Domestic Scheduled Enplanements on U.S. Airlines Passenger numbers in millions (000,000) 2012 2013 2012-2013 Pct. Change 2014 2013-2014 Pct. Change January 47.1 47.8 1.6 47.9 0.3 February 46.4 45.7 -1.4 45.5 -0.5 March 56.2 56.6 0.6 57.7 2.1 April 53.7 53.2 -0.9 54.8 3.0 May 55.7 56.6 1.5 June 57.9 58.0 0.1 July 59.7 59.3 -0.6 August 58.6 58.1 -0.9 September 50.1 50.8 1.3 October 53.8 54.7 1.7 November 51.8 50.5 -2.5 December 51.2 54.3 6.2
Turkey’s two main airlines maintained high seat-load factors in the first six months of the year despite double-digit capacity hikes and a continuous expansion of their networks, which saw Turkish Airlines operate 23 destinations more than a year ago and its smaller low-cost rival, 13.
NEW DELHI — An official with India’s space agency says the country’s homegrown satellite navigation system is on track to become fully operational for Indian users in July/August 2015. With the development of the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System (IRNSS), an indigenous GPS system “is on the anvil,” says K. Sivan, director of the Indian Space Research Organization’s (ISRO) Liquid Propulsion Systems Center. India currently uses other countries’ satellite services for navigation applications requiring GPS.
Airbus’s decision to offer a “Standard Catalog” cabin interior offering for the A350 is seeing good response from within the industry, the airframer says. To date, “by far the majority” of operators from its lineup of 38 customers have accepted its standardized-design approach, said the company’s Head of Interiors Marketing, Zuzana Hrnkova. Its range of pre-specified seats, interior fittings, luggage bins and fittings is designed to keep initial build costs down and supply lines as short as possible.
A bipartisan group of 168 congressmen has asked FAA to provide details on what the lawmakers call the agency’s “vague” plans to “right-size” the National Airspace System and explain how the effort might affect the Contract Tower Program (CTP). In a pair of identical July 31 letters to FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, 54 senators and 114 House of Representatives members expressed concern that two FAA initiatives—the big-picture, right-sizing effort and a more focused working group—could threaten CTP.
American Airlines is retooling its Latin America schedule this winter, ending a Sao Paolo-Charlotte, North Carolina service, to focus on Miami as the carrier’s gateway to the continent.
Russian LCC Dobrolet temporally suspended operations from Aug. 4, 2014 due to sanctions the EU imposed on July 29 over the Ukraine crisis. As a result of the sanctions, the airline’s lessor canceled an agreement for two Boeing 737-800s currently operated by Dobrolet. A source close to Dobrolet’s parent company, Aeroflot, told Aviation Week that both aircraft were leased from BBAM and would be returned to the lessor soon. The carrier had initially planned to obtain up to ten Boeing 737-800s by year’s end.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings posted second-quarter net income of $29.6 million, up 47.5% from the $20 million net profit reported in the year-ago quarter. Purchase, New York-based, Atlas Air Worldwide is parent company to Atlas Air and Titan Aviation Leasing, as well as majority owner of Polar Air Cargo.
Delta Air Lines’ Latin-America traffic rose in July but load factors in the region fell, as business and leisure traffic dropped off during the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. Delta’s traffic in Latin America, measured in revenue passenger miles, rose more than 14% in July on more than 17% more capacity, measured in available seat-miles, but load factor was more than 2 points lower than the same month in 2013.
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was never detected on Indonesian radar because the aircraft never flew over Indonesian air space, says Indonesia’s Defence Minister, Purnomo Yusgiantoro. He disputes news reports that have said MH370 flew over the northern tip of Sumatra. According to Purnomo, the aircraft flew further north of the island.
The proliferation of low-cost portable automatic-dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) “in”-systems in the general aviation fleet has prompted the FAA to reconsider how it disseminates traffic information from its now-completed ADS-B ground infrastructure. Bob Nichols, head of the FAA’s Surveillance and Broadcast Services office, told Aviation Week last week that the agency is investigating whether it might begin openly broadcasting secondary-surveillance radar (SSR) information on the Universal Access Transceiver (UAT) link that the portables receive.
