The new chairman of the Airports Council International–North America (ACI-NA) criticized “the paralysis in Washington, D.C.,” in her first official address to the association, and called for a new era of financial liberty for U.S. airports. Thella F. Bowens, president and CEO of the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, said airports do not need federal governmental restrictions on how they raise funds for needed projects. She spoke Wednesday at a luncheon at ACI’s annual convention in San Diego.
Seattle-Tacoma, Portland and Spokane airports have received the Airport Council International-North America’s Environmental Achievement Award for Special/Innovative Projects for their work in the Sustainable Aviation Fuels Northwest Program.
Southwest Airlines Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly says it would be “fantastic” if the airline could find a way to retire the Boeing 717s that were part of its AirTran Airways acquisition before their leases expire, but adds that there is no deal in the offing. Southwest earlier made clear it does not plan to keep the 88 aircraft when their leases expire, between 2018 and 2024, but seemed to be sending conflicting signals in early September, when it alluded to a possible deal with Boeing to get rid of them earlier (Aviation Daily, Sept. 8).
Lufthansa Cargo is moving five of its nightly flights from Frankfurt to Cologne/Bonn and is canceling several China flights per week to comply with the newly imposed curfew at Frankfurt Airport. CEO Karl-Ulrich Garnadt said that estimates of a €30-50 million ($41-69 million) impact on profits are likely correct.
Air Canada and SriLankan Airlines have unveiled a code-share arrangement that will link their operations through Air Canada’s European gateways in Frankfurt, London and Paris. The Canadian airline notes that the “travel market between Canada and Sri Lanka has been growing at a double-digit rate,” while SriLankan says Sri Lanka’s largest ex-patriot community resides in Canada.
Actor Harrison Ford joined with the Senate’s General Aviation Caucus this week for a discussion of the government’s plan to move away from the use of leaded gasoline, and other issues. Ford, who has flown as an amateur pilot since he appeared in the presidential thriller Air Force One, owns planes that would be affected by a switch to more environmentally friendly fuel.
Qantas Airways’ engineers union has announced a three-week halt to its industrial action campaign, but the carrier will continue with its planned grounding of seven aircraft due to a maintenance backlog. The Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Association (ALAEA) says all overtime bans and rolling strikes are suspended with immediate effect. Union leaders say this is being done so the groundings won’t be necessary, and it urged the airline to use whatever overtime is necessary to reduce the maintenance backlog.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has received $51,500 in the 2012 election cycle from the air transport industry, more than any other candidate for Congress or the presidency, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
The FAA Thursday dedicated a new $72.6 million air traffic control tower and radar approach control center at Memphis International Airport. The 336-ft. tower is the third-tallest in the U.S., behind Atlanta’s 398-ft. and Orlando’s 345-ft. structures. The tower is equipped with the Standard Terminal Automation Replacement System providing controllers with larger radar displays on color monitors, the Collaborative Departure Queue Management System, Enhanced Traffic Management System and Terminal Doppler Weather Radar.
The president of Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) has issued a call for a united aviation industry to break the U.S. government's regulatory lock on the financing of airport infrastructure. Airports “are held back because the U.S. government regulates the financial lives of U.S. airports through a Nixon-era regulatory framework that predates airline deregulation and has long since lost its relevance,” Greg Principato, ACI-NA president asserted at the opening of the organization’s 20th annual conference in San Diego.
The Air Line Pilots Association’s United Airlines chapter has elected a new leadership team for its master executive council. Starting Jan. 1, Jay Heppner will replace Wendy Morse as chairman, while Rick Perry and Mike Hamilton will serve as vice chairman and secretary/treasurer, respectively. Morse, who battled a vote of confidence earlier this year, did not run for re-election. The new leadership was elected by the MEC board Oct. 18 to two-year terms.
Boeing is sending one of its 787-8 test aircraft on a quick tour to Australia and New Zealand, where two major customers for the model are based. The 787 will be at Air New Zealand’s engineering base in Auckland Nov. 12-14. The carrier is the launch customer for the 787-9. The 787 will next go to Sydney and Melbourne about Nov. 15-16 to demonstrate the aircraft to Qantas, which expects to receive its first 787s next year.
JetBlue Airways CFO Ed Barnes has resigned, effective immediately, “to pursue other professional interests,” the New York-based low-cost carrier says. Barnes will be succeeded on an interim basis by Mark Powers, treasurer for the carrier since 2006, while the airline conducts a search for a new CFO. The departure comes about a week before JetBlue is scheduled to release its third-quarter financial results, when JetBlue might get some questions about a separation it is describing as “amicable.”
Oman Air could decide on a future long-haul fleet purchase in 2012. The goal is to field the additional capacity in 2014 or 2015, says Philippe Georgiou, chief officer for corporate affairs. The airline has secured options for six Boeing 787s but is not ruling out Airbus A350s or A380s. The timing of the decision could be affected by the search to replace CEO Peter Hill, who plans to retire by year-end.
Hawaiian Airlines says it is seeing no sign of demand weakening due to an uncertain economic outlook, and its new international routes in particular continue to yield impressive results. There has not been a drop in forward bookings “despite the economic doom and gloom so widely reported,” Hawaiian CEO Mark Dunkerley said Oct. 18 during the carrier’s third-quarter earnings call.
That customers are frustrated with the slow pace of change within the aerospace industry is of little surprise. That the boss of Airbus deplores the industry’s lethargy is a different matter. “Somewhere in the last 40 years we learned to save fuel and forgot how to take risks and manage them properly. We forgot how to turn our ideas into reality before they were out of date,” Airbus CEO Tom Enders told the SAE Aerospace Conference yesterday in Toulouse.
Olympic Air has grounded its fleet due to a strike by Greek air traffic controllers that is part of a series of public sector union strikes gripping the debt-ravaged nation. Separately, Eurocontrol says it has put in place mitigation measures to manage disruptions to the European air traffic control network. Olympic CEO Thanos Pascalis, speaking to Aviation Week Wednesday on the sidelines of the IATA Maintenance Cost Conference in Singapore, said that the flights came to a halt today.
American Airlines’ restructuring is almost complete, although new labor agreements are needed to reap the full benefit of the program, dubbed Flight Plan 2020, say the airline’s top executives.
A $70 million joint-venture maintenance, repair and overhaul facility recently completed at the Hyderabad International Airport will be operational in November. MAS-GMR Aerospace Engineering is a joint venture of Malaysian Aerospace Engineering Sdn. Bhd, a subsidiary of Malaysian Airline System (MAS), and GMR Hyderabad International Airport Ltd., a subsidiary of GMR infrastructure Ltd. in India.
FlightView, a Boston-based mobile technology developer, is working on new mobile content projects at U.S. airports in keeping with the rising demand for instant access to real-time travel information. The company is developing mobile websites and mobile flight tracking capabilities at Portland International Jetport, Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, University Park Airport in State College, Pa., Gainesville Regional, Beaches International, and Oklahoma City airports.
Air New Zealand plans to boost the size of its regional fleet with an order for seven ATR 72-600s, which will be the largest of the carrier’s turboprop types. The first two of the 68-seat ATRs are scheduled to be delivered in October and December next year, with another two in 2013 and one each in the following three years. Air NZ also secured options for another five aircraft, which would be available for delivery in 2014-2016. With this order, the carrier will become the largest ATR operator in the Pacific region.
