Saudi Arabian low-fare airline Nas Air plans to phase out all Embraer 190s and 195s. “The E-jets are a comfortable aircraft, but with our expansion we need more seats,” Nas Air CEO Francois Bouteiller said at the World Routes conference in Abu Dhabi.
The number of employees at American Airlines may fall significantly depending on how many employees represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU) opt to accept the company’s buyout offer. Voting on the buyout ended Oct. 1, but a TWU spokesman tells Aviation Week it remains uncertain when the final results will be tabulated. The number of layoffs the company says it needs has dropped from 14,000 in April when the original term sheets were issued to 4,000 today, a source close to the airline says.
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has ordered 10 more Airbus A330s, topping an order for nearly 75 Airbus aircraft placed in August. The latest PAL deal includes 10 A330-300 high-gross-weight version aircraft with sufficient range to operate from Manila to any destination in the Asia Pacific region, including Honolulu, as well as to the Middle East, according to an Airbus statement.
Sequestration could hurt not only the Essential Air Service (EAS) program but the airlines that provide the federally subsidized flights to rural airports, the head of a major connecting airport for EAS operations tells Aviation Week. Denver International Airport (DIA) serves 18 EAS markets and 250,000 passengers annually, says Kim Day, manager of aviation, city and county of Denver. The airport’s forecast for October 2012 includes 355 weekly EAS departures, an average of 51 daily flights.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has approved the maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) unit at India’s Cochin International Airport to conduct line maintenance on Airbus narrowbodies. Cochin International Aviation Services Ltd. has two hangars with an area of 35,000 sq. ft. that can handle two narrowbodies simultaneously. The MRO business in India is estimated to be worth $800 million and likely to grow to $1.5 billion by 2020, says India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.
U.S. regional Mesa Air Group, which has been privately owned since emerging from Chapter 11 protection in March 2011, has not filed an acceptable financial statement with the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) for a year, and has been asked by the agency to refile submissions for four quarters.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs and Statistics - 12 Months Ended March 2012 - Regional Jets Page 4 CRJ 900 Manufacturer: Bombardier
Supporters of the Thune-McCaskill bill to prohibit the U.S. airlines from participating in the EU’s emissions trading system could force the legislation through the U.S. House of Representatives during the congressional recess, Capitol Hill and industry sources say. The U.S. Senate has already passed the bill.
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact: Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) Oct. 9—Aviation Week Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum, Amsterdam RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Oct. 9—Aviation Week MRO IT Europe, Amsterdam RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Oct. 9-11—Aviation Week MRO Europe, Amsterdam RAI, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
With Thai Airways International’s cargo business struggling with reduced demand for global air freight, the carrier is reshuffling its freighter mix in an effort to keep operating costs down. “Thai’s dedicated cargo business is down a lot, but we are still doing good in belly-hold cargo,” Thai Airways’ executive VP for strategy and business development, Chokchai Panyayong, tells Aviation Week.
French President Francois Hollande has approached Germany with the idea of creating a joint blocking minority stake in the new company that would be created as a result of the proposed merger of BAE Systems and EADS, according to industry sources. That status could be achieved as a result of various complex transactions and would ensure more government influence beyond the golden share proposal suggested by EADS CEO Tom Enders.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs and Statistics - 12 Months Ended March 2012 - Regional Jets Page 3 CRJ 700 Manufacturer: Bombardier
JetBlue Airways by the end of October expects to have equipped with automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) avionics the 35 Airbus A320 aircraft targeted for retrofit in an FAA-funded program.
Aircraft Fleet Recycling Association re-elected Martin Fraissignes, Chateauroux Air Centre, executive director; Bill Carberry, Boeing Commercial Airplanes, secretary and deputy director; and Denis Oliver, ELG Materials, treasurer.
