European low-cost carriers will have to keep their low-fare structure, but offer a product attractive to business travelers to survive, Vueling’s CEO Alex Cruz told the delegates at the World Low-Cost Airline Conference this week in London. “We have broken all the commandments of the low-cost bible,” Cruz says, offering connecting flights, flying to major airports, using passenger loading bridges there and introducing added features for business travelers. “We are proving it can be done with a very low-cost structure,” he points out.
Pratt & Whitney Canada and Avic Engines are establishing a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) firm in Zhuzhou, Hunan province, to support P&WC PT6 and PW100 turboprop engines. The new joint venture—Zhuzhou Tonghui Aero Engine Maintenance (AEMC)—will provide in-country services for civil-certified PT6A and PW100 engines.
Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller believes a “full free float is the best way to go” for airlines, if no obvious strategic investor can be found. Mueller made the comment at the World Low-Cost Airlines Conference this week in London. The Irish government has announced its intention to sell its 25% stake in the airline, and co-owner Ryanair is also willing to sell. “You cannot focus on the three big carriers (Air France-KLM, International Airlines Group, Lufthansa) as potential buyers,” Mueller says.
Copa Airlines will operate twice-weekly service between its hub at Tocumen International Airport, Panama, and Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, Jamaica, effective Dec. 11. The service adds to the twice-weekly flights already operated by Copa from Tocumen to Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston. Copa operates Embraer 190s on its Jamaican services.
Aviation appears to be escaping the brunt of Washington’s deficit reduction push—at least in fiscal 2012 appropriations. The Senate Appropriations subcommittee on transportation and housing on Tuesday approved a bill that, if enacted, would provide 19% less funding than similar legislation proposed two years earlier. Still, it fully funds the FAA’s Next Generation air traffic modernization system and increases funding for the FAA’s operations. By contrast, high-speed rail projects were gutted.
Airports Authority of India (AAI) has asked for government approval to spend 200 billion rupees ($4.12 billion) in the next five years to modernize and stimulate traffic at airports across the country.
Lufthansa issued a profit warning on Tuesday saying it no longer expects to exceed last year’s €876 million ($1.2 billion) operating profit. It told the German stock exchange the revision reflects surprisingly weak August travel and forward bookings. It also confirmed it will scale back winter capacity growth plans, but did not go into detail. The airline initially planned to grow by 12%, but cut back to 6% earlier in the year. Its shares dropped by 4% following the announcement.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) is considering forcing airlines to make their websites and self-service kiosks accessible to most disabled travelers.
Allegiant Air says it is closely watching the decisions that Southwest Airlines and its newly acquired AirTran Airways are making about route cuts, anticipating that some will provide more new opportunities. AirTran announced in August that it would be ceasing operations at four airports early next year, and Allegiant is jumping into two of them in November—Newport News, Va., and Asheville, N.C.—to Orlando. Allegiant focuses on low-frequency service from small communities to major destinations.
Boeing, General Electric and Cargolux are in the midst of renegotiating the impact of a 2.7% fuel burn performance shortfall that unexpectedly prompted the cargo airline late Friday to suspend first delivery celebrations for the 747-8 Freighter planned for yesterday.
Boeing is doubling production of its aircraft composite parts factory in Tianjin, China, and also has been making investments to support China’s fast-growing airline industry. The plan is to progressively expand production until it doubles, says Boeing China’s newly appointed president, Bertrand-Marc Allen.
India is threatening to withdraw traffic rights from Lufthansa subsidiaries Swiss International Air Lines and Austrian Airlines, according to documents obtained by Aviation Week.
Aviation Industry Corporation of China (Avic) President Lin Zuoming has called on the group to step up its efforts to meet 2020 revenue goals and position itself as a global player.
Non-U.S. attendance at the annual International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, among the largest exhibitions in the U.S. with 150,000 attendees this year, could be as much as 10% higher if U.S. visa regulations were less onerous, Consumer Electronics Association CEO Gary Shapiro tells Aviation Week. Would-be attendees from countries such as Brazil, India and China instead travel to competing shows in Europe. Each Chinese visitor spends, in addition to airfare, an average of $6,243 during a visit to the U.S.
Despite a lackluster economic environment in some markets, U.S. logistics firm UPS is expecting a strong 2011 performance and 6-8% growth in annual sales during the next five years.
Airbus is studying ways to increase production of its single-aisle aircraft to as many as 50 aircraft per month, Chief Operating Officer for Customers John Leahy says. Leahy believes the European airframer will soon decide to raise monthly output from the currently planned 42 to 44 and may go even higher. In an interview, Leahy said the 60 units per month Boeing is looking at as part of its longer-term plans are “ridiculous.” Leahy made the comments as part of the release of Airbus’s latest global market forecast.
The European Commission has approved an asset swap agreement between Australian airport operator MAp and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board (OTPP). The accord calls for MAp to acquire OTPP’s 11.02% interest in Sydney Airport and a cash payment of AUD791 million ($816.1 million) in exchange for MAp’s stakes in Brussels and Copenhagen airports. The transaction is on track to be completed in the fourth quarter.
China’s Avic Engine is working on two new turboshaft powerplants, one of which is evidently intended for a large rotorcraft that China is negotiating to build with Russia, while the other may be aimed at a domestic regional aircraft.
