Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) introduced a bill that aims to boost tourism to the U.S. by easing the process of getting a tourist visa by citizens of countries not in the Visa Waiver Program.
LAN Airlines and Grupo TAM have accepted most of the 14 demands Chile’s antitrust court requires to approve their proposed merger, including the mandate that they affiliate with just one alliance, but they are appealing three measures they deem “unconstitutional and disproportionately severe.”
The Transportation Security Agency, long derided by travelers for glacially slow wait times at airports and by public officials for its bureaucratic inefficiency, is finally winning a bit of praise for the rollout of a pilot program aimed at speeding airport security checks. TSA PreCheck, as it is branded, is a limited voluntary pre-screening program that allows airlines to sign up certain frequent flyers at four U.S. airports—Atlanta, Dallas, Detroit and Miami. It also includes members of Customs and Border Protection’s Trusted Traveler programs.
Allegiant Air is withdrawing all service from Long Beach Airport in Southern California, making the decision just months after it appeared to be willing to place its bets on focusing all Long Beach service on Las Vegas (Aviation Daily, July 22). Allegiant will discontinue all Long Beach service as of Nov. 28, the Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier says.
The new and increased aviation taxes and fees proposed by the Obama administration and purportedly being considered by Congress’ deficit-reduction “super committee” would cost U.S. airlines nearly 10,000 jobs and the U.S. economy more than 180,000 in 2012, the Air Transport Association (ATA) asserted in a study released Oct. 4.
The decline in freight traffic on the world’s commercial airlines accelerated in August, a drop that may foretell further decline in world trade and economic conditions, the International Air Transport Association reports.
Douglas Shockey resigned as Pinnacle Airlines VP and chief operating officer, effective Sept. 30, and has been replaced by John Spanjers, who has been president of Pinnacle subsidiary Mesaba Aviation since 2002. Spanjers, 57, also will retain the title of senior VP-operations for Mesaba. Pinnacle did not offer a reason for the resignation of Shockey, who had been COO for nine years, but praised his “vital role” in the Memphis, Tenn.-based carrier's growth.
Saab Sensis has completed deployment of its advanced airport surveillance system at 35 of the largest U.S. airports. The airport surface detection equipment, model X (ASDE-X) system has been commissioned and is operational at the last of the 35 sites under the current FAA contract. The system combines data from surface movement radar, multilateration and automatic dependent surveillance—broadcast (ADS-B) to give controllers an accurate picture of surface movements. It also provides conflict alerts.
The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee is taking a closer look at FAA’s Next Generation air traffic control system’s costs, benefits, progress and management in an Oct. 5 hearing. In the past, committee Chairman Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) has pledged to provide strict oversight of the NextGen, and ensure that it takes the steps it needs to succeed.
Nigerian carrier Arik Air plans to launch a three-times-weekly service between its hub at Murtala Muhammed International in Lagos and Abu Dhabi International in the UAE on Nov. 29. The route, which will be served with 237-seat Airbus A340-500s, adds to the 25 cities Arik currently serves. Arik also recently announced a twice-weekly Bombardier CRJ900 service linking West Africa’s Cotonou, Benin; Quagadougou, Burkina Faso; and Bamako, Mali with Lagos. That service is scheduled to launch Oct. 11.
The FAA must “realign some functions” to change internally in preparation for the future while being the best stewards of taxpayers’ dollars, said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. The new structure includes creating an office to handle large programming requests, such as the NextGen air traffic management system.
India plans to retaliate if the EU does not step back from plans to introduce its emissions trading system (EU ETS) at the start of next year, Prashant Sukul, joint secretary of India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, tells Aviation Week at the World Route Development Forum in Berlin.
Cargolux and Boeing have reached a tentative agreement on terms and conditions for delivery of the operator’s first Boeing 747-8 freighter. This deal follows Cargolux’s unprecedented rejection last month of the first two 747-8Fs just days before a scheduled delivery ceremony. The dispute is understood to center on the 747-8F’s engines, in particular a 2.7% fuel burn shortfall that new Cargolux shareholder Qatar Airways is not willing to accept.
The two leading air traffic management (ATM) industry groups are planning to launch an annual conference they expect will become the major ATM meeting on the industry calendar.
American Airlines’ parent company AMR Corp. late Oct. 3 tried to stem rumors of a pending bankruptcy that forced a temporary stop in share trading and at points reduced its market capitalization to less than $1 billion. Speculation that AMR will file for Chapter 11 protection, while present for several years, increased in the past weeks as analysts and other industry observers began to note seemingly disturbing signs, such as increased pilot retirements and apparently ambiguous statements from executives.
Thai low-cost carrier Nok Air is committed to leasing ATR 72-500s from Nordic Aviation Capital (NAC) and aims to secure three. “Nok Air is looking at possibly three ATRs from NAC, to arrive in late January and to serve smaller routes in Thailand,” CEO Patee Sarasin says in an emailed response to Aviation Week.
Heico Corp. has acquired French microelectronics manufacturer 3D Plus, integrating the company into Heico Electronic Technologies Group. It first announced the agreement in June. Heico plans to strengthen 3D Plus activities in the U.S., which include a sales and marketing office in McKinney, Texas, and a technical center in Fremont, Calif. 3D Plus employs 120 people at its headquarters in Buc, France, where it continues to design and produce microelectronic and stacked memory products for satellites and medical equipment.
Boeing, which is formalizing its GoldCare network for the Boeing 787, believes it will announce more members by the end of the year or in the first quarter of 2012, says Larry Levine, the airframer's customer leader for fleet management. Boeing is “very engaged” in discussions with about 12 maintenance, repair and overhaul companies around the world. He notes that although Monarch Airlines canceled its 787 order last year, Monarch Aircraft Engineering, its first and to date only GoldCare airframe maintenance partner, will continue to participate in the network.
