The Bank of Communications has joined the line-up of Chinese state companies that are signing contracts for Comac C919 airliners, announcing an “order” for 30 of the 158-seat aircraft. The deal was signed by the bank’s leasing arm and follows contracts announced last month covering 20 C919s for Sichuan Airlines and 45 for the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. Comac now has contracts covering the supply of 195 C919s.
U.S. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) is again calling on Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole to commission an independent study of the health effects of passenger screening machines. Pistole had told Collins during a Nov. 2 Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing that he would start a study of the backscatter Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines, said Collins. But Pistole then told the Senate Commerce Committee–and CNN–that a Homeland Security Inspector General report would suffice.
Because of observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, Aviation Daily will not publish issues dated Friday, Nov. 25, and Monday, Nov. 28. The next issue will be dated Tuesday, Nov. 29. For those Aviation Daily customers who also have access to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network, coverage will be continuous.
Singapore-based lessor BOC Aviation has become the first non-U.S. leasing company to order Embraer E-Jets, a move the leasing company’s CEO sees as a good way to spread risk and get access to new customers. The company on Nov. 22 announced an order for 15 Embraer E-190s with deliveries set to begin in the fourth quarter of 2012 and continue through 2014.
Competition between Latin America’s leading airline groups continues with AviancaTaca’s push into LAN Airlines’ domestic market in Chile through a broad code-share arrangement with Santiago-based Sky Airlines. The arrangement starts with a reciprocal code-sharing deal between Sky and AviancaTaca’s TACA Airlines division that was signed this week and expands in the first quarter next year with a similar accord between the Chilean airline and Colombia’s Avianca, if the requisite government approvals are granted.
Christian Schleifer, an engineer and an official in the Austrian Civil Aviation Authority, has been appointed president of the Air Navigation Commission, the technical body of the International Civil Aviation Organization. The ICAO Council named him to succeed Mervyn Gerard Fernando of Singapore, who headed the commission for the past two years.
A few North American legacy carriers are once again attempting to integrate low-cost operations into their mainline networks. The concept was most recently adopted by North American operators some 10 years ago, when so-called low-cost subsidiaries emerged as the apparent salvation for mainline carriers fixated on retaining leisure passengers after the lucrative business sector all but disappeared in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.
Vietnamese national carrier Vietnam Airlines is being prepared for a partial privatization, according to local reports quoting a directive from the country’s deputy prime minister, Vu Van Ninh,
A Facebook executive is appealing to travel companies to make more use of the social platform to market and sell their products and services, especially with the pending launch of the “Timeline,” an alternative to Facebook profiles that will seek to tell each user’s life story.
Canadian carrier WestJet has announced it is one of the winning bidders for eight slot pairs at New York LaGuardia Airport. The auction, which divested two “bundles” of eight slot pairs at LaGuardia and eight more pairs at Washington National Airport, was ordered by FAA as a condition of its approval for a major “slot swap” between Delta Air lines and US Airways that will enable the two carriers to consolidate their operations in New York and Washington, respectively.
Hong Kong Airlines and subsidiary Hong Kong Express in the next four years will receive almost three times as many aircraft as they now operate, including 21 of 30 Airbus A320s ordered in 2007 but not yet delivered. The remaining new aircraft will be 30 widebodies. The HNA Group company says that next year it will receive 14 aircraft: six Airbus A330s and eight A320s. In 2013, a further 18 aircraft will arrive: eight A330s, eight A320s and two A380s.
JetBlue Airways’ Caribbean expansion will continue on April 30, when its launches a twice-daily nonstop service between Fort Lauderdale and Kingston, Jamaica. “We talk about the importance of the Caribbean to JetBlue—we look at markets like Jamaica, where we’ve seen a phenomenal response to our brand—and we just can’t wait to add more service,” says Chief Commercial Officer Robin Hayes. The airline will operate Airbus A320s and Embraer 190s on the route.
A federal judge in Texas dismissed all but one count of American Airlines’ antitrust lawsuit against Travelport, the GDS provider says in a Securities & Exchange Commission filing. But American insists it can still win the suit, which targets both Travelport and Sabre.
Kingfisher Airlines and Jet Airways both need infusions of capital if they are to stay afloat, according to their respective auditors. B. K. Ramadhyani & Co., which audits debt-ridden Kingfisher Airlines, says, the carrier’s ability to meet its financial obligations is “dependent on the company’s ability to infuse the requisite funds.” Kingfisher reported a loss of 4.69 billion rupees ($89.3 million) in the quarter ended Sept. 30, 2011, compared with 2.31 billion rupees in the same period last year, mainly because of higher fuel prices.
Great Lakes Aviation no longer owes Raytheon Aircraft Credit Corp. any money, and the former aircraft maker no longer owns any of the regional airline’s stock. The deal also gets Raytheon out of the aircraft financing business: Cheyenne, Wyo.-based Great Lakes was the last Credit Corp. customer for the defense electronics giant, which got out of the commercial aircraft business in 2007, when it sold Raytheon Aircraft—now called Hawker Beechcraft—to private equity investors for $3.3 billion.
Because of observance of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, Aviation Daily will not publish issues dated Friday, Nov. 25, and Monday, Nov. 28. The next issue will be dated Tuesday, Nov. 29. For those Aviation Daily customers who also have access to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network, coverage will be continuous.
Punta Cana International Airport, the top destination in the Dominican Republic, will inaugurate a new runway and air traffic control tower on Nov. 25. Runway 08/26 is 10,171 ft. long and 150 ft. wide. It was built by the airport’s private operator, Grupo Puntacana, to meet growing demand, says President and CEO Frank Rainieri. The tower houses a terminal approach radar control facility and a weather observation station. The station provides backup to the national radar system located in Santo Domingo.
Lufthansa Cargo shifted two MD-11Fs from its Asian network onto the North Atlantic and into Houston and Los Angeles because of weakness in the China market, but while China traffic is hurting, the carrier does not see a broad collapse in demand next year.
FAA should refrain from creating any equipage mandates for cockpit systems that rely on data feeds from automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B), an industry advisory panel recommends. The ADS-B Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC) says it supports the use of ADS-B “Out,” but it believes it is far too early to consider requiring ADS-B “In.” ADS-B Out provides surveillance data for ground-based controllers, while ADS-B In provides information for use in cockpit systems.
