Air France-KLM’s board of directors as expected, has approved, a split order of Boeing 787s and Airbus A350XWBs in the twin-widebody competition. It is the first major group order by Air France-KLM aimed at satisfying both airlines’ demands and trying to generate savings by placing a single, larger order.
Airline Passenger Experience Association , Seattle, elected Chris Babb, Delta Air Lines senior product manager-customer experience, president, succeeding Patrick Brannelly; Linda Celestino, Oman Air general manager-inflight services will serve as VP. New members joining the board are Luary Qunash, director-inflight product at Royal Jordanian; Alfy Veretto, manager-IFE content/partnerships for Virgin America, and Ian Walberg, CEO of Airborne Interactive.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has certified the ATR 72-500 for unpaved runways, boosting the European airframer’s efforts to sell the aircraft in the developing world. The older -200 model already had EASA approval for dirt strip landings, but now the regulator has granted approval for the -500 as well, says ATR Eastern Support President Laurent Negre.
Singapore Changi Airport has added 90 roving customer service officers, who speak at least 20 languages and are equipped with iPad computers, to assist travelers. “Traveling can be stressful, and we believe that going the extra mile to help our passengers will result in a positive experience for them at Changi,” says Samantha Lee, spokesman for Changi Airport Group. The airport, which handled 42 million passengers in 2010, typically ranks at the top in industry evaluations and ratings.
Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has appointed Ahmad Jauhari bin Yahya as managing director, succeeding Azmil Zahruddin, who left after it was announced that MAS and AirAsia would become aligned. Ahmad will become managing director, effective Sept. 19. He is currently non-executive director of national airports operator Malaysia Airport Holdings and CEO of biofuels producer Premium Renewable Energy. Azmil left last month to join Malaysia’s state-owned investment arm, Khazanah, the single largest shareholder in MAS.
The U.S. Transportation Department is proposing a ban on the use of electronic cigarettes on all scheduled service flights within, to or from the U.S., and also is considering extending the existing smoking ban to most charter flights.
Delta Air Lines reports that it achieved significant savings in flight time and fuel in a long-haul flexible routing trial program coordinated by the International Air Transport Association (IATA). The trial was conducted on the Johannesburg-Atlanta route, the longest in Delta’s system. It used the iFlex concept, which was developed by IATA and is designed to give airlines more flexibility in selecting flight routes depending on weather and wind conditions.
Boeing’s 777 order count has increased by eight, rising to 118 for the year. The company did not identify on its website who placed the orders. No other orders were reported for the period, which ended Sept. 14. Total net orders for all Boeing aircraft this year stand at 382.
Additional testing for GPS interference is required before a decision can be made on whether to allow LightSquared to deploy its revised broadband wireless network, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has decreed. After testing showed widespread interference with GPS receivers, LightSquared modified its proposed terrestrial network to operate at lower power and only in the lower of its two frequency bands, the one furthest from GPS satellite signals.
Snecma says tests of new generation open rotors under way in Europe and the U.S. clearly indicate the concept will comfortably meet existing and future noise rules. Snecma’s verdict echoes preliminary noise findings by Rolls-Royce. It also reinforces views expressed by NASA that the path to service entry seems increasingly likely to be dominated by issues over certification and installation, rather than environmental compliance.
Airlines are lambasting U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) proposed rules to collect more detailed information on amounts and types of ancillary revenue collected, calling them costly “public utility-type reporting requirements” that have no place in an industry deregulated more than 30 years ago.
The board of cash-strapped Air India somewhat surprisingly has decided to go ahead with the acquisition of 27 Boeing 787s despite the fact that a government official said recently the airline didn’t have the money to pay for the aircraft. At its first meeting under new Chairman and Managing Director Rohit Nandan, the Air India board decided that it wants the 787 acquisition to be part of its overall expansion program. The state-run airline will seek the federal government’s approval for the purchase, an airline official said.
Massachusetts Port Authority approved a $140 million capital program Thursday to replace Boston Logan International Airport’s baggage screening equipment and remodel screening areas. The project will take three years and will be funded by a $68 million grant from the Transportation Security Administration and $22 million from Massport. Another $50 million from TSA is earmarked for second-generation, in-line screening equipment.
A federal judge has dismissed two of the four counts in a US Airways antitrust lawsuit against the Sabre global distribution system, apparently rejecting the airline’s arguments that the GDS provider’s hold over its subset of travel agent customers constitutes a monopoly.
Private Indian airline Jet Airways has entered an arrangement with Thalys high-speed rail service for its first intermodal code-share, between Brussels and Paris. Under the code-share, Jet Airways will place its code on the Thalys-operated direct train service between the train station at Brussels Airport and Paris Nord, the carrier said in a Sept. 15 statement.
The U.S. Transportation Department’s tarmac delay rule on domestic flights has substantially increased flight cancellations, the Government Accountability Office concluded in a new report that could reignite the debate over whether to alter or even scrap the rule.
In a move to bolster European aftermarket services, Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services has received a maintenance certification for Ukraine and will support charter airline Air Italy’s fleet of Boeing aircraft. The Ukraine maintenance certification will enable Boeing Shanghai to perform line and base maintenance work on Boeing 767-200 and-300 aircraft for Ukraine-based customers. This certification supplements previous deals with China, the U.S., Korea, Thailand, Bangladesh, Bermuda and Europe.
Brazilian carrier GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes will operate its frequent flyer program as a separate business unit within the larger company as part of its latest corporate restructuring effort. The operator, which last reorganized its business structure in 2009, is reducing the number of VPs from four to three and consolidating its organization from 25 to 21 “areas” in this latest reshuffle.
The bill to extend the FAA’s operating authority is in peril again. Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) won’t agree to the bill because of a provision on transportation enhancements in the highway bill that is moving through Congress with the FAA extension. “I’m not interested in holding up the FAA bill,” Coburn says, going on to blast the offending portion of the highway bill. “I’m interested in not spending money that doesn’t help bridges and highways and wasting 10% of the surface transportation budget on something that doesn’t help anybody.”
A detailed study of the impact of departure metering of aircraft at John F. Kennedy International Airport indicates substantial fuel and carbon emission benefits as well as a savings of 14,800 fewer departure hours of taxi time per year.
