Australia’s Tiger Airways is preparing to resume flying on a second route following the lifting of the carrier’s operating suspension last week. Tiger is restoring its Melbourne-Brisbane route beginning Aug. 18 after reintroducing its Sydney-Melbourne service on Aug. 12. The carrier is “resuming Australian domestic services gradually,” and regulators are only allowing it 18 sectors per day during August.
Australia’s Strategic Airlines plans to build on its new Hawaii routes by linking to mainland U.S. destinations, challenging the established players in the lucrative transpacific market. “Ultimately we are planning to add connections to the U.S. mainland and beyond,” Strategic Chief Commercial Officer Damien Vasta tells Aviation Week following the announcement of flights from Melbourne and Brisbane to Honolulu. Vasta has previously signaled that the beyond-Hawaii links could be achieved through a code-share or interline agreement.
Canada and Costa Rica have tentatively approved an open skies accord to replace a bilateral air services agreement from 1996. The deal, which must still be ratified by both countries, follows open skies agreements Canada has signed with Brazil and Mexico (Aviation Daily, Aug. 11).
Air Lease Corp. is in talks with Boeing about the re-engining plan for the 737NG, but has questions about whether the aircraft can be competitive with the rival Airbus A320NEO (new engine option).
Jay Pierce, chairman of Continental Airlines’ Air Line Pilots Association chapter, is applauding moves to implement a new fatigue risk management system for the work group. The lack of a fatigue plan has for some time been a major concern for Pierce, and he again raised the issue late last month when United Continental Holdings complained about the cancellation of Continental Boeing 737 services at its Newark Liberty International hub because of an apparent sick-out (Aviation Daily, July 29).
Latvian airline Air Baltic continues to grow traffic in spite of a long-standing dispute among its shareholders. The airline saw traffic increase by 7% in the first seven months of the year. In the same period, the load factor improved by six points to 73%, albeit lower than industry average.
Brazil’s finance ministry has granted its approval of Grupo TAM’s proposed merger with Chile’s LAN Airlines. The backing from the Treasury Department’s Secretaria de Acompanhamento Economico, while noting there are overlaps on three passenger and 10 cargo routes, says the merger should be approved without restrictions because the airline industry is sufficiently competitive to assure the airlines will not dominate the sector.
Efforts to establish the first carbon dioxide certification standard for aircraft are proving difficult, and the recent failure to agree on a metric for CO2 emissions risks delaying completion of the standard. Any delay could empower environmental groups already putting pressure on governments to regulate aircraft CO2 emissions in the absence of a global standard.
US Airways is citing the Justice Department’s investigation into possible antitrust violations by global distribution system providers as one of many reasons why the airline’s antitrust lawsuit against Sabre should be allowed to proceed.
EADS CFO Hans-Peter Ring arrived in New York last week for meetings with institutional investors and analysts in the middle of a stock market meltdown. “Obviously the markets feel that there is [the threat of] a double-dip recession,” he says. But if that does happen, Ring is confident the company’s Airbus unit is prepared.
Israel will build a new international airport at Timna near the Red Sea resort of Eilat to boost tourism in the southern region of the country. The airport will be named after the late Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.
Frontier Airlines is expanding its presence in Kansas City, Mo., by adding service to Las Vegas and Houston Hobby Airport, starting Nov. 1, on 99-seat Embraer 190 aircraft. With the additions, the low-cost carrier will serve 18 destinations nonstop from Kansas City. As a result of the service expansion, which follows the addition of three other routes within the past year, Frontier will be expanding its facilities at the airport to include a fifth gate in Terminal C. Republic Airways, Frontier's parent company, has crew and maintenance bases in Kansas City.
A new Japanese low-cost carrier will operate under the Jetstar brand and will launch by the end of 2012, according to Japanese media reports. The Nikkei business daily says an agreement has been reached among Jetstar, Japan Airlines and Mitsubishi Corp. for a 3 billion yen ($39 million) joint venture. Mitsubishi would reduce its 33.4% share in the LCC by next summer, and new shareholders would be brought in, the reports say. Mitsubishi would handle the leasing of aircraft to the carrier.
While there are no overt overtures coming from Washington, American Airlines’ proposed joint venture with Oneworld alliance partner Qantas could be helped by the U.S. Transportation Department’s tentative approval of new entrant Strategic Airlines’ plan to offer scheduled service between Australia and the U.S. The two legacy carriers cited the Brisbane-based company’s application in their own proposal, noting it as an example of increased competition between the two countries.
Great Lakes Aviation is making progress on reducing its dependence on Essential Air Service funding. But the U.S. regional carrier still relies heavily on revenue from the program’s federal subsidies for rural air service, and the political standoff over the program’s future continues to hamper the airline’s immediate financing needs, the airline says in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The Transportation Security Administration shortly is expected to release a much-anticipated rulemaking on cargo security. The Office of Management and Budget recently cleared the final air cargo screening rule for publication, following a review that began May 5. The rule follows the September 2009 interim final rule that established the Certified Cargo Screening Program (CCSP) for shippers, manufacturers and other entities to screen air cargo transported on passenger aircraft.
FlightSafety International , Flushing, N.Y., promoted Mitch Alexander to manager, from assistant manager, of the Daleville, Ala., Learning Center. He succeeds Ralph Hicks, who has retired.
Ecuador’s state-owned airline TAME has started the search for a new CEO after Director General Gustavo Cuesta was ousted following a boardroom clash last week. According to industry sources, Cuesta left after failing to reach an agreement with a government-appointed committee that is overseeing the airline’s turnaround. The committee demanded significant staff cuts that Cuesta refused to accept, the sources say.
