drivers need to change gears less frequently.

Wayne Burgoyne, Director of Sales and Marketing for Hertz Australia, said: “As fuel prices continue to rise, and the community embraces environmentally-friendly products, hybrid vehicles are becoming increasingly popular.

He continued: “As a result we expect to have approximately 500 in rental service by the middle of this year. Hertz Australia is now offering the first of its Toyota Prius sedans for sale through Hertz Car Sales.”

According to Burgoyne, the vehicles will be competitively priced between A$24,000 and A$27,000. He maintains that all Hertz vehicles benefit from regular maintenance and have low mileage, the manufacturer’s warranty and six months of registration.

Hilton HHonors will award members up to 2,000 bonus points when they rent a car with Budget at participating locations in Canada or America until the end of June this year.

One to three day rentals with Budget will earn HHonors members 1,000 bonus points. Rentals of four or more days will be awarded 2,000 bonus points.

After June 30th, HHonors members will still be awarded points when renting Budget vehicles. Qualifying rentals at particular locations will earn members 250 HHonors bonus points.

Adam Burke, senior vice president of customer loyalty for Hilton Hotels Corporation, said: “By offering more car rental alliances than many competing programs, Hilton HHonors provides members with more ways to conveniently earn points while they travel.”

He continued: “With over 1,900 car rental locations and 50 years in the business, Budget is a fit for our program. Now, HHonors members can enjoy the great value and service provided by Budget while earning HHonors bonus points.”

Kaye Ceille, senior vice president of global travel and partnership sales at Avis Budget Group, parent company of Budget, said: “Budget customers are savvy shoppers who appreciate great deals. As people begin planning their summer travel, this alliance offers them a new way to make their travel dollar go farther. As one of the world’s foremost global travel loyalty programs, we believe Hilton HHonors will prove to be very appealing to Budget renters.”

Becky Alseth, Avis’s senior vice president in charge of marketing, told journalists that most clients are not likely to mind the disappearance of printed brochures. Alseth noted that according to her experience, most customers prefer to receive this information electronically, by going online to Avis’s website, which essentially renders many of these brochures obsolete. “This presented us with the opportunity to reduce our environmental footprint, which is also very important to Avis customers,” Alseth said.

All pertinent car rental information is now available at http://www.avis.com/, including information on promotional deals, maps and weather updates, as well as a guide to rental policies. In addition to saving paper, Avis has also tried to help the environment in a range of other ways, including through the use of gas/hybrid rental cars, such as the Toyota Prius and the Nissan Altima. Moreover, nearly half of Avis’s fleet is considered to be highly fuel efficient.

The airport normally takes in a total of $19,100 each year in space rental fees from car hire companies, but the dramatic shrinkage of the airport’s passenger traffic means that this will now be reduced to $7,640. The airport has also agreed to reduce the fee it charges for reserved parking slots from $11,520 to $3,456, while counter space fees will go from $9,495 to $7,140.

All of these reductions aim to convince Budget, National and Alamo not to pull out of the airport. There is, however, a real chance that they will do just this anyhow, since their contracts come up for renewal on August 31^st, 2008. The firms have an option to renew their contracts and if they choose this route, Portsmouth Airport will assume that they will have a combined annual revenue of only $18,000, down from $396,000 when Skybus still operated flights from the hub.

Yet BA chief Willie Walsh pointed to another problem as well. The fact that the construction of the terminal was delayed meant that the airline was not able to offer staff members the degree of training that would have been necessary in order to avoid the travel chaos that led to 20,000 pieces of lost luggage and hundreds of delayed or cancelled flights in a period of less than a week. Although Walsh did not overtly blame BAA, he suggested that the United Kingdom’s flag carrier “reserved its position in relation to compensation.” Walsh then went on to observe that it only dealt directly with BAA, rather than with anyone else involved in the Terminal 5 construction efforts, indicating that if the airline does seek legal recourse, it will do so specifically against Heathrow’s operator. Walsh went further to say that BA’s reputation was “clearly damaged” and that the airline suffered £16 million in damages, due to cancelled flights and lost baggage.

Some analysts have also reported that United is still attempting to merge with US Airways, although the success of these efforts is sometimes doubted. Yet it is generally understood that the alliance with Continental would only go ahead if the potential merger fails. This suggestion was then confirmed by an anonymous source, close to the company. A third option for United would be to remain fully independent, and the firm is likely to discuss all three possibilities in the coming days.

Mary Clark, a Continental spokesperson, remained relatively tight-lipped, simply saying that the firm is “examining its alliance relationships.” Jean Medina of United Airlines said even less, declining comment altogether. Bob Mann, a commercial aviation consultant, however expressed some doubt as to whether a Continental-United alliance would actually go through. According to his calculations this may not end up happening, because the cost savings for the two carriers may not be that significant.