Mexican carrier Volaris has unveiled more than 50 new U.S. destinations that have been added to its partnership with Southwest Airlines. The cities, which will be accessed through Volaris’ U.S. gateways at Chicago Midway International and McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas, are spread across the country, although Southwest is promoting the benefit this provides travelers from New York and the Northeast.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department has arrested a 16-year-old Los Alamitos man on a charge that he endangered the flight of a department helicopter by pointing a laser from a car near Interstate 5. Deputies from a local station stopped the suspect’s automobile on the 605 freeway and found a green laser pen light in the juvenile’s possession. The laser pointing incident on April 26 was the second recorded in the county in April involving helicopters, and the sixth since last September. Four suspects have been arrested.
Air Arabia experienced a strong growth in revenues and a much- improved load factor in the first quarter, but its profit dropped mainly as a result of the higher fuel prices and the unstable political situation in the Middle East. The UAE-based airline recorded revenues of 513 million dirhams ($140 million), up 6% from last year, but its profit declined by 14% to 42.7 million dirhams ($11.62 million). The result was slightly worse than expected by analysts.
Virgin Blue will from now on operate its domestic services as Virgin Australia, and the group’s international carriers will also take on the new name by the end of the year after a complex branding dispute involving Singapore Airlines was resolved.
Cargo wet-lease and charter operator Air Transport Services Group expects extended maintenance on three airframes and costs associated with refinancing a credit facility to depress first-quarter income, although without these one-time items, it would have produced results similar to last year's.
Virgin America should soon make a decision on the engine for the Airbus A320NEO aircraft it has ordered. CFO Holly Nelson says the carrier is “just in the process of concluding our engine competition,” having entered the final stages of negotiations with Pratt & Whitney and CFM.
Severe weather, unexpected maintenance costs and new contractual obligations at recently acquired ExpressJet Holdings pushed Skywest into its first quarterly loss in almost 23 years.
An initial public offering for South Florida-based Spirit Airlines could be just days away. CEO Ben Baldanza, never one to shy away from a speech, canceled his speaking engagement at Low-Cost Airlines World Americas May 4 in Miami. Word has it the reason was the pending IPO and "big news" that will be happening soon.
American Airlines is expanding an inflight broadband retrofit program to more narrowbody types in its domestic fleet and is set to trial a streaming video product from connectivity provider Aircell. The Wi-Fi expansion will begin this summer and continue through to next year. This will install Aircell’s Gogo air-to-ground system on 93 Boeing 757s used on American’s domestic routes, as well as up to 50 MD-80s, and does not interrupt the retrofit program already under way for the airline’s Boeing 737-800 fleet.
India’s national flag carrier Air India canceled 185 flights on Tuesday due to the ongoing strike by about 800 of its pilots. According to a senior Air India official, the airline managed to operate about 40 flights on the domestic network on the seventh day of the strike. The strike has so far caused a direct loss of about 700 million rupees ($15.6 million) to the already cash-strapped airline.
A decision is likely within 45 to 60 days on whether TAM Linhas Aereas will finalize a tentative deal to acquire a 31% stake in TRIP Linhas Aereas, including 25% of its voting stock, TRIP President Jose Mario Caprioli dos Santos says.
Jack Pelton, who has steered Cessna through one of the most difficult periods in its 84-year history, has retired as chairman, president and CEO, Cessna parent Textron announced on May 3; Textron Chairman and CEO Scott Donnelly is stepping in to lead the company until a successor is found.
By Kiran S. Desai, Mayer Brown International LLP If an alliance is like an engagement and a merger like a marriage, the best most airlines can do is get engaged because of the restriction on airline ownership and control that has been in place since the Chicago Convention.
Embraer SA reported first-quarter 2011 earnings that were higher than the same quarter last year, while remaining mum on its plans for a next generation narrowbody aircraft.
Republic Airways no longer expects its Frontier Airlines branded operation to break even this year and will reevaluate the operation’s network and fleet to adapt to an environment where fuel prices may reach $3.50/gal. CEO Bryan Bedford in an analyst call to discuss the company’s first-quarter loss also issued revised capacity levels for the Frontier operation, dropping it from an expected 4-5% growth to about the same level as in 2010.
Construction workers have topped out the structural framework of a future PHX Sky Train station near Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, keeping to a schedule for opening the first phase of the Sky Train in early 2013. The station, at 44th and Washington streets, will serve as a new gateway to the airport, providing a seamless connection to the regional Metro light rail system, says Tamie Fisher, assistant aviation director for the city. In the first phase, Sky Train will link with a parking lot and Terminal 4, the busiest of the airport’s terminals.
American Airlines’ decision to retain its maintenance operations while its peers outsourced repair work is burdening the carrier with excessive costs, and a new labor proposal offered by the Transport Workers Union will only further disadvantage the company, the airline says in a presentation.
Quebec-based Heroux-Devtek is the latest aerospace company to plan a move of part of its operation to Mexico; business aviation manufacturers Cessna and Hawker Beechcraft have opened plants in northern Mexico. Heroux-Devtek plans to construct buildings giving it up to 150,000 sq. ft. at Queretaro Aerospace Park, 137 miles north of Mexico City.
