Southwest Airlines Executive VP and COO Mike Van de Ven yesterday called on aircraft manufacturers to develop a new narrowbody aircraft, saying that today's 737NG and A320s are unable to deliver the "step change" in efficiency that the airline industry needs.
Virgin America reported a first-quarter net loss of $35.5 million, narrowed from a year-ago deficit of $40.3 million, but said it remains on track for a full-year operating profit. "With a revenue increase of nearly 50% year-over-year and a unique service that is continuing to hit the mark with consumers, we're pleased with our results," President and CEO David Cush said. The carrier generated $146.8 million in revenue during the quarter, up 45.7% year-over-year.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt announced yesterday at ATW's Eco-Aviation Conference that the agency has awarded $125 million to five companies to "develop and demonstrate technologies that will reduce commercial jet fuel consumption, emissions and noise."
Branson AirExpress will launch four-times-weekly service from Branson (Mo.) to Chicago Midway and Indianapolis Sept. 10 aboard an ExpressJet Airlines ERJ-145. Vueling will operate thrice-weekly summer seasonal service between Barcelona and Edinburgh using an A320 June 24-Sept. 12.
Lufthansa Technik and Volvo Aero signed a cooperation agreement aimed at jointly developing "new repair methods for mainly structural parts of large commercial aircraft engines," LHT said. Both companies will cooperate in the certification processes, the repair services and the marketing and sales activities for the partnership. Repairs will be made at Volvo Aero's facilities in Trollhattan and at LHT's facilities in Hamburg.
Virgin Atlantic Airways Flight VS001's 300 passengers sat stranded on the tarmac for almost 5 hr. Tuesday night at Bradley International in Hartford, Conn., to which the London-Newark flight was diverted owing to bad weather. The aircraft landed at BDL at 8:20 p.m. and did not deplane until around 1 a.m. Passengers allegedly were without food, water or air conditioning for much of the time, according to multiple media reports. The Associated Press reported that at least three people were taken away by ambulance. Passengers were bused to Newark yesterday morning.
Embraer this year will begin to manage all parts and logistics support for its commercial aircraft and executive jets in the Asia/Pacific region from its Regional Distribution Center in Singapore. It said the move "paves the way for the company to be self-sufficient in the management and administration of all parts and logistics support for Embraer's growing fleet of aircraft and customers in Asia/Pacific."
Ryanair intends to increase its already strong presence in the Spanish market further with the opening of a base at Valencia in November with two 737-800s and 10 new routes, enlarging its network from the airport to 31 destinations. The LCC confirmed that it agreed to reestablish a base at VLC after Spanish "Minster for Tourism Belen Juste committed to a joint promotion and advertising program which will help reverse Valencia Airport's collapsing traffic, which fell by 18% or almost 1 million passengers, in 2009."
The UK government decided to postpone a decision to replace the country's current Air Passenger Duty with a "per plane duty." The new coalition government had indicated in its manifesto that it would swap the APD, which is scheduled to increase further in November, for an aircraft-based tax ( ATW Daily News, May 17), but the change is not part of the government's emergency budget measures for 2010 announced this week.
Boeing is planning to fly a 787 to next month's Farnborough Airshow before returning it to the US to continue with the flight test program that recently passed the 1,000-hr. mark. While the manufacturer has yet to make a formal announcement, ATW understands that planning is well advanced to fly the first flight test aircraft, ZA001, to the UK on Sunday July 18 to participate in the show. It will return to the US on July 19 or 20.
The Assn. of European Airlines called on European transport ministers, who are meeting in Brussels today, to endorse the organization's "New European Approach" to volcanic ash-cloud management.
