China appears to have taken another step toward filling the fleet requirements of its 2016-20 strategic plan with the signing of a general terms agreement with Airbus for 18 A330s and 42 A320-family aircraft. While details remain unclear, the agreement, which coincides with a state visit to China by French President Francois Hollande, appears to be a new agreement rather than a reiteration of a previous commitment.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of April 24, 2013, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
A proposal by the European Commission (EC) for a framework that regulates and harmonizes the use of a Passenger Name Record (PNR) system has been rejected by the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE). The proposal was opposed by 30 of the 55 LIBE members on concerns that an EU passenger data system would breach citizens’ fundamental rights such as non-discrimination, the right to privacy and the protection of personal data.
FAA and UPS are at odds over nine unapproved airframe repairs missed during an extensive audit, which the agency conducted to address what it determined were shortcomings in the carrier’s maintenance records. The repairs, made to two DC-8s and two MD-11s, were not completed by agreed-upon deadlines, FAA contends. The four aircraft—which FAA allowed to operate with the unapproved repairs during the audit—completed about 400 flights after the deadlines passed. As a result, FAA has proposed that a $4 million fine be levied against the company.
Garuda Indonesia’s Executive Vice President-Corporate Strategy and Development says the airline later this month will make Medan’s Polonia International Airport its fourth domestic hub. Garuda’s main hub is at Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, with others at Bali’s Denpasar-Ngurah Rai International Airport and Sultan Hasanuddin International airport at Makassar in eastern Indonesia. Medan is in western Indonesia and is the main city on Sumatra.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Cancun - Mexico City, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Cancun - Mexico City, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept.
Eight months after becoming the first U.S. airline to obtain FAA approval to use Apple iPads on the flight deck during all phases of flight, American Airlines on April 22 completed its rollout of the off-the-shelf electronic flight bags across its entire mainline fleet. Pilots of the carrier’s Boeing 757s and 767s, the last fleet type to equip, completed a 30-day transition with the iPads as primary flight support and paper charts as backup. American first tested the iPad on a Boeing 777 in January 2011.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) yesterday disclosed that it intends increase its stake in Virgin Australia to 19.9%, just days after the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission approved the Virgin’s acquisition of a 60% stake in Tiger Australia, a low-cost carrier that is a subsidiary of a Singapore-based holding company in which SIA is a significant shareholder. SIA currently owns 9.9% of Virgin Australia, and increasing its stake to 19.9% further strengthens its ties with the Australian carrier.
India’s Jet Airways has sold a 24% stake to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways, the first such deal with a foreign carrier since last year’s change to India’s ownership laws. Under the strategic equity alliance signed April 24, the Middle East carrier will subscribe to 27.3 million new shares of Jet Airways at 754.74 rupees ($13.92) per share. The two airlines have been negotiating the sale since September 2012.
Boeing’s engineering team of more than 300 personnel has started to install battery kits in 10 of the 50 grounded 787s and nine of the 25 787-8s produced since the FAA ordered a halt to flights mid-January, says Chairman and CEO James McNerney. During the company’s April 24 first quarter earnings conference call, McNerney said the company has a “high degree of confidence that we’ll get through it by mid-May.” Deliveries are expected to begin early next month.
U.S. airlines are asking the FAA and Transportation Department to convene schedule-reduction meetings for those airports most severely affected by air traffic controller furloughs. The action would not be unprecedented, as U.S. law allows the FAA to meet with airlines to agree voluntary reductions in the number of flights they operate at a severely congested airport. The FAA held such meetings in 2007 with airlines serving New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, and considered one a few years earlier for Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
Island Air’s new owner has named Paul Casey, a veteran of Hawaii’s travel industry, its new CEO. Casey, who was Hawaiian Airlines’ top executive from 1997 to 2002, will assume the responsibilities currently held by Les Murashige. Murashige will remain at the airline as president. Casey’s appointment is effective May 1. “Having been part of Hawaii’s visitor and airline industries for the past three decades, joining Island Air at this time is an exciting opportunity,” Casey says.
The U.S Transportation Department’s inspector general (IG) office is expecting to complete reviews this year on air traffic controller productivity and scheduling, potential lightning-rod issues at a time when controller furloughs are threatening to increase the number of flight cancellations and delays. “FAA data suggest that its overall staffing may not be optimal,” DOT Inspector General Calvin Scovel said in testimony to the Senate subcommittee that oversees aviation program funding.
US Airways says the first days of the FAA furloughs are demonstrating that there is no cushion for unscheduled absences, such as sickness and jury duty, which compounds the already difficult operating environment at the nation’s largest airports. The warning comes as the FAA says more than 1,200 flight delays on April 22 were due to controller staffing reductions. The agency added that it was “experiencing staffing challenges” on April 23 at its New York and Los Angeles en route centers and its Dallas-Ft. Worth and Las Vegas terminal radar approach control centers.
U.S. airlines are asking the Transportation Department (DOT) to suspend its time restrictions on tarmac delays until the sequestration-related furlough of air traffic controllers is over, which could be as late as Oct. 1. The FAA is furloughing controllers for one day in every two-week pay period through the rest of this federal fiscal year, and is predicting a significant increase in flight delays as a result, especially at some of the country’s busiest airports.
Manila Ninoy Aquino International Airport, which has had problems in recent years with its instrument landing system (ILS) transmitters, is talking with Honeywell to install a ground-based augmentation system (GBAS) to improve air traffic management. “We are far down the path with an agreement with Manila airport,” says Brian Davis, Honeywell Aerospace vice president-airlines Asia Pacific. Manila’s airport is one of the most congested in Asia and the surrounding residential area does not allow for the addition of a new runway.
Boeing 787 chief project engineer Mike Sinnett says in hindsight he would have “challenged” the test assumptions in the evaluation and certification phase of the main and auxiliary power unit lithium-ion batteries for the 787.
