Etihad Airways is buying its way into the European market with a 29.2% stake in struggling Air Berlin with a transaction the Abu Dhabi-based carrier’s CEO calls a “game-changing deal for Etihad.”
FAA has begun accepting and implementing direct requests from aircraft owners seeking to block their registration information from near-real-time flight-tracking programs, the agency says. The agency on Dec. 16 published a notice formally announcing its plans to restore the Block Aircraft Registration Request (BARR) program, which had been significantly scaled back last summer at the behest of the U.S. Department of Transportation. FAA in June issued a policy limiting BARR participation to only those operators who could demonstrate a valid security concern.
Amid mounting financial problems and reports that it has grounded 15 aircraft, Kingfisher Monday said it would join the Oneworld alliance in February, making it the first airline from the Indian subcontinent to join one of the global airline alliances. “It will strengthen us financially, through revenues from passengers transferring to our network from our Oneworld partners and the cost-reduction opportunities the alliance offers,” said Chairman Vijay Mallya.
A top executive at Lion Air, Indonesia’s largest domestic carrier, predicts a massive shake-out will leave the country’s airline industry with only four airline groups in six or seven years. The other carriers will be forced either to merge or close, Lion Air President Director Rusdi Kirana said from Singapore, where he was helping promote last week’s launch of Lion Air’s Singapore-Surabaya service.
The U.S. is threatening to take “appropriate action” if the EU does not change course on the inclusion of international aviation in the emissions trading scheme (ETS), Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a Dec. 16 letter also signed by Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood.
Qantas achieved a major breakthrough in its damaging fight against its largest labor groups when its engineers union approved a contract deal with the carrier. The airline’s agreement with the Australian Licensed Engineers Association (ALAEA) does not include the union demands that Qantas was most concerned about. While the ALAEA says it won a job security commitment, this clause is essentially the same as the one in the previous engineers’ contract.
Qantas Airways and Virgin Australia have opened a new front in their increasingly fierce rivalry as they attempt to outdo each other with advanced inflight entertainment (IFE) systems.
Boeing 787 launch customer All Nippon Airways confirms that the late delivery of its third 787 is delaying its plans to introduce the aircraft on scheduled international service. ANA’s third 787 is to be its first in international long-haul configuration, and the carrier has been waiting for this aircraft to arrive, so it can begin putting the 787 on selected international routes. The third aircraft was due in November, but is now expected to arrive in late December.
FlyDubai is setting up its own cargo division. FlyDubai Cargo, which will become operational Jan. 1, aims to market belly space on the Dubai-based, low-fare airline. CEO Gaith al-Gaith says all 46 of the airline’s destinations will be offered and FlyDubai will also add further markets through interline agreements. The carrier expects to carry 1,500 tons of cargo per month initially. Shipments will be transported using electronic documents, rather than paper air waybills.
Although air passenger traffic overall is growing, the share of that traffic flying on premium seats is falling, presaging a global economic slowdown, new data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) suggest. International trade growth has been slowing since July, correlating roughly with a contraction in premium traffic. “Although not all business travel is trade-related, the [data] is a good proxy for factors driving activity not only in manufacturing, but also in finance and consulting,” the IATA study says.
You wouldn’t know it from reading the headlines, but the aerospace and defense industry turned in a strong performance in 2011. A new forecast released last week by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) projects that sales will end the year at $218 billion, up 3.5% from 2010. U.S. contractors are expected to see sales of military aircraft rise 7%, civil aircraft grow by 3% and missiles and space increase by 2% each. “It’s not as bad as we expected,” says Bill Chadwick, research director at the Washington-based trade group.
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact: Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) Feb. 1-2, 2012—MRO Middle East 2012, Dubai, United Arab Emirates March 7—54th Annual Laureate Awards, Washington March 13-14—Innovation Supply Chain Showcase, Orlando, Fla. April 3-5—MRO Americas 2012, Dallas April 3-5—MRO Military Conference & Exhibition, Dallas Nov. 29-Dec. 1—Certification Together-AeroConseil, Toulouse
Garuda Indonesia is expected to announce soon that the Bombardier CRJ1000 is the winner of its much-anticipated order for regional jet aircraft. Industry executives say Garuda’s management has decided to order the CRJ1000, the largest of the CRJ family of aircraft, but cannot announce a decision yet because it still is subject to approval by the airline's board. A Garuda spokesman Friday declined to say if the CRJ1000 has won. “We have no information to share at this point,” he added. The other contender in the competition is the Embraer 190.
Despite lawmakers’ efforts to pass an FAA reauthorization bill by the end of this month, leadership talks that would have resolved the final issues have ground to a halt. U.S. Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) says he presented a plan to congressional leadership that would wrap up work on the bill before the FAA’s operating authority expires on Jan. 31, 2012. However, with only a handful of workdays in January, reauthorization could be in line for its 23rd extension.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 11-13, 2012—Association of United States Army’s ILW Aviation Symposium and Exposition, Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center, National Harbor, Md., www.ausa.org/meetings/2012/symposia Jan. 11-13—Airports Council International-NA Insurance & Risk Management Conference, New Orleans, www.aci-na.org/conferences
Lufthansa plans to launch another cost-savings program next year, CEO Christoph Franz says in the airline’s staff newspaper, Lufthanseat. “While we will manage to close the year with a positive operating result, it will be well below the figure we require in order to secure our company and our jobs in the future,” Franz said.
