Many parallels can be drawn between U.S. and European regionals: both face numerous regulations and fee and taxation issues, and both want to see advances in the next generation of air traffic management, coupled with efficiencies to make equipment investment worthwhile.
United Continental Holdings is now offering a dedicated priority airport service for both its operating divisions as it continues toward a single operating certificate by year-end.
Air Canada’s plan to launch a low-cost subsidiary has been rejected by the carrier’s pilots. The Air Canada Pilots Association’s (ACPA) members voted against a new contract that included conditions on the low-cost operation. The pilots voted by 67% to reject the agreement, with a 98% turnout. “The pilots have spoken,” says ACPA’s recently appointed president, Paul Strachan. “We must return to the bargaining table to address their concerns.”
Watch for a program to be created in the near future to ensure regional carriers have enough pilots and can share best training practices. The program is loosely based on one used by JetBlue/Cape Air Gateway, which recruits college students and trains them to become licensed pilots. The effort is spearheaded by Cape Air COO Dave Bushy, who says regional airlines must stem the flow of pilots to mainline carriers.
In 2009, during the deepest recession the West has known in recent memory, the People’s Republic of China began to show its potential as a major corporate jet buyer.
Charter traffic is rebounding for DC Aviation, Germany’s largest business jet operator, with demand improving in both short- and long-haul segments, CEO Michael Kuhn tells Aviation Week at EBACE 2011.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) confirmed May 18 that a poorly made oil feed pipe initiated the uncontained failure of a Rolls-Royce Trent 900 engine on Qantas Airbus A380 on Nov. 4. No one was injured in the incident, which occurred shortly after takeoff from Singapore, but the aircraft suffered systems and fuselage damage as a result of the uncontained failure. The aircraft (VH-0QA) remains in Singapore awaiting repair.
Titanium parts manufacturer Aerospace Dynamics International Inc. (ADI) of Valencia, Calif., has acquired two MAG five-spindle Ti profilers to increase parts production for Airbus A350 and Boeing 787 aircraft.
Bombardier says it is delivering a Q400 turboprop in a two-class configuration for the first time to an unidentified customer who plans to adopt that configuration for the carrier’s entire Q400 fleet. Bombardier will deliver the first one this summer to an existing Q400 customer, and more units after that, Philippe Poutissou, VP for marketing, said at the Regional Airline Association annual convention in Nashville, Tenn.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, unexpectedly, says it has problems with the new airline and rail union election rules implemented by the National Mediation Board last year, and has tasked the board with providing considerable documentation in a short period concerning its decision to change its interpretation of the rules.
As signaled by EADS late last week, Airbus is once again raising the single-aisle production rate. The company now plans to build 42 A320 family aircraft per month, starting in the fourth quarter of 2012. The previous plan called for production to reach 40 units early that year. Airbus says it is on course to raise output to 38 units per month from 36 by August across its three final assembly sites in Hamburg, Toulouse and Tianjin. Widebody output is going up to 10 units per month in 2013 from 8.5 now coming off the line.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. has narrowed its search for a new CEO to two candidates to replace Philip Trenary, who resigned as president and CEO on March 24. The new CEO will be in place by June, a company representative says, overseeing a move to downtown Memphis in August and integration of Colgan Airlines with Mesaba Airlines.
Great Lakes Airlines, whose future is somewhat tied to the ill-fated Essential Air Service program, given that 70% of its route structure falls under EAS, believes the program has been saved by a compromise between the House and Senate.
An FAA-supported study that reviewed sites for a second Atlanta commercial airport concludes that none of the original 29 candidates were feasible. Airport general manager Louis Miller says the Atlanta Dept. of Aviation will begin updating the master plan for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, starting this fall, with the intention of expanding the world’s busiest single facility to meet future capacity needs.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. (HBC) continues its penetration of the aftermarket with three announcements at EBACE 2011. HBC is expected to unveil two new European Union-based launch customers for performance-enhancing winglets for the Hawker 750. Emanuel Muntmark with Monsson S.A., a Constanza, Romania-based company, is one of the launch customers, while the announcement of a second customer is anticipated before EBACE closes May 19. Alfa Air, a charter operator in Bucharest, uses Muntmark’s Hawker 750.
Air Works India is evaluating options to this year establish greenfield maintenance, repair and overhaul centers in the Middle East. “The Middle Eastern countries have a huge fleet of business jets and helicopters. We are examining local partners in stable countries like the UAE, Qatar and Oman in this region and we would like to tap the growing market,” Vivek N. Gour, Air Works' managing director, tells Aviation Week.
A Shanghai court has ordered 15 pilots who quit working for a state airline to pay their former employer 2.1 million yuan ($322,000) each in compensation for the cost of their training. The state airline, whose name has not been revealed, failed in its attempt to recover a further 7.55 million yuan from each pilot as compensation for the resources they used in accumulating experience—those resources presumably being the aircraft and facilities that the airline was concurrently employing to earn money from passengers.
A group of scientists are questioning why the U.S. Transportation Security Administration will not permit independent testing of radiation of advanced imaging technology (AIT) full-body scanners.
The World Trade Organization Appellate Body has largely, but not completely, upheld last year’s Panel ruling that certain subsidies provided by the European Union and some of its member states to Airbus are “incompatible” with WTO rules because they have caused “serious prejudice” to the interests of the U.S.
