Independent aviation safety body Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is close to releasing a two-year study into aircraft go-arounds, performed by social science research specialist Presage. FSF director of communications and board relations Emily McGee said the study should be completed this summer, for release in late October.
The latest round of route announcements by Japan’s major airlines includes the notable return of a domestic trunk service that was previously squeezed out by competition from high-speed rail. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are both boosting their flights from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, although JAL also cut flights from elsewhere in its network. Most of the changes will be effective from Oct. 26, and will apply to their schedules for the second half of the fiscal year.
Fares in France declined in the first seven months from last year, including a year-over-year decline of ticket prices in July. Ticket prices for flights from France, domestic and international, inched down 0.4% in July and fell 0.9% in the first seven months, according to France’s Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC). Data are for fares for return tickets from France (mainland and overseas territories) including all taxes, fees and charges, offered by over 50 airlines.
Ryanair has hired John Hurley as chief technology officer as it continues with its senior management revamp and push to up its digital game. Hurley will join Ryanair on Sept. 15 from American educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), where he was most recently VP-software development. He has been with HMH since 2007 and has held a number of roles, including VP-engineering & product operations, director of product operations, director for platform development and software development program manager.
Airlines for America (A4A), the U.S. airline industry’s main trade body, said that although extreme weather in the first quarter of this year almost derailed financial results, the airline industry reported an overall profit for the first half of 2014. The trade group based its findings on nine publicly traded airlines: Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United. Collectively, these airlines reported a net profit of $3.8 billion, up from $1.6 billion last year, and an operating margin of 5%, up from 2.1% last year.
Clarification:A story in the Aug. 21 issue should have said the long-term goal of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is for the U.S. and the EU to work jointly to eliminate all widebody aircraft financing. ALPA’s goal in the 2014 reauthorization is to eliminate Ex-Im Bank widebody financing for state-owned and/or credit worthy airlines.
SINGAPORE—Despite an overall static outlook for business across the region, Manila-based LCC Cebu Pacific (Cebu) has recorded a 19.7% increase in passenger numbers for Q2 2014, to 4.7 million in total, in addition to 3.8 million passengers in Q1 2014.
View the PDF Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint)* As of August 21, 2014, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev. year NY Jet Barges 290.34 -5.99 -13.61 Chicago Jet 292.59 -3.59 -14.11 West Coast (LA) Jet 292.84 -3.24 -6.11 Europe: Rotterdam Jet (Barges) 280.12 -5.51 -24.84 Asia/Pacific (Singapore Kero) 275.26 -0.67 -22.36
Air Berlin is giving up the idea of operating hub-and-spoke systems at its main bases in Dusseldorf, Berlin and Palma de Mallorca. As the airline prepares to reshape its future network, it is focusing on optimizing point-to-point services. Hubs “are not part of our strategy,” CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said Thursday.
LONDON — Increasing numbers of Airbus A380 operations could have a negative impact on London’s Heathrow airport in the future, senior air traffic controllers have warned. Flights into Heathrow were seen as one of the key critical markets for the four-engined aircraft when it was first developed during the early 2000s, with airlines able to fly more passengers into the slot-constrained two-runway airport.
LONDON — Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo has shrugged off concerns raised by Flybe about the two airlines’ loss-making joint venture (JV), insisting that it is “business as usual” at Flybe Finland.
SYDNEY — While Singapore-based low-cost carrier Scoot will use Boeing 787 deliveries to grow its fleet next year, initial deliveries will be focused more on fleet replacement than expansion, CEO Campbell Wilson says.
Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has canceled Thai airport landing rights for Don Mueang-based LCC City Airways. The DCA has also asked the Civil Aviation Department in Hong Kong to withdraw rights for the airline at Hong Kong International. The move follows claims that the carrier had not been following scheduled maintenance operations on its 20-year old Boeing 737-400 and 737-800 aircraft. To date, there is no ban in place on the China destinations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
Independent aviation safety body Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is backing the use of deployable flight-data recorders (FDRs), or triggered flight-data transmission, as the search for Malaysian Airlines MH370 continues. “We are publicly endorsing the use of deployable FDRs or burst data. The technology already exists and is used by the U.S. Navy for their helicopter operations. It is time that the airline industry started taking a good look at this to avoid delays in the recovery of FDRs,” Emily McGee, FSF director of communications and board relations, said.
Singapore-headquartered lessor BOC Aviation has posted a $163 million net profit for the first six months of 2014 and is on track to hit a full-year delivery record. Over the six months ended June 30, BOC Aviation received 37 new aircraft and sold 12, taking its total portfolio to 251 aircraft (232 owned and 19 managed). The aircraft are placed with 56 airlines worldwide and valued at $10.8 billion.
Air Berlin plans to make significant cuts to its network, fleet and the number of crew bases as it prepares the fundamentals of yet another restructuring program.
The Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) takes a different stance from others that are calling for the reform of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. (Ex-Im): the union says the bank should get out of the business of widebody-aircraft financing altogether.
LONDON — European air traffic control agencies are continuing to monitor the status of the Icelandic volcano, Bárðarbunga [Bardarbunga], where hundreds of earthquakes in recent days have signaled a possible impending eruption. Icelandic authorities raised their aviation alert level on August 18 from yellow to orange following a swarm of around 1,200 earthquakes; several measuring higher than three on the Richter scale were recorded near the volcano.
On the heels of its poor half-year financial report, Indonesian flag carrier Garuda Indonesia has signaled it will pull back from several route introductions planned for later this year. The airline is to abandon at least two intended new routes between its base at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta and Manila, and from Jakarta to Mumbai. Both were slated to start operations in the second half of 2014. The airline shut down its Jakarta-Taipei last week as part of what it called a “current efficiency campaign.”
The pilots union at Envoy Airlines has restarted discussions with American Airlines Group over a deal that could allow the regional carrier to eventually fly Embraer E-175 aircraft, but it’s unclear whether agreement can be reached before American assigns its next batch of large jets.
FRANKFURT — Swiss aviation regulator Bundesamt für Zivilluftfahrt (BAZL) has concluded that contracts over cooperation between Etihad Airways and Swiss regional carrier Darwin could lead to Etihad having effective control over the airline and thus would not comply with legal requirements.
