The European Parliament has voted to approve a deal with the U.S. over passenger name records, setting the stage for European Justice and Home Affairs ministers to endorse the accord on April 26, The issue has been contentious as the U.S. has pushed for access to information and the European Union expressed concerns about data privacy. The U.S. issued PNR requirements in 2007, but in 2010 the EU Parliament refused to vote on the issue, calling on the European Commission to work out a new deal.
Southwest Airlines will maintain AirTran’s fees for checked bags and ticket changes until it is fully integrated into Southwest in 2014, CEO Gary Kelly says. In other integration updates, Southwest says just 11 AirTran aircraft will move to Southwest’s livery this year, and the rest in 2013 and early 2014. Also, Southwest disclosed an agreement with Amadeus to implement reservations system modules at Southwest for international flights by 2014, which is critical to moving AirTran's near-international flights to Southwest.
Pinnacle Airlines CEO Sean Menke is resigning, just a month after receiving a $250,000 raise prior to the U.S. regional carrier’s restructuring under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Pinnacle did not immediately explain why Menke is leaving, but says it was his decision to resign, effective June 1. Chief Operating Officer John Spanjers will succeed him as CEO. Spanjers has been COO at Pinnacle since September 2011 and previously was president of Mesaba Aviation, which became a Pinnacle subsidiary in 2010.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs and Statistics, 12 Months Ended September 2011, Jet Aircraft Pages 5 and 6 of 11 MD90 Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglas
Just days before AMR Corp. enters a New York bankruptcy court to argue for the revocation of its current collective bargaining agreements, the airline’s top executive has warned that “those that seek to serve their own agendas” are hoping to derail the company’s reorganization. Next week’s hearing begins a process that allows the airline and then its three main unions to present their cases to the company’s bankruptcy court before the judge decides if the current labor agreements should be revoked, and if so, what should replace them.
Boeing’s decision to introduce a 737 MAX with next-generation General Electric engines should not immediately dilute lease rates on current generation 737NG when it enters service in 2017.
Cessna has begun to see a rebound in the market in 2012, with first-quarter orders outpacing the first three quarters of 2011 combined, but soft pricing is still hurting the company’s bottom line, says Scott Donnelly, chairman and CEO of Cessna parent Textron. Cessna delivered 38 Citations in the first quarter, up from 31 in the first quarter of 2011, and Donnelly says, “We continue to see improvement in customer activity. New orders were higher than last year’s first, second and third quarters combined, and our customer prospect list continues to improve.”
Delta Air Lines drove Pinnacle Airlines into bankruptcy and now is trying to “seize control” of the regional carrier—and avoid legal consequences for contributing to its downfall—under a debtor-in-possession financing agreement that gives Delta extraordinary and excessive power, some of Pinnacle’s large shareholders claim.
AAR Corp., which has been looking for a way to expand its airline maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) capacity for a year, is close to securing a former Northwest Airlines hangar in Duluth, Minn. It signed a letter of intent with the city of Duluth to lease 152,000 sq. ft. of the available 188,000-sq.-ft. facility that was built in 1996.
Austrian Airlines is pushing through dramatic changes in its structure in a last attempt to return to profitability. The airline’s board of directors decided on Thursday that flight operations, including aircraft, pilots and cabin crew, will be transferred from the parent company to regional subsidiary Tyrolean.
An airport advocacy group is urging Congress to allow for a tax exemption included in the massive surface transportation bill now entering final negotiations in Congress.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Costs and Statistics, 12 Months Ended September 2011, Jet Aircraft Pages 3 and 4 of 10 737-300 Manufacturer: Boeing
Brazil’s largest airline has revised its 2012 guidance as the country’s largest operators adapt to shifting demand patterns for domestic air services. With its latest revisions, Grupo TAM could reduce systemwide capacity 2%, compared to that provided in 2011, and at best will keep supply the same as last year, marking a two-percentage-point decline from guidance issued earlier this year when the airline declared that no new routes were planned for 2012 and that it will cut its fleet plan by two aircraft.
Just days after terminating its air services agreement with Jazz, Thomas Cook has assigned all operations for its Canadian winter season services to WestJet Airlines. Few details are being disclosed, although WestJet and Thomas Cook confirm that the carrier will replace Thomas Cook’s Boeing 757s with its 737s. WestJet also will retain the leases on three 737s due to be returned in 2013 to provide part of the lift requirements from this new deal, although the full extent of the capacity being provided is not being discussed by either company.
Cathay Pacific is halfway through the delivery schedule for its order of 50 Boeing 777-300ERs, and these aircraft are gradually replacing 747-400s on key long-haul routes. The airline has now taken delivery of 26 of the -300ERs, Cathay’s Engineering Director Christopher Gibbs tells Aviation Week. “They have almost completely taken over on North American routes and are starting to take over in Europe,” Gibbs says.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - London Gatwick, April 8-14, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers - London Gatwick, April 8-14, 2012, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Airport ASMs Airport
A new bilateral air services deal will triple the number of flights allowed between New Zealand and China, although Air New Zealand says the agreement does not go far enough. Under the pact, each side will be allowed three daily flights between the two countries, up from the current one. China Southern Airlines uses the entire Chinese allowance for Guangzhou-Auckland service, while Air New Zealand flies six times a week to Chinese destinations.
China’s Capital Helicopter has acquired authorization to run air taxi services. With China gradually opening its low-altitude airspace to civilian use, the Beijing-based company is aiming at a broad range of rotary wing operations across the country, with capital of 300 million yuan ($48 million). Capital Helicopter has three Eurocopter AS350B3 Squirrels in service and two on order, while also awaiting delivery of two EC135P2+ helicopters.
Delta Air Lines has acquired seven more MD-90 aircraft from Japan Airlines (JAL), the carrier disclosed in an April 18 message to employees. The purchase follows the acquisition of nine MD-90s from JAL last year (Aviation Daily, March 7, 2011).
Mubadala is waiting for legal advice on how it can consolidate its two maintenance, repair and overhaul organizations—ADAT and SR Technics—to further rationalize the businesses. The effort is part of a long-running effort by the United Arab Emirates investment company to improve the financial performance of the two entities and integrate them more closely. In November, Mubadala set up an umbrella company, the Mubadala MRO network, to help integrate its activities, but it wants to go further.
Hawker Beechcraft’s decision to halt production of the 400XP Beechjet and supplier issues with the Hawker 4000 held down deliveries in 2011, contributing to a larger decline in industry-wide business jet shipments, according to revised data released April 17 by the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA).
The House General Aviation Caucus leadership is circulating a letter to build support for a repeal of the so-called “fuel fraud” measure that calls for aviation jet fuel to be taxed at the highway diesel fuel rate. Caucus members, including Reps. Sam Graves (R-Mo.), John Barrow (D-Ga.), and Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), are collecting signatures for the letter and hope to deliver it by the end of the week to the House Ways and Means Committee, which will have jurisdiction over the fuel fraud tax measure.
Aerospace supplier Honeywell says it has signed an exclusive agreement with Inmarsat to provide global inflight connectivity services to business, commercial and government aviation customers. The services will be provided through London-based Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, the first Ka-band constellation designed to provide global inflight broadband to the aeronautical, maritime and land-mobile markets.
Bob Bailey has been appointed VP and CFO, Pratt & Whitney (P&W), and will become a member of the company’s Executive Committee, effective May 1. Bailey has worked for Pratt’s parent company, United Technologies Corp. (UTC), for two decades, including senior finance positions at P&W, Hamilton Sundstrand and UTC’s corporate office. He succeeds Rajeev Bhalla, who will take the role of VP and CFO at UTC’s Sikorsky unit. Bhalla has worked at P&W since 2005. Prior to that, he was VP and controller at Lockheed Martin.
