Mexico’s aviation market has become robust enough that the return of Mexicana de Aviacion would be superfluous, say the CEOs of several Latin American carriers. In addition, it is increasingly unlikely that Mexicana will return to service after more than two years in bankruptcy, the CEOs of AviancaTaca, Copa Airlines, TAM Airlines and AviancaBrasil said at the recent ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Panama City, Panama.
While the number of accidents for global airlines increased slightly in 2011, the number of fatalities dropped by almost 50%, according to the latest annual safety report by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO). “Overall fatalities resulting from air transport accidents also dropped by almost half from 2010 to 2011, down to 414 from 707 the previous year,” says ICAO. “This makes 2011 one of the safest years on record with respect to loss of life.”
AviancaTaca Holding expects to add 8-10% more capacity to its system this year, compared with last year, and will concentrate the growth on its four main hubs. The company, which will operate under the Avianca brand from Jan. 1, is continuing a year-long operational reorganization that will distribute its flights among hubs in Bogota; Lima; San Salvador, El Salvador; and San Jose, Costa Rica.
The growth of airlines in the Caribbean is hampered by both high taxation and an over-reliance on tourism from Europe and North America, say aviation and travel executives from the region. “Up to 50% of the ticket prices for inter-island traffic is made up of taxes,” said Gustavo de Hostos Moreau, adviser to the Dominican Republic’s National Council of Competitiveness, last week at the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Panama City, Panama. Governments in the region see airline travel as a commodity, not a necessity, he said.
US Airways’ flight attendants have overwhelmingly supported a strike authorization for its Association of Flight Attendants (AFA)-CWA leadership, which has criticized the airline for failing to negotiate a joint agreement more than seven years after the reverse merger of America West Airlines and the legacy US Airways. Some 94% of the attendants who voted backed the strike ballot, which the AFA says will be used as an additional negotiating tactic under current federally mediated talks.
Because of observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, Aviation Daily will not publish Thursday, Nov. 22, and Monday, Nov. 26. Aviation Week Intelligence Network subscribers may visit www.aviationweek.com/awin at any time for news updates.
Demand on Allegiant Air’s new services to Hawaii is proving to be even more seasonal than expected, prompting the Las Vegas-based, low-cost carrier to make more use of its Boeing 757 aircraft in domestic markets and potentially for military charters. Allegiant, which acquired used 757s mainly for Hawaii flights, will have six of the aircraft in service by March, four of which will be based in Honolulu under current plans. The other two will be based in Las Vegas, says Jude Bricker, Allegiant’s senior VP-planning.
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way: New York Newark - Toronto Pearson Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way: New York Newark - Toronto Pearson Air Canada Colgan Air Othe
Latin American airline CEOs welcome the EU’s delay in implementing its emissions trading system (ETS) for international aviation, but warn that any future system must take into account a difference between airlines from developed and emerging markets. “It is commendable that the EU is giving us a respite from this carbon tax on the world,” said ALTA President Roberto Kriete at the Latin American and Caribbean airlines trade group’s recent annual meeting in Panama City, Panama.
Southwest Airlines, citing a high number of customer requests and its prior experience on the city-pair with former code-share partner ATA Airlines, will begin service between Houston Hobby Airport and New York LaGuardia Airport in June by moving two LaGuardia slot-pairs from AirTran Airways’ service to Atlanta. LaGuardia-Atlanta service on Southwest’s AirTran subsidiary will drop from eight daily flights to six.
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, San Francisco - Vancouver Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way, San Francisco - Vancouver United Air Canada Others 2007Q1 379 171
SAS Group has reached agreements with most of its unions during negotiations that went well past its Sunday deadline. The new union deals would give the airline more access to crucial financing and keep SAS out of bankruptcy, but creditors and shareholders have demanded full consent by all unions, which technically still is outstanding.
FedEx Express prepares to expand fire suppression equipment to more of its fleet next year, giving particular attention to international, over-water flights, Joel Murdock, managing director-strategic projects, tells Aviation Week. The cargo carrier’s current fire suppression program targets the main cargo decks, Murdock says. “We’ve demonstrated its ability to suppress and fully extinguish most fires.”
Coal and property development appears to be what is fueling the rapid rise of Hebei Airlines, a carrier in northeast China that has big ambitions. The airline, which is based in Hebei province’s capital Shijiazhuang, came to prominence last week during Airshow China 2012 in Zhuhai when it placed an order for 20 Comac C919s.
A U.S. bankruptcy court has rejected Pinnacle Airlines’ request for nearly $60 million in concessions from its pilots, according to a ruling made public yesterday.
U.S. airlines consistently completed a lower percentage of flights on Saab 340 aircraft and Dash 8-200 and -300 aircraft than on other airplane models this summer, according to data compiled for Aviation Week by MasFlight. But the blame could lie more with the operators than the aircraft. MasFlight, an analytics platform for aviation, tracks flight performance for all of the major U.S. carriers, Spirit Airlines, Frontier Airlines and about two dozen regional carriers.
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Virgin Atlantic has been offered all 12 daily slot pairs to be surrendered by British Airways as compensation for the BMI takeover. The U.K’.s second long-haul airline said it will now be able to offer short- and medium-haul services for the first time and focus the use of the slots mainly on Heathrow-Scotland routes.
The Indian government, which to date has received more questions than serious responses to its foreign direct investment (FDI) proposal, is considering consulting airline operators about amending the two-month-old policy. While private airlines, such as Jet Airways, Kingfisher Airlines and SpiceJet, were elated at the government’s decision to open FDI, no foreign airline has shown any genuine interest or approached the government with a proposal, a civil ministry official said.
Following last week’s decision by Qatar Airways to pull out of Cargolux, the airline is facing a search for a new investor when it is already in deep economic trouble.
