United Airlines Flight 935 en route from London to Los Angeles diverted to Montreal yesterday for medical attention after encountering what UA described in a statement as "severe turbulence over the Atlantic Ocean." The 777 was carrying 196 passengers and 15 crew. Nine passengers and one crewmember received medical attention in Montreal for what are believed to be non-life threatening injuries.
ATR VP-Marketing and Airline Studies Mario Formica said 2011 "will be fundamental" for making a final decision on whether or not the manufacturer will launch an 80/100-seat turboprop.
SITA yesterday opened its Global Command Center in Montreal to "monitor and manage mission-critical systems for the industry" 24/7 by teams of IT experts "who have real-time visibility of the IT and communications systems in use at airports, in airlines and aircraft by SITA's 3,200 customers."
Bombardier pushed back against the notion that a re-engined A320 or 737 would severely damage the viability of its CSeries, questioning whether Airbus or Boeing could deliver equivalent fuel-burn improvements without making major and costly aircraft design modifications.
One of the potential side effects of the ancillary revenue phenomenon is that “anonymous shopping” may go the way of the paper airline ticket. Robert Buckman, director of airline distribution strategies for Amadeus North America, believes that in the not-too-distant future, travelers will have “digital personalities” that will identify them before an air fare search begins.
Allegiant Travel Company discontinued the private offering of $250 million in senior unsecured notes due to "adverse market conditions." It had announced the offering last week, the proceeds of which were intended to pay for the purchase and induction of MD-80s and 757s ( ATWOnline, May 20).
Ryanair last week opened its 42nd base, at Malta, with one 737 and 19 routes. It will serve Bari, Billund, Bologna, Bournemouth, Bremen, Bristol, Dublin, Edinburgh, Girona, Krakow, Leeds, London Luton, Marseille, Pisa, Seville, Stockholm Skavsta, Trapani, Valencia and Venice Treviso from the base. EgyptAir will begin operating its evening nonstop service from Dubai to Cairo with its new 777-300ER starting on June 18.
Air New Zealand achieved a world first for Airbus, using RNP level 0.1 for Sydney-Rotorua service on May 22 despite cloud cover down to just 400 ft. The RNP 0.1 value is the lowest level approved by Airbus and authority to operate below RNP 0.3 had just been granted to ANZ the previous day. Without the technology, NZ978 would have had to divert to Auckland, causing significant disruption to the inbound passengers and also to the outbound passengers scheduled to depart from Rotorua to Sydney the same afternoon.
Airlines flying between mainland China and Taiwan will be permitted to add 100 weekly cross-straits flights as well as two destinations beginning June 14 under an agreement reached May 22 between aviation authorities in Beijing and Taipei.
Northwest Florida Beaches International, located near Panama City on Florida's Gulf Coast, opened last weekend, the first publicly owned commercial service airport to be built in the US in the last 15 years ( ATWOnline, Dec. 1).
British Airways, in the first day of a five-day walkout by some cabin staff, said it operated all its flights from London Gatwick and London City airports Monday and "confirmed" the previously announced flight schedule from London Heathrow.
Eurocontrol, in cooperation with EASA and the European Commission, on Friday issued new guidelines intended to reduce volcanic ash-related airspace closures by adding a fourth zone to the volcanic ash concentration charts produced by the Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre in London. The additional "grey" zone joins the white zone (no volcanic ash, normal flight operations), the red zone (Enhanced Procedures Zone in which some ash may be encountered but in which EASA considers flights can take place) and the black or no-fly zone.
Two Australian travel giants plan to merge Travel Leaders sells Loyalty Travel Solutions Travelport acquires search engine, partners with mobile services firm Priceline buys multinational car rental broker Air shopping site that rates quality has formal launch In Focus: In the future, fare search engines will know who you are World news briefing
One of the potential side effects of the ancillary revenue phenomenon is that “anonymous shopping” may go the way of the paper airline ticket. Robert Buckman, director of airline distribution strategies for Amadeus North America, believes that in the not-too-distant future, travelers will have “digital personalities” that will identify them before an air fare search begins. “Let’s say you are on Expedia, and you want to go from St. Louis to New York La Guardia,” Buckman said.
Indian crash investigators are focusing on the speed and touchdown point of an Air India Express 737-8HG that crashed at Mangalore-Bajpe Airport Saturday morning, killing 158 of the 166 passengers and crew onboard.
Lufthansa Technik signed a "long-term" Total Component Support contract with China Airlines covering its fleet of 18 A330-300s and six A430-300s. LHT will supply maintenance, repair and overhaul, consignment stock optimization, supply chain management and home base stock allocation, reliability enhancement programs, documentation and warranty management.
Alaska Air Group said its subsidiaries Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air have jointly reduced carbon dioxide emissions per RPM by 23% since 2004, AAG said. It attributed the reduction to the transition to more fuel-efficient aircraft and "numerous fuel-conservation projects." Alaskaoutfitted its 737s with blended winglets in 2008 ( ATWOnline, July 1, 2008).
Finnair will lease two E-170s to Kenya Airways for four years beginning June 1. Value of the lease agreement is nearly $20 million. The leasing arrangements are being made by US lessor Jetscape Inc. Finnair Aircraft Finance, responsible for administering the Finnair fleet, either owns or leases 10 E-170s. Of these, two are leased to Finncomm Airlines in Finland. The aircraft leased to KQ are for sale. AY also operates 10 E-190s.
