16-20 June 2014 Atlanta, GA Orlanda Carvalho Executive Vice President Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Allan McArtor Chairman and CEO Airbus Americas, Inc. Peter Cerda Senior Vice President, The Americas International Air Transport Association Larry Lawson President and CEO Spirit AeroSystems www.aiaa-aviation.org/programAVD
Wary that the U.S. Contract Tower Program may remain vulnerable to budget cuts, industry leaders are urging Congress to continue to dedicate funding to the contract air traffic control towers. Eleven associations wrote House and Senate Appropriations leaders asking for a measure to dedicate at least $149 million to the program in fiscal 2015.
Lufthansa and its pilots union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) have agreed to resume talks over a future early retirement plan and a new pay deal following a pilots strike that essentially grounded the airline for three days last week. Neither the union nor Lufthansa revealed further details about when they will meet or what other progress may have been made.
The fight for a Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) slot pair is heating up, with JetBlue Airways arguing that its proposed Jacksonville, Fla., flight better serves the public than Southwest Airlines’s DCA-Kansas City flight. JetBlue questions Southwest’s claims that it lowers fares when it enters new markets, the so-called “Southwest effect.”
While FedEx can see a future in which small unmanned aerial systems (UAS) might be involved in air freight, FedEx Chairman and CEO Fred Smith Thursday stopped short of predicting widespread use of UAS at the larger end of the spectrum, declaring that aircrews will likely remain essential to large aircraft operations for a long time.
A ruling by an administrative court in Rome makes it doubtful that Emirates can continue flying its Milan-New York service, as Etihad appears to be moving nearer a decision to buy a large minority stake in Alitalia. The court ruled that Emirates’ Milan-New York service violates the bilateral air services agreement between the United Arab Emirates and Italy. The immediate consequences of the decision aren’t clear, but Emirates is considering filing an appeal that, it hopes, would allow it to continue operating on the route.
Changes to Delta Air Lines’ relationship with Alaska Airlines at Seattle have less to do with the Pacific Northwest or even the U.S. market and more to do with a Delta hub across the Pacific.
NASA’s plan to extend its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts with Orbital Sciences Corp. and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) will give the companies more time to deliver 20,000 kg (44,000 lb.) each to the International Space Station (ISS) under a pair of fixed-price contracts valued at a combined $3.5 billion. Under the terms of CRS agreements awarded in December 2008, Orbital and SpaceX are each on the hook to deliver 20,000 kg of food, supplies and science experiments to the orbiting outpost by Dec. 31, 2015.
Industry should back whatever emerges from an International Air Transport Association-convened task force examining aircraft tracking in the wake of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 disappearance, FedEx Corp. Chairman and CEO Fred Smith said Thursday. He also added his voice to those calling on operators to embrace space-based Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) to track those aircraft with operating transponders, wherever they may be.
More trouble is brewing for Air India, as its employees have threatened to strike over the airline’s proposal to reduce certain pay allowances, a move likely to strain operations ahead of the busy holiday travel season. The cash-strapped national carrier wants a 15% reduction in allowances for all categories of employees, including pilots, an airline official says.
Canada’s industry ministry has invited a second round of project proposals under a broad new research and development program intended to bridge the gap between laboratory testing and product development in fields spanning civil aerospace, defense, space and security. The initial call under Industry Canada’s Technology Demonstration Program (TDP) was issued with its launch in September. Proposals are due by April 14, and the first projects to qualify for 50% funding support from the federal government will be announced in the fall.
Air France will get its tenth Airbus A380 in mid-June from Hamburg, and will put the aircraft in service immediately after the usual post-delivery maintenance checks, Air France-KLM Head of Fleet Planning Bruno Delile says.
Ryanair has decided to turn Cologne Bonn Airport into its fifth German base, in a move that spells trouble for Lufthansa's struggling Germanwings unit and the country's secondary airports. Even though the base will be small—with only one dedicated aircraft—several aspects of the decision are still significant.
Launching international flights remains on the agenda for U.S. low-cost carrier Allegiant Air, but it will probably not occur until 2015, airline president Andrew Levy says. “We definitely will serve international destinations,” Levy tells Aviation Week. While the carrier has previously discussed beginning overseas service this year, next year is more likely, he says. Vacation destinations in Mexico – particularly Cancun – are the top prospects, with flights to Canada and the Caribbean longer-term possibilities.
