Introducing the Aero 100 Airfare Benchmark Index Designed for anyone with risk on the future level of airfares – for example Airlines, Banks/Credit Card Companies, Corporate Travel Managers, etc. The Aero 100 Airfare Benchmark Index tracks daily airfares within the domestic airline market. The Aero 100 delivers financial risk mitigation and protection against constant fluctuation of airline ticket prices by providing the price settling mechanism for Commodity Futures Contracts.
Start-up operator Cinnamon Air is planning to assume the domestic turboprop operations currently served by SriLankan Airlines’ SriLankan Air Taxi Service. Cinnamon Air is scheduled to launch operations May 1 with a fleet of three Cessna Grand Caravan aircraft. Two of these Cessnas are amphibious aircraft while the third is a standard configuration for landing on runways, says a Cinnamon Air spokesman. According to the spokesman, the start-up is in talks to operate SriLankan Air Taxi Services’ network, but is waiting on a final agreement.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] March 10-12—Airports Council International-North America, 2013 Air Cargo Conference, Las Vegas, Nev., www.aci-na.org/event/2631/
FAA is coming under increasing pressure to look for alternatives to its plan to implement rolling furloughs of its 47,000 workers and shutter nearly half of the nation’s air traffic control towers, with two key Republican lawmakers questioning whether the agency has explored all its options before “punishing employees and the traveling public.”
International Consolidated Airlines Group (IAG) is facing another setback in reviving its loss-making Spanish operations following the rejection by Vueling Airlines’ board of directors of IAG’s €113 million ($147 million) takeover bid. The board also recommended that Vueling’s investors not sell their shares in the Barcelona-based low-cost carrier to IAG, the holding company for British Airways and Spanish rival Iberia.
FAA will ask its Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) to look at engine bird ingestion requirements, a task it will describe in detail by mid-March in the Federal Register, Aviation Week has learned.
Star Alliance’s roster of airlines will decline in the second quarter of next year, when Brazilian carrier TAM joins Oneworld. The decision by TAM’s parent company Latam Airlines Group had been expected as Chilean regulators had required that TAM not be a member of the same alliance as AviancaTaca Holdings when they approved last year’s merger between TAM and LAN Airlines.
EADS CEO Tom Enders believes certification of new aircraft programs likely will become more difficult following the recent troubles surrounding the Boeing 787 program.
The restructuring of Lufthansa’s European operations will begin with six routes from Hamburg Airport, which will be assumed by the operator’s revamped Germanwings low-cost unit at the beginning of the summer schedule.
In the seventh and eighth centuries, Urumqi was a stop on the Silk Road, the caravan trail along which trade flowed between China and Europe. In the 21st century, the city in China’s far Northwest may again become a key point in trans-Eurasian communications, for much the same reason as before: It is on the way.
Bombardier has stretched the larger version of its new CSeries airliner, the CS300, to offer a 160-seat high-density configuration in addition to boosting the capacity of the baseline aircraft by five seats to 135 passengers. Existing CSeries order holder AirBaltic has been revealed as the one of the customers for the “extra-capacity” version of the CS300, with plans to configure its aircraft with 148 seats, says Mike Arcamone, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft.
Industry groups, while continuing to lobby for an end to sequestration, also are developing efforts to mitigate the effects of the mandatory government budget cuts.
Bev Goulet, who was tasked with developing the Chapter 11 reorganization of AMR Corp., has been promoted to senior VP and chief integration officer for American Airlines. This promotion follows Goulet’s appointment, along with US Airways President Scott Kirby, to lead the proposed merger effort between the two airlines. Peter Warlick, currently American’s managing director of fleet development, will assume Goulet’s VP and treasurer roles.
FAA’s 20-year industry forecast, released March 6, for the second consecutive year projects a slowdown in U.S. airline traffic, citing changes in the global economy and industry constraint on capacity growth. That discipline has enabled airlines to keep yields steady, which lessens demand stimulation, says Nan Shellabarger, FAA executive director for aviation policy and plans. Domestic capacity increased just 0.1% in 2012, while domestic mainline carrier yield rose 3.5%.
Europe’s legacy airlines are quick to complain about the new competition from the big three Persian Gulf carriers. But they are facing what could be an even more serious threat much closer to home: Turkish Airlines.
Airport executives are appealing to Congress for a legislative solution that would avert the closure of nearly half of the nation’s air traffic control towers that FAA has planned, beginning next month as part of the sequester budget cuts. The American Association of Airport Executives is hoping legislation, such as the short-term government-wide funding bill, may open an avenue for relief.
British Airways’ (BA’s) first Airbus A380 will operate between London Heathrow Airport and Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) starting Oct. 15. A380 service to Hong Kong International Airport will follow Nov. 15. BA’s A380 are configured with four cabins, seating 469 passengers. The airline expects to operate 12 A380s by 2016.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - San Francisco, Feb. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers - San Francisco, Feb. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Departures Airport Share ASMs (mil) Airport Share Seats/Dept.
