Sennheiser , Old Lyme, Conn., promoted John Falcone to VP-sales, Americas, from president of Sennheiser Electronic Corp., where he will be succeeded by Greg Beebe. Markus Warlitz was appointed general manager of Sennheiser Latin America.
Allegiant Air expects to allow customers to book hotels on a standalone basis on its website within the first half of next year, and eventually to book itineraries that include flights on other airlines.
The congressional leadership of commercial aviation is changing again, as another Democratic lawmaker has announced he will not run for re-election. Rep. John Olver (D-Mass.), the chairman of the House Appropriations panel in charge of FAA funding, is retiring at the end of this term. He has been in office since 1991. Olver’s announcement follows closely on the heels of one made by Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure aviation subcommittee.
The Singapore government is making a $300 million equity commitment in Irish lessor Avolon. The money from the Government of Singapore Investment Corp. still requires regulatory approval and brings the total equity Avolon has raised to $1.4 billion in the past 18 months and to more than $4 billion since the business was set up, the lessor says.
The Civil Aviation Administration of Singapore (CAAS) is banning all Antonov An-12s from operating to Singapore. “In view of safety concerns over the continuing airworthiness of the Antonov-12 aircraft, CAAS has stopped granting permission for An-12 aircraft operations into Singapore. Effective Nov. 1, no An-12s will be operating in Singapore,” says a CAAS spokeswoman, in a written response to a query from Aviation Week.
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) Nov. 2-3—Engine MRO Forum, Istanbul Nov. 7—China Business Aviation Forum, Beijing Nov. 8-10—MRO Asia, Beijing Nov. 16-17—Lean Six Sigma for MRO Europe, Amsterdam Nov. 30-Dec. 1—Aerospace & Defense Finance Conference, New York Feb. 1-2—MRO Middle East 2012, Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Introducing the Aero 100 Airfare Benchmark Index Designed for anyone with risk on the future level of airfares – for example Airlines, Banks/Credit Card Companies, Corporate Travel Managers, etc. The Aero 100 Airfare Benchmark Index tracks daily airfares within the domestic airline market. The Aero 100 delivers financial risk mitigation and protection against constant fluctuation of airline ticket prices by providing the price settling mechanism for Commodity Futures Contracts.
Lufthansa revised downwards its capacity plans for next year, given the current market uncertainties. The airline plans to grow capacity by 3%, down from 9% as originally envisaged. The move comes after forward bookings proved to be increasingly volatile but are far from showing a fundamental decline. The airline plans to accelerate the retirement of 38 aircraft to 2012. The initiative includes nine long-haul aircraft (Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A340-300s) and 29 narrowbodies.
Brazil’s competition authority has mandated that GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes retain recently acquired Webjet Linhas Aereas as a separate operation while it continues its investigation into the purchase.
TransAsia, Taiwan’s third-largest carrier, has secured Taiwanese Paradigm Venture Partners and businessman Maurice Savart as investors, part of its initial public offering on the Taipei stock exchange.
Not only does Boeing not expect to see the 787 program turn profitable for at least another decade, the company says the stretched Boeing 787-9’s development has slipped into early 2014, and its first passenger version of the 747-8 will be late as well.
Lufthansa CEO Christoph Franz has not yet given up on efforts to add the newly emerging LATAM Airlines group to Star Alliance. “We hope we can persuade LATAM that Star is the best alliance for them,” Franz said yesterday. He said that given the recent ruling by Chile’s antitrust authority, a quick decision is necessary.
Constellium will work on advanced aluminum for commercial aircraft through funding provided by the EU’s Clean Sky research effort. The project, called “Eco-Efficient Aluminum for Aircraft” (Edefa), has a budget of €473,000 ($667,000) funded equally by industry and taxpayers. The work targets aircraft fuselage skin applications, Constellium says.
India’s government will review the financial situation of the state-run Air India Oct. 28 and decide on the future of several aircraft purchase orders. A panel of federal ministers, led by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, was scheduled to meet yesterday, according to an official at the civil aviation ministry.
Two of the U.S. airline industry’s leading executives yesterday attacked Washington’s proposed departure tax and increased security fee while one also warned that Europe’s proposed emissions tax will create “a crazy patchwork” of regulations that will ultimately stifle the sector’s contribution to the global economy. “We are taxed as a sin; we are not a sin,” said Smisek during the operator’s third-quarter results conference call, noting that the entire industry generates $1.2 trillion for the U.S. economy each year.
Additional government testing of GPS receivers for interference from LightSquared’s broadband-wireless network under a revised deployment plan is getting under way at Holloman AFB, N.M. The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ordered the additional work after tests confirmed there would be severe GPS interference from the original deployment plan, but indicated the problem would be reduced significantly if LightSquared used only the lower of its two frequency bands, the one farthest from the GPS satellite signal.
The future of Shenzhen-based Jade Cargo International looks ever more uncertain. Lufthansa’s CEO Christoph Franz said yesterday that the group has to review its shareholdings under the aspect of value creation and he mentioned the cargo joint venture specifically. Franz said, “We are trying to find a stable partner [for Jade] after the old partner has shown not to be suitable.” He confirmed that negotiations are taking place without revealing more details.
A decline in air cargo traffic in the third quarter could augur further economic woes, data from International Air Transport Association (IATA) suggest.
