With fuel prices expected to stay high for the near future, operating lessors believe their industry is poised to grow strongly as airlines seek to replace aging, inefficient aircraft with younger, more fuel-efficient models.
Piper has appointed a sales agent for India in its quest to boost its presence in the region. Aircraft Search & Aviation Professionals (ASAP) has been appointed the sales agent, Piper director of sales for Asia Pacific, Dana Cox, told Aviation Week yesterday on the sidelines of the India Aviation Exhibition in Hyderabad.
Copa Holdings’ top executive confirms that the Panamanian operator expects to formally join Star Alliance in April, asserting that its membership will make Copa a focal point for the alliance’s growth across Latin America. The airline was invited to join Star in November 2010 along with Central American rival AviancaTaca. There have been few updates on either integration, however, and the only recent movement at AviancaTaca has been a code-share accord with SkyTeam alliance co-founder Aeromexico.
Brazil’s GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes this summer plans to launch a daily service between its Sao Paulo hub and Miami. The Boeing 737 service is scheduled to launch June 29, with a technical stop in Caracas included in the route application filed with the U.S. Transportation Department. GOL already has been granted the authority by Brazilian regulators, which also are awaiting at least one more U.S. route application from GOL.
The air freight market showed signs of weakness in the first quarter as fuel costs remain stubbornly high and demand remains weak, new data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show. Economic uncertainty reigns in Europe, and consumer confidence is flagging, even in China, both of which are putting pressure on air cargo.
China will build an airport to serve 30 million people in central and southern Hunan, following approval by the country’s chief economic coordination agency. In anticipation of approval, the authorities have been acquiring land and demolishing buildings. Construction is not due to begin until the second half of this year but should be completed in 2013 at a cost of 656 million yuan ($104 million).
InterGlobe General Aviation, the Indian sales agent and distributor for Hawker Beechcraft and some other aircraft makers, has changed its name to InterGlobe Established (Estd) The company’s president and CEO, Nigel Harwood, says the name change reflects a repositioning of the company, which is now marketing luxury lifestyle brands in other segments, such as automotive and boating.
Rolls-Royce has been forced to make small changes to its Trent 900s, which power the Airbus A380, because of oil leaks discovered during in-service operations.
Pinnacle Airlines wants to terminate the seven Essential Air Service (EAS) destinations its subsidiary Colgan Airlines operates for United Airlines just weeks before the mainline carrier is expected to conclude a review of both Colgan’s and Pinnacle’s feeder contracts.
Austrian Airlines’ survival will be decided at a Lufthansa supervisory board meeting today, after Austrian’s pilots rejected a new wage deal proposed by the carrier’s CEO, Jaan Albrecht. Austrian’s board of directors was unable to finalize a restructuring plan that has been in the making for several months.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) has issued business licenses to three would-be general aviation (GA) operators, but all have yet to start operations. The three business license holders are Ho Chi Minh City-based Blue Sky and Vietstar and Seagull, which is located in the seaside town of Nha Trang, the director of the air transport department at the CAAV, Vo Huy Cuong, tells Aviation Week in Hanoi.
Southwest Airlines says higher fuel prices than expected, combined with some consumer resistance to most recent fare increases, likely will push the carrier to a first-quarter loss. But the largest low-cost carrier in the U.S. is not changing its business plan for the year—yet. “We were planning for stable, albeit high, fuel prices [for this year],” CFO Laura Wright said March 13 at the JPMorgan Aviation, Transportation & Defense Conference in New York. “To date that has not held true in the first quarter.”
Dramatic shifts in fare structures in early 2011 and weakened demand in February are pressuring year-on-year comparisons this quarter, although a revival in bookings should produce solid unit revenue trends for March, says US Airways President Scott Kirby.
Kingfisher Airlines has canceled more than one quarter of its flights since Monday because many pilots have failed to report for work as India’s tax authorities continue to freeze the carrier’s bank accounts over non-payment of taxes. “Yes, there is difficulty. But we are doing the best we can under the circumstances,” says Chairman Vijay Mallya. “The focus is on making sure that traveling interests of public are held high.” The airline is operating only 160 flights a day, down from 400 six months ago.
Adding its voice to the growing call for science-based flight crew flight time limitations (FTL) for all operators, the U.K. pilots union, the Independent Pilots Association (IPA), has produced a DVD, “Pilot Fatigue,” that it is sending to every U.K. legislator and “aviation-interested party” on the ongoing issue of crew fatigue. The IPA’s intent is to “ensure everyone is aware of the serious consequences of failing to have properly created, science-based FTLs.”
