Ryanair will formally turn Palma Airport into a base but has coupled the decision to strengthen its Spanish footprint with a capacity decrease at Alicante.
Airbus and Boeing are each observing 7,000 delivery milestones of a different kind this week. Airbus is celebrating the delivery of its 7,000th aircraft, an A321, while Boeing will hand over the 7,000th 737.
The FAA has granted Boeing type-design approval for four 777 models to fly 330 min. extended operations (ETOPS), boosting the long-distance safety rating by 123 min. The new rule will enable carriers operating in the South Pacific, over the North Pole and from Australia to South America to fly the most direct routes. The first carrier to take advantage of the new rule, Air New Zealand, applied it to service in early December, flying from Los Angeles to Auckland, New Zealand.
The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (Speea) has approved a 9.5-year contract at Spirit AeroSystems’ main factory in Wichita that includes pay based on company performance, plus a $2,000 signing bonus. The contract is for Speea’s Wichita Technical and Professional Unit (WTPU) and takes effect immediately. It covers 2,300 employees, but the vote attracted fewer than half of them. It was approved by a 72% margin, 548 to 210. A second measure authorizing a strike should the contract vote fail was approved by 82.5%.
Buoyed by a record-setting order from Southwest Airlines, Boeing says it now has 13 customers for its 737 MAX and believes it could have 1,400 to 1,500 firm commitments for the aircraft by the end of 2012. Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, made the prediction during a press briefing today about Southwest’s firm order for 150 737 MAX narrowbodies and 58 additional 737NG aircraft. Southwest will be the launch customer for the MAX, with the first four deliveries scheduled for 2017.
Click here to view the pdf Nonstop Segment Performance: Latin America/Caribbean-U.S., 12 Months Ending June 2011, Ranked By Onboard Passengers Onboard ASMs % Chg. Seats Per Load
GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes and takeover target Webjet Linhas Aereas Economicas have started interlining under a limited arrangement permitted by a Brazilian regulator while it investigates the antitrust implication of the proposed acquisition. The two airlines will also rationalize their networks, citing a need to “avoid overlap” and enable them to increase flight frequencies and the number of destinations. It also readies the networks for an eventual merger.
Ethiopian Airlines is looking at Asia for future network expansion now that the airline has officially joined Star Alliance. “We are considering Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Guangzhou as additional destinations,” Ethiopian CEO Tewolde Gebremariam said on the sidelines of the official joining ceremony in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Australia’s Skywest Airlines has more than doubled its order of ATR 72-600 turboprops, enabling the carrier to handle more of Virgin Australia’s regional network. Skywest has boosted its ATR 72-600 order by five aircraft to a total of nine, in addition to four -500s that have already been delivered. Skywest operates the turboprops on behalf of Virgin Australia, adding new services and replacing Embraer 170 jets on many regional routes. Virgin intends to phase out its E170 fleet, although it will retain its larger E190s.
Former FAA Administrator and Piper Chairman J. Lynn Helms died Dec. 11 in Westport, Conn. He was 86. Helms served as the eighth FAA administrator, from April 1981 through January 1984, steering the agency during the 1981 Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization strike. He is credited with overseeing the development of the agency’s first annual National Airspace System plan in January 1982, a 20-year blueprint for an air traffic control and air navigation system that would accommodate expected growth in air travel.
Star Alliance is taking a wait-and-see approach toward its Latin American membership base. The CEOs of several Star Alliance members attending the Chief Executive Board (CEB) meeting in Addis Ababa said there is no plan to reverse the decision to admit Avianca-Taca as a member next year, even though that could mean the alliance will lose its largest member in the region, TAM Brazil.
Virgin Atlantic appears to be back in the bidding to buy BMI British Midland. Lufthansa, which owns BMI, confirmed yesterday that Virgin has bid for the money-losing carrier and that it now has the same chances as International Airlines Group (IAG). The development comes as a major surprise because last month Lufthansa said it had reached an agreement in principle with British Airways and Iberia parent IAG for the sale of BMI.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce says demand has rebounded strongly in the wake of an industrial action campaign and a temporary fleet grounding that damaged the carrier’s public image.
Emirates Airlines expects to take delivery of an Airbus A380 line-fitted with OnAir’s connectivity and telephone system in the middle of next year as part of a program the carrier launched yesterday with 11 of 19 A380s that were retrofitted with the connectivity system.
Eleven flights in October exceeded the U.S. Transportation Department’s (DOT) new tarmac-delay time limit for international services departing or arriving in the U.S., the DOT revealed yesterday. Five of the flights were operated by Continental Airlines, two by Delta Air Lines, and one each by American Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines, Pakistan International Airlines and Jet Airways.
A Boeing 787-8 that returned to Seattle in the early hours of Dec. 8 after spending 40 of the previous 42 hours in the air, arrived “clean” with zero technical issues, or “squawks,” say flight test insiders. The achievement capped a round-the-world flight that established two world records—for speed and distance—in the twinjet’s 440,000-550,000 lb. weight class. The aircraft used for the flight, ZA006, was powered by the Block 4 standard of General Electric GEnx-1B engines, rather than the more recent performance improvement package (PIP 1) configuration.
The European Union’s emissions trading system (ETS) was not the only item on the agenda at the Joint Committee meeting between the EU and the U.S. on Dec. 8. Lost in the headlines about the ETS, which goes into effect for airlines on Jan. 1, were debates about other potentially contentious issues, including landing rights and elements of the EU’s “Better Airports” package of legislative proposals.
Hawaiian Airlines’ growth plans and international expansion netted the carrier a nod from Maxim Group analyst Ray Neidl. Hawaiian is expanding in Asia and replacing its older Boeing 767 fleet with newer Airbus A330s, which offer the added benefit of 30 more seats than the 767s. The new fleet opens up longer routes in Asia. Additionally, Hawaiian is planning to begin a New York route next year, when it takes delivery of another A330. Neidl notes Hawaiian’s growth plans call for one to two new aircraft each year.
Fokker says Australian regional carrier Skywest will be the first to operate Fokker 100s with the satellite-based navigation system known as automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B). The Skywest Fokker 100s will use ADS-B Out to comply with new requirements by Airservices Australia for the use of ADS-B Out in upper airspace, beginning in December 2013. This will also allow the aircraft to be used in certain lower airspace in Western Australia, where Airservices plans to roll out ADS-B coverage in the future.
AMR Corp.’s bankruptcy filing may not have an outsize effect on bond ratings of airports where American Airlines has a large presence, but that depends on whether the airline sticks to its stated promise not to cut capacity substantially, analysts say.
