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India’s airline regulator has given Kingfisher Airlines, which has been grounded since Sept. 30 by an employee strike demanding months of unpaid wages, two weeks to prove it should retain its operating certificate. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) Friday issued a warning to the airline “asking why its permit should not be canceled or suspended, as the airline has failed to establish a safe, efficient and reliable service,” a government official tells Aviation Week.
Communications Integrated Services (DCIS) contract in September, would like to accelerate the disbursement of $80 million in avionics aid for select airlines to begin demonstrating benefits of the data communications (datacomm) technology to the broader community by 2015.
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way - London Heathrow - Washington Dulles Nonstop Passengers Per Day Each Way - London Heathrow - Washington Dulles United British Airways
Boeing 737 operators have six years to modify cabin pressurization loss warning systems, including installing redundant pressure switches and new warning modules, FAA orders in an airworthiness directive (AD 2012-19-11).
The Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) says there is “anecdotal evidence” that the number of ramp and taxiway incidents and accidents at airports have not decreased as the result of a guidelines and best practices the organization developed for its ground accident prevention (GAP) program. “We will make the decision later this fall on whether we’ll put [a new program] on the 2013 calendar,” says Kevin Hiatt, FSF chief operating officer. “We would call it GAP 2.”
Virgin Atlantic says it expects a four-percentage-point increase in its share of transatlantic business travelers from the new upgrades to its upper-class cabin and new business traveler services at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and Newark Liberty International Airport. Virgin says its market share for business-class travel on U.S. routes already has increased from 22% from January to September last year to 25% for the same period this year.
Qantas is criticizing assumptions made by Australian regulators about future competition on Australia-South Africa routes after the carrier was denied a long-term extension for its code-share with South African Airways (SAA).
India’s government has granted international airport status to facilities in Lucknow, Varanasi in northern India and Mangalore, Tiruchirapalli and Coimbatore in the South. “All these airports are capable of handling medium capacity-range, long-range type aircraft and are also equipped with facilities for night operations,” says Finance Minister P Chidambram.
The addition of Taiwan to the U.S. Visa Waiver Program (VWP) could yield a windfall to airlines, with passengers from the Asian nation expected to double to 350,000 a year. Citizens of any of the 36 VWP countries can travel visa-free to the U.S. after being pre-screened through the Electronic System for Travel Authorization. South Korea was the last country admitted to the VWP in November 2008. Between 2009, the first full year of its inclusion in the VWP, and 2011, arrivals from the country grew from 744,000 to 1.2 million, U.S. Travel Association statistics show.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs and Statistics, 12 Months Ended March 2012, Jet Aircraft Pages 4-5 of 10) MD80 Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglas
The turbulent path that every startup airline must navigate is clearly apparent in the latest batch of new entrants seeking approval from the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT).
Expressair has added Dornier 328JETs to its fleet of 328 turboprops and Boeing 737s to expand its network in eastern Indonesia. The Indonesian carrier, which is based in the eastern city of Makassar, has added four 328JETs, according to Siggi Gilason, a minority shareholder in the airline and owner of Aero Nusantara Indonesia, an Indonesian maintenance, repair and overhaul provider that leases aircraft to airlines in Indonesia, including Expressair.
South Africa’s government, which is playing an increasingly vocal role in South African Airways’ (SAA’s) operations, would consider a new venture in Ghana. Public Enterprise Minister Malusi Gigaba is publicly advocating an expansion plan that would open affiliates in East and West Africa to reduce SAA’s reliance on long-haul revenues. Ghana is one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa.
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The International Air Transport Association (IATA) is opposed to having Clark Airport become the main international gateway for the Philippines, and also is concerned about an Indonesian government plan to develop a new international airport for Jakarta. IATA argues that Clark’s location is too inconvenient for travelers. “I think Clark will continue to have a role, but it is hard for it to be ‘the solution,’ considering the airport is 100 km (62 mi.) from the city,” IATA Director General Tony Tyler says in response to a question from Aviation Week.
The FAA on Oct. 29 will satisfy a key prerequisite in its plan to relaunch controller-pilot datalink communications (datacomm) as the first controller receives training on a Thales ATM-built automation system at Memphis International Airport. Following training, Memphis controllers and cargo operator FedEx in November will begin departure clearance (DCL) operations at the airport, the first step in a wider datacomm rollout at major U.S. airports.
Air Canada has appointed a tour operator veteran to head its latest venture, which combines the airline’s Vacations unit with a newly created leisure carrier. Michael Friisdahl, who will be president and CEO of the as-yet-unnamed, wholly owned subsidiary, has 25 years’ experience in the travel industry in a career that started with a Canadian tour operator and most recently included seven years as CEO of Thomas Cook North America.
