FAA Administrator Marion Blakey has established an Age 60 Aviation Rulemaking Committee composed of airline, labor and medical experts "to recommend whether the US should adopt [ICAO's] new age standard that will allow one of two pilots on the flight deck to be over age 60," the agency announced late Wednesday. The ICAO Council adopted the new standard to increase the upper age limit for airline pilots from 60 to 65 last March and it becomes applicable on Nov. 23 to multicrew operations.
Boeing has received firm orders for another 26 737s and eight 787s but has not identified the customers. The new orders take unidentified orders for the 737 to 84 and for the 787 to 29 and orders for the overall year for all models to 666, including seven cancellations. It is thought that the latest additions may be an order from Avianca, which wants to replace its MD-83 and 767 fleets with 737s and 787s.
Ryanair said it will add four new 737-800s to its base at Girona Barcelona and launch 17 routes from March, bringing to 40 the number of routes it operates from the airport, which is located some 103 km. (64 mi.) northeast of Barcelona. The LCC said the expansion represents a $280 million investment. New routes from GRO include three-times-weekly service to Altenburg, Brescia, Fuerteventura, Gothenburg, Marrakech, Pescara, Teesside and Trapani; four-times-weekly flights to Aarhus Bologna, Bristol, Faro, Malmo, Newcastle, Oslo and Tenerife, and a daily to Porto.
Volvo Aero said it will join Pratt & Whitney "to demonstrate new technology" for Pratt's Geared Turbofan Technology demonstrator program. Volvo Aero said the partnership "does not involve any agreement regarding a new engine program, but the new cooperation is still an important step toward a new engine undertaking for Volvo Aero."
ATR confirmed the sale of four new ATR 72-500s that will be operated by Canary Islands-based Naysa. Total value of the contract is about $71 million. Deliveries are scheduled for 2008 and 2009. "With this sale, ATR has logged 56 sales since the beginning of the year; 2006 is confirming the strong market for turboprop aircraft," CEO Filippo Bagnato commented. Naysa currently operates Beech 1900s.
AirTran will operate daily seasonal service between Chicago Midway and Southwest Florida International Airport (Fort Myers) from Dec. 21 through April 16 using 717s. Qatar Airways will launch four-times-weekly service from Doha to Dar Es Salaam Jan. 9, bringing its network to 71 destinations. The route will be operated with an A319 in a two-class configuration of eight seats in business class and 102 in economy.
Amadeus said it reached an agreement with Continental Airlines that will extend current access to full content for travel agents in the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Cathay Pacific Airways completed its acquisition of Dragonair and also the shareholding realignment involving Cathay, Air China, China National Aviation Company, CITIC Pacific and Swire Pacific. Dragonair is now a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay but retains its brand and market position. After years of an often testy relationship, Cathay said it intends to begin immediately to "maximize the synergies and opportunities of its international network" with Dragonair's China network of 22 destinations.
The EU Regulatory Committee on Aviation Security agreed on a range of new security measures to be introduced at all airports of the 25 member states. The measures will limit the individual quantities of liquids allowed to be carried by passengers to 100 ml. per container, require that the number of containers fit in one transparent resealable plastic bag of a maximum size of 1 liter and state that passengers must present the plastic bag at security checkpoints.
A380 wake turbulence is not as serious an issue as ICAO has feared, based on the findings of the Airbus Wake Vortex Steering Group, which the manufacturer released yesterday.
Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson yesterday urged the air transport industry to "accelerate the pace at which we reduce aviation's impact on the environment" and called for the creation of a new system of aircraft departures to help address the problem.
Silverjet, a proposed UK startup that plans to offer transatlantic low-fare, all-business-class service, named Katherine Gershon launch and international development director, George Henderson IT director and Tamarah Khatib UK marketing manager. The airline is planning for a winter 2006 start.
Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport was set to begin full-scale international and domestic operations this morning at 3 a.m. local time ( ATWOnline, Sept. 21). First arrival was expected to be a Lufthansa Cargo flight 5 min. later inbound from Mumbai. The first scheduled departure was to be a Saudi Arabian Cargo flight to Riyadh. The first passenger flight to arrive was to be VV#171 Aerosvit Airlines from Kiev. VV#172 outbound for Kiev will make the first passenger departure.
KLM will reduce its fuel surcharge by €5 ($6.36) per segment on all intercontinental flights and by €1 per segment on all intra-European flights in response to falling oil prices on tickets issued as of Sept. 28.
Alitalia unions have called off 24-hr. strikes planned for tomorrow and Oct. 9 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 27) after the government agreed to hold a meeting with workers' representatives on Oct. 10, the Associated Press reported. Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi said the government will present a new business plan for the airline by year end.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday announced a Total Component Support Agreement with Air Deccan covering the Indian LCC's newly arriving fleet of up to 60 A320s for a period of 10 years. Under terms of the $150 million deal, LHT and its Indian subsidiary, One Stop Airline MRO Support, "will independently serve" the Air Deccan fleet with the provision of components at the carrier's Bangalore hub.
Bmi is testing a security line reserved for its own passengers at London Heathrow, CEO Nigel Turner confirmed to ATWOnline. The trial started some months ago and was suspended temporarily following the Aug. 10 security alert. The bmi-only line is located in Terminal 1 and aims to speed up the lengthy waiting times passengers face to get through LHR's security. "Heathrow needs to improve its transfer product if it wants to maintain its lead position in Europe," said Turner, who also would like to see "an end to airports behaving in a monopolistic manner.
The Irish government and Aer Lingus yesterday priced the IPO of the state-owned airline at €2.20 ($2.80) a share, valuing it at €1.1 billion. Earlier this month, the carrier gave an indicative range of €2.10-€2.70 a share for the Dublin and London listing, which is scheduled for Oct. 2 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 13).
Island Air said it will return its recently acquired Q400 and halt the delivery of two more on order in a move that company officials tied directly to the $19 inter-island fares being offered by rival go!, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group that entered the market last summer ( ATWOnline, Sept. 26).
United Airlines reportedly is exploring the possibility of merging with or acquiring another airline. According to Crain's Chicago Business, the carrier has hired Goldman Sachs & Co. to advise it in the matter. United declined to comment to the paper. In 2000 it announced plans to acquire US Airways, but the Dept. of Justice disallowed the merger.
