The evolving relationship between Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines is in part a story about the fifth-freedom hub at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport but is also a story about a changing domestic U.S. airline business. Alaska dominates the Seattle market with its strong hub there and in Portland, Ore., but Delta is eager to build its presence in the city partially for feed for its international flights but also to build a domestic focus city on the West Coast, Atmosphere Research founder Henry Harteveldt tells Aviation Week.
Airbus has started working with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) to have its A320 recertified for a maximum load of 186 passengers, Aviation Week has learned.
The first of six sites selected by the FAA in December to conduct unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) research has become operational and plans to begin flying a small quadcopter in early May in support of precision agriculture research. The Northern Plains Unmanned Aircraft Systems test site won the race to be the first of the six to become operational when the FAA awarded the North Dakota Department of Commerce a certificate of authorization (COA) to operate the Draganflyer X4-ES small UAS.
China Eastern has given a good hint of the direction of its future development, with high-level company visits to Easyjet, Ryanair and SAS. China Eastern Chairman Liu Shaoyong has checked out the three European carriers with other top executives, the carrier says.
ENHANCED DIGITAL EXPERIENCE Aviation Week & Space Technology is your one powerful source of information with an even greater focus on technology, and expanded coverage that now includes Defense Technology and MRO Editions. To Subscribe: Contact us at 1-800-525-5003 (in the U.S.) or at +1-515-237-3682 (outside the U.S.) or via Email at: [email protected]/awstdigital
The rising demand for surplus parts that is re-shaping airline aftermarket strategies presents component manufacturers with clear opportunities to follow their engine-producing colleagues by grabbing larger slices of the growing used-parts pie. The used serviceable material (USM) market was $3.5 billion in 2013, according to consultancy ICF SH&E, including about $2.2 billion in engine parts and $1.3 billion in components. By 2023, the USM market is expected to hit $6.2 billion, including $3.8 billion in engine parts and $2.2 billion in component spares.
American Airlines plans to re-bank its hubs at Chicago O’Hare International Airport and Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) next year as it continues replacing rolling schedules at its hubs with a more traditional banked structure.
Early data suggest that U.S. airlines could see strong second-quarter unit revenue growth, thanks to continuing robust load factors and higher yields. As the U.S. airline industry prepares to reveal first-quarter performance this week, advance booking data from travel agencies show that second-quarter passenger revenue per available seat mile (PRASM) is expected to grow across the industry by an average of 4%, compared with the same period in 2013, UBS analyst Darryl Genovesi says in a note to investors.
Hawaiian Airlines says it will relieve United Airlines of its newly won Tokyo Haneda route authority if the Chicago-based carrier is unable to start service.
Showing pilots current and future sonic boom impact areas and intensities so they can adjust trajectories is expected to play a key role in securing regulatory approval for low-boom supersonic flight over land, and NASA is seeking proposals to flight test a suitable cockpit display. The contract is one of several to be awarded as NASA continues to prepare for a hoped-for flight demonstrator that would allow the agency to collect the data on community response to low booms that is needed to persuade the FAA to lift its ban on civil supersonic flight over land.
The evolving relationship between Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines is in part a story about the fifth-freedom hub at Tokyo’s Narita International Airport but is also a story about a changing domestic U.S. airline business. Alaska dominates the Seattle market with its strong hub there and in Portland, Ore., but Delta is eager to build its presence in the city partially for feed for its international flights but also to build a domestic focus city on the West Coast, Atmosphere Research founder Henry Harteveldt tells Aviation Week.
April 22-24—National Business Aviation Association Maintenance Management Conference, Tampa, Fla., www.nbaa.org April 26-30—American Association of Airport Executives, (AAAE) 48th International Aviation Snow Symposium, Buffalo, New York, www.snowsymposium.org/
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact: Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) June 10-11—MRO Eastern Europe, Baltics and Russia, Sheraton Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland July 16-20—Farnborough Commercial Manufacturing Briefings and Farnborough Air Show, U.K.
Leading Chinese business aviation company Deer Jet aims to open four to six fixed-base operations (FBOs) this year, adding to its current four. The new 2014 FBOs do not include one at Beijing, though Deer Jet already has the building for it. The company is not sure the Beijing operation can be opened this year. It does not identify the locations of the new FBOs, but Deer Jet notably lacks such facilities at Shanghai, Guangdong and Chengdu.
AirAsia has signed up with Airbus’s Managed Inventory (AMI) system to automate its inventory management at the supplier level for its A320 and A330 aircraft. The AMI system offers a customized spare parts and replacement service that claims automatic and continuous replenishment of high-usage and non-repairable parts onsite at AirAsia’s home bases. AirAsia says it is confident the AMI service will support AirAsia and AirAsia X in “paving the way for low-cost aviation through innovative solutions and efficient processes.”
Pratt & Whitney PW1200 engines for the first Mitsubishi Aircraft MRJ are due to arrive at the end of this month, as the company prepares to build a new plant for final assembly.
While the FAA and prime contractor Exelis have completed the baseline deployment for automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) stations across the U.S., additional stations are still being installed to enhance coverage.
