Mexico’s airline industry, which has yielded almost all its cross-border North American market share to U.S. rivals, is facing growing competition from the South with Grupo TAM seeking access to Mexico City’s Benito Juarez International Airport from its base at Sao Paulo Guarulhos International. The Brazilian carrier, which plans to inaugurate daily service in the fourth quarter if granted regulatory approval, will compete with Aeromexico on the nonstop route.
US Airways' latest investor update maintains an earlier forecast that capacity will rise 1% compared with 2010, with growth attributed to more long-haul operations. The carrier also expects fuel to dip slightly from its April forecast, with full-year prices hovering between $3.11 and $3.16 a gallon instead of $3.23-$3.28. The only significant change to the airline’s 2011 prediction is a sharp drop in aircraft capital expenditure, which fell from $102 million to $11 million. This drop comes as US Airways closes a new round of financing.
AAR Corp. , Wood Dale, Ill., named Matt Eaton VP-sales and marketing for the maintenance, repair and overhaul segment, succeeding Chris Jessup, who was promoted to senior VP-sales and marketing for AAR's MRO division.
Southwest Airlines wants to join low-cost carriers Allegiant Airlines' and Spirit Airlines' legal challenge to the new U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) rule on full-fare advertising, arguing that the requirement to include all government taxes and fees in the advertised price is an unjustifiable change that will violate its First Amendment free speech rights, confuse consumers and suppress ticket sales.
The incident last month of a Nigerian national flying from New York to Los Angeles on a fake boarding pass is picking up traction on Capitol Hill, where lawmakers want to make it a crime to falsify the documents. House Democrats are taking a legislative approach, introducing last week the False Travel Documents Prohibition Act of 2011, which would make the presentation of a fake boarding pass a crime equivalent to using a fake driver’s license at an airport checkpoint.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) July 14—National Business Aviation Association Business Aviation Regional Forum, San Jose, Calif., 202-783-9000, www.nbaa.org July 17-19—Aviation Suppliers Associations’ 2011 Annual Conference, Washington Marriott at Metro Center, www.aviationsuppliers.org July 23-24—Thunder Over Michigan Air Show, Willow Run Airport, Ypsilanti, www.yankeeairmuseum.org/airshow
The FAA is proposing a $689,800 fine against express operator FedEx, alleging that the company failed in its obligations to provide pilots with accurate information on hazardous materials carried on 89 flights nearly two years ago. Alleged violations were found in a month-long inspection ending Oct. 1, 2009, at the FedEx facility at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn. In a 15-page letter, FAA lawyers said records show that FedEx has a “history” of violating hazardous materials regulations over the past five years.
The FAA needs to improve its collaboration with the Defense and Homeland Security departments to advance NextGen, says a new Government Accountability Office report. “Unless FAA and its partner agencies communicate and jointly identify ongoing research and technology development that is relevant to NextGen efforts,” FAA will not be able to fully leverage its partners’ potential.
The agreement Frontier Airlines pilots reached to give them an equity stake in the carrier is walled off from collective bargaining, even though it was reached in exchange for concessions the pilots made in an amended labor contract, Frontier’s parent company revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing July 7.
Air New Zealand says it has been dropped from a U.S. Justice Department investigation into cartel practices among the world’s freight operators. “After five years of Air New Zealand defending its position and insisting it has done nothing wrong, U.S.
American Airlines’ attempt to use a recent application by Volaris to justify its own exemption from the air service accord between Mexico and the U.S. is unwarranted, according to objections filed with the U.S. Transportation Department.
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact: Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) Sept. 12—A&D Finance Europe, London Sept. 14-15—MRO for Aircraft & Engine Leasing, Dublin Sept. 26—Aircraft Composite Repair Management Forum, Zurich Sept. 27-29—MRO Europe 2011, Madrid Sept. 28—MRO Military Europe, Madrid Oct. 20-21—MRO IT, Chicago Oct. 24-26—A&D Programs, Phoenix
Aircraft builders walked away from last month's Paris air show buoyed by more than $100 billion worth of new orders. But meeting all of those delivery obligations may prove to be a trickier proposition than landing them.
Leading manufacturers of explosives detection systems appraise the U.S. and European market in the multi-billions of dollars for advanced new systems to secure checked baggage at airports through this decade.
Vietnam plans to impose tougher financial requirements on airline startups, a move that comes after some new carriers got into financial trouble. The Civil Aviation Administration of Vietnam (CAAV) is considering changing the minimum capital required for new airlines, says the state-run Vietnam News Agency, quoting CAAV Director of Air Transportation Vo Huy Cuong.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) is closing in on a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that could change how it computes U.S. airline domestic flight mishandled baggage rates—calculating the rate per a certain number of checked bags instead of per 1,000 enplanements—and require the carriers to submit more detailed information to the DOT about the revenue they collect from fees.
A weakened revenue environment, combined with high fuel costs, means the end of nonstop service between Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport and General Juan N. Alvarez International Airport in Acapulco, Mexico, says Sky Harbor’s hub operator US Airways. The carrier’s previous incarnation, America West Airlines, launched the service about a decade ago and in 2002 reduced frequencies to weekend-only for peak leisure seasons. The weekend service had been expected to return for US Airways’ winter schedule.
Further consolidation of Brazil’s airline sector is all but guaranteed now that GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes has confirmed in regulatory filings it is “under discussions” with Webjet Linhas Aereas. The talks come as GOL’s rival, and Brazil’s largest operator, Grupo TAM, revamps its domestic network by overhauling operations at subsidiary Pantanal, which TAM formally purchased early last year for BRL13 million ($8.3 million), and extending its code-share with TRIP Linhas Aereas (Aviation Daily, July 8).
Lufthansa plans to begin flying to Shenyang and Qingdao from March next year, extending its effort to open links to Chinese secondary cities. The announcement follows the conclusion of an agreement with the cities’ airport authorities and regional governments. Lufthansa does not say what specifically has been agreed, but it is normal for Chinese local governments to offer incentives for business activities that they judge will promote economic growth. Airports in such cities are particularly keen to attract long-haul services.
