Allied Pilots Association (APA) leadership is adamant its members have not coordinated job actions to force American Airlines to cancel up to 2% of its schedule. “There is no job action of any sort that is organized, supported or sanctioned by the Allied Pilots Association,” the union says in a message to members. “We have verified that pilot sick rates have not deviated from normal historical rates.” The sick-call rate has been 6-7% this month, which is normal for September, a union spokesman tells Aviation Week.
The FAA, citing a need to keep rulemaking transparent, has restored language on an engine component vibration testing rule that triggered industry opposition after being adopted without public comment. Opposition to the change came from the Modification and Replacement Parts Association (Marpa), which filed a suit seeking to have the July 5 revision dropped. That change would have required on-engine tests as part of certification process “surveys” for components, such as fan blades.
Air Canada is starting to recruit pilots and flight attendants for a low-cost subsidiary scheduled to launch next year. The first round of hiring includes 50 pilots and 150 flight attendants, indicating a relatively small startup fleet for the new operation.
Germany’s Condor and Mexico’s Volaris from Oct. 1 will start a code-share arrangement on services between Frankfurt and Mexico City, flying through Cancun. The partnership will enable passengers to fly Condor to Cancun and transfer to a Volaris flight to Mexico City on one ticket. The two airlines also plan to extend this code-share to Guadalajara, Puebla and Toluca, although dates have not been determined, a source close to Volaris says.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: New York Kennedy - San Francisco, September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: New York Kennedy - San Francisco, September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Depts. Share ASKs (000) Share
U.S. airlines are 75% more likely to use aircraft with 100 seats or fewer on hub-to-hub routes from the country’s four slot-controlled airports than at other large airports, according to a federal government analysis. The Government Accountability Office’s (GAO’s) study also concludes that airlines at slot-controlled airports were 55% more likely to use aircraft with 80 seats or fewer on hub-to-hub routes. The lower-capacity cutoff factors out jets such as the Embraer E-190s that New York-based carrier JetBlue Airways operates in a 99-seat configuration.
The FAA today will issue a final airworthiness directive (AD) requiring U.S. operators of 11 General Electric GEnx turbofan engines to perform ultrasonic inspections of the two-spool engines every 90 days. Although the AD also calls for U.S. operators to perform the inspections “before further flight,” GE reported that as of Sept. 18, all GEnx-1B and GEnx-2B engines in operational service had been inspected.
Thai Airways International is due to receive its first Airbus A380 later this month, but the aviation landscape has changed dramatically since it decided to buy the ultra-large aircraft. When Thai ordered six A380s in 2004, its then president, Kanok Abhiradee, said the A380s would be used on high-density routes from Australia via Bangkok to London and Frankfurt. However, the success of Emirates Airline and Qatar Airways on the “Kangaroo route” linking Australia and Europe has altered the aviation landscape and made it tougher for Thai Airways.
Australian company Algae.Tec and Lufthansa have signed an agreement to collaborate on the construction of a large-scale algae-to-biofuels production facility in Europe. “It is a non-binding agreement and no investment from Lufthansa is involved,” says a spokesman for the German airline group.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) and Superior Air Beijing of China continue to negotiate the sale of the U.S. manufacturer’s commercial operation even as a 45-day exclusivity period expires. The exclusivity period started July 17 after HBC received a $1.79 billion proposal from Superior. HBC at the time called the offer “the greatest value for the company.” That window of exclusivity has now passed.
AirAsia plans to place an order soon for 100 narrowbody aircraft to support its international expansion. The airline is almost ready to sign a deal, AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters in Jakarta. “We’re getting closer to an order for 100 aircraft. It’s not there yet,” he said. “We certainly feel that we need the aircraft.”
Inmarsat expects that costs for satellite-based flight deck safety services, which airlines typically use for ACARS (aircraft communications addressing and reporting system) messaging in oceanic regions, will be 30% lower than its traditional services when the SwiftBroadband Safety Services option is approved for use in 2014.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Montreal (Dorval) - Toronto Pearson, September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Montreal (Dorval) - Toronto Pearson, September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Depts. Share ASKs (000) Share
Lufthansa’s board of directors has approved the establishment of a low-cost subsidiary to provide services across Europe. The unit will be based at Cologne/Bonn Airport and will start operations Jan. 1.
SkyWest Inc. remains committed to the 50-seat regional jet, even as the mainline carriers forecast that 70- to 100-passenger jets will fill that niche. “There’s no doubt the fleet is changing and shifting away from the 50-seat jet,” Brad Rawson, SkyWest Airlines’ manager of network planning, told Aviation Week at the Boyd Group International Aviation Forecast Summit in Dallas. “But the reality is there are markets where a 70-seater won’t work.”
The union representing Boeing engineers has lodged a preemptive strike in its negotiations over a four-year contract, recommending that its 23,000 members reject the company’s contract offer before it is formally presented.
American Airlines’ recovery plans center on the high-value premium customer, a passenger segment the carrier wants to attract with network and fleet changes, an AMR Corp. executive tells Aviation Week.
Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation which mirrors a bill passed last week by the House of Representatives that would eliminate rescreening of inbound checked baggage. Titled The No-Hassle Flying Act of 2012 like its House counterpart, the Senate bill (S.3542) would enable the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) to waive a second screening before bags continue on another segment if the item was checked in a country with aviation security measures comparable to those in the U.S.
The U.S. government program that subsidizes air services to rural airports is facing up to $16 million in cuts come Jan. 2 if Congress does not act to prevent sequestration. The budget penalty to the Essential Air Service (EAS) program would impact the program’s two fiscal 2013 funding sources, cutting $12 million from the Airport and Airway Trust Fund and another $4 million from foreign carrier overflight fees, according to an analysis of sequestration released by the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
