Newark Liberty International Airport and San Francisco International Airport had the lowest on-time arrival performance of the country’s 29 busiest airports in July, with a third of the domestic flights arriving at each airport at least 15 min. later than scheduled, newly released U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) figures show. Chicago O’Hare International Airport had the lowest on-time performance for departing domestic flights, at 68.8%. San Francisco ranked next to last at 70.2% and Newark just a notch above it at 70.8%.
The House of Representatives voted unanimously Tuesday to extend FAA funding through Jan. 30, 2012, and pressure is mounting to pass a longer-lasting FAA reauthorization measure the next time around. Though the bill, which is coupled with short-term highway legislation, still awaits Senate passage by the end of the week, the process is not nearly as contentious as the one that caused a two-week partial shutdown of the FAA in late July.
Delta Air Lines is done with aircraft orders for “the next couple of years,” President Ed Bastian said Sept. 13, quashing speculation that an order for smaller single-aisle aircraft remains in the offing. “We are done talking about aircraft for the near to medium term,” Bastian said in a presentation at the Deutsche Bank Aviation & Transportation Conference. “We are very comfortable where we sit with our fleet orders ... I do want to put to rest any thought we’re in the market considering a new aircraft decision,” he added.
Boeing says it will adapt a touch screen interior control panel that flight attendants use on the 737 for the 767s it is adapting for the U.S. Air Force’s KC-46A tanker contract. BAE Systems, which developed the touch panel for the Boeing Sky Interior product improvement package now being implemented as an upgrade option for the 737NG family, will produce the controls for the tankers at its Johnson City, N.Y., and Fort Wayne, Ind., facilities.
James Albaugh, head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, suggests the U.S. government could stimulate the economy and put "thousands of unemployed engineers to work" by implementing the NextGen air traffic modernization project. Speaking yesterday to the AeroClub of Washington, Albaugh said the $1 billion investment in NextGen proposed by the government in President Obama's new jobs bill is not enough to get the program off the ground. He called for a broader aerospace industry policy that will maintain the U.S. competitive advantage in the industry.
An Airbus and TAM Airlines initiative to plant 75,000 acres of jatropha in Brazil is part of a plan to scale up the production of aviation biofuel to commercial quantities. Project leader JetBio has selected San Diego-based SG Biofuels to develop hybrid varieties of jatropha to be grown on abandoned pasture land. In addition to Airbus and TAM, which flight-tested a jatropha-derived biofuel blend in November last year, the initiative includes the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Bioventures Brasil and aviation fuel supplier Air BP.
Qantas Airways is narrowing the likely list of names for a new premium carrier it plans to establish in Asia, although the timing of the launch remains uncertain. A Qantas spokesman confirms that among the names it is considering are RedQ—derived from the primary color in the Qantas logo—and OneAsia. The carrier has not yet made a decision, the spokesman says. However, Australian media report that these two names are the frontrunners, and that Qantas has filed trademark applications for RedQ, OneAsia, RedQ Executive Express and RedSky.
Qatar Airways in 2013 will take delivery of the first Airbus A350 complete with a communications and connectivity system developed by OnAir, the company formed in 2005 by Airbus and Sita. “OnAir’s services are the first to be selected as linefit by an A350 operator. It marks a continuation of our strategy to have our services available as a linefit option across Airbus and Boeing aircraft, as well as other aircraft types,” says CEO Ian Dawkins.
The Fire Division at Detroit’s Wayne County Airport Authority (WCAA) has been accredited by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International following a three-year process of compliance with 253 performance indicators. The WCAA division produced a standard of response coverage document and a five-year plan to the international organization. An accreditation team conducted a review of Detroit Metro and Willow Run airports in late august, and the county’s public safety department presented a case for accreditation.
Volvo Aero is starting assembly work on the first parts of Pratt & Whitney’s PW1100G engine for the Airbus A320NEO (new engine option) as it readies for an unprecedented production ramp-up across its commercial engine component lines.
A ruling by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) on separation distances for Boeing’s new 747-8 will enable the manufacturer to keep a promise to customers that the new airplane will “look and feel” the same as the 747-400 that it replaces. ICAO says the 250-ft.-long 747-8 will be designated with the same “heavy” classification for aircraft separation distances as the 747-400. The newer airplane is 19 ft. longer, has a 13-ft. longer wingspan and a maximum takeoff weight of 975,000 lb., which is 100,000 lb. more than the older 747-400.
United Continental Holdings will maintain its stringent hold on global capacity into 2012 by keeping supply at the same level as this year—and as a consequence about the same as 2010—although the operator’s top executive says available seat miles will be cut if demand weakens or costs increase.
As Rolls-Royce prepares for the first flight of its TrentXWB for the Airbus A350, the engine maker says key development test milestones have now been achieved. One of the test engines has undergone the mandated bird-strike evaluation, with four 2.5-lb. birds ingested at maximum takeoff power. The other trial was the 150-hr. endurance evaluation of one of the test turbofans in Spain at the INTA test center. A detailed inspection is now under way.
Tiger Airways has selected Andrew David, a veteran of the local airline industry, as the person to turn around the fortunes of its troubled Australian operation. David served as chief operating officer of Virgin Blue from 2005 to November 2010 and previously held senior leadership roles at Air New Zealand. He was considered a contender to take over at Virgin Blue before current CEO John Borghetti was appointed.
Hawaiian Airlines' services to Japan are contributing to a higher-than-anticipated increase in revenue in the third quarter, the carrier says. In late July, as part of its second-quarter earnings conference call, Hawaiian projected a 6.5-9.5% year-over-year increase in the third quarter on its passenger unit revenue and a 3.5-7.5% increase in its total unit revenue. In an investor update filed Sept. 12, however, the airline says it now expects to report a 12.5-15.5% increase in passenger unit revenue and a 9.5-12.5% jump in total unit revenue.
The U.S. Commerce Department has formed a government/industry group to promote export sales of products and services developed for the FAA NextGen airspace modernization effort.
This week brings a proposal for increased FAA funding and a likely agreement to extend the FAA’s operating authority. President Obama released the American Jobs Act on Monday, which would include $2 billion in grants to airports and $1 billion to fund the Next Generation air traffic control system. It remains to be seen whether congressional Republicans will embrace the $447 billion package at a time when lawmakers are already scouring the federal budget for deficit reduction.
Virgin Atlantic Airways still has “close interest in a combination with BMI,” the airline said in a statement on Monday, raising the number of potential buyers to at least two. The comment comes after Lufthansa said recently that it is looking at partnerships for or an outright sale of BMI. Lufthansa has hired a bank, believed to be Morgan Stanley, as an adviser in the process. It also comes after International Airlines Group (IAG) stated that it “has made no secret of its interest in acquiring BMI,” but that “the ball is now in Lufthansa’s hands.”
Australia’s competition watchdog says Airservices Australia has not sufficiently addressed concerns about how it has calculated an increase in air traffic management fees for airlines. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says the price increase proposed by Airservices is too high and would cause Airservices to “over-recover” its costs by AU$35 million ($36.8 million) over five years.
LightSquared has proposed additional changes to its planned broadband wireless network to mitigate expected interference with GPS, but pressure is growing for further testing before a decision is made on approving deployment of the revised system. LightSquared believes sufficient testing has been conducted to show most GPS receivers will not be overloaded by transmissions from its revised terrestrial network, but government witnesses at a congressional hearing Sept. 8 said tests already performed were not enough to ensure GPS would not still be compromised.
