Lufthansa, acquiescing to demands from its cabin crew union UFO, next year will fold Berlin flight attendants into its permanent workforce. The announcement by CEO Christoph Franz on Friday came after the latest strike by UFO forced the airline to cancel about half of its 1,800 daily flights. Part of UFO’s complaint with the airline is its policy of outsourcing certain functions, particularly flight attendants working from Lufthansa’s Berlin base, who are currently employed through a staffing company.
The FAA plans to withdraw a recently issued engine component vibration testing rule change that has triggered sharp industry protest and a legal challenge from the Modification and Replacement Parts Association.
Berlin Airports’ board of directors is expected to announce a further delay to the opening of Berlin Brandenburg International Airport following an extraordinary meeting scheduled for Friday. Matthias Platzeck, the prime minister of the State of Brandenburg and co-chairman of the airport operator, yesterday indicated that the new facility will not be opened until October 2013, about two years later than originally envisioned. This latest delay follows a review of the facility by recently appointed Chief Operating Officer Horst Amann.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of September 5, 2012, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
Air India, Boeing and the Indian government have agreed on terms over compensation for delays to the airline’s 787, clearing the way for the long-deferred deliveries to begin officially on Sept. 7. The 787 was ordered as part of a wider deal for 68 737s, 777s and 787s announced in January 2006. The order, worth $11 billion at list prices, included 27 787-8s, the first of which was expected to be delivered in September 2008.
Delta Air Lines is talking to railroad companies about transporting cheaper crude oil from North Dakota to the airline’s oil refinery, but the airline probably will not make a decision until December. “We’re working hard at that development,” Delta President Ed Bastian said during a presentation to the investment community at the Deutsche Bank Aviation and Transportation Conference. “It’s a big opportunity. It’s huge, and only can be accessed if you own a refinery. It’s not something the market in general would be able to access.”
The last portion of a 737 product improvement package (PIP) that Boeing says already returns better-than-expected fuel savings, is being prepared for introduction on the airframer’s production line at Renton, Wash.
Qantas expects its new alliance with Emirates Airline will help return its ailing international unit to profitability, as the carriers plan to broaden an initial code-share deal into a revenue-sharing partnership on some routes. The airlines intend to start code-sharing in April, when Qantas will move the stopover point for its London flights from Singapore to Dubai. This will enable Qantas to connect to 33 European destinations on the Emirates network via the UAE carrier’s hub. The airlines also will link their frequent flyer programs.
Airbus has unveiled five measures it says will make the aviation industry environmentally sustainable by 2050 despite projected growth for global air transport. In its “Future by Airbus” vision, the manufacturer describes how an optimized air traffic management system alone would help reduce average flight times by 13 min. within the European Union or the U.S. This projection does not include any air traffic management initiatives that could be developed in the coming decades.
Airports of Thailand (AOT) expects the second expansion phase of Bangkok Suvarnabhumi Airport to be completed in 2017, but traffic growth will likely mean further expansion will be requested soon after this project is completed. Phase 2 construction work is due to start “about one year” from now and will increase the airport’s capacity to 60 million passengers a year, says a spokesman for the national airport operator. Suvarnabhumi Airport handled 48 million passengers last year and this year is expected to record 52 million passengers.
EADS has added two Airbus managers, Chief Operating Officer Guenther Butschek and Chief Operating Officer Customers John Leahy, to the company’s executive committee. The appointments represent further integration of Airbus and its parent company, although fully merging the two entities is not foreseen.
Nigeria’s aviation ministry has reinstated Dana Air’s operating certificate three months after one of the carrier’s MD-83 crashed on final approach to Lagos Murtala Muhammad International Airport. The ministry says it is satisfied with the airline’s operations following a “rigorous technical, operational and financial audit of the airline.” The ministry added that “Dana Air is free to resume its normal commercial flight operations.”
Major assembly of the first 787-9 is under way in Japan with the installation of door frames in a forward fuselage section. The lengthened Section 43 fuselage barrel is being built by Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI) in Nagoya along with the aircraft’s keel beam, pressure bulkhead, wheel well bulkhead and wing fixed trailing edge.
Malaysia Airlines’ (MAS’s) low-cost division, Firefly, is preparing to bolster its turboprop fleet by the end of 2013. “Our current fleet is turboprop and it is normal for us to look along those lines . . . .We hope to see some deliveries commencing as early as before end of next year,” Firefly CEO Ignatius Ong tells Aviation Week.
Pinnacle Airlines’ pilots union is dismissing the carrier’s claim that pilot seniority is an extraordinary burden unmatched at rival regional operators.
