Virgin Australia is preparing to reduce its regional aircraft fleet in an effort to improve the productivity of its domestic operation and solidify its return to profitability.
U.S. regulators have approved the sale of a majority stake in Hawaiian turboprop operator Island Air. Two entities managed by local investment firm PacifiCap are buying a controlling interest from Ohana Airlines Holdings, owned by Larry Ellison. OAH will retain a non-controlling interest. Les Murashige, a previous president of Island Air, will return as president and CEO, taking over from current CEO David Pflieger. Rob Mauracher, another former Island Air CEO, will be chief operating officer.
A foreign carrier could operate the only cabotage route in the U.S. for the next 12 months if the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) extends Polynesian Airlines’ exemption.
Although Garuda Indonesia is set to enlarge its fleet with new deliveries this year, it still has not decided between the Airbus A350 or Boeing 787 to fill its long-term replacement needs. The airline is continuing to assess the two aircraft types, in a process that began last year. It is “still finalizing its widebody refleeting plans by studying the A350-900 and 787-9 fuel efficiency and operating costs before making a final decision,” a Garuda spokesman told Aviation Daily.
HNA Group carrier Tianjin Airlines, moving into long-haul operations this year, proposes to begin three low-frequency services to London and Moscow in June.
Spirit Airlines is evaluating whether it should reduce capacity in network airline hubs and add more flying from more smaller and medium-sized cities, new CEO Robert Fornaro said on Feb. 9.
As recently as eight years ago, only one airline flew between Los Angeles and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) or Qatar—but this summer, three carriers will fly four daily flights, and a senior Emirates executive told Aviation Daily there is plenty of demand to fill most seats in economy and business class.
Although the references are oblique, the Obama Administration appears to be open to an FAA restructuring in its just-released fiscal year 2017 budget, which calls for $15.9 billion to operate the agency, up slightly from the $15.8 billion appropriated by Congress for fiscal year 2016.
NASA is seeking a significant increase in money for aeronautics research to fund a series of large-scale subsonic and supersonic civil-aircraft X-plane demonstrators to prove the benefits of technologies developed with industry.
Orders for the Comac C919 from China’s three big state airlines are unlikely to appear until the state manufacturer is able to confirm the performance of the 158-seat airliner.
British Airways (BA) will be flying from London Stansted Airport (STN) this summer to four leisure destinations, a move which will bring it in direct competition with Ryanair or possibly is a precursor to a new cooperation with Europe’s largest LCC.
Feb. 8, 1996—Rockwell International was planning a March demonstration in China to showcase GPS air traffic management technology as a solution to the country’s air traffic needs, after the Civil Administration Aviation of China recognized it as truly satellite-based.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Feb. 10-11—Aero-Engines Americas, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, www.aviationweek.com/events Feb. 15—ATW’s Airline Industry Achievement Awards, Singapore, www.aviationweek.com/events
For a complete list of Aviation Week Network’s upcoming events, and to register, visit www.awin.aviationweek.com/events Mar. 3—Laureate Awards, The National Building Museum, Washington, D.C. Apr. 5-7—MRO Americas, Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center, Dallas, Texas June 8-9—MRO BEER, Baltics, Eastern Europe & Russia, Prague, Czech Republic
The market has yet to determine which updated narrowbody—the Boeing 737MAX or the Airbus A320neo—will dominate, but some analysts have begun to say that the industry could face a glut of narrowbodies and the huge orderbooks may not come to fruition.
ASL Aviation Group will expand its business with a further two airlines and increase its fleet from 100 to more than 130 aircraft, following a deal to acquire the airline operations of TNT Express (TNT).
