Brazilian operator TAM Linhas Aéreas intends to use two Airbus A330s scheduled for delivery this month and next to boost capacity from Rio de Janeiro Jobim International Airport to key markets in Europe and North America. The new 223-seat, three-class aircraft will enable TAM in May to boost frequencies to Frankfurt International Airport to daily from five weekly, as well as add a fifth weekly service to New York John F. Kennedy International Airport.
As China's economy expands, so do its labor rates, putting some American MROs in a position to compete pretty favorably against the Chinese, which was not the case five years ago, says Ken Aso, associate partner at Oliver Wyman. The money is in the engines; powerplants represent 46% of all MRO spending, according to TeamSAI. While airframe maintenance costs break down to about 70% labor and 30% material, engine MRO is the opposite—70% material and 30% labor.
Air Berlin is adding two members to its board of directors, bringing much-needed airline industry expertise to the company. Barbara Cassani and Saad Hammad will join the board in May. Air Berlin, which posted a loss of almost €100 million ($144 million) last year, is going through major changes as it prepares to join Oneworld in 2012.
The government may have avoided a shutdown last week, but the FAA didn’t escape cuts. Congress on Friday passed a final one-week spending bill that clipped another $2 billion out of the federal budget, and the FAA gave up $8.7 million from its facilities and equipment accounts, of which $3.5 million came from its research and development budget, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
The $383 million renovation of the former international terminal at San Francisco International Airport will open for the public on Thursday, April 14, with a dozen or more innovations to the travel experience. The new and improved Terminal 2 will be the home for American Airlines and Virgin America.
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.
London City Airport head Richard Gooding says aviation has made progress on the mechanics to reduce engine emissions and the next focus should be on reducing noise. He expects a lively debate on the issue. The noise problem should be conquered, he says, so that voters who side with environmentalists will lessen pressure on politicians who, in London, have clamped down on further runway construction in the metropolitan area.
The European Commission is making good on its plans to review passenger rights rules with a goal of making a new proposal next year. Airlines have been furious over existing rules, believing they bear a disproportionate financial burden when flights are disrupted by weather or volcanic ash, as was the case last year. The European Commission effectively acknowledges that the current situation is not perfect in launching its review.
LAN Airlines in March added 4.7 more percentage points to its systemwide load factor, which rose to 77.7% on a 36.5% gain in traffic and 28.2% more capacity. International traffic, 69% of total demand, grew 35.1% while capacity was up 24.8%, improving loads six points to 79.5%. LAN’s domestic operation in Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru posted traffic gains of 39.7% on 35.7% more supply and a 2.1-point increase in loads to 73.9%.
Maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) executives are feeling optimistic as the airline aftermarket rebounds, while keeping a cautious eye on market forces, such as rising fuel prices, that could undo the uptick. “Cautious” is the key word because “it’s not time to break out the champagne bottles and get too euphoric about what the future picture is,” says Chris Spafford, an Oliver Wyman partner.
FAA is charging Republic Holdings' subsidiary Lynx Airways with a $350,000 fine for operating one of its Bombardier Dash 8-Q402 aircraft while out of compliance with federal aviation regulations. The agency alleges the operation's maintenance department had four opportunities to catch and remedy the lapses as well, but "failed to catch the problem through its own safety processes."
Copa Holdings in a restructured traffic report posted a 1.7-percentage-point decline in its March load factor to 75.9% due to excess capacity in its international operations. The company until now had detailed monthly performance for each operating unit, separating data between Panama-based Copa Airlines and its smaller Copa Colombia divisions. But with this report, the company, citing a shift in its Colombian operation’s network, will now disseminate data as a combined entity.
There are 168 airlines on Twitter, but only 77 are actively tweeting and 80% of all tweets come from just 30 airlines, according to the first of what will become a monthly report about airline activity on the service.
The Norfolk Airport Authority, Norfolk, Va., will accept sealed bids until 2 p.m. on April 28, 2011, for one new 3,000-gallon aircraft rescue and firefighting vehicle. A pre-bid conference will be held in the Authority’s offices at 2 p.m. on April 14, 2011. For a copy of the bid invitation package, contact Steve Sterling, Director of Operations, Norfolk Airport Authority, Norfolk International Airport, 2200 Norview Avenue, Norfolk, Va., 23518.
Having slashed its commitment for Airbus A320s, Jazeera Airways says it could reinstate some of those commitments with an indication A320 New Engine Option may be of interest The airline last month canceled 25 of the 40 A320s on order with Airbus since 2007. But Chairman Marwan Boodai says, “We might revisit this decision in the future as Airbus introduces new A320 models to the market.”
JFKIAT , operator of Terminal 4 at New York John F. Kennedy International Airport, named Barbara Margulis VP-safety and performance management and Stacey Lora VP-security.
U.S. and foreign airlines, plus an audience poll at the 20th Phoenix International Aviation Symposium, all agree with the general assumption that airline alliances will stay roughly the same over the next few years, and growth will tilt toward the giant in the group, Star Alliance.
United Continental Holdings in March recorded passenger unit revenue growth of 8-9% year-on-year despite load factor declines in every sector, and would have posted higher passenger revenue per available seat miles if not for the financial impact of its transatlantic joint venture with Star Alliance partners.
European airlines operate the largest number of Boeing 737 Classics covered under the new inspection regime recommended by Boeing, followed by carriers in Asia and then North America, an Aviation Week analysis shows. But the fleet is spread so broadly and thinly among carriers that most of them will scarcely be affected, even under the current worst-case scenarios. Aviation Week determined the location of the aircraft (see charts below) by using the Ascend database and the aircraft line number range provided by Boeing.
