Hanoi's Noi Ban International will get two new runways and other new facilities and its existing space will be renovated to handle 25 million annual passengers and 260,000 tons of cargo by 2020, the Vietnamese government said. The airport will be upgraded to A380 standards. Tan Son Nhut International in Ho Chi Min City will be expanded and improved to handle 23.5 million passengers and 600,000 tons of cargo a year by 2015. Improvements also will be made to the airports serving Cam Rahn, Chu Lai, Cat Bi, Danang and Phu Bai.
Vietnam Airlines expressed concern about 787 production delays and is considering cancelling some of its 16 orders. VN has eight 787s on order while its leasing affiliate, Vietnam Aircraft Leasing Co., has an additional eight. President Pham Ngoc Minh told Reuters that the airline is "not happy about the constant delays. We expected to get our planes in 2009, then 2010, and now nobody can confirm to us which is the exact delivery date. I can be patient but it gives us a lot of headaches."
The European Commission won't formally announce a baseline aviation sector CO2 emissions standard until mid-2010, postponing the announcement for the second time, Bloomberg reported.
Allegiant Air will launch twice-weekly service between Wichita and Phoenix Mesa Nov. 20 aboard a 150-seat MD-80. Air Astana will launch weekly service between Almaty and Kuala Lumpur Oct. 31 aboard a 767.
New production issues related to wiring present yet another challenge to the 787 program and threaten further delivery delays, according to a new report from Bernstein Research, which also claimed that the early stage of the A350 program is behind schedule. According to the analysts, Boeing is moving to a new model for wiring beginning with the 13th 787, while airplanes 7 through 12 are being rewired. ATWOnline confirmed the new wiring standard with a Boeing source. Dubbed "Net Change 5," it is aimed at reducing weight and improving maintainability.
United Airlines Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton told reporters in Washington yesterday that the company "expects to get further information for manufacturers by the end of the year" regarding its request for proposals to Airbus and Boeing covering a large order for widebody aircraft ( ATWOnline, June 5). Separately, UA announced yesterday that it plans to offer 19 million shares of its common stock in an underwritten registered public offering.
Air India pilots ended their four-day wildcat strike yesterday after the government overruled management's plan for massive wage cuts. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel reportedly told AI that the pay cuts would have to be withdrawn and "productivity-linked incentives" should be paid to 7,000 of its highest-paid workers on Oct. 7, the Economic Times reported. The pilot dispute revolved around the airline's decision to ax those incentive payments, which account for 50% of the pay of pilots and other management, to cut costs.
China Southern Airlines decided to sell its 50% stake in MTU Maintainance Zhuhai to its parent China Southern Air Holding Co. for CNY1.61 billion ($235.5 million) in an effort to concentrate on its mainline business and reduce its debt. The deal requires approval from CZ's minority shareholders and relevant government organs. MTU Maintainance Zhuhai was launched in 2001 with registered capital of $63.1 million. CZ holds 50% while MTU Aero Engines GmbH owns the other half.
US Senate's proposed cap-and-trade climate change legislation, formally introduced yesterday by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and John Kerry (D.-Mass.), contains more aggressive emissions reduction targets but covers aviation emissions in the same way as the House-passed version of the bill ( ATWOnline, June 30), according to Air Transport Assn. VP-Environmental Affairs Nancy Young.
Austrian Airlines Group said it will present its "Austrian Airlines Next Generation" plan on Oct. 6 in Vienna. "We'll announce the concept and strategy for how the company will be integrated into Lufthansa, where help is needed from LH and so on," a spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Air New Zealand 777-300ER was deployed to ferry supplies to Samoa to help with tsunami recovery efforts. GM-Airline Operations David Morgan said the aircraft left for Samoa yesterday stocked with several hundred blankets, more than 1,000 t-shirts and basic amenity packs with items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste.
United Airlines Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton, in his role as chairman of the Air Transport Assn., yesterday called for large-scale government loans, loan guarantees and grants to jumpstart development and mass production of alternative fuels, including biofuels for the airline industry.
Japanese Transport Minister Seiji Maehara moved to calm nerves over the fate of Japan Airlines, saying at a news conference that he believes JAL can revive itself on its own but that "the government is ready to step in" and offer its support for the loss-making carrier. He told reporters he wanted to quell "excessive anxiety" about the airline, which is restructuring under government supervision after receiving a state-backed loan ( ATWOnline, Sept. 29).
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh described the carrier's new all-business-class A318 New York JFK-London City service, launched Tuesday, as a "vote of confidence in the future." He told ATWOnline, "It's a bold step. We are putting down a marker that we are confident about the future." He said the service will be profitable if it achieves a 70% load factor.
Air India cancelled at least 30 flights yesterday and took the unusual step of suspending bookings for the next 15 days as a standoff between pilots and management extended to its fourth day. About 400 pilots have engaged in a wildcat work action since Friday to protest not being allowed to form a union. "We have deployed additional staff at airports across the country and will ensure that passengers are shifted to flights operated by other airlines," an AI official told India's Economic Times.
TUI Travel said yesterday that it has engaged "in extensive discussions with Boeing" regarding its 787 order book and "both parties" have agreed that 10 of its 23 firm orders will be cancelled while 13 purchase rights will be added.
Goodrich Corp. said its Landing Gear business signed an "innovative agreement" with an unidentified major airline under which Goodrich will use the carrier's rotable landing gear as part of its landing gear overhaul services. Under the agreement, Goodrich will offer the rotables as exchange units to other airlines that purchase overhaul services. Covered types are 737NGs and 777-200ERs. Embraer signed a five-year Flight Hour Pool Program service contract with Arkia Israeli Airlines covering an E-195 operated by the carrier since last December. Under the cost-per-flight-hr.
Purolator USA said its Itasca, Ill., processing facility gained TSA approval to participate in the Certified Cargo Screening Program. The facility will be able to screen customers' air shipments so they can be loaded onto designated flights upon arrival at airports.
Airbus parent EADS CEO Louis Gallois told Reuters yesterday that the company has been in discussions with Singapore Airlines about pushing one of the carrier's A380 deliveries from December to January, which would lower the manufacturer's 2009 A380 delivieries from 14 to 13.
Jet Airways is to raise up to $400 million to meet its working capital requirements, according to India's Financial Times. Chairman Naresh Goyal said Jet last year deferred plans to raise funds via a rights issue owing to volatile market conditions. It had planned to launch the issue in October 2008 but deferred it until conditions improved. Goyal also said he would dilute 5%-10% of his personal stake in the company. He currently holds 80%. He told the paper that the airline is open to various sources of funding including banks or private equity placement.
Scandinavian Avionics said it was chosen to provide full design, EASA certification and installation support for complete glass cockpit upgrades on a "significant number" of BAE ATP aircraft operated by West Air Sweden. The installations will include a five-panel suite of Universal Avionics' large format EFI-890R flat-panel displays as well as a Rockwell Collins TWR-850 Enhanced Weather Radar System. They will be performed at West Air Sweden's facilities in Malmo.
Qatar Airways said it arranged a pair of financings worth $700 million covering four 777s arriving this autumn. In the first, it secured an asset-backed, $350 million lease finance deal covering 100% of the purchase cost of a 777-300ER scheduled for delivery this month and a -200LR due to be delivered in November. Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank AG, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. Europe Limited struck the deal with a 12-year term.
US Airways named Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who famously piloted an A320-200 to an emergency water landing on the Hudson River in January, to its flight operations safety management team and announced that he will return to piloting scheduled flights shortly.
