EasyJet will start serving Southend Airport, 57 miles east of London, next year. The airline will move three Airbus A319s to the airport from its London Stansted base in April 2012 and will initially start flights to Barcelona, Faro and Ibiza. EasyJet has signed a 10-year contract with airport operator Stobart Group. A new terminal building is to be completed later this year, as will be a runway extension. The airport will have a rail link to London’s Liverpool Street Station with travel times of about 50 min.
Air Canada’s effort to build a leisure-focused, low-cost carrier appears to have failed even as the airline reached an accord to return its striking customer service and sales staff to work.
Boeing’s latest 20-year forecast highlights the big role that orders for single-aisle aircraft are playing in the international aircraft market owing to higher fuel prices, airline liberalization and the huge growth in the Asia-Pacific market. In the forecast released June 16, Boeing predicts demand for 33,500 deliveries of passenger and freighter aircraft larger than 90 seats, carrying a value that for the first time tops $4 trillion. This represents a big jump from last year’s expectation of a $3.6 trillion market based on 30,900 aircraft sales.
The U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) is violating First Amendment rights to free speech with rules that regulate how airlines advertise their fares and fees, Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier Allegiant Air argues in a court filing June 16.
Russia’s largest air carrier, Aeroflot, has started commercial operations with its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet. The airline received its first SSJ 100 through VEB Leasing company on June 9, clearing the way for the first revenue flight June 16 from Moscow to St. Petersburg carrying a government delegation headed by Russia’s vice premier, Sergey Ivanov, who arrived at the international economic forum held in this city.
Qantas is expected to resume flights between Australia and New Zealand on June 17, five days after suspending these flights due to concerns over volcanic ash clouds. The carrier plans to start Auckland and Queenstown flights from 6 a.m. local time, and Wellington flights from midday. Service to Christchurch, however, will remain suspended. The Qantas Group’s Jetstar subsidiary will also reintroduce trans-Tasman and New Zealand domestic flights.
Two of Thailand’s newest carriers could lose their air operator’s certificates (AOCs) in the coming weeks or months, but there are several other would-be airlines that may fill the void. The Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) issued JetAsia Airways an AOC late last year, but the department is preparing to cancel it, says Sumpun Pongthai, director of the DCA’s flight standards bureau. “Under Regulation 85, if a carrier does not operate within six months, we need to cancel the AOC.”
Pratt & Whitney had been ahead of CFM International in the bid to land Virgin America as a customer for its A320NEO (new engine option) engine selection. But CFM closed the gap and eventually overtook Pratt by improving its sales pitch, matching Pratt with a “financially compelling offer” and providing fuel burn guarantees that were “a little bit firmer,” Virgin America President and CEO David Cush says.
Spirit Airlines filed an appeal in federal court June 15 challenging key components of the U.S. Transportation Department’s (DOT) newest “passenger protection” rules, including new requirements for full-fare advertising, baggage fee disclosure and post-purchase price increases.
The Transportation Security Administration has revised its process for airports to join a private screening program, the agency confirmed June 15, and six airports whose applications to participate in the Screening Partnership Program (SPP) that previously were denied, are eligible to apply again, as are other airports. “Earlier this year, TSA Administrator John Pistole stated that the agency had not seen a demonstrated or substantial advantage to expanding the Screening Partnership Program,” says spokesman Nicholas Kimball.
Even as Boeing debates whether to re-engine its 737 or launch a new small aircraft (NSA), Jim Albaugh, president of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, insists the technology for a new program is available.
A plan by the Canadian government that could force Air Canada and its customer service staff to arbitration has sparked “anger and frustration” from the union representing the 3,800 workers on strike since June 14.
Celebi Holding has announced plans to invest up to $100 million in ground-handling and cargo operations in India over the next two years. The decision is expected to boost airport services, which is projected to be the fastest-growing civil aviation market segment in the world by 2020, with about 420 million passengers processed by Indian airports a year. The Turkish airport services provider handles ground work at the Delhi and Mumbai airports.
Although Boeing has not yet decided its product strategy for how to evolve the 737 and 777, what is already clear is the programs will not unfold in parallel. “We will never again do two major development programs simultaneously,” says Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh, reflecting on the experience of recent years when Boeing tried to develop the 787 and 747-8 at the same time. Whatever Boeing decides to do in terms of evolving or replacing the 737 and 777, Albaugh says, “We will stagger those two programs.”
The Qantas group is deferring and canceling Airbus A320 and Boeing 737 orders in response to slowing demand, which will mean significant reductions in capital spending for the airline.
Boeing says it will build 500 737NGs annually, beginning in 2014, in a strong endorsement of the strength of its supply chain and airlines to withstand the threat of high fuel prices and economic uncertainty in Europe and the U.S. The new rate, 42 per month, is the fourth boost in the past two years and will be absorbed by the second final assembly line at Boeing’s Renton facility, south of Seattle. The company’s 737 backlog is more than 2,100 aircraft.
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Hong Kong Aero Engine Services Ltd. (HAESL) has expanded its engine overhaul facility with a new 13,500-sq.-meter, $50 million component repair center. HAESL's repair facility is located in Tseung Kwan O Industrial Estate, New Territories, Hong Kong. The expansion has created 100 new jobs, and HAESL plans to add 250 more employees in 2012 and 2013.
Qantas Group carriers extended the suspension of their New Zealand and Tasmania flying through June 14 due to the presence of volcanic ash clouds at high levels, although other airlines resumed flying to New Zealand a day earlier. Qantas, along with other Australian airlines, began canceling Melbourne, Tasmania and New Zealand services on June 12 as the ash plume from a volcano in Chile drifted over New Zealand and the south coast of Australia. However, Virgin Australia resumed flying all of these routes on June 13.
ATR expects to announce record order intake at the Paris air show next week, driving its full-year order intake close to $2 billion. The previous high in 2007 was 53 orders booked from January through that year’s Paris air show, but CEO Filippo Bagnato, ATR’s CEO says, “We will go well beyond the 53 airplanes, well beyond.”
Jean Holder is stepping down as chairman of Antigua-based carrier LIAT without explanation, although the airline is indicating the resignation is not connected with a recent battle with unions. Holder, who was also one of four representatives for the Barbadian government on LIAT’s board of directors, joined LIAT in 2004 after careers in both the diplomatic service and as head of two regional tourism organizations. He will serve as chairman until a replacement is found.
