Southwest Airlines has equipped most of its aircraft, and trained their crews, but says utilization of fuel-saving required navigation performance (RNP) approach procedures is “remarkably low.” “There are a multitude of reasons,” says Dave Newton, the airline’s senior manager for NextGen/airspace, speaking yesterday at the RTCA Symposium in Washington. The primary reason for the low use rate is that “pilots stopped asking [to use RNP] after being told ‘no’ a couple of times” by air traffic controllers.
Delta Air Lines plans to offer its regional airline partners contracts for new or additional 76-seat aircraft as an incentive to cease 50-seat operations before the contracts for that flying expire, says Delta’s pilots union.
The local government for the municipality of Milan is preparing to sell most of its remaining holding in the Malpensa and Linate airports authority, SEA, with the divestiture of a 50% stake expected to raise at least €750 million ($927 million) for the financially beleaguered city. This decision follows last year’s sale of a 29.7% stake to Italian investment fund F2I for €385 million.
LOT Polish Airlines may outsource its narrowbody aircraft routes to another carrier as part of its new reorganization plan. Maurice Boyle, plenipotentiary of the management board for operations and maintenance, told delegates at the Embraer Central European airline conference in Istanbul that LOT may emulate an arrangement employed by Finnair to contract U.K. carrier Flybe to operate Finnair routes with its Embraer 190s.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - Chicago O’Hare, May 15-21, 2012, Top Carriers - Chicago O’Hare, May 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Departures Airport Share ASMs mil) Airport Share Seats/D
Hawker Beechcraft is facing a June 30 deadline to file its reorganization plan and disclosure statement, and is expected to confirm its reorganization by November to meet its planned exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection by year-end. The Wichita airframer is hoping to emerge from Chapter 11 under new ownership through a restructuring plan that would eliminate $2.5 billion of the company’s debt and $125 million in annual interest expenses.
Lufthansa will look at several aircraft types for its upcoming campaigns to replace Airbus A340-300s and A340-600s, with Boeing 787-9, -10X and the 777-9X possible candidates to compete with the Airbus A350-900 and -1000. The German carrier is in the process of renewing its large widebody fleet, and already is replacing its 30 747-400s with a combination of 17 A380s and 20 747-8s. The first 747-8 arrived last month and made its first revenue flight on June 1 on the Frankfurt-Washington route.
AerCap CEO Aengus Kelly tells Aviation Week that his leasing company will look for “significant” deferrals in aircraft deliveries as a sign that the time is ripe to negotiate another big fleet order, although he notes that there have, as yet, not been enough deferrals to signify a trend. Southwest Airlines just deferred 20 of 41 scheduled 2013 deliveries of Boeing’s 737-800 aircraft, and 10 of the 39 Boeing 737-700s and 737-800s scheduled for 2014, but Kelly says he considers that an outlier because of the leverage Southwest has with the aircraft maker.
Lawmakers are threatening to withhold $5 million from the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Office of General Counsel until the agency releases the repair station security final rule. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials have said they plan to issue the rule by year-end after years of delay. But in the version of the DHS fiscal 2013 appropriations bill currently before the U.S. House of Representatives, lawmakers express concern “about the lack of progress made” over the rule, which was mandated by Congress in 2003.
October 9, 2012 RAI Amsterdam, The Netherlands Discover effective maintenance technology solutions and systems to streamline critical operational needs, and more importantly, effective operational strategies to leverage and integrate. Learn more and register today at www.aviationweek.com/events Click here to view the pdf
The first airport in St. Vincent and the Grenadines able to accept narrowbody and widebody aircraft is on track to open by February 2014, and the head of the country’s tourism authority is now in talks with airlines to initiate air service. According to Glen Beache, CEO of the St. Vincent and the Grenadines Tourism Authority, the most promising prospect for the new Argyle International Airport is Canadian operator WestJet, although in an exclusive interview with Aviation Week he acknowledged that no firm commitment has been reached.
RTCA’s 2012 Annual Symposium opens today with the theme of Advancing the Goals of NextGen. The two-day event, which is taking place at the Washington Convention Center, opens with a keynote address by Michael Huerta, acting FAA Administrator, before JetBlue Airways President and CEO Dave Barger joins with NBAA, FAA, NATCA, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and European officials to present the NextGen Advisory Committee’s ideas on how to successfully implement the program.
Bombardier does not expect any undue pressure from Delta Air Lines’ planned reduction of its Bombardier CRJ100/200 fleet, which could cut close to 200 aircraft from the carrier’s feeder operations in the coming years.
Delta Air Lines completed its proposed $65 million investment in Aeromexico, a move that gives the U.S. carrier a roughly 4.2% holding in its SkyTeam partner and continues a redevelopment plan that includes the recent purchase of an oil refinery, major revisions to its pilot scope clauses and funding the Chapter 11 reorganization of regional operator Pinnacle Airlines.
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India’s federal aviation ministry has proposed a uniform pay scale for all pilots groups at state-owned Air India to resolve long-standing disharmony among the carrier’s crew members. Under the proposal from a committee headed by Justice C.S. Dharmadhikari convened to investigate the 2007 merger of Air India and Indian Airlines, the company will now employ equal pay scales and consistent working hours for pilots from the two legacy carriers, two issues that have been the cause of several strike actions since the merger.
International Airlines Group has agreed to sell BMI Regional to Aberdeen-based Sector Aviation Holdings £8 million ($12.3 million) in cash pending approval from U.K. regulators. Sector Aviation—a group led by Ian Woodley and funded by Loganair investors Stephen and Peter Bond—will assume all BMI Regional assets and liabilities, including the fleet of 18 owned and leased Embraer ERJ-135 and -145 regional jets.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - New York Kennedy-May 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers - New York Kennedy-May 15-21, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs
