Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of November 7, 2012, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
Copa Holdings says it will boost capacity 14% in 2013, mainly with the addition of seven new Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The growth is in line with CEO Pedro Heilbron’s prediction last month, when he told Aviation Week he expected capacity to rise “between 10% and 15%” (Aviation Daily, Oct. 5). Copa expects to take delivery of the seven 737-800s next year. Copa revised its capacity growth guidance for the full year 2012 to 24%, one percentage point higher than the previously forecast 23%. This was achieved through the net addition of 10 737-800s.
New aircraft financing rules that take effect Jan. 1 will sharply increase the upfront fees the Export-Import Bank of the United States (Ex-Im Bank) charges for its loan guarantees. The fees are expected to more than double from 6.25% to 15% of the total loan and will be adjusted on a quarterly basis, Ex-Im Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg said Nov. 8 during a speech at the International Aviation Club in Washington.
Construction of Argyle International Airport, St. Vincent and the Grenadines’ first airport capable of accepting widebody aircraft, now is expected to be completed by the end of 2013, a few months earlier than previously thought. The Tourism Ministry previously said the airport would come online in the middle of 2014. With the new construction forecast, Argyle could be open by year-end 2013 or early 2014, the ministry says. The greenfield airport will replace the existing E. T. Joshua Airport, which can accommodate aircraft of up to 50 seats.
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Segment Performance: Canada - U.S., 12 Months Ending December 2011, Ranked By Onboard Passengers Onboard ASMs % Chg. Seats Per Market (Metro Ar
International Airlines Group’s (IAG’s) board of directors will meet today to discuss the takeover of Spanish carrier Vueling Airlines. If the board approves, IAG, will be attempting to control Spain’s two largest carriers. IAG was created through the merger of British Airways and Iberia, and since then has purchase the UK’s second largest operator BMI. Iberia already owns 45.85% of Vueling’s stock.
Manufacturers tend to highlight trends such as the burgeoning middle class in emerging markets as key drivers for rising commercial aircraft demand. But the single most important factor is something less strategic: fleet replacement. According to Airbus’s latest global market forecast (GMF), more than 10,000 aircraft will be replaced in the next 20 years. Airbus predicts a total output of 27,000 new single-aisle and larger airliners by 2032. Those will be built by Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier and Embraer—and soon also by Comac and the United Aircraft Corp.
Air Berlin is suing Berlin Airports for damages following multiple delays in the opening of the city’s new airport. The airline says it has tried to come to an agreement with the airport operator during months of negotiations, but that it became increasingly clear an out-of-court settlement would not be possible. Air Berlin claims it has had to deal with millions more in additional costs because of the delay.
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, Los Angeles - Vancouver Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, Los Angeles - Vancouver Alaska Air Canada Others 2007Q1 513 368 109
Problems with the CSeries’ supply chain have forced Bombardier Aerospace to push the first flight of its baseline CS100 to as late as June 2013, up to six months later than initially planned.
There is a growing confidence among the larger of the U.S. regional operators that the industry, while still adapting to an evolving environment, is set for a rebound, albeit with a smaller number of competitors.
A 3-D holographic radar system that removes wind farm interference from primary radar returns could be operational as a commercial product by late 2013 at an undisclosed U.K. airport, according to the developer of the system, U.K.-based startup Aveillant. When wind farms are located within 20 nm of an airport, reflections from the rotor blades can mask the position and altitude of aircraft in a large area near the facility, a problem that is of growing concern as the desire for more wind farms proliferates worldwide.
Air Algerie President and CEO Mohamed Salah Boultif says he sees big potential for another major hub in North Africa as economies grow and countries recover in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions.
Grupo Aeromexico expects to finalize an order for 10 additional Boeing 787-9 aircraft before the end of the year. The aircraft were part of a 90-aircraft Boeing order announced in July, but details on how many 787s would be part of the order had not been disclosed. The 10 787s would replace the airline’s current fleet of four leased Boeing 777s over the course of the next decade, an Aeromexico spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. Financing for the order still is being finalized, she adds.
Pinnacle Airlines’ flight attendants have reluctantly ratified a six-year agreement that provides the airline $6.4 million in concessions for its Chapter 11 restructuring. The Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), while acknowledging the need for a new contract, disparaged the way it was achieved. “Ratifying the tentative agreement does not mean we like it. Ratifying the agreement means we understand the value of preserving an enforceable contract, hourly wage rates, affordable health care and job protections . . .
Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines could expand their code-sharing services into a broader joint venture, but sources close to the airlines say speculation about cross-ownership or a full merger is inaccurate. Neither airline is commenting publicly on the negotiations. Temel Kotil, CEO of Turkish Airlines, on the sidelines of the Arab Air Carrier Organization’s annual general meeting in Algiers, told Aviation Week it was “too soon to comment” on the issue because any statement could influence the outcome of the talks.
Boeing and NASA are preparing to start a new, potentially riskier phase of flight tests of the X-48C blended wing body (BWB) research aircraft at Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB in California. The unmanned aircraft, which notched up its 100th flight on Oct. 30, is a rebuilt twin-engine derivative of the three-engine X-48B tested between 2007 and 2011.
