Air Arabia is shifting capacity growth away from its bases in Morocco and Egypt as it waits for the market to return after the Arab Spring uprising. “Our focus will be on Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) and Africa,” CEO Adel Ali told Aviation Week at the Low Fare Airline Congress in London.
Despite Brazil’s weakened economic performance, Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras founder David Neeleman sees potential for strong growth in the South American country. The airline sees expansion to 20-30 new markets across Brazil, although Neeleman declined to clarify how many of those markets the carrier will pursue in the next five years. “Brazil’s aviation industry is underdeveloped,” Neeleman said at the Boyd Group International Aviation Forecast Summit in Dallas. “Fewer Brazilians fly per capita than Mexicans.”
Turkish low-fare airline Pegasus is about to announce a major narrowbody order, with CEO Ali Sabanci telling the World Low Fare Airline Congress in London that “we are already there, but I would like to announce it in my own country.” According to Sabanci, the carrier is choosing between the Airbus A320NEO and the Boeing 737 MAX and will buy more than 40 aircraft, the size of its current fleet. “The order will be a lot larger than that,” he says, noting that Pegasus could triple domestic capacity.
Vueling, International Airlines Group’s Spanish low-fare operation, is shifting more of its capacity to international routes to mitigate a weakness in domestic demand that has depressed traffic more than 10%. “We were about a 70% domestic carrier, but that is now coming closer to 50/50,” CEO Alex Cruz said at the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London.
Spanish carrier Vueling has endorsed Bombardier’s CSeries CS300 as a viable airframe for budget carrier, with CEO Alex Cruz telling the World Low Fare Airlines Congress in London that “the CSeries will be the new narrowbody in town for a long time.” Vueling is in the process of placing an order for at least 60 aircraft, and is considering the CSeries alongside the Airbus A320NEO and the Boeing 737 MAX. Cruz says an order will be placed in the next few months.
New Zealand-based Altitude Aerospace Interiors is beginning work on a Boeing Business Jet (BBJ) based on a 737-700, which is the first time that interior completion of a new BBJ has been performed in the Australasian region. A Boeing spokeswoman tells Aviation Week that no BBJ completions have been done in Australia, and while Altitude has previously performed BBJ refit work, this will be the company’s first “green” aircraft of this type. The BBJ is owned by Samsung Electronics, Boeing says.
A Sept. 17 article detailing the White House’s Office of Management and Budget analysis of the near trillion-dollar sequestration measure scheduled to go into effect Jan. 2 should have said that 60% of the FAA’s operations account is exempt.
The world’s commercial fleet will double to almost 40,000 aircraft by 2031, with the bulk of this growth in the Asia-Pacific region, Air Lease Corp. founder Steven Udvar-Hazy said Sept. 18 at the Boyd Group International Aviation Forecast Summit in Dallas. Of today’s in-service fleet, only about 5,000 aircraft will be operating in 2031, so 13,000 aircraft will be needed to replace existing fleet, said Udvar-Hazy. Another 19,000 aircraft will then be needed to accommodate a 5% annual growth in passengers.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace (ST Aero) has expanded further into asset management by establishing ST Aero Rotables (STAR), which will primarily manage the lease of rotable spare parts. STAR will be headquartered in Singapore with marketing offices dotted around the world. ST Aero in recent years has added asset management divisions to its airframe and engine heavy maintenance functions. Last year, it established Total Engine Asset Management, an engine leasing joint venture with Japanese trading house Marubeni.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is recommending changes that could make it more difficult for U.S. airlines to hold onto their time-specific takeoff and landing rights at slot-controlled airports if they are not meeting usage requirements.
Boeing is close to completing tests of a range of advanced technologies addressing fuel burn, noise and efficiency using its 737 EcoDemonstrator, the company’s first such dedicated flying testbed. The demonstrator is based on a 737-800 on loan from American Airlines, which partnered with Boeing on the effort along with the FAA. The agency provided $25 million in funding toward the EcoDemonstrator under its Cleen (continuous lower energy, emissions and noise) environmental program.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Los Angeles - San Francisco, September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Los Angeles - San Francisco, September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Depts. Share ASKs (000) Share
The FAA is taking steps to begin a transition to unleaded aviation gasoline—including the creation of a new Fuels Program Office—but FAA acting Administrator Michael Huerta warns resources are limited and industry support will be needed. Huerta in a letter to industry leaders said the agency has taken “some organizational steps to prepare for the initiation of a transition program to unleaded fuel.” This includes engaging the services of a transition consultant as well as the new office to coordinate aviation fuels activities.
A new airline, Dalmatian.hr, is planning to compete with Croatia Airlines for domestic traffic. CEO Zeljko Romic, speaking at the World Low-Cost Airlines Congress in London, said he is awaiting regulatory approval to launch operations, although he did not reveal a firm start date.
The successful incorporation of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) into the national airspace system will require regular assessments and a clear approach to addressing privacy concerns, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) finds in a new report. The investigative arm of the U.S. Congress says the FAA, in particular, should frequently monitor its efforts to fulfill UAS requirements and deadlines signed into law in February as part of a four-year agency reauthorization.
Air China from next year will double capacity to John F. Kennedy International Airport by adding another daily Beijing flight and is in talks with several U.S. carriers, including Virgin America, to increase its access to the U.S. domestic market, Air China VP-North America told the Boyd Group International Aviation Forecast Summit in Dallas. Chi also noted that the carrier’s growth into Latin America is constrained, in part, by a U.S. policies requiring Chinese nationals to obtain a visa to connect through U.S. airports.
Should merger talks between US Airways and American Airlines fail to produce a combined entity, the Tempe, Ariz.-based carrier will continue to focus on international expansion in Europe until Airbus starts delivering A350s in 2017, when growth in Asia will become a priority.
African budget carrier FastJet has picked Tanzania as its launch base, and plans to inaugurate services from Dar-es-Salaam’s Julius Nyerere International Airport in November. The start-up, which is being built on Fly540’s operations, has signed a lease agreement with BBAM on a single Airbus A319, and says it is in the advanced stage of hiring flight and ground crew.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Atlanta - Orlando - September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Atlanta - Orlando - September 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way
Russia’s Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Company (SCAC) has completed the assembly of the first Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet intended for delivery to Mexican air carrier Interjet. Flight trials have already started at SCAC’s Komsomolsk-on-Amur assembly facility, and the aircraft is scheduled to arrive in Venice at the end of September to be outfitted with an interior developed by Italian design company Pininfarina and painted in Interjet’s livery.
