Two electric vehicle charging stations have opened at Chicago Midway Airport and Detroit Metro has plans to install four charging stations. The Midway stations are located in the Main Terminal Parking Garage. Users may top off a charge with 1.5 hr. of charging. A similar station was installed at O’Hare International Airport’s main terminal garage in March. Chicago expects to install 281 charging stations by the end of this year. Detroit Metro’s four stations are part of a program to install 16 public stations in southeastern Michigan.
Delays to the Boeing 787 program mean Rolls-Royce’s new engine assembly plant in Singapore will start with Trent 900 engines, rather than Trent 1000s, as originally planned.
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.
The European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has updated its airworthiness guidance for Airbus A330s and A340s related to a concern regarding flight control laws on the widebodies.
A new U.S. State Department report says that since 2003, the U.S. government—led by State with help from the Pentagon—has found and destroyed over 32,500 “excess, loosely secured, illicitly held, or otherwise at-risk” man-portable air defense systems (manpads) in over 30 countries.
Mahindra Aerospace, the aviation division of India's Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., held discussions on Monday with aircraft part manufacturers in Europe and the U.S. for a stake purchase.
Hamilton Sundstrand and Aviation Industry Corporation of China Electromechanical Systems Co. Ltd. (AVIC EM) have “laid the cornerstone” for a facility to house the development and manufacturing of the Comac C919 electrical power system. The facility in Xi’an, China, is slated to open in the first quarter of 2012. The new location will attract about 130 jobs during its first two years of operation. It remains to be seen if the facility will offer repair capabilities in the future.
Frontier Airlines lost $32.8 million in the second quarter, excluding taxes and special items, but parent company Republic Airways says it expects to complete by the end of September the Frontier restructuring it considers essential for the U.S. low-cost carrier’s survival. Including special items, Frontier lost $39.2 million pre-tax. The restructuring plan calls for reducing Frontier’s costs by $120 million a year, and the company says it has reached agreements and made changes to bring it to 75% of its goal, or $90 million.
Sao Paulo-based GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes says its Varig subsidiary entered into a stock purchase agreement on Aug. 1 with the controlling shareholders of Rio de Janeiro-based Webjet Linhas Aereas Inteligentes to acquire 100% of the stock. Last month GOL announced that Varig had reached a memorandum of understanding to acquire Webjet for BRL96 million ($61.3 million), and the carrier said yesterday that the stock purchase agreement was signed under the same terms. The deal to acquire its low-cost rival remains subject to governmental approval.
Air traffic in Germany could be severely disrupted on Thursday now that air traffic controller union GdF has called for its members to engage in a countrywide, half-day strike. Industrial action could still be avoided, however, after ATC provider Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) said the planned strike was illegal in its view and would therefore be brought in front of a German court today.
Germany’s air traffic controllers have overwhelmingly voted in favor of industrial action with close to 96% of Gewerkschaft der Flugsicherung (GdF) union members approving the plan.
Another senior American Airlines executive is promoting a relaxation of foreign ownership rules, with President Tom Horton telling The Times of London that he believes restrictions will be lifted “in my working lifetime” and that the carrier’s long-standing relationship with British Airways and its current incarnation as International Aviation Group “could form the basis of a cross-border merger between our airlines.” These comments expand on a recent statement by American Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey calling for an end to foreign ownership restrictions (Aviation Daily, M
Tiger Airways Australia appears to be close to being allowed to resume operations, a month after the carrier was grounded by Australian regulators. Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has asked the federal court to delay until Aug. 3 a hearing that could further extend the Tiger grounding. This will give Tiger more time to convince CASA that no such extension is warranted.
Ultra Electronics may complete several more acquisitions before the end of the year as the company looks to strengthen its technology positioning in potential growth markets, CEO Rakesh Sharma says. With its low debt level of £10.1 million ($16.6 million), Sharma says the company has the “firepower” to spend slightly more than £100 million on deals. He expects several to be finished before 2012.
A prominent Wall Street aerospace analyst says it is likely that Embraer will develop a new jet that pushes up into the lower end of the narrowbody market now dominated by Airbus and Boeing.
The public bickering between US Airways and its pilots union continues in a lawsuit brought by the carrier claiming the US Airline Pilots Association is behind a “go-slow" action. The allegation, which has been denied by USAPA, says pilots are receiving anonymous text messages—some of them threatening if pilots do not cooperate—encouraging slow taxiing and other delay tactics to ensure the airline’s operations miss a key arrival target set by the U.S. Transportation Department.
Delta Air Lines says it will process tax refunds for the passengers entitled to them because of the suspension of several federal air travel-related taxes, acceding to requests that the airlines do so instead of the IRS. it is not yet clear whether other airlines will follow suit. U.S. airlines have been resisting the request from the IRS, with the Air Transport Association (ATA) noting the IRS was responsible for refunds when a similar lapse in tax collections occurred in 1996 and 1997.
LIAT’s services to Grenada continue to be disrupted as a dispute with workers over the company’s obligation to pay for 1-hr. lunch breaks continues. The carrier says the complaint could “impose strains” on an airline already burdened by financial hardships, while workers say they may be forced to reconsider a deal that called for a one-third reduction in their claim.
Air India’s entry into Star Alliance has been delayed indefinitely after the airline alliance put on hold the Indian flag carrier’s application for a membership. The final decision on suspending Air India’s integration into the 27-airline alliance was made by Star’s executive board at a meeting July 31 in Frankfurt. A seemingly baffled Air India says it fulfilled all conditions of membership, but that is not how Star saw it.
