IATA continued to call for a "measured" response to the late October discovery of explosives disguised as printer cartridges in air cargo shipments that originated in Yemen, warning that "knee-jerk" unilateral actions by governments could slow global airfreight flows and by extension the world economic recovery.
As Air New Zealand and Virgin Blue work to persuade the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to reverse its draft ruling and approve their proposed transtasman alliance, speculation increased that Blue would join the Star Alliance following CEO John Borghetti’s presence at the Star CEOs' meeting in Queenstown, New Zealand on Monday.
IATA said the air cargo traffic rebound that started in late 2009 will continue through 2011, though not at the robust pace of 2010. The organization also noted that divergent levels of economic growth in different regions of the world are affecting the way the airfreight industry develops.
Ryanair on Monday said it will take legal action against the Spanish air navigation and airports authority AENA, the aviation regulator AESA and the USCA traffic controllers union, over the unauthorized and unannounced work stoppage by air traffic controllers on Dec. 3 and 4, which forced the LCC to cancel over 500 flights.
IATA said the air cargo traffic rebound that started in late 2009 will continue through 2011, though not at the robust pace of 2010. The organization also noted that divergent levels of economic growth in different regions of the world are affecting the way the airfreight industry develops.
UNFCCC climate talks in Cancun (COP16) ended early Saturday morning with ICAO firmly established as the proper forum for addressing aviation's role and responsibilities regarding emissions, according to air transport industry officials attending the event.
AerCap Holdings board of directors approved a share repurchase program. The Amsterdam-based aircraft lessor said the program "is limited by restrictive covenants in a debt facility expiring in 2015 to $25 million share repurchases annually and $50 million in aggregate." GECAS delivered one new Airbus A320 to Philippine Airlines, to be operated by AirPhil Express. It also delivered three new Boeing 737-800s to Garuda Airlines in Indonesia.
United Parcel Service announced it is expanding its policy to require customers who ship packages from retail shipping locations to present a government-issued photo ID for verification of identification. The directive will apply at The UPS Store and Mail Boxes Etc. locations as well as authorized shipping outlets worldwide.
ACSS said that its T3CAS Traffic Management Computer was certified by Airbus for the A320 family. The unit includes TCAS incorporating Change 7.1 software, TAWS and ADS-B capability.The first installations of T3CAS start this month on A320 family aircraft to operators in Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific. ACSS is owned by L-3 Communications and Thales.
Dutch Antilles Express Airlines, which celebrated its fifth anniversary earlier this year, said Arnold Leonora has purchased the airline from Niek Sandman, who is leaving to pursue other interests. DAE, which launched April 30, 2005, has a fleet comprising of two ATR 42-320s, one ATR 42-500 and two Fokker-100s. It flies to nine destinations: Curacao, Bonaire, Valencia, Santo Domingo, Aruba, St. Maarten, Caracas, Bogota and Cartagena.
Boeing on Wednesday delivered its 200th direct-delivery jetliner to Air France. The aircraft also launches AF’s new business-class seat; it is outfitted with 42 of the 78.74 in. (2 m.) -long lie-flat seat beds that include 15-in. (38cm.) IFE screens. The 383-seat GE90-115B-powered 777-300ER will operate its first commercial flight Dec. 20 and will be used on the carrier's Paris-Montreal service, as well as on Paris-Ho Chi Minh City beginning in January.
Delta Air Lines told investors at the Hudson Securities airline conference in New York that it is focusing on top-line revenue growth, cost discipline, delevering its balance sheet, improving profitability, and using free cash flow to pay down debt.
In an interview with the Royal Aeronautical Society, one of the five pilots aboard the Qantas Airbus A380 that suffered an uncontained engine failure after take-off from Singapore Nov. 4 gave insight into the handling of the emergency on that “extraordinary day.”
Mechtronix Systems will supply Mexico-based Interjet with one A320 FFS X simulator for its new training facility in Toluca. It will be Interjet’s first FFS and the first A320 full motion simulator to be installed in Mexico in 12 years. Interjet operates a fleet of 22 A320s and awaits delivery of 12 more.
The US Air Transport Assn. expects 43.6 million passengers to travel on US carriers over the Christmas-New Year holidays, up approximately 3% from the 42.3 million passengers estimated to have flown during the same period in 2009. ATA projects daily passenger volumes will range from 1.7 million to 2.3 million during the period. The busiest days are expected to be Dec. 21-23, Dec. 26-30 and Jan. 2 and 3, based on sample data from 2009. On the busiest days, average load factors may approach 90%, it said.
Airbus Quovadis' subsidiary announced it successfully demonstrated India's first Required Navigation Performance flight in cooperation with IndiGo Airlines at Cochin International using an IndiGo A320. The RNP procedure for the airport was developed by Quovadis. Airbus said Jet Airways will soon demonstrate the procedure at the airport using a Boeing 737-800.
The US Dept. of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that US airlines carried 57.3 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in September, up 4.9% from the year-ago month. Traffic rose 6.6% to 64.5 billion RPMs on a 4.9% rise in capacity to 79.6 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 81%, up 1.3% from 79.7% in September 2009. Load factors for domestic and international flights were 79.9% and 83.5%, respectively.
Ying’an Airlines, the Pu’er-based regional carrier in Yunnan, received CAAC approval to launch despite the regulator’s policy of tightening the grip of new entrants owing to safety concerns in the aftermath of the crash of a Henan Airlines jet in August ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 26).
ARC reported that November ticket sales through participating travel agencies climbed 12.4% compared to November 2010 to $5.76 billion, marking the eleventh month this year of improving sales and renewed market strength after a 7.9% year-over-year rise for the month of October.
