The brewing fight between Delta and Mesa over efforts to terminate Freedom Airlines’ Connection flying signals that concerns about the security of regional flying contracts against $100-a-barrel oil were not short-sighted. Mesa seemed to link the contract termination with Delta’s plan to cut capacity and offset increased fuel costs (DAILY, March 19). “We appreciate Delta’s desire to reduce capacity as they publicly announced…but to do so unilaterally and in patent violation of their contract is not acceptable,” the company said in a statement.
The effectiveness of voluntary disclosure reporting came into focus at the April 3 House and Transportation and Infrastructure committee hearing on “critical lapses” in FAA safety oversight of airlines.
Colgan, facing increased fuel costs, filed paperwork with the U.S. Transportation Dept. to terminate some of its Essential Air Service so it can re-start the process and seek increased subsidies for the flights. Termination notices for Altoona and Johnstown, Pa., [DOT-OST-200-11451]; Clarksburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg, West. Va., [DOT-OST-2005-20736]; and Presque Isle/Houlton, Maine, [DOT- OST-2000-8012] appeared on the federal dockets system this week.
Sun Country, the low-cost carrier flying out of St. Paul, Minn., is temporarily laying off nearly 30% of its pilots and cutting back on flight frequencies in the face of high fuel costs. Its actions are just the latest in a series of fuel-related cutbacks by U.S. airlines, many of which are reducing domestic capacity or scaling back their growth plans.
“I call upon unions, Air France and the [Italian] government to find a way to resume discussion in the supreme interest of the common good”, said Italian Partito Democratico leader Franco Narducci in a dramatic statement after the collapse of talks to Italian state’s 49.9% in Alitalia to Air France-KLM. “I hope good sense will prevail and the negotiations can resume,” added departing Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The highly unprofitable Italian flag carrier is otherwise edging toward receivership.
Germany’s air accident investigation authority BFU plans to reiterate its proposal to replace type II and type IV de-icing fluids with more advanced substances, following the near-crash of a Lufthansa CityLine Avro RJ late last month.
The U.S. Defense Dept. is leading a multi-agency group to create written memoranda of understanding coordinating the handling of U.S. military personnel at U.S. commercial airports by the end of next month, Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) told The DAILY.
The White House is planning to nominate John Hewko to replace Andrew Steinberg as assistant secretary of transportation for aviation and international affairs. Hewko, formerly a partner at Baker & McKenzie, is currently the VP for compact development at the Millennium Challenge Corp. Steinberg announced his intention to leave the department in October last year.
FAA’s new hiring plan shows controller numbers rising as hiring exceeds retirements, but the controllers union says the agency is underestimating the attrition rate. FAA says its latest hiring update shows it is “on target” with its plan to stay ahead of the spike in controller retirements. The report shows the agency hired 1,815 controllers in fiscal 2007, compared with losses — including academy attrition — of 1,559.
Indianapolis-based ATA, which had grown to become the country’s 10th largest airline earlier this decade, shut down its operations yesterday after filing for bankruptcy protection late the day before. ATA filed for Chapter 11 protection, not Chapter 7 liquidation, but said in its filing that it will have to liquidate. Nearly all 2,230 of ATA’s employees were told yesterday that their jobs were gone; the carrier, founded in 1973, had been serving about 10,000 passengers daily with a mixed fleet of 29 owned and leased aircraft.
In contrast to airlines and airline industry groups, Airports Council International-North America has filed comments that strongly support the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s congestion pricing proposal.
Stepped-up production of 737s and 777 allowed Boeing to deliver 115 aircraft in the first quarter, nine more than in 2007. First quarter deliveries included 87 for all models of the 737 (83 in 2007); four 747s (3); three 767s (3); and 21 777s (17).
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Aer Lingus and JetBlue begin their landmark “strategic partnership” today with customers able to book connecting service between the carriers, and Aer Lingus and Ireland’s tourism board will jointly launch a $300,000 marketing campaign next week to promote the new travel option and Ireland as a destination.
With the Dubai government talking of launching a competitor, United Arab Emirates-based Air Arabia wants to strengthen its position through expansion into Europe and Asia. “The fact that a new budget carrier is being planned is an endorsement of our [business] model,” says Marketing Director Rohit Ramachandran. He figures Air Arabia has a five-year head start on the competition.
Turkish Airline’s accession to the Star Alliance is being used as a springboard to expand the carrier’s code-share relationship with partner Australian Airlines. Piggybacking the April 1 expansion of the alliance through the addition of its 20th member, Turkish and Austrian will codeshare on flights between Vienna and Istanbul and Ankara respectively. Austrian also is doubling to four its daily flights to Istanbul.
The next decade will be marked by continental mergers and intercontinental joint ventures within global alliances, putting a premium on tighter and smoother information technology integration, according to Leo Van Wijk, vice chairman of Air France/KLM, who also is serving as chairman of the Skyteam Alliance.
TUI Group carrier Jetairfly (formerly TUI Airlines Belgium) plans to launch seasonal service to Orlando in June. Weekly flights from Brussels would start June 22 and would continue through Nov. 3. The airline would use a Boeing 767-300ER on wet-lease from Italian carrier NEOS to operate the Orlando service though Aug. 31, after which the airline would begin to use its own 767-300ER. Jetairfly is based in Brussels but also operates at Liege Airport, Ostend-Bruges International Airport and Charleroi Airport.
China will set up its challenger to Airbus and Boeing this month under the name China Commercial Aircraft Co. Ltd., with the company facing an initial task of making up a six-month delay on the ARJ21 regional jet. The long-term goal is to develop an airliner with more than 150 seats The company will encompass businesses from the two current Chinese aircraft conglomerates, Avic 1 and Avic 2, each of which will have a minority stake. But it will get much more of its capital from outside of the industry, from governments and other state companies.
SkyWest Airlines yesterday promoted Randy Mulvey to director-Midwest Connect and Pearl Perrin as director-Delta Connection. Mulvey, most recently SkyWest’s Chicago regional director, will oversee daily ground operations for the Midwest Connect system. He will also continue to have oversight of SkyWest operations in the Chicago region. Perrin, meanwhile, will be responsible for SkyWest’s Delta Connection ground operations. She most recently served as regional director for Delta Connection ground operations.
