The FAA is stepping up its campaign against the growing problem of laser attacks on aircraft. The agency is launching a website at http://www.faa.gov/aircraft/safety/report/laserinfo/, which places laser attack information in one location, including downloadable videos.
Even though Air Europa does not expect the first of eight Boeing 787s to arrive until 2016, it is already considering leasing additional aircraft to fly long-haul routes. The move comes as the carrier expands its Airbus A330 fleet. Two leased Boeing 767s will be returned, and the A330 fleet will grow to 10 aircraft, says D. Mateo Sanchez, director of fleet planning.
The sale of BMI could be completed before the end of the year, Lufthansa CFO Stephan Gemkow said yesterday. Gemkow confirmed that the airline is “in advanced negotiations” but did not disclose further details. International Airlines Group (IAG) unit British Airways and Virgin Atlantic have publicly stated they are interested in buying the airline, mainly to take advantage of its significant portfolio of slots at London Heathrow Airport.
Nav Canada is continuing to expand its use of advanced surveillance technology with a new deal to install a multilateration system at Calgary International Airport.
Frankfurt Airport’s winter schedule starting with the time change on Oct. 30 features new flight connections with San Juan, Puerto Rico; Ras al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates; Tokyo Haneda; and three additional destinations in the U.K. The airport’s global network will increase to 107 passenger airlines offering 4,285 departures to 275 destinations in 111 countries. Thirty freighter carriers offer 240 departures a week to 84 destinations in 45 countries.
Germanwings will save costs and streamline technical services for its 30 Airbus A319 aircraft by bundling many aftermarket support functions under one provider and one fleet manager.
Flybe next week expects to field the first of its Embraer 175 regional jets as the regional carrier nears a decision on whether to exercise options for more of the aircraft type. The airline last year inked a deal with Embraer for 35 E175s, with options for 65 more and purchase rights for an additional 40. “We are in the throes of deciding on options,” says Andrew Strong, managing director of Flybe U.K.
American Airlines’ attempt to overhaul its labor contracts has resulted in a tentative agreement with its fleet services and ground workers that both sides are heralding as a success. The four-year deal provides a 6% bonus and a 3% increase at signing and 2% annual growth thereafter for some 11,000 workers. Holiday, vacation, sick leave and profit sharing are also improved, in return for an agreement to sign all new hires on defined contribution pension plans, rather than the defined benefit plans held by current workers.
LAN Airlines expects its merger with Brazil’s Grupo TAM to be completed in March as part of an expansion plan, under which the Santiago-based operator will also formally launch its LAN Colombia brand in December.
Airline fees for air traffic control (ATC) services will be cut dramatically under a plan finalized by Irish aviation regulators, and fees could be reduced even further thanks to a new initiative that will directly link service disruptions to price levels.
Virgin Australia is continuing to make progress in the impressive financial turnaround of its international long-haul operation. The carrier’s CEO, John Borghetti, tells airline analysts at a Sydney conference that the long-haul operation is again turning a profit in its 2012 fiscal year, which began on July 1. This followed an AU$22 million ($23 million) profit in fiscal 2010, which was a major swing from the $25 million loss in the long-haul business in fiscal 2009.
Embraer says its regional jet growth in Europe is coming increasingly from Eastern countries and former Soviet bloc states. “We are seeing some new markets emerging where the interest is becoming strong,” says Simon Newitt, VP for Europe at Embraer’s commercial aircraft division. In particular, he notes, “Eastern Europe is starting to open up” as airlines there mirror what their Western European rivals have undertaken.
China will be next to conduct a biofuel demonstration flight, with an Air China Boeing 747-700 expected to fly by the end of November on a blend of conventional and hydrotreated renewable jet fuel.
JetBlue Airways, providing more detail on the planned Embraer 190 order reductions it first talked about in June, says it has canceled 12 deliveries that were scheduled in 2014, 2017 and 2018 and deferred seven deliveries from 2013 and 2014 to 2018. But there could be more Embraer fleet adjustments to come.
ST Engineering will divulge details of its third-quarter 2011 results in the first week of November, but ST Aerospace has already announced that it signed $453 million in contracts during the period. These deals range from three to 18 months and include aircraft maintenance and modifications, component total support and engine total support contracts.
Boeing may need to roll another 10 or more 787s through its factories before it will see the last of the change-incorporation issues that are bedeviling production rates for the new twin-aisle jet, and executives now expect the program not to break even until after 2021.
Fijian carrier Air Pacific is switching from Boeing to Airbus for its future widebody needs, and also appears to be changing its fleet strategy from leasing to owning its aircraft.
Orient Thai Airlines’ CEO has confirmed that the carrier's Bangkok operations are now all at the city’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport until the flood waters recede from Bangkok Don Muang International Airport. Don Muang is now partially flooded, so airlines there have had to suspend operations. Orient Thai normally has its domestic operations at Don Muang and its international operations at Suvarnabhumi, but now both operations are at Suvarnabhumi as that airport has yet to be adversely affected by the floods.
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters last night issued a strike vote to Republic Airlines’ regional pilots that will proceed through to Nov. 22, some two weeks after the next mediated meeting between the union and the airline. At issue are scope, compensation, scheduling and vacancies, says Teamsters Local 357, noting that the current pilot contract became amendable in 2007.
The U.S. Transportation Department has authorized Canadian company Bearskin Airlines to operate scheduled transborder services. The airline, which has expanded scheduled domestic services since a Jan. 1 takeover by Exchange Income Corp., intends to offer nonstop service between Thunder Bay, Ontario, and Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport with double dailies operating on weekdays and singles proposed on the weekends. The airline currently operates 19-seat Fairchild Metroliners, but its website says 34-seat Saab 340s soon will be integrated into its fleet.
Star Alliance’s ability to retain Brazil’s largest carrier Grupo TAM as a member has diminished following the most recent ruling of Chile’s Tribunal de Defence de la Libre Competencia on the carrier’s planned merger with LAN Airlines to form the new Latam Group. In an often overlooked condition to the merger, the tribunal not only said the two airlines cannot be part of two different alliances (Oneworld and Star), but also that Latam cannot be a member of the same alliance as its biggest regional rival, AviancaTaca.
The bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives barring U.S. airlines from participating in the EU’s emissions trading system (ETS) has encouraged doomsday scenarios of trade wars and U.S. airlines ceasing transatlantic flights, but this is “nonsensical,” in the words of industry analysts; however, global opposition to the ETS could spark a heated debate next week, when the International Civil Aviation Organization Council weighs in on the matter.
