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.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board has sent a team headed by Bob Benzon to assist the Guyana government’s investigation of the July 30 crash of Caribbean Airlines Flight 523, which broke into two after skidding off the runway at Georgetown’s Cheddi Jagan International Airport.
German infrastructure and construction group Hochtief has received at least four bids for its airport division Hochtief Concessions. Consortia near Fraport—Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), French infrastructure group Vinci and HNA Group (Hainan Airlines—are understood to have submitted proposals at the end of last week. The companies decline comment.
Boeing 787 launch customer All Nippon Airways is deferring four 787 deliveries that were due in the next 20 months, thanks to the slow recovery of travel demand. ANA is scheduled to receive its first 787 in September and was slated to take delivery of a total of 14 in its fiscal year through March 31, 2012, and another 10 in the following fiscal year.
Kuwait intends to sell a 35% stake in Kuwait Airways, and low-fare rival Jazeera Airways is a potential bidder, industry sources say. Letters of interest are due Aug. 25. The Kuwait Investment Authority would take a 20% stake, and 40% could be publicly traded. The airline has been unprofitable for several years, and this move follows the shutdown in March of the only other Kuwaiti airline, Wataniya Airways.
Policy differences over the Essential Air Service (EAS) program and National Mediation Board (NMB) union election procedures pushed the U.S. House and the Senate into overtime wrangling over a compromise on the 21st extension of FAA's reauthorization Aug. 1, the last day before the congressional August recess. As Republicans and Democrats sparred over the larger issue of debt ceiling initiatives at press time yesterday, no compromise on the FAA bill had been reached.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport named Balram Bheodari interim deputy general manager and Richard Duncan to replace Bheodari as interim assistant general manager for operations, maintenance and security.
Non-engineering members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace (Speea) rejected a contract offer from Spirit AeroSystems by a 96.5% margin on July 28. The employees are in the Wichita Technical and Professional Unit of Speea and had been offered a 9.5-year contract with a pay schedule that would vary depending on the company’s profitability. Voting was light but gave the most decisive contract defeat in Speea’s history with Spirit. Of 2,300 eligible voters, 684 voted to reject the contract; only 25 voted to accept it.
Transportation Security Administrator John Pistole is advising manufacturers of explosives detection equipment to continue work on bomb detection technology that can speed passengers through airport checkpoints. Asked last week after a speech to The Aspen Institute if TSA has the capability to detect a surgically implanted bomb on a traveler, he said it “depends.” Pistole believes in layered security to aid in detection, including canines and trace detectors.
A European Competition Appeal Tribunal (CAT) has ruled that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) can review Ryanair’s minority shareholding in Irish carrier Aer Lingus, although the low-fare carrier is looking to appeal that judgment. The OFT last year threatened such a review, but Ryanair challenged the decision, saying it came too long after it took a minority stake in its rival in 2006. The OFT took the action after the issue was considered at the European Union level. OFT argued it had to wait for the EU activities to be settled.
Mexican operator VivaAerobus in October plans to launch its third U.S. service with the inauguration of nonstop flights between Gen. Mariano Escobedo International Airport in Monterrey and Chicago Midway International Airport. The service, which was approved in March by the U.S. Transportation Department, was expected to start in June, but the carrier this week unveiled plans to launch Oct. 14. VivaAerobus initially plans to operate flights on Mondays and Fridays.
Delta Air Lines became the first carrier to sign a partnership deal with LivingSocial, which offers daily deals on local businesses, products and services via its website, email alerts and iPhone and Android applications.
French air accident investigators looking into the crash of Air France Flight AF447 identified serious pilot training shortcomings that may have contributed to the loss of the Airbus A330-200 two years ago. Among the findings are that “the co-pilots had received no high-altitude training for the “unreliable [indicated air speed] procedure and manual aircraft handling” and also that there is no crew resource management “for a crew made up of two co-pilots in a situation with a relief captain.”
Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has launched a consultation over how it regulates the three largest London airports with a new and hard focus on improving passenger experiences.
The U.S. aviation industry is pressing Congress to extend funding for goverment programs providing support to start up commercial-scale production of renewable biofuels. With private investment still hard to find, U.S. Agriculture Department (USDA) programs established under the 2008 Farm Bill are playing a key role in providing funding to scale up feedstock production and build the initial biorefineries.
JetBlue Airways on July 28 unveiled a business traveler-focused, three-month unlimited travel pass for customers flying to and from Boston Logan International Airport and Long Beach Airport in California.
Premium Aerotec , Augsburg, Germany, named Kai Horten CEO, succeeding Joachim Naegele, who has been serving as interim replacement for former CEO Hans Lonsinger.
As the FAA’s partial shutdown moves into its second week because House and Senate leaders failed to move from their entrenched positions, a global credit-rating agency says the impasse may eventually hit airports’ bottom lines. In a July 28 report, Fitch Ratings notes that airports are generally on solid financial footing.
Airline tickets are becoming a smaller slice of the revenue and transaction pie for Expedia Inc., which includes Expedia.com, TripAdvisor, Hotwire, Hotels.com and Classic Vacations. Hotel bookings accounted for 65% of $1.8 billion in revenue for the first six months of this year, whereas air sales, which have been shrinking for the site due to higher air fares and perhaps an effort by airlines to drive customers to their own sites, accounted for only 10% of revenue behind the advertising and media business at 13%.
Korean Air (KAL) has firmed up an order for 10 Bombardier CSeries aircraft and received options for more, marking the South Korean carrier’s return to smaller narrowbodies and signaling its intent to expand short-haul flights into China and Japan. Bombardier says KAL on July 29 signed a firm order for 10 CS300s and also has options for 10 more plus purchase rights for another 10. KAL is the launch customer for the CSeries in Asia, says Bombardier, but stops short of saying if it will be the Asian launch operator.
