Machine-readable passports in the format specified by ICAO became the worldwide standard effective yesterday, the organization announced from Montreal. The 188 member nations of ICAO have agreed that all must begin issuing ICAO-standard MRPs no later than April 1, 2010. Some 110 nations already do so.
Qantas will begin a series of seasonal services between Australia and Korea this winter. From Dec. 28 to Feb. 5, the carrier will operate 18 new weekly return services between Brisbane and Seoul using two-class 767-300s. It also will continue its codeshare arrangement on Asiana Airlines' daily services from Sydney to Seoul.
Finnair will launch direct flights between Edinburgh and Helsinki in April using an A319. Also, on Aug. 1 the name of the Marketing Division, which is part of the Finnair Scheduled Passenger Traffic business area, will be changed to the Commercial Division.
Several European airlines are raising their surcharges in light of still climbing fuel prices. Virgin Express will increase its fuel surcharge by €2 ($2.24) per passenger from July 15, bringing it to a total of €10, while SN Brussels Airlines will adjust its surcharge from €10 to €12 for European flights and from €23 to €30 on flights to Africa and the Middle East as of Sept. 1.
Cerebit's innerLog was selected by US Airways to "build visibility into the carrier's online promotions." ARINC received a contract extension from Spirit Airlines for enhanced digital data link communications services. Under the deal, ARINC will continue providing the carrier's current fleet with GLOBALink VHF ACARS data link while also delivering advanced VHF Digital Link Mode 2 service to Spirit's new VDL-equipped Airbus aircraft.
OnAir finalized an agreement with Siemens to provide a lightweight GSM pico cell and an onboard channel selector that will ensure passengers are able to use their mobile phones during flight without generating interference to aircraft systems or ground mobile networks, thereby complying with certification and regulatory requirements.
Lufthansa flew 9.79 billion RPKs in June, up 5.2% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 2.9% to 12.68 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 1.7 points to 77.2%. For the six months ended June 30, RPKs rose 4% to 52.14 billion, ASKs grew 2.9% to 70.17 billion and load factor was up 0.8 point to 74.3%.
Lufthansa Cargo AG and Japan Airlines will inaugurate a new cargo codeshare flight between Frankfurt and Chubu International Airport near Nagoya. The twice-weekly flights will be operated by LH using an MD-11F and will begin at the end of September.
Alteon Training signed a long-term agreement to provide Aerosim Technologies' PC-based training tools in conjunction with its own training services. The trainers will be used with existing training solutions. Aerosim products covered under the agreement include the Flight Management Systems Trainer, Virtual Flight Deck, Virtual Procedure Trainer and Flight Training Device.
Global ePoint received an order from Thomas Cook Airlines UK to expand its current Cockpit Door Surveillance System to include digital video recording. Global ePoint subsidiary AirWorks will begin installation of the systems on the carrier's A330s this summer. Thomas Cook has been flying the AirWorks CDSS since early 2003 on its fleet of 17 757s, six A320s and two A330s. Separately, Global ePoint introduced an enhanced version of its AirWorks electronic flight bag that features full digital video recording and a CDSS integrated into a dual-redundant server.
Japan Airlines will expand telephone, Internet and ticket delivery systems in Japan. From October, the carrier will introduce International Ticket Assist Service through which customers can make a telephone call when changing itineraries and arrange to receive new tickets by mail or courier. The service also will include an international ticket refund desk through which refunds can be requested by telephone and credited directly to customers' bank accounts. JAL introduced a similar service for domestic ticket support in March.
Emirates began construction on a new 6,000-sq.-m. jet engine test facility at a site near Dubai. The facility, which was designed in cooperation with General Electric International, is due for completion in January 2007. Once finished, it will house a 13-m. cross-section jet engine test cell and an APU test cell and will be capable of testing engines of up to 150,000 lb. thrust, including Rolls-Royce Trent 500s/700s/800s, GP700s and GE90-115Bs. TAT Industries finalized its acquisition of Sabena Technics following a share transfer agreement signed last week.
Air Berlin will start its own mobile-phone service called Air Berlin Mobile by December. Users can earn bonus miles. The service will be offered via travel agencies.
Fischer Advanced Composite Components, which as a supplier to Aviation Partners Boeing has a 95% market share of 737 winglet production, is studying the possibility of developing winglets for the MD-80.
United Airlines is bringing back more than 1,400 flight attendants from voluntary furlough in two phases this year owing to higher-than-expected attrition in the group. The carrier informed the Assn. of Flight Attendants that it intends to recall a further 600 flight attendants from Aug. 9 and will recall the remaining 851 on voluntary furlough by Nov. 30. Earlier this year, the carrier brought back 650 flight attendants.
News from Travel Technology Update: JetBlue Airways is planning a soft launch of its cruise-flight dynamic packaging engine "in the next month or so," according to Tim Claydon, senior vice president of sales and business development. The move is a natural progression for JetBlue, which serves 11 U.S. cruise ports. The carrier is working with EzRez, the Honolulu-based software company that specializes in dynamic packaging. The booking engine will have a "completely new interface" and will use XML connections to pull in pertinent cruise data.
Unisys Corp. was awarded a Master Systems Integrator contract from Beijing Capital International Airport to develop and integrate the core operational systems for BCIA's new international terminal, which is being built in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. Preston Aviation Solutions Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary, was commissioned by Malaysia Airports to replace the existing gate-allocation system at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with its airport resource management system Airport Solutions.
Northwest Airlines flew 7.11 billion RPMs in June, up 5.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.9% to 8.11 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.3 points to 87.7%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs jumped 7.6% to 38.19 billion, ASMs increased 4.4% to 46.54 billion and load factor was up 2.5 points to 82.1%. ATA Airlines flew 622.6 million RPMs in June, down 48.8% compared to the year-ago period. Capacity dropped 45.7% to 810.5 million ASMs and load factor declined 4.1 points to 76.8%.
SR Technics Switzerland put its new CHF8 million ($6.2 million) pneumatic testing facility into operation last week. According to the company, the facility will be used to conduct tests on 25 technically different components including those for controlling onboard air-conditioning and valves for regulating air supply throughout the aircraft. It also features sufficient flexibility to handle components of new-generation Boeing aircraft and to permit further testing modules to be added to it.
Gol flew 770.6 million RPKs in June, up 77.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 61.1% to 1.08 billion ASKs and load factor was up 6.5 points to 71.1%.
Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport released the results of a survey conducted over the July 4 holiday travel period showing that 85% of DFW passengers would like to see Southwest Airlines operate at the airport. A total of 2,714 passengers were polled, according to the airport. DFW has been wooing Southwest since its second-largest tenant, Delta Air Lines, eliminated its unprofitable hub there late last year.
