A group of 10 airlines—eight based in the US, plus Air Canada and Lufthansa—have signed letters of intent with Washington-based Solena Fuels to acquire a future supply of jet fuel derived exclusively from waste biomass. Under the plan, the fuel—made from post-recycled urban and agricultural waste—will be produced at a plant to be built by Solena in Santa Clara County, Calif., in 2013, and trucked to airports in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
Boeing and American Airlines have announced a partnership to bring an "evolutionary ecoDemonstrator Program" to reality next year. An American 737-800 will be used to flight test and accelerate the market readiness of emerging technologies, the companies said. The 737-800, and a twin-aisle aircraft to be identified later this year, will serve as the flight test component for the FAA Continuous Lower Energy Emissions Noise (CLEEN) program – along with other technologies developed by Boeing and other industry partners.
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged development and production of biofuels to power commercial aircraft, telling a Paris Air Show audience there has been "extraordinary progress in the last 12 months" in understanding how biofuel blends can power flights. "I think we're nearing a tipping point" in terms of building momentum toward use of biofuel on commercial flights, he said. "I think [biofuel powering airline flights is] not long-term. In the short term you'll see the benefits."
KLM will launch twice-weekly Amsterdam-Rio de Janeiro Galeao 777-200ER service Nov. 1. It will temporarily cease its four-times-weekly service to Dallas/Fort Worth for the winter 2011 as part of recently announced capacity reductions. S7 Airlines launched a weekly Berlin Tegel-Novosibirsk service. Flydubai started daily Dubai-Dammam service.
The Arab Air Carriers Organization said that international passenger numbers to, from and within the Middle East and North Africa region increased by 6.1% in April compared to April 2010. Arab airlines increased the number of their offered seats to, from and within MENA by 9%, while other airlines slightly decreased the number of seats offered by 0.1%, leading to a 6.2% year-on-year increase in the total number of seats offered.
Florida-based Spirit Airlines, which has led the US airline industry in charging passengers fees for anything other than their low base airfares, has added another to its stable. Beginning Nov. 1, Spirit said it will institute a new $5 charge for passengers asking agents to print their boarding pass at the airport. Passengers who check in on-line or at an airport kiosk will not be charged the $5 fee, although next summer, even those checking in at kiosks will be charged $1.
SAS Group said Finnish subsidiary Blue 1 will phase out its remaining five Avro RJ-85 aircraft and focus on operating Boeing 717s. The phase-out of the Avro fleet is expected to start in August 2011 and will result in a maximum of 85 job redundancies at Blue1, SAS said in a statement. SAS said it will close of a number of European destinations and will make some capacity adjustments on Finnish domestic routes. At the same time, a Tampere-Copenhagen route will be opened.
India’s SpiceJet is seeking Reserve Bank of India permission to raise $270 million from Canada’s export finance agency Export Development Canada for aircraft acquisition and expansion of its operations, company officials told wire services in Mumbai.
As FedEx predicted following the end of its fiscal third quarter, the company posted a strong financial performance for its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31.
Swiss International Air Lines CEO Harry Hohmeister told ATW he is expecting a difficult second half of 2011 for the carrier owing to high fuel prices, political unrest in the Middle East and North Africa and the natural and nuclear disasters in Japan.
As FedEx predicted following the end of its fiscal third quarter, the company posted a strong financial performance for its fiscal fourth quarter ended May 31.
China Southern Airlines launched thrice-weekly Guangzhou-Vancouver service. WestJet launched daily Calgary-Orange County service. AirTran will add two daily roundtrips on its Milwaukee service to Des Moines and Akron-Canton Sept. 6. Southwest Airlines will launch Milwaukee service to St. Louis (twice-daily) and Denver (daily) Sept. 6.
Spirit Airlines named Tony Lefebvre senior VP and COO, effective immediately. Lefebvre, who previously served as senior VP-Airports, Customer Service and Inflight, replaces Kevin McKenzie, who is joining Airbus North America as senior VP-Customer Services, effective Sept. 1.
Alcoa has developed new aluminum-based sheet, plate, forgings and hard alloy extrusion solutions for the aerospace market, which it said will provide "dramatically lighter and lower-cost short-range airplanes" than their "composite-intensive" counterparts. The new aluminum-based products combine new alloys and advanced structural technologies, and could increase fuel efficiency by up to 12%, the company estimated—even up to 27% when combined with new engines.
AVIC announced that the Chinese regional turboprop MA700 is expected to make its first flight in 2016. The MA700, the stretched version of the 60-seat MA600, features increased seating capacity for 70-90 passengers. The MA700 introduces a high-efficient, six-blade propeller and a T-tail empennage that makes the aircraft faster than its predecessors ( ATW Daily News, June 26, 2008).
US FAA is proposing a $250,000 civil penalty against Orlando-based AirTran Airways for allegedly operating a Boeing 737 on four passenger flights without properly repairing or testing an angle-of-attack sensor on the aircraft, which warns if there is a potential loss of lift, after it was struck by lightning during a flight March 20, 2009. FAA also alleges the airline “misused the Minimum Equipment List when it decided to defer the repair and continued to operate the aircraft.” AirTran, a subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, has 30 days to respond to the agency.
Kenya Airways received compensation from Boeing for the delay of its Dreamliners, although the amount does not fully cover the expenses associated with the delay, Group Finance Director Alex Mbugua told ATW on the sidelines of an investors briefing in Nairobi earlier this month.
Rolls-Royce agreed to pay Qantas Airways A$95 million ($100 million) in full settlement for last November's uncontained failure of a Trent 900 engine on a QF A380.
Tibet Air is scheduled to start formal operations in July, according to CAAC, which will soon grant an operating certificate to the Lhasa-based carrier.
A massive order Thursday from Malaysia’s fast-growing, low-cost carrier AirAsia for 200 A320neos capped a record Paris Air Show for Airbus, bringing its total orders and commitments for the week to 730 aircraft from 16 customers.
Rolls-Royce agreed to pay Qantas Airways A$95 million ($100 million) in full settlement for last November's uncontained failure of a Trent 900 engine on a QF A380.
US Airways is planning two offerings of enhanced equipment trust certificates totaling $471 million, with proceeds of both generally intended for aircraft financing. One will offer approximately $388 million in Class A and Class B enhanced equipment trust certificates. The second offering is for Class C enhanced equipment trust certificates in the amount of approximately $83 million.
