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All Nippon Airways (ANA) says it will take another 11 higher-capacity, long-range 787-9s, raising its totals to 66 aircraft, by far the largest order rate for Boeing’s twin-engine transport. With the addition of these -9s, the Japanese carrier’s 787 fleet eventually will include 36 787-8s and 30 787-9s. This is the second follow-on 787 order for ANA, which originally bought 50 of the type. The 11 latest aircraft are scheduled to be delivered from 2018 to 2021, ANA says. As of August, ANA had taken delivery of 13 787-8s.
Consolidation among the U.S. major airlines will not only make the industry stronger, it will yield greater opportunities for low-cost carriers, the heads of two major budget operators said last week. “Consolidation has allowed airlines to better align capacity with demand,” Spirit Airlines CEO Ben Baldanza told attendees at the Boyd Group International Aviation Forecast Summit in Dallas.
AirAsia is contemplating an initial public offering (IPO) for its medium-haul operation within months, but an offering for its Indonesian subsidiary will not be forthcoming until at least the second half of 2013 to allow for the integration of Batavia Air. “If the board agrees, then this December AirAsia X will do its IPO,” says AirAsia Group CEO Tony Fernandes. The company will be listed on the Kuala Lumpur stock exchange.
Think tanks, analysts and politicians have been predicting the rise of Africa’s economies and subsequent opportunities for air travel for many years. The forecasts, for various reasons, have often not turned into reality. But now it seems that foreign airline investors are gaining confidence in the region’s growth potential.
Aurora Flight Services , Manassas, Va., named Mark C. Cherry president and chief operating officer, succeeding founder John S. Langford, who will continue as chairman and CEO.
Uzbekistan Airlines this month is due to receive its seventh Ilyushin Il-114-100 turboprop aircraft, closing a decades-long chapter in the history of the Central Asian republic’s aerospace industry.
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.
