The Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority named its newly renovated terminal at Nashville International Airport after former board of commissioners chairman Robert C. H. Mathews Jr. at a ceremony on July 12. The airport recently completed the renovation, which started in June 2009, including improvements to baggage claim, enlargement of the ticket lobby and renewal of other facilities.
The FAA must wait a little bit longer to learn the potential fate of funding for NextGen, airport modernization and other matters. The House Appropriations transportation, housing and urban development subcommittee has postponed today’s meeting to draft the fiscal 2012 appropriations bill. The subcommittee is dealing with one of the most devastating stabs at deficit reduction. Its top line has been reduced to $47.7 billion, which committee leaders have said is the level at which those agencies were funded in 2007.
The National Aeronautic Association yesterday presented the 2011 Clifford W. Henderson Trophy to Marion Blakey, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. The Henderson trophy is awarded to “a living individual, group of individuals or an organization whose vision, leadership or skill made a significant and lasting contribution to the promotion and advancement of aviation and aerospace in the United States.”
United Airlines and Continental Airlines were awarded federal travel contracts in a combined 1,741 city-pairs for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 under the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) Airline City-Pairs Program, GSA announced Wednesday. The city-pairs could be worth nearly $975 million in federal employee ticket revenue to United and Continental, which bid on the contracts together, according to GSA estimates.
Secure Wrap, a baggage wrapping service that started in the U.S. in 1996 and expanded to Central and South America, is putting new emphasis on providing the traveler service at U.S. airports. Indianapolis International Airport is the latest site for the Miami-based company, the third in the U.S. after New York John F. Kennedy International Airport and the Houston Airport System. The service is available at 52 airports in 19 countries, including Spain and the Canary Islands.
Etihad Airways is still deeply in the red, but claims it can still break even this year and make a profit in 2012. The airline posted a positive EBITDAR (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, amortization and rentals) in the first half of this year, which is the first positive posting since the airline launched operations. “The results mark continued progress towards the airline’s goal of breaking even this year and moving into sustainable profitability in 2012,” Etihad said in a statement.
SilkAir, Singapore Airlines’ regional arm, is launching a three-times-weekly service to the Thai resort island of Koh Samui, a destination many airlines have shunned over the years because the airport is managed by Bangkok Airways. SilkAir says it is launching the flights with Airbus A319s from Singapore, starting Sept. 27. It also says Bangkok Airways will code-share on the flights and SilkAir will place its code on Bangkok Airways’ daily service on the route.
A LET L-420 operated by Brazilian regional carrier NOAR Linhas Aereas crashed early July 13 four minutes after takeoff from Recife/Guararapes-Gilberto Freyre International Airport. Few details are available, although official statements say the 14 passengers and two crew on board were killed in the crash. The airline confirmed an emergency was reported and the pilot was attempting a landing before the turboprop crashed into land adjacent to a beach near Recife Airport.
Brazilian operator Grupo TAM is upgrading its office in Beijing to a commercial base in an effort to increase its profile across Asia. TAM’s commercial bases are more extensive than the management office previously located in China’s capital and are used to “strengthen its relationship with the country’s travel agents and existing and potential clients,” says the airline.
Security professionals will discuss improvements to cargo security in the Middle East, a growing location for cargo hub operations, at the International Quality and Productivity Center’s Third Annual Aviation Security Conference, Sept. 18-21 at the Grand Millennium Hotel in Dubai. Ahmed Al Haddabi, senior VP for airport operations at Abu Dhabi Airport Co., will lead discussions on how the company upgraded security facilities to meet the latest version of standards under Annex 17 of the International Civil Aviation Organization.
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.
A recent incident in Yemen shows that the U.S. government needs to develop a “trusted shipper program” to better protect cargo jets from overseas threats, the president of the Cargo Airline Association (CAA) told a House panel Tuesday. Last fall, both UPS and FedEx jets picked up packages containing explosives in Yemen, leading to an examination of cargo jet security that is still ongoing.
Qantas low-cost subsidiary Jetstar plans to add Beijing as a one-stop destination, a further signal that Qantas’s Asian growth could be focused on Jetstar. A new daily Singapore-Beijing flight will connect with Jetstar’s existing Melbourne-Singapore service. The flight is expected to begin in November pending regulatory approvals. It will be operated with two-class Airbus A330s.
Economic conditions are causing AirAsia X to target next year for its initial public offering rather than this year, although final timing has not been decided. Preparations are now under way for the IPO, but Azran Osman-Rani, CEO for the long-haul carrier, says it is “more likely next year” than in 2011. However, he adds, that could change if the market for IPOs strengthens in the next few months. “We could move quite fast.”
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), a privately held company founded by Internet entrepreneur Elon Musk, has hired Mark Bitterman as senior VP of government affairs, a position he held at competitor Orbital Sciences Corp. SpaceX holds NASA contracts to fly cargo to the space station and upgrade a Dragon cargo capsule for human transport. Bitterman says, "My focus at SpaceX will be to further strengthen the company's relationships with Congress during a time of great challenges for the nation's civil, commercial and military space programs."
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA are trading accusations that each violated voting rules in a recent ballot for single representation at United Continental Holdings, which by a narrow margin was won by AFA.
Boeing has halted deliveries of all major component sections of the 787 to account for “temporary challenges” from “a few production areas in the supply chain,” according to a company spokesman. The delivery stoppage to its final assembly lines will not affect the delivery of the first 787-8 to All Nippon Airways, which is still on schedule for August or September.
Eight years after the Concorde was retired, civil aviation remains firmly limited to subsonic speeds despite the fact that market studies continue to show an untapped demand for high-speed flight. The financial commitment to tackle the technical challenges of developing an economically and environmentally viable supersonic transport, however, has yet to materialize.
Click here to view the pdf Summary of Value Carriers Systemwide Expense Indicators, Fourth Quarter 2010, (Dollar Amounts in Thousands) Aircraft Property & Airc
Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA) will reimburse United Airlines for installing in-line baggage systems in Terminals 7 and 8 at Los Angeles International Airport at a cost of $40 million.
Click here to view the pdf Summary of Network Carriers Systemwide Expense Indicators,Fourth Quarter 2010, (Dollar Amounts in Thousands) Aircraft Property & Air
