Austrian Airlines CEO Jaan Albrecht says 2014 will be the year during which the airline will have to demonstrate that its drastic restructuring and cost-cutting efforts have been worthwhile.
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Deployment of a new satellite-based surveillance network is expected to be complete for the vast majority of U.S. domestic airspace by the end of this year, although some of the more remote ground stations will need to be finished in 2014. Together with contractor Exelis, the FAA is introducing what will be the world’s largest automatic dependent surveillance broadcast (ADS-B) network. The use of ADS-B “Out” will give controllers more accurate data than provided by radar, which is expected to allow reduced separation in some airspace.
Asiana Airlines has made significant changes to its pilot training programs in the aftermath of the Boeing 777-200ER accident at the San Francisco International Airport on July 6. Though the National Transportation Safety Board has not yet determined the cause of the crash, the focus of an initial factual hearing in Washington on Dec. 11 has been pilot monitoring lapses and potential confusion about the 777’s autopilot and autothrottle systems, both of which reflect on Asiana’s pilot training programs.
The U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is preparing to formally allow its airlines to seek approval for expanding passenger usage of portable electronic devices (PEDs) to all phases of flight. CAA says it is preparing a notice for airlines that will explain the approval-request process for “gate-to-gate” usage by passengers of devices without cellular signals. CAA’s move follows the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA’s) approval of guidance that European airlines can use to broaden PED usage under current regulations (DAILY, Dec. 11).
Next year should be the most profitable ever for the airline industry, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) predicts. IATA upped its profit forecast for 2013 and 2014 based on several beneficial factors. The group believes that the industry will post a combined net profit of $19.7 billion in 2014, $3.3 billion higher than the last forecast in September. This year is also going to be better than expected as profits will rise to $12.9 billion, up from the previous prediction of $11.7 billion.
Delta Air Lines’ strategy to grow through upgauging combined with plans to replace 50-seat regional jets with Boeing 717s means the carrier will meet its capacity target without maxing out its allowable regional jet (RJs) lift, the airline’s top executive says. “We aren’t going to buy all the 76-seaters we’re entitled to buy under our scope clause,” CEO Richard Anderson said at the airline’s annual investor day Dec. 11. “I don’t know where we’ll end up, but we have room right now for 30 more that we don’t have earmarked.”
Air Canada has announced plans to renew its mainline single-aisle fleet with orders, options and commitments for up to 109 Boeing 737 MAX, replacing its current fleet of Airbus A320 family aircraft and becoming one of the first major Airbus operators to defect to the re-engined Boeing twinjet.
Although it has received the smaller half of the newly merged American Airlines’ order for 76-seat regional jets, Bombardier’s contract for up to 70 CRJ900s will keep the aircraft in production and on the market as the Canadian manufacturer focuses on its CSeries narrowbody airliner. For Embraer, the orders and options from American for 150 E175s are a boost following JetBlue Airways’ October decision to defer delivery of 24 E190s to 2020-22, from 2014-18, and cap its fleet at 60 aircraft, down from the originally placed 100 firm orders and 100 options.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of December 12, 2013, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
Luxair Executive Vice President-airline Martin Isler says 2013 was an “excellent year” for the carrier, with a 14% increase in passengers carried compared with last year, despite of the arrival of low-cost carriers (LCC) in the Luxembourg market.
The highly publicized failure of the right engine of a Thomas Cook Airbus A330-200 (G-OMYT) taking off from Manchester, England, on June 24 was caused by the failure of a single turbine blade in the high-pressure section of the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 turbofan.
TAP Portugal will expand its fleet in 2014 with two Airbus A330s and four A320 family aircraft and add several new destinations, including two in Brazil which will further strengthen its leading market position on routes between Europe and Brazil. “Six additional aircraft to a fleet of 71 aircraft is a pretty good growth,” CEO Fernando Pinto told Aviation Week on the sidelines of the Aviation Leadership Summit organized by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) in Brussels.
Chances are rising that the Comac C919 will be largely limited to the Chinese market, as the manufacturer works towards local airworthiness certification while seeing no clear path to the desired FAA endorsement of the type. The Chinese market is big, so sales of perhaps 1,000 units remain plausible, in the opinion of program officials. But the 158-seat narrowbody’s prospects for making a much bigger splash on the wider market, perhaps never large, are diminishing.
A potential congressional budget framework revealed late Tuesday is already pitting parts of the U.S. commercial aviation sector against each other, with airline proponents lambasting doubled passenger security fees and airport boosters lauding the compromise and looking forward to more money for runway and other improvements.
British Airways (BA) plans to deploy its Airbus A380s on its London Heathrow-Washington service beginning next year, while its Boeing 787s will be rolled out on Calgary, Chengdu, Hyderabad and Philadelphia routes. BA has taken delivery of three Airbus A380s, which currently serve Los Angeles and Hong Kong. Johannesburg will join BA’s A380 network in Feb. 2014, followed by Washington from Sept. 1 next year.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - Miami, Dec. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers - Miami, Dec. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Departures Airport Share ASMs (mil) Airport Share Seats /Dept.
Turkish Airlines aims to continue its high growth rate in 2014 as more new aircraft join its fleet, but the focus will be on adding frequencies rather than launching routes to new destinations, CEO Temel Kotil says. “Of course we will continue to add new destinations, but our network is now so large that the pace of adding new gateways will be lower than it was in the past years,” Kotil told Aviation Week on the sidelines of Aviation Leadership Summit organized by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) in Brussels.
A Boeing technical team is in India applying a “modification package” developed for Air India’s 787 fleet, which has been grounded for nearly two weeks by government order. “To ensure reliability and safety, all the 10 787 aircraft in the Air India fleet [have] been taken in for a 10-day maintenance grounding, beginning from Dec. 1, junior Civil Aviation Minister K. C. Venugopal says.
