Oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia officially launched their long-planned transatlantic joint venture on Wednesday, promising customers "far more choice and flexibility" when booking flights across the north Atlantic.
ATR announced it will open a training center in Johannesburg, South Africa, in partnership with Comair, slated to be operational by April 2011. It will be the turboprop manufacturer's first training center in Africa. The center will be equipped with a full flights simulator and will offer training for ATR 42-300, ATR 42-500, ATR 72-200 and ATR 72-500 aircraft.
Delta TechOps signed a 3-yr. "multimillion" contract with Cimber Sterling to provide time and materials services for 11 CFM56-7B engines and GTCP131-9B APUs, more than one-third of the fleet’s engines. Embraer and Air France Industries signed a 5-yr. Flight Hour Pool Program contract with Alitalia to support the carrier’s fleet of six Embraer 170s.
Embraer closed a credit agreement for $1 billion, which it said it intends to use "to ensure access to short-term funds at pre-negotiated rates, if the company should need them." The agreement, which was made with a group of 25 financial institutions under the coordination of BNP Paribas, renews a syndicated credit operation of $500 million from August 2006. The funds will be available for two years with a payment deadline of September 2013.
Norwegian Air Shuttle will open a base at Helsinki Vantaa with three aircraft, and launch two domestic and 11 new international routes to Copenhagen, Malaga, Nice, Chania, Rome, Barcelona, London Gatwick, Split and Alicante next summer. Domestic routes will begin March 31, 2011, whereas international routes will start in early-to mid-May. The four-times-daily HEL–Ouluand flights and daily HEL–Rovaniemi flights are the LCC’s first domestic services in Finland. The airline currently has domestic operations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Australia's Jetstar will significantly increase its New Zealand domestic services by adding 39 weekly flights between Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown in February 2011. The airline said it will add two A320s in New Zealand to facilitate the flights, which will expand its weekly services within NZ to 119, giving it a market share of around 20%.
Air Canada said Tuesday it has "settled the terms" with the Toronto Port Authority for operating to/from Toronto City Centre "long term," and announced it will launch 15 daily YTZ-Montreal Trudeau flights in February 2011.
Ryanair, which announced Tuesday it was forced to cancel 1,400 flights and delay more than 12,000 others as a direct result of Belgian, French and Spanish ATC strikes in recent months, formally called on the European Commission to “end this ATC chaos” by removing the “right to strike” provision of essential ATC services in Europe and reforming the controversial EU261 passenger rights legislation (ATW Daily News, Sept. 28).
Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday it “successfully completed $750 million in debt reduction” as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to bring its adjusted net debt to “$10 billion by the end of 2012, a reduction of $7 billion over three years.”
Boeing said its sixth 787 flight test aircraft achieved first flight Monday, operating a 1 hr. 4. min. flight from Everett's Paine Field to Boeing Field in Seattle.
Boeing said its sixth 787 flight test aircraft achieved first flight Monday, operating a 1 hr. 4. min. flight from Everett's Paine Field to Boeing Field in Seattle.
Greater Toronto Airports Authority late last month approved reductions Australian Competition and Consumer Commission rejected an application Development and Construction Contracts and Services
The European Continuous Descent Approach Action Plan to bring CDA to 100 airports by 2013 is on track, with CDA in place at 33 airports and a further 13 carrying out flight trials, said Eurocontrol Environment Manager Andrew Watt. Speaking to the Air Transport Action Group Aviation & Environment Summit in Geneva in September, Watt said a total of 83 airports across 25 European states have committed to implement CDA. The initiative was launched at last year's summit by Eurocontrol, ACI-Europe, Civil Air Navigation Services Organization, IATA and ERA.
British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell opened the World Route Development Forum in Vancouver last month by proposing to eliminate the province's aviation fuel tax of C$0.02 per liter for international and transborder flights.
St. Vincent and the Grenadines, comprising a string of 32 islands in the southern Caribbean, is investing $240 million in a new international airport that it hopes will be "a game-changer" driving a major increase in air traffic to the tropical destination.
World airport traffic rose 5.6% in August compared to the year-ago month to 328.3 million passengers, according to Airport Council International's latest PaxFlash traffic report. Domestic traffic was up 4.9% to 165 million passengers while international increased 6.3% to 160.9 million passengers. Airfreight traffic rose 15.1% year-over-year for the month to 5.4 million tonnes including a 7.1% domestic lift to 1.6 million tonnes and a 19% international surge to 3.5 million tonnes.
Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato said some US airports are "missing whole construction seasons" because of the US Congress's failure to pass a long -term FAA reauthorization bill including the Airport Improvement Program, which provides funding for numerous infrastructure projects at airports across the US.
Even as government agencies--particularly the US Transportation Security Administration--scramble to install more high-tech screening equipment in airports, airport operators are urging governments around the world to take a second look at their security regimes.
