February traffic of the Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association’s (ALTA’s) members grew 1.2% year-on-year to 15.7 billion revenue passenger kilometers, and passenger numbers were up 0.1% to 10.3 million, but a 1.5% rise in capacity to 21.1 billion available seat kilometers depressed their combined load factor 0.2 percentage points to 74.3%.
Singapore Airlines (SIA) is going ahead with plans to deploy Airbus A380s on the Singapore-Tokyo Narita-Los Angeles route, despite a drop in traffic. The carrier was originally planning to deploy the high-capacity aircraft on the route starting on March 27, but the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on March 11 led SIA to postpone the move.
A 10-year, comprehensive Airbus A320 component contract with Avianca-TACA prompted Sabena Technics subsidiary Barfield to open a repair shop in Bogota, Colombia. The shop, scheduled to open mid-year, initially will perform avionic testing and repair, though Barfield plans for it to add services for more components later on. It also aims to service other Latin American carriers from the hub, which is its fourth major shop alongside locations in Miami; Tempe, Ariz.; and Louisville, Ky.
The FAA says it won’t know the final cost of its system command center relocation until next year, but the agency says it will probably come in at—or slightly under—the $46 million it budgeted for the move in 2008. The new command center, which was officially opened this week, is expected to save the agency more than $2 million a year. Many costs will be shared with the terminal radar approach control for the Washington region, which is on the same site in Warrenton, Va.
The new Japanese low-cost carrier being established by All Nippon Airways has applied for its air operator’s certificate (AOC), and plans to announce a brand next month. The carrier, currently called A&F Aviation, is expected to begin operations from its base at Kansai International Airport in the second half of its 2011 fiscal year. It plans to begin flying to Sapporo Shin-Chitose Airport and to Fukuoka by no later than March 2012, and to Seoul in May 2012. It will operate Airbus A320 aircraft.
Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) will host a three-day static air show from April 28 in association with Titan Aviation. This will be the first time that an air show of this magnitude will be held outside Bengaluru. CIAL over the years has been positioning itself as gateway to South India with a series of aviation-linked activities.
Kenya Airways will take delivery of its first Boeing 787-8 in October 2013, according to Managing Director Titus Naikuni. That is three years later than originally planned when the airline placed the order in 2006. In spite of the late delivery, Kenya Airways plans to add seven new destinations to its network this year and seven more in 2012. Kenya Airways is competing with Ethiopian Airlines for intra-African and long-haul connecting traffic. Ethiopian has ordered 10 787-8s.
After years of development, the FAA has declared its new en route air traffic control system fully operational and ready to be introduced nationwide. The agency made the “in-service” decision on the en route automation modernization (ERAM) system based on its performance at the operational test sites in Seattle and Salt Lake City. ERAM, which will be the backbone ATC system at the 20 en route centers in the continental U.S., is regarded as a crucial precursor to the NextGen modernization effort.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul market projections announced at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas conference in Miami mark 2010 as the bottom of the recession's trough, though they note that many effects of the downturn have not been felt yet, and other influential factors, such as fuel costs, could throw any forecasts off. As AeroStrategy Partner Kevin Michaels puts it, "If oil hits $150-$200 per barrel, all bets are off."
Airbus is working on ways to distinguish the skill levels of the 16 members of its global maintenance, repair and overhaul network, Chris Reamy, director of services for Airbus Americas, told Aviation Week’s MRO Americas conference Wednesday in Miami. The intent is to differentiate between members of the network—from component specialists to large one-stop-shop providers—and other MRO businesses, he says. Airbus is treating the upgrade as a Phase 2 in the development of the network, which began five years ago. It is to be implemented by yearend.
Rockwell Collins has completed an inventory support beta test for All Nippon Airways as part of its Global Asset Management program for the Boeing 787. Rockwell Collins supplies more than 200 part numbers for the aircraft, the first of which launch customer ANA is scheduled to receive in the third quarter. Thanks to its contract with ANA, the manufacturer is stocking spares in Japan for the first time, says Scott Gunnufson, VP and general manager of Rockwell Collins Service Solutions.
Authorities at Worcester Regional Airport are considering changing the airport's name to Worcester International Airport now that Direct Air is planning regular air service to Nassau, Bahamas, this fall.
Republic Airways Holdings promoted Tim Dooley to the CFO position vacated with the recent retirement of Hal Cooper. Dooley, who was VP of financial planning and analysis, now assumes responsibility of financial accounting and treasury, financial planning and analysis and human resources, as well as investor relations and risk management and insurance.
Embraer and Avic have reached a compromise to avert the shutdown of a Chinese production line that has been assembling Embraer jets since 2003. The preliminary deal calls for output at the joint venture to shift from 50-seat ERJ-145 regional jets to Legacy 600/650 business jets, which are derived from the ERJ-135/145 family. The Brazilian aircraft company has discontinued production of those aircraft as regional jets, and the last of 41 assembled at the Harbin plant in northeastern China is scheduled for delivery this month.
A fourth incident involving an unresponsive, on-duty air traffic controller in as many weeks has prompted U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood to revise staffing on the midnight shift at 27 control towers across the country. Under standing FAA policy, these towers employed a single controller during the late night shift. However, a series of high-profile incidents in the past weeks involving controllers that were either asleep or out of communication has now resulted in an additional staff member for each facility.
Air Berlin named Wolfram Grimus as its new head of network planning and development. Grimus, 45, joins the carrier from Austrian Airlines, where he most recently was director of the Commercial Passenger Division for Central and Eastern Europe. The airline also has recruited former Go Fly CEO Barbara Cassani and former EasyJet Chief Commercial Officer Saad Hammad as new members of its board. The appointments become effective in May.
Boeing confirms that Air Pacific has canceled its order for eight 787-9s, a decision a senior Fijian lawmaker says was due to the carrier’s own financial troubles as well as Boeing’s delayed delivery timetable. Boeing says the 787s had been scheduled for delivery in 2015, although that date had been pushed back because of program delays. The airline and manufacturer say they are “continuing to work with each other on solutions for replacing the airline’s current widebody fleet of 747 and 767 aircraft.”
American Airlines filed a civil lawsuit April 12 against Travelport charging the global distribution system provider with violating federal antitrust law, but the case really is a challenge to the model of every GDS provider and the nature of their contracts with airlines and travel agencies. Travelport owns the Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo GDSs. But American’s lawsuit, which it filed against both Travelport and Orbitz, hardly confines itself to them.
TAM VP-MRO and Operations Ruy Amparo says the Brazilian carrier wants to convert San Carlos Airport into an international airport and is “applying for a bounded area” there. This is not to gain long-haul flights but rather to get a customs agency established at the airport to expedite parts clearance and decrease turnaround time for the maintenance, repair and overhaul. Amparo predicts this project could take one to two years. “Brazil loves taxes,” he quipped at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas Conference in Miami. TAM’s MRO technological center covers 73,000 sq.
The U.S. Travel Association has launched a grassroots campaign to petition Congress for approval of a trusted traveler program to aid in securing airline passengers and accelerating their passage through airport checkpoints. The campaign will include widespread advertising, an advocacy website, an on-line petition for signing, and a toll-free number to connect travelers with Congress.
With more than 30% of CFM56 engines in commercial service now covered under its TRUEngine program, GE Aviation is launching a similar program for the CF6 powerplant and Nippon Cargo Airlines is the launch customer, the engine OEM said at Aviation Week’s MRO Americas Conference in Miami. GE has awarded TRUEngine designation to 43 CF6-80C2 engines that power the Japanese carrier’s fleet of Boeing 747s, but Troy Tomson, senior marketing manager at GE Aviation, said the program will not be limited to the -80C2.
Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is actively pursuing cargo operators to develop the facility’s intermodal cargo potential, in an effort to offset some of the lost passenger revenue resulting from American Airlines’ de-hubbing of the airport.
