NASA head Michael Griffin told the US House Science and Technology Committee this week that the agency will reveal certain results from an $11.3 million survey of approximately 24,000 commercial pilots that reportedly revealed that near midair collisions and runway incursions occur far more often than FAA data indicate ( ATWOnline, Oct. 23).
SAS Cargo subsidiary Spirit Air Cargo Handling Sweden and Nordic Airport Properties reached agreement on construction of a 15,000-sq.-m. air cargo terminal in Cargo City at Stockholm Arlanda. The facility is scheduled to open in spring 2010.
United Airlines, taking advantage of the US-EU open skies agreement, will launch daily Denver-London Heathrow flights aboard a three-class, 258-seat 777 on March 30, the day the new agreement takes effect. Skybus Airlines will launch twice-daily flights to New York Stewart from Columbus (starting Jan. 6) and Greensboro (Feb. 25) aboard A319s. CityJet launched thrice-daily London City-Strasbourg service. The new route replaces twice-daily Strasbourg-London Gatwick flights operated by Regional, another Air France subsidiary.
Following the recent launch of its Xi'an-based regional joint venture Kunpeng Airlines, Shenzhen Airlines will continue its Go West strategy with Yinchuan-based Ningxia Airlines.
Dragonair officially joined oneworld yesterday in Hong Kong, becoming the alliance's 11th member carrier. Its affiliation will add 15 new destinations to the oneworld network, including 12 in mainland China. "Our strong market presence in the mainland will give passengers greater access to this fast-growing market, and at the same time we can help people connect with our growing network of niche destinations around the region," CEO Kenny Tang said.
Lufthansa Passenger Airlines, LH Cargo and Germanwings need about 420 additional pilots next year to meet growing demand, including 315 pilots for the passenger segment alone, and the company is formulating a new training concept to help fill the ranks.
SpiceJet reported a INR377.7 million ($9.6 million) loss in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept 30, widened from a INR319.1 million pro forma deficit in the year-ago period. The carrier changed its financial year to April-March from June-May, meaning it did not report official results for the July-September 2006 period. Second-quarter revenue rose 64.6% to INR2.7 billion and pre-tax loss widened to INR374.7 million from INR310.8 million. Six-month loss of INR192.3 million was an improvement from a INR355.9 million loss in the semester ended Sept. 30, 2006.
United Airlines is abandoning testing of dual-end jetbridges following a malfunction in which a double-ended bridge hit and damaged the wing of a 757 at Denver International ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8, 2006). "The technology [tested mainly on Ted flights at DIA] did not meet our needs," a UA spokesperson told The Denver Post.
Malev Hungarian Airlines will suspend its two North Atlantic routes starting in mid-November and lasting through the winter season. Budapest-New York JFK and Budapest-Toronto services should resume in the spring. Malev said that as part of its structural transformation and cost-efficiency program, it will lease out two 767-200ERs while a single 767-300ER will continue flying to Bangkok. That thrice-weekly service will become four-times-weekly from Jan. 8.
Royal Jordanian signed a lease agreement, initially for six months, with Jordan's Transworld for a 737 freighter. RJ will begin flying the aircraft to Baghdad and Damascus. It already operates A310-300 freighters.
EgyptAir and Lufthansa launched their first codeshare flights, introduced on EgyptAir's daily services from Cairo to Frankfurt and Munich and LH's from Frankfurt to Cairo (twice-daily) and Alexandria (thrice-weekly). Commercial cooperation between the carriers is planned to cover additional domestic and international destinations.
Singapore Airlines reported net income of S$507.8 million ($349.8 million) for its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, up 73.2% over a S$293.2 million net profit in the year-ago quarter, on a 9.9% boost in revenue to S$3.97 billion.
Hawaiian Airlines received a double dose of good news late Tuesday after a bankruptcy court judge awarded it $80 million in damages in its lawsuit against Mesa Airlines. The verdict came hours after Hawaiian reported that net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 more than doubled to $19.6 million from $7.7 million in the year-ago period.
Sale of its hotel assets propelled ANA Group to a record consolidated net profit of ¥105.5 billion ($920.1 million) on record revenue of ¥763.2 billion, up 1.4% year-over-year, for the fiscal semester ended Sept. 30.
THE 10TH ANNIVERSARY DUBAI Airshow (Nov. 11-15) occurs against a backdrop of a remarkable period of growth for airlines and airports in the region (see article, p. 26) that only has accelerated since the 2005 event was held.
Airbus appointed Thierry Baril executive VP-human resources, Klaus Richter executive VP-procurement and Christian Scherer executive VP-strategy & future programs. American Airlines promoted Bob Reding to executive VP-operations, Tom Del Valle to senior VP-airport services and Carmine Romano to senior VP-maintenance & engineering. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings elevated Jason Grant to senior VP & CFO. Aviation Partners Boeing tapped Mike Stowell as executive VP.
Orbitz Worldwide launched Orbitz for Business International, described as a customized solution for U.S. companies with international travel requirements. Orbitz Worldwide also is rebranding its Corporate Travel Solutions Group, which comprises Orbitz for Business and Travelport for Business, under a single Orbitz for Business brand identity. Orbitz for Business International will offer global fulfillment and call center support and multi-language and time/date formats. It plans to offer in-market support in Canada, the U.K., and Australia. Other features include:
PERHAPS IT IS IRISH CEO ALAN Joyce's infectious enthusiasm, or maybe it is parent company Qantas's determination to succeed. Or it might be the Australian passion for travel regardless of adversity, or simply a robust domestic economy. Whatever the explanation, Jetstar is soaring, posting a pre-tax profit of A$87.4 million ($74.2 million) for the year ended June 30, an increase of A$75.1 million on the previous year. The result was net of A$28 million in startup costs for Jetstar International.
THE FORCES THAT ARE HELPING to reshape commercial aerospace continued to influence trends in the maintenance, repair and overhaul segment over the past year as MRO providers benefited from a rising tide of airline earnings that is lifting all boats.
EasyJet will participate in Amadeus and Galileo, becoming the first major European low-fare carrier to sign deals with GDS companies. The carrier said the move is designed to tap into the $90 billion corporate travel market in Europe. EasyJet said it will add a point-of-sale fee to fares booked through the GDSs, ensuring that its Web site "remains our primary distribution channel and fares will always be cheapest when booking direct online."
To the US airline industry's list of negative achievements in 2007the worst ontime performance in a decade, a 65% rise in passenger complaints compared to 2006we can add a new one: President Bush has found it necessary to take time away from more pressing matters such as conducting a war in order to chastise airlines. That is what he did in September, declaring that passengers are "just not being treated right," calling carrier behavior "egregious" and vowing to address the problem of flight delays and cancellations.
QANTAS HAS A GLOBAL REPUTATION for its extraordinary safety record for jet aircraft operations and as a leader in the development of ETOPS, FANS and more recently Flex Tracks (ATW, 4/06, p. 3). So it comes as no surprise to find that the down under airline is the first to introduce the GNSS Global Landing System to commercial service, resulting in impressive improvements in landing precision as well as significant fuel savings and noise reduction.
THE NEW YORK CITY METROPOLITAN REGION IS ONE OF THE busiest and most congested aviation markets in the world. Last year, the three primary commercial airports that serve New YorkJFK, LaGuardia and Newarkhandled 107 million passengers, according to Airports Council International, which ranked them 15th, 41st and 19th respectively. "In our opinion, it's the capital of the world," says Marc Lavorgna, a spokesperson for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the three airports. "Everybody comes to New York at some point."
ONCE LITTLE MORE THAN A ground handling company at the country's gateway airport, Oman Air's fortunes are changing dramatically as, for the first time in its history, the feisty domestic and regional airline assumes national carrier status. With that new status comes access to international routes that were beyond its reach as long as Gulf Air was officially the national airline for Oman. Earlier this year, however, the Omani government decided to withdraw from the troubled multistate entity to concentrate its energies and finances on building up the local airline.
