The FAA’S $928 million in proposed fiscal 2014 NextGen Facilities and Equipment (F&E) spending includes 25 funded line items, 15 of which either gain funding or maintain the level of fiscal 2012, the agency’s last full year of spending.
Lufthansa this fall will start the transfer of 25 Airbus A320s to its Germanwings affiliate under a plan to restructure the mainline carrier's non-hub operations. The transfer will increase Germanwings’ fleet to 84 aircraft consisting of 61 Airbus narrowbodies and 23 Bombardier CRJ900s.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of April 10, 2013, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
Lufthansa is speeding up the retirement of its Boeing 737, 747-400 and Bombardier CRJ700 fleets to keep capacity flat during a period of increased new aircraft deliveries. Carsten Spohr, CEO of the group’s passenger airline division, tells Aviation Week that the airline will phase out all remaining Boeing 737-300s, 737-500s and Bombardier CRJ700s by the summer of 2015. Lufthansa currently operates 17 737-300s, 22 737-500s and 20 CRJ700s at Lufthansa CityLine. The company also will retire 12 Boeing 747-400s in the next three years but will retain the 13 youngest 747-400s.
Three House lawmakers have drafted a bill seeking to preserve funding slated to be cut from the contract air traffic control tower program beginning June 15. Reps. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), Bruce Braley (D-Iowa) and Richard Hudson (R-N.C.) on April 10 introduced a bill, H.R.1432, the Air Traffic Control Tower Funding Restoration Act, which is designed to continue funding for the program. The bill, which was referred to the House Appropriations Committee, would use unobligated funds within the current FAA budget to pay for the program.
Indonesia’s minister for state-owned enterprises, Dahlan Iskan, has threatened to shut down Merpati Nusantara, the country’s second national carrier. Merpati’s losses over the years have reached the point where the ministry now has to consider closing the airline down, Dahlan told reporters in Jakarta.
Kenya Airways might launch its long-awaited low-cost carrier (LCC) Jambo Jet in the third quarter, although the venture still needs board approval, Kenya Airways Group CEO Titus Naikuni tells Aviation Week. “We have completed a business case analysis and concluded that a LCC is viable. There is demand for low-cost travel between certain cities in Africa,” he said in an exclusive interview.
Avianca could extend the leases on its fleet of Airbus A330-200s for several more years to grow its long-haul operation. The airline originally intended to replace the A330 fleet with the Boeing 787-8, of which it has 10 on order. But CEO Fabio Villegas tells Aviation Week that the carrier is now looking at ways to secure a stronger widebody presence in its key markets.
The White House is renewing its push for a $100-per-flight air traffic control user charge, but unlike in past years, the Obama administration also proposes the creation of a commission to develop recommendations to implement or supplant the fee with other charges. The reintroduction of the $100 user fee was widely expected even though more than half of the Republican-controlled House last week in a letter urged President Barack Obama to drop the proposal.
The FAA’s proposed fiscal 2014 budget of $15.6 billion cuts $351 million from fiscal 2012’s actual level largely by trimming airport grants, a move that failed in recent years. The budget, released yesterday by the Obama administration, includes $9.7 billion for operations, $2.8 billion for facilities and equipment (F&E), $166 million for research and development, and $2.9 billion for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund-backed Airport Improvement Program (AIP).
The Obama administration’s fiscal 2014 budget plan halves its previously proposed cuts to federal grants for airport improvements by narrowing the reduction’s impact primarily to large hub airports. But the administration also wants to impose a new cost on airports, and it still is counting on an unlikely increase in the airport passenger facility charge (PFC) to help offset the reduction in grant money.
AirAsia X will decide very soon which maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) company to select for Airbus A330 heavy checks. CEO Azran Osman-Rani says the carrier has some A330s due for heavy maintenance checks this year. AirAsia X traditionally sends its A330s to Lufthansa Technik Philippines. Azran, however, says he is considering giving the work to Sepang Aircraft Engineering (SAE), provided the company is licensed to perform A330 heavy checks.
Virgin Atlantic is “evaluating the possibility of entering into the SkyTeam Alliance,” the U.K. carrier and Delta Air Lines say in their joint application to the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) for antitrust immunity. The application, however, does not provide any detail regarding a timetable for that decision or include any other elaboration.
Boeing has pledged to double its factory investment at its 787 factory in North Charleston, S.C., and to add another 2,000 jobs in exchange for a transportation infrastructure and tax incentive deal that began working its way through the state legislature earlier this week.
Top Carrier: Melbourne - Sydney, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carrier: Melbourne - Sydney, April 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept.
The Essential Air Service (EAS) program would receive a $246 million slice of Obama administration’s fiscal 2014 budget if the figures proposed yesterday by the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) hold up, giving the program a 27% boost from 2012’s $193 million actual budget. DOT proposed allocating $146 million in Airport and Airway Trust Fund-sourced discretionary appropriation and another $100 million in foreign carrier overflight fees to EAS.
A coalition of airline groups believes industry is putting more money into Customs and Border Protection (CBP) than it is receiving in services because other transportation sectors are underpaying, setting the stage for a battle over CBP funding and allocation of services. The coalition is led by Airlines for America, the International Air Transport Association and Airports Council International-North America.
