Airport operator MAp is negotiating with Canada’s Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board for a swap of investments and cash that would increase MAp’s interest in Sydney Airport and transfer its non-controlling investment in the main international airports in Brussels and Copenhagen. Under the swap, the board would exchange its 11.02% interest in Sydney Airport and pay MAp AUD821 million ($871.5 million) for its non-controlling interest in the two European airports. The deal would increase MAp’s interest in Sydney to 85%.
Airbus has made further inroads in Southeast Asia with Garuda Indonesia and Thai Airways International ordering Airbus A320s. These two airlines currently operate Boeing 737s on short-haul routes. Garuda mainline uses Boeing 737-800s, but it has decided its low-cost carrier Citilink will operate A320s. Citilink recently secured A320s on lease, and at the Paris air show this week it placed a firm order for 15 A320s and 10 A320NEOs (new engine option) with options for 25 more.
Airbus could revive its passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion program now that it, along with its EADS EFW sister company, have scrapped its cooperation with Russian companies to modify used A320s and A321s into freighters.
AviancaTaca has signed a commitment with Airbus to purchase 51 A320 and A320NEO (new engine option) narrowbodies, split between 33 NEOs and the rest standard A320s. The airline has not made an engine selection, yet, for its NEOs. An engine decision will be made soon, says Jose Efromovich, AviancaTaca board member. It already operates A320s. This is the largest single-aisle order from any airline in the Latin America region, says Tom Enders, Airbus CEO.
BAE Systems will repair and overhaul the full-authority digital engine controls (FADECs) for Southwest Airlines’ CFM56 engines. The repair agreement lasts through 2013 and covers engines on Southwest’s fleet of 553 Boeing 737 aircraft. BAE says its overhaul program improves dispatch reliability by offering airlines the option of choosing FADEC overhaul services during scheduled engine shop visits. BAE Systems manufactures and supports the units through FADEC International, its joint venture with Sagem.
Boeing is partnering with American Airlines to conduct a 737-800-based ecoDemonstrator program in which a standard 737 production aircraft will be modified with an adaptive trailing edge, a variable area fan nozzle and regenerative fuel cell technology. The aircraft will retain its American colors for the six-week flight test effort, the trailing edge element of which forms part of the FAA’s continuous lower energy emissions noise (Cleen) program.
Spirit Airlines will begin charging customers this fall $5 for having their boarding pass printed by an airport ticket counter agent, and will begin charging customers $1 for printing boarding passes at a self-serve kiosk, effective next June. With the introduction of the new $5 fee on Nov. 1 for flights booked after June 21, Spirit says it will simultaneously lower its fares by $5 each way on nonstop flights.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) plans to tap traffic to and from Brussels using a code-share arrangement with Brussels Airlines, which will add SIA’s code on its flights from Brussels to Barcelona, London and Milan. SIA says it is entering into the code-share arrangement, effective June 23, because Brussels is a city where SIA has no services of its own. SIA and Brussels Airlines are members of Star Alliance.
Qantas Airways CEO Alan Joyce says a hefty compensation payment from Rolls-Royce related to Airbus A380 groundings will help offset losses caused by a string of natural disasters and an underperforming international operation. The Rolls-Royce settlement is worth AU$95 million ($100.5 million), Joyce announced during a speech to Australia’s National Press Club in Canberra. While further details are not being released, Qantas is “pleased with the outcome,” Joyce says. Qantas will drop legal proceedings against Rolls-Royce.
International Lease Finance Corp. (ILFC) signed a deal for $950 million in CFM International LEAP engines for 40 of the Airbus A320NEOs (new engine option) the lessor expects to take delivery of beginning in 2016. This, ILFC CEO Henri Courpron tells Aviation Week, is an endorsement of both the LEAP and the A320NEO re-engining project.
Boeing and Avic Aircraft are building a new manufacturing center at the Chinese company’s Xi’an base, where Avic will be taught more efficient production processes by Boeing to benefit both companies. The first project for the facility, which will open next year, will be a new contract under which Avic Aircraft subsidiary Chengfei Commercial Aircraft will build Boeing 737 rudders, becoming a dual source alongside EADS CASA.
Dusseldorf International Airport says its VIP-Service program, which for a hefty price is designed to take the stress out of traveling, is seeing increased popularity. VIP-Service was used by more than 6,000 travelers in 2010, and demand is rising, say airport officials. The price starts at €229 ($329) for use of an exclusive access road to the terminal where users are cleared by private security and have their own Customs officials handling document processing. Travelers wait in a lounge while staff members handle check-in for them.
The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (CVG) will reopen Concourse A in Terminal 3, part of a $31 million renovation project to be completed next summer. Air Canada, American, Continental, United and US Airways will vacate Terminal 2 and relocate to Concourse A. The redesign will feature elements of the greater Cincinnati region.
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.
JetBlue Airways is slashing its Embraer 190 backlog, rescheduling Airbus narrowbody deliveries and converting some A320 orders to the larger A321 as it realigns growth plans through the next five years.
Australian carriers have once again canceled service at many of the country’s largest airports as volcanic ash clouds return to Australia’s skies. Qantas canceled all flights to or from Sydney from 3 p.m. local time on June 21 after suspending Canberra service from midday and Adelaide flights for the whole day. A total of 73 domestic and six New Zealand flights were affected by the cancelations.
Tampa International Airport has created a generous airline service incentive program and is setting its sights on serving five key international markets—Frankfurt, Panama City, Mexico City, Bogota and Sao Paulo—according to a recently completed air service development plan. Daily widebody aircraft service on a long-haul international route would qualify an airline for $750,000 in marketing funds over a two-year period and a waiver of fees for the same period.
JetBlue has decided to end its “All You Can Jet” program, saying the effort achieved the goals of introducing new customers to the airline’s experience, building loyalty and attracting future business. The airline is giving a 30% discount voucher to those who bought the pass in 2009 and 2010 and a 15% discount to friends and family of program members.
Even if Boeing launches a new small aircraft (NSA) to replace the 737 narrowbody, the Airbus A320NEO (new engine option) will remain a competitive product, suggests a key lessor. “We believe the NEO can stand on its own whether there is a reengined 737 or an all new aircraft,” says C. Jeffrey Knittel, CIT president of transportation finance. CIT examined what Boeing might offer before placing an order yesterday for 50 Airbus A320NEOs.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., as expected, has consolidated legal challenges to the new U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) airline passenger rights rules brought by Spirit Airlines (case no. 11-1219) and Allegiant Air (11-1222) into one case (11-1219). Both airlines are challenging key components of the rules, including new requirements on full-fare advertising, fee disclosure, post-purchase price increases and ticket refunds (Aviation Daily, June 16 and June 17).
Claims by communications company LightSquared that it has a solution to the problem of interference with GPS receivers have been met with skepticism from opponents of its plans for a nationwide wireless broadband network using frequencies close to GPS. LightSquared says tests show the lower of its two 10 MHz blocks of L-band spectrum, located further away from GPS frequencies, “is largely free of interference issues with the exception of a limited number of high-precision GPS receivers.”
