Several international carriers are contemplating a stake in Kingfisher Airlines’ holding company UB Holdings, says the airlinhe's chairman, just days after the Indian government relaxed foreign ownership .
The European Commission (EC) today will present significant changes to its aviation policy in an effort to revive the region’s air transport system. The EC will address three areas—air services agreements, competition clauses and ownership and control regions—as part of a broader update to its external aviation policy scheduled for release today.
With the proposed merger of EADS and BAE Systems facing serious opposition by the German government, which has indicated it may block the deal if its conditions are not met, EADS CEO Tom Enders is offering to negotiate further details of the transaction.
Qantas’ airline rivals are urging Australia’s competition authority to deny interim authorization for the carrier’s proposed partnership with Emirates Airline, although a separate government agency is in favor of allowing it.
Boeing has hit the 85% design drawing release point for the stretched 787-9 and begun the assembly of all the large sub-assemblies for the first aircraft, a year after the first of the -8 versions was handed over to launch customer All Nippon Airways.
The ongoing spat between the EU and U.S. over subsidies to Airbus and Boeing continued yesterday as the Europeans filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) claiming illegal support of Boeing remains intact despite U.S. assertions to the contrary.
Virgin America will reduce capacity in the first quarter of next year, the first time in the carrier’s history that it will not report year-on-year growth, CEO David Cush tells Aviation Week. The carrier is selectively trimming its fourth-quarter 2012 and first-quarter 2013 schedules and is decreasing aircraft utilization in the first quarter. “We have among the highest aircraft utilization [rates] in the industry, which makes a lot of sense from a cost standpoint,” Cush says. “But it doesn’t make a lot of sense in the first quarter.”
Phenomenal growth in passenger traffic across Asia, particularly from low-cost carriers, has fueled demand for bigger airports. The authorities, however, have failed to address this need, leading to flight delays and slot constraints. Nearly every major capital city airport in Southeast Asia has issues with congestion. The most notable examples are Singapore Changi, Bangkok Suvarnabhumi and Jakarta Soekarno-Hatta International.
Delta Air Lines reduced utilization of Pinnacle Airlines’ Bombardier CRJ200 and CRJ900 jets by 7% in the second half of 2012, which will nearly triple the regional carrier’s operating loss for the period, Pinnacle’s de facto CFO says in a bankruptcy court filing. As Aviation Week reported Sept. 24, the revised agreements that Delta signed with Pinnacle to continue flying 50-seat and 76-seat regional jets through July 2022 do not contain minimum utilization requirements.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs and Statistics - 12 Months Ended March 2012 - Turboprop Aircraft Page 1 of 1 EMB 120 Manufacturer: Embraer
The Allied Pilots Association (APA) board Sept. 26 will decide if it will resume talks with AMR Corp. management for a new agreement. Management has approached APA leadership to resume talks, marking the first such overture since APA members last month overwhelmingly rejected the company’s “last, best and final” contract offer, a union spokesman tells Aviation Week. The pilots have been operating without a contract since earlier this month, when the bankruptcy court abrogated their contract.
Click here to view the pdf Arab Air Carrier Organization Monthly Traffic - July 2012 Arab Air Carrier Organization Monthly Traffic - July 2012 RPK % Chg. ASK % Chg.
United Airlines on Sept. 21 became the first U.S. carrier to take delivery of a Boeing 787-8. The aircraft, powered by General Electric GEnx-1B engines, is one of 50 United has ordered, including 36 787-8s and 14 long-range 787-9s. United's new 787 has 36 first-class seats, 72 in business-class and 111 in economy, 219 seats for an aircraft that nominally can seat 250 passengers. United expects to receive four more 787-8s by year-end.
Pinnacle Airlines’ agreements to continue flying 50-seat Bombardier CRJ200 and 76-seat CRJ900 aircraft for Delta Air Lines through July 2022 contain no minimum usage requirements and a rate reset in 2018—potentially fatal provisions, given the regional carrier’s current reliance on Delta as its only long-term customer and its assertion that it is already losing money on the contracts. The Memphis, Tenn.-based regional carrier disclosed details of the contracts in a legal brief seeking bankruptcy court approval to impose cost cuts on its unionized pilots.
A report destined for the German parliament’s economics committee lists numerous concerns about the proposed merger of EADS and BAE Systems. The Ministry of Economics report says the proposed golden shares, which are supposed to give governments veto rights on key strategy questions, are not absolutely certain to provide the kind of protection to state interests that EADS and BAE Systems claim. The report also questions the legality of issuing golden shares to three governments under current European law.
Canadian budget carrier WestJet says it will continue to convert its interline partnerships into more extensive code-share arrangements following the completion of an upgrade with British Airways (BA) on selected WestJet flights connecting Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto to Ottawa, Edmonton and Victoria. A WestJet spokesman tells Aviation Week that the airline will continue to view code-shares as extensions of its interline partnerships. For the most part, code-shares “will be evolutions” of interline arrangements, he says.
A major supplier is expecting the surplus in aftermarket parts for commercial aircraft to double to 10% in the next 10 years because of the increased retirement of aircraft. “[For] everybody that plays in this space, there are going to be increased surplus sales,” Peg Billson, president of Chatsworth, Calif.-based Ontic BBA Aviation, tells Aviation Week. Ontic provides parts for mature aircraft.
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.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has adopted a plan to modernize airport screening that closely resembles the Checkpoint of the Future concept unveiled last year by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). Like IATA’s, ICAO’s model relies on a risk-based approach that combines technology with an improved screening process. The plans differ in their expression of target dates: IATA sets goals for 2014, 2017 and 2020, while ICAO refers to near-term, intermediate and long-term goals.
Click here to view the pdf Arab Air Carrier Organization Monthly Traffic - July 2012 Arab Air Carrier Organization Monthly Traffic - July 2012 RPK % Chg. ASK % Chg.
