Lufthansa will shut down affiliate Lufthansa Italia after less than three years and massive losses. The Lufthansa Italia brand will be discontinued in October and the subsidiary’s fleet will be reallocated throughout the Lufthansa group, the German carrier said in a statement. Lufthansa Italia currently has a fleet of eight Airbus A319s, but it operated up to 12 aircraft in its short history.
Brazil’s second-largest operator GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes in April improved its load factor 8.4 percentage points to 71.3% on a 13.9% surge in demand to 2.6 billion revenue passenger kilometers. This growth, produced on a 0.5% year-on-year increase in systemwide capacity to 3.7 billion available seat kilometers, was attributed to both domestic and international operations, which posted traffic gains of 13.8% and 14.4%, respectively.
A "grand challenges" approach to addressing broad goals, such as reducing travel time or increasing aviation safety, could be a more effective framework for prioritizing government-funded aeronautics research than current technology-centric plans, says a U.S. think-tank. Grand challenges are fundamental problems whose solution can have broad economic, social or technical applications. The approach has been used by the U.S. to drive research in high-performance computing and other key technologies.
Aerolineas Argentinas will acquire 20 ground power units to mitigate the growing cost of fuel, which the airline says has increased 30% since 2010, when it accounted for 40% of its total operating cost. The acquisition is part of a revision made to the carrier’s 2009 Master Plan.
The House Appropriations homeland security subcommittee is increasing funding for aviation security slightly, providing $5.2 billion for fiscal 2012, but it whacks $16.1 million from accounts to buy full-body scanners. The lion’s share of that money, $4.2 billion, provides for screening operations. Aviation security receives slightly more than $1 billion.
The Massachusetts Port Authority named chief legal counsel David Mackey, 54, interim CEO. Massport is working with Boyden Global Executive Search to find a successor to Thomas Kinton, who plans to retire June 1.
Aeromexico on May 22 migrated its reservations and airport check-in systems to its new Sabre platform, a move the carrier says will “improve [the] customer experience at all points of contact throughout the reservation, ticketing and check in processes.”
EasyJet Deputy Chairman and Senior Independent Director David Michels will step down from the low-cost carrier’s board—but not soon enough to satisfy founder and largest shareholder Stelios Haji-Ioannou, who has become a thorn in the side of the airline’s leadership since he quit the board last year. EasyJet announced May 23 that Michels decided to step down following the end of his second three-year term at the end of this year. The airline says it has started the process of recruiting his successor.
Delta Air Lines and US Airways have submitted a new proposal to the FAA for transferring their takeoff and landing rights at New York LaGuardia and Reagan Washington National airports. Under the deal, Delta would acquire 132 slot pairs at LaGuardia from US Airways; US Airways would acquire from Delta 42 slot pairs at National and the rights to operate additional daily service to Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 2015.
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.
Ryanair is taking drastic action to counter rising fuel costs in the coming winter and intends temporarily to ground 80 aircraft, almost one-third of its current fleet. The reduction will reduce capacity in the second half of this year by 4% from reduced flying last winter, when it grounded about 40 aircraft. The move, announced on May 23, is a first for Ryanair, which has not stopped growing since relaunching as a low-fare airline in 1990. Upon release of this news, Ryanair’s shares plunged by more than 9% in morning trading.
Bombardier is working with customers on potential life extension and refurbishment packages for the 50- to 56-seat Q300, which it stopped producing two years ago after building 267 units. The ones still in service are widely dispersed: Ascend Online Fleets shows the largest operators as Jazz Air, Canada, 28; Air Nelson, New Zealand, 22; Eastern Australia Airlines 15; LIAT, Antigua, 15; and Piedmont Airlines, U.S., 11.
The Regional Airline Association is down to 30 members from 200 when it was started as the Commuter Airline Association of America in 1980. But those 30 members offer about 52% of the nation’s flights, as well as 31% of all flights to Hatsfield-Jackson Atlanta International, 61% at Chicago O’Hare, 34% at Denver and 29% at New York John F. Kennedy airports. Its 36th annual conference last week in Nashville attracted a record 200 exhibitors. RAA is taking the show back to Minneapolis next year May 21-24.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 24-25—National Air Transportation Association Line Service Supervisor Training, Windsor Locks, Conn., www.nata.aero/events May 25—The Wings Club Luncheon (“Sight” Lecture) featuring General Duncan McNabb, commander U. S. Transportation Command, The Yale Club, New York, 212-867-1770, [email protected]
The U.S. Justice Department (DOJ) is investigating whether conduct by global distribution system (GDS) providers is violating antitrust law. The existence of the investigation was first revealed by American Airlines, which said it received a civil investigative demand from DOJ’s antitrust division on May 19. The airline, which has been battling GDS providers and filed a lawsuit against one of them alleging antitrust law violations, said it “welcomes this investigation.”
AviancaTaca Holding’s first-quarter net income grew 16.5% year-on-year to $23.7 million, although a 40% rise in fuel costs depressed the operator’s earnings 26.8% to $72.3 million before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization.
A Brazilian federal judge May 19 convicted one air traffic controller and acquitted a second for their roles in the Sept. 29, 2006, midair collision of an Embraer Legacy 600 with a GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes Boeing 737. Judge Murilo Mendes sentenced Lucivando Tiburcio de Alencar to three years and four months in prison, commuted to community service. The second air traffic controller tried for the accident, Jomarcelo Fernandes dos Santos, however, was acquitted of charges that he harmed the air transportation system.
