While U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood continues his road show to various air traffic facilities to reinforce the need to maintain safe practices, it has emerged that yet another controller has been suspended, but instead of sleeping on duty this individual breached policy by watching a movie at the radar station.
Takam Sanjoy, a member of the Indian Parliament from Arunachal Pradesh, says helicopters are the life-line of many remote areas in India, and new equipment is needed to replace older choppers.
JetBlue Airways began selling interline itineraries on its website April 19 for trips that include Aer Lingus, American Airlines and Cape Air, and says it expects to turn on the capability for more partners over the next year. Previously, travelers who wanted to purchase tickets that included travel on any of JetBlue’s interline partners had to do it via other methods, such as from the other carrier’s website and call center, an online travel agency or a brick-and-mortar travel agency using a global distribution system.
The search and recovery team looking to find the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of Air France AF447 are due to be in place on April 22, the French air accident office (BEA) says. An earlier search this month located parts of the wreckage of the Airbus A330-200 that crashed June 1, 2009, killing all onboard. The exact location of the so-called black boxes has not yet been identified.
Unions representing Oneworld carriers—Transport Workers Union, Unite, Australian Services Union and the International Transport Workers Federation—are holding strategic talks in Washington this week and plan to reveal plans at 1 p.m. tomorrow for a new labor alliance. They say it also concerns a new approach to collective bargaining to “match globalization in commercial aviation.”
Swiss air traffic control provider Skyguide named Alex Bristol as its new chief operating officer. Bristol succeeds Urs Ryf, who announced his resignation from the position late last year. Bristol, 42, previously served as director-international affairs at British air traffic control company NATS. He will take on his new position in July.
American Airlines is denying reports it is providing funds to relaunch Oneworld alliance partner Mexicana de Aviación. Rumors of American’s involvement arose late April 15 when Mexican newspapers, citing “an official document” as yet released on any government or regulatory channel, reported American’s intent to partially fund TG Group’s takeover bid of the bankrupt carrier.
The Air Transport Association (ATA) and Airports Council International—North America (ACI-NA) are taking aim at a passel of FAA and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regulations that the industry groups want included in a “transparent” regulatory review ordered last January by President Obama. Obama’s Jan. 21 executive order mandated a review of “significant” federal regulations to identify rules that “may be outmoded, ineffective, insufficient or excessively burdensome.”
Allegiant Airlines expects to pay $20 million to $25 million for engine repair and overhaul this year, far more than the $5 million it spent in 2010, the airline’s parent company revealed in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing April 15. The reason for the big jump, the Las Vegas-based low-cost carrier says, is its decision to overhaul a greater number of engines instead of the greater reliance it has placed in previous years on buying engines to replace the ones in need of repair.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) is seeing support from Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), to include flight attendants in a crew expedited screening program.
GMF AeroAsia, a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider, is still working to get approval for a fourth and fifth hangar in Jakarta despite the fact it has warned its parent company Garuda Indonesia more than one year ago that it needs the hangars as soon as possible. GMF President Richard Budihadianto says Garuda Indonesia wants to see a formal written proposal for the hangars. GMF plans to complete the written proposal in the coming weeks and present it to Garuda President and CEO Emirsyah Satar.
Delta Air Lines and Australia's Virgin Blue Group have detailed their commitment to maintain transpacific capacity if their antitrust immunity application is granted by the U.S., although they say that gateway airports may change.
AviancaTaca says its initial public offering on Colombia’s stock exchange was oversubscribed by more than a factor of five, according to the Latin American operator. The sale, intended to raise $250 million, will proceed onto the validation process where priority has been given to employees and members of the company’s loyalty programs. This issue comes as the carrier’s Avianca operating division seeks approval to expand its reach in North America with a nonstop Airbus A319 service four times per week from Bogota to Orlando.
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Despite reports to the contrary, Boeing says it has no plans to announce in June the launch of an all-new model to replace the 737 or a decision to re-engine its best-selling twinjet. Instead, the company says those expecting a dramatic new program unveiling at this year’s Paris Air Show will have to make do with “more clarity on which direction we are leaning.” However, if the signs of the last nine months are anything to go by, the trend continues remorselessly toward an all-new 737 replacement aimed at entering service in 2019-20.
Baltia Air Lines believes it has “sufficient capital to support our development stage operations through the end of 2011,” even though it ended 2010 with less than $53,000 in cash, the long-aspiring New York-based carrier says in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on April 18.
The FAA is introducing new scheduling rules for air traffic controllers as the latest step in its response to revelations of controllers falling asleep on the job. The new requirements have been put in place, and will be in effect by the end of the week. They generally tighten rules that govern controller scheduling, and reduce controllers’ flexibility in altering schedules.
Embraer delivered 28 jets in the first quarter of this year, slightly less than Wall Street had expected. The Brazilian airframer announced it delivered 20 commercial jets. These include 11 E-190s, six E-195s, two E-175s and one E-170. The company also delivered eight business jets. At the end of the quarter, Embraer’s backlog was $16 billion, $400 million more than at the end of 2010. In the first quarter of the year, Embraer logged sales of 44 commercial aircraft, including orders from KLM, Alitalia and Brazilian carrier Trip.
Virgin Blue subsidiary V Australia has returned to service a Boeing 777-300 that was grounded for inspections after engine problems during takeoff in Los Angeles on April 13. The 777 (VH-VOZ) was declared serviceable after a component was replaced and borescope inspections over the weekend found no internal damage to the engine, a Virgin Blue spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. The aircraft departed at 8:35 p.m. local time April 17, on a scheduled flight from Los Angeles to Melbourne.
Jazeera Airways signed an agreement with global distribution system (GDS) provider Travelport to provide Galileo-connected travel agents in Kuwait with access to Jazeera online inventory that previously had been off limits, including the low-cost carrier’s last-minute web-only fares.
Greater Rockford, Ill., Airport Authority will work with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s career and alumni services in a search to replace Chicago Rockford International Airport Executive Director Bob O’Brien. The authority says it may hire a search firm to assist with the effort and work through other resources. O’Brien resigned to pursue other interests after having discussions on the airport’s strategic direction with Chairman Bharat Puri.
