ACSS, an L-3 Communications and Thales joint venture, introduced a software enhancement that will enable aircraft operators with its TCAS 2000 and TCAS II to upgrade to "Change 7.1 capability," which it said "delivers two important safety enhancements: Reversal logic and new aural alerting for Adjust Vertical Speed." The upgrade will be available in the fourth quarter.
Wizz Air will add a third A320 to its Sofia base in May 2010 and will launch new thrice-weekly flights to Madrid, Paris Beauvais, Frankfurt Hahn and Forli on May 22. Frequencies to Eindhoven and Valencia will increase and passenger numbers at the airport are expected to rise 37% over 2009.
Australia's airlines were thrown into chaos yesterday as unprecedented dust storms in Sydney and Brisbane and wild weather in Melbourne closed and restricted runway operations at the country's three largest airports. The disruption was caused by an intense low-pressure frontal system with winds up to 100 miles per hr. that blew 75,000 tonnes of dust per hr. over New South Wales and southern Queensland. Pollution levels were 1,500 times normal, the highest on record, and visibility fell to as low as 100 ft. Hundreds of flights were diverted, disrupted or canceled.
Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance extended its contract with Virgin Atlantic Airways for heavy airframe maintenance on 747-400s for one additional year through 2011. It also announced that its CRMA subsidiary was named a primary repair source on the Engine Alliance GP7200 TCF and combustion chambers by GE.
The US House of Representatives yesterday passed a three-month extension of FAA funding to Dec. 31 and the Senate is expected to follow quickly, decreasing the possibility that a multiyear reauthorization bill will be passed this year.
Gol announced the early October sale of at least 51.8 million shares on the Sao Paulo stock exchange--34.5 million preferred shares in a primary offering and 17.3 million voting shares in a secondary offering. According to press reports form Sao Paulo, the offering would raise BRL963.9 million ($530.1 million) based on Tuesday's closing price and would raise the LCC's capital to BRL2.57 billion.
American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways each made moves in the financial markets over the past two days, indicating that confidence in the industry is starting to recover somewhat even if traffic and revenue continues to lag.
United Airlines this week furloughed 290 pilots, part of its plan announced last year to radically "resize" itself ( ATW, November 2008). It plans to cut 7,000 jobs overall and already has let go more than 1,100 pilots. There are still more than 6,000 active UA pilots.
Jat Airways said it presented a business plan to the Serbian government outlining its program "to regain its position as the regional leader in air transport" and stated that it would need to transport 1.5 million passengers per year aboard its 16 aircraft to accomplish the goal. It carried 1.4 million in 2008. Jat said it planned to join an alliance, reconfigure its schedule to facilitate better connections, "upgrade the quality of service" and implement "intensive marketing" initiatives to boost traffic.
Helvetic Airways will continue to operate three F100s for Swiss International Air Lines through spring 2014 under an extended ACMI agreement announced this week. Helvetic operates a fourth F100 on charter flights.
Aeroflot took delivery of its fifth A330-200 on lease from AerCap. The Trent 772-powered aircraft seats 34 in business class and 207 in economy. SU currently operates the type to Beijing, Havana, Vladivostok and London Heathrow and said it will fly the new aircraft on both international and domestic routes. It said it plans to take delivery of five A330-300s and one more -200 before year end.
Sensis said US FAA has introduced its wide-area multilateration surveillance system at four Colorado airports to enable ATC to track aircraft not covered by radar in the state's remote mountainous regions. FAA is sharing the cost of the system with the Colorado Dept. of Transportation. Initial operations began on Sept. 12 at Yampa Valley-Hayden, Craig-Moffat, Steamboat Springs and Garfield County Regional-Rifle. "The new system is comprised of a network of relatively small sensors deployed in remote areas," FAA said.
TAP Portugal pilots called a 48-hr. strike today and Friday over pay. The airline said it expected "some disruptions in its operations" but that it "has taken all measures to minimize its impact." Flights operated by its PGA Portugalia Airlines subsidiary will be unaffected and connections between Lisbon and the Azores, Madeira, Luanda and Luxembourg will be maintained, TAP said. It estimated that the stoppage will cost the company around €10 million ($14.8 million), according to the Associated Press.
Commercial Jet of Miami named M7 Aerospace VP-MRO Sales and Service John Schildroth as VP-business development and Leading Edge Aviation Services GM Dale Mullinax as VP-operations.
Emirates may be in the market for more aircraft at November's Dubai Airshow and is revisiting the prospect of operating up to 30 A330s during off-peak periods, President Tim Clark hinted when speaking to ATWOnline yesterday. EK signed a letter of intent for 30 A330s in July, 2008 when it took delivery of its first A380, but the order was never confirmed and eventually lapsed as fuel prices soared and the economic downturn took hold ( ATWOnline, July 29, 2008).
Air France KLM Group hopes to reach breakeven by the April 1 start of the 2010-11 fiscal year excluding its fuel hedge contracts, CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon told Les Echos. The hedges will continue to have a negative impact, but previously announced cost cuts should stop the deterioration in cash flow, he said, adding that he does not expect a return to 2008 traffic levels until 2012. Gourgeon insisted that AF is not evolving toward a low-cost service concept on its medium- and short-haul network, but "passengers are moving toward the low-cost.
Nexcelle is the new name for the joint venture company created by GE's Middle River Aircraft Systems and Safran Group's Aircelle last year to develop engine nacelles for next-generation integrated propulsion systems. According to a statement from the companies, Nexcelle's responsibility covers complete nacelles and nacelle subsystems for CFM International engines in applications on both new and existing aircraft. The collaboration was announced at last year's Farnborough Airshow ( ATWOnline, July 16, 2008).
News from Travel Technology Update: For the last few years, airlines and other travel companies have tried to figure out what to do about social media. Since the advent of TripAdvisor in 2000, suppliers at one industry conference after another were warned that they should not ignore the phenomenon. "It's out there," speakers would say. "You can't ignore it." But suggestions about the appropriate response were uniformly vague.
Kingfisher Airlines plans to raise $150-$175 million through both a rights issue and global depository receipts, parent UB Group CFO Ravi Nedugandi told Press Trust of India. "Timing will be before March 2010," he said, adding that the carrier is carrying debt of approximately INR60 billion ($1.23 billion).
Pratt & Whitney has decided to close its Cheshire, Conn., MRO center and its Connecticut Airfoil Repair Operation facility in East Hartford, resulting in the loss of some 1,000 jobs and prompting a lawsuit from the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
