Schedule reductions by several Mexican airlines hurt traffic at the airports operated by Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), which after months of growth recorded the first drop in total traffic in May.
Mexico’s Transportation Dept. (SCT) this week grounded Magnicharters — one of the largest charter operations in the country — after a maintenance audit of its five Boeing 737s, which are on average 23 years old. SCT said, “Major flaws were found in maintenance and technical training, and besides, the company is going through financial difficulties, which impair its capacity to run a healthy and sustainable operation.” Magnicharters flies to 13 cities and resort destinations in Mexico, and SCT has given it 90 days to correct the problems in order to fly again.
Capacity cutbacksare evident in the number of tickets sold through the Airlines Reporting Corp. For the first five months of this year, total domestic transactions processed fell 5.4% to 50.4 million. In May, they were down nearly 11% to 9.6 million. Total sales were up 5% to $37.7 billion for the first five months.
Air Dominicana, which recently won its international operating license from the Dominican Republic’s Civil Aviation Institute, started flights June 11 from Santo Domingo to Puerto Rico. The airline is the first national carrier to be licensed after the country was reinstated to Category 1 in the U.S. FAA’s IASA safety oversight program. CEO Ignacio Sanguino said Air Dominicana’s single Boeing 737-200 will soon be joined by similar models as the startup expands operations to other U.S. destinations.
Air Arabia, facing competition from a new budget carrier the Dubai government wants to launch, is taking steps to strengthen its position through expansion into Europe and Asia. United Arab Emirates-based Air Arabia was the region’s first budget carrier when it started operations in 2003 and has become its largest, with 39 destinations in the Middle East and North Africa. Backed by Sharjah government entities, it flies an all-Airbus A320-200 fleet of 13 aircraft and has 35 on order.
Ecuador’s Icaro Airlines wants to expand to Peru to compete with other carriers in the domestic market, Peruvian Foreign Trade and Tourism Minister Mercedes Araoz told Invertia News Service this week. Icaro has succeeded in Ecuador with frequent, short-haul routes, using small aircraft that consume less fuel. Araoz says the airline would be welcomed in Peru because “we are looking for new foreign airlines to operate here, and Icaro is a prime prospect with its fine low-cost record in Ecuador.
Chile’s LAN airline group last week finished renewing its entire domestic and regional short- and medium-haul fleet, retiring former Boeing 737-200s in operation since 2000 and investing $2.4 billion to replace them with Airbus A318, A319 and A320 aircraft.
Delta applied for U.S. Transportation Dept. approval to begin service from New York Kennedy to Buenos Aires in December, which would bring the airline back to a route it had sought approval to serve in 2001 until the Sept. 11 attacks changed every U.S. airline’s plans. Delta said it would begin the service Dec. 18 on Boeing 767-300ERs and would offer five flights a week during the December-April peak season and four a week during the rest of the year.
Airports operator BAA reported a GBP41 million (US$81.1 million) loss in the quarter ended March 31, driven by increased security and facility maintenance costs. BAA’s operating costs rose 21.6% year over year to GBP416 million (US$823.9 million). Among the expenses were hiring 2,200 new security officers to help tighten security and cut line wait times; maintenance to improve airport facilities; higher depreciation and amortization charges; higher costs for airline relocations; and improved airport cleanliness, police costs and baggage connection systems.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office says FAA is generally on track with its controller hiring plan, but questions remain about the training process and the number of uncertified developmental controllers in ATC facilities.
Boeing has closed on its buy of Vought Aircraft Industries’ 50% ownership in Global Aeronautica, the Charleston, S.C., factory that joins mid-section fuselages for the 787. Boeing joins Alenia North America, a division of Alenia Aeronautica, in the partnership. Terms were not disclosed. The deal was first announced in March and passed regulatory approval June 3.
Crew fatigue management may soon factor into daily airline operations if FAA adopts NTSB recommendations proposed at the June 9 safety board meeting. NTSB recommends that FAA develop scientifically based guidance for operators to set up and implement fatigue management systems, as well as ensure continual assessment of the systems’ effectiveness.
France’s Lord Ingenierie has unveiled its TOM500 green laser system, designed to reduce runway bird strikes. Lord Ingeniere helped develop the technology with ornithologists working for France’s Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) back in 2001, said spokesman Franck Monin. “Lord did the design and does the manufacturing of the LEM50 Laser Torch and the TOM500 automated turret,” he said. “The TOM500 has been tested for nearly three years in real-world conditions in both civilian and military airports in France.
Finnair is seeing further erosion in its business case, with Asian traffic starting to flag. The carrier earlier reported declining passenger numbers, but its May traffic data show routes to China and India are also being hit. China’s earthquake is a contributing factor on top of a wider economic slowdown. Finnair has bet heavily on connecting passengers between Europe and Asia. With capacity up 38.3% and traffic increasing only 18.5% from the prior year, load factor fell 10.5 percentage points to 62.6%.
Virgin America yesterday joined a long list of U.S. carriers that have padded their fares with fuel surcharges, adding fees of $10 each way for short-haul and $25 for long-haul markets. The airline called the charges necessary to protect it against “volatility” in oil prices.
As they wait for Boeing’s order to ship their next set of 787 fuselage sections, Vought Aircraft Industries and Global Aeronautica say they are making significant progress in making sure that what leaves their factory floor is complete.
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Nokia wants to keep closer tabs on what airlines are doing with fuel surcharges. Graeme Wallace, FareCompare’s chief technical officer, says Nokia recently asked his company if it can track surcharges by airline and route, particularly on international travel, so Nokia can better gauge the effect on its corporate contract discounts.
The American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) plans to convene a one-day aviation summit to discuss how airports and airlines can cope with high fuel prices.
The soaring price of oil may come down a bit in the near term, but the situation is unlikely to be a bubble, two leading experts say. Markus Brunnermeier, a Princeton University economics professor and one of three economists there specializing in the study of market bubbles, and Charles Maxwell, a 35-year oil analyst who was educated at Princeton and Oxford and who is now with Weeden & Co. in Greenwich, Conn., talked to The DAILY separately about their areas of expertise.
India Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel has asked the nation’s prime minister and finance minister to urge the government to reduce aviation fuel taxes out of a concern that a slowdown in aviation will trickle down to ancillary businesses. There is a crisis in the Indian aviation industry accelerated by high aviation fuel prices that now account for 50% of an airline’s operating costs. “The slowdown will most certainly have a cascading effect and hit ancillary sectors in aviation like MRO,” Patel told The DAILY.
