El Al is negotiating with Boeing regarding an order for four 777-200 aircraft and expects to make a final decision by yearend; deliveries could begin in 2012. The planes would be used on U.S. routes, the airline said. CEO Haim Romano noted the carrier is “enthusiastic” about growing its fleet in line with its 2010 Plan.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has name Douglas Hofsass as its new general manager of the Commercial Airports Security Division in its Transportation Sector Network Management. In his new position, Hofsass will work with airports across the country to build security networks and develop policies and programs. He was the federal security director at New York LaGuardia Airport for the past two years, where he also directed security operations at Long Island MacArthur Airport, Westchester County Airport and the Manhattan heliports.
Aer Lingus has been able to bolster its operational performance, increasing fleet utilization and lowering unit costs. In announcing preliminary 2007 results, CEO Dermot Mannion notes that “despite soaring oil prices and an increasingly competitive marketplace, operating profits remained strong in 2007 and were better than expectations.” The operating profit came in at EUR88.5 million.
Continental is teaming with Boeing and GE to conduct a biofuels demonstration flight next year, although the companies have not yet decided what fuel sources they will use.
The SAS Group is warning that its first-quarter financial performance will fall short, with the airline group unable to offset high fuel costs and falling yields fast enough to meet targets. Although year-over-year traffic and load factor were up in February, the yield during the past month is expected to be 3%-6% below 2007 results. That comes on top of a 2% yield decline in January. Passenger numbers were up last month in part due to the additional, leap-year travel day.
Southwest yesterday returned to its active roster all of the 38 Boeing 737s it had temporarily grounded for inspections, and the carrier reported its flight schedule was back to normal. The inspections began March 12, and by 9 p.m. EDT that day the carrier had examined and cleared 28 of the 38 737s it had grounded. The remainder was finished by yesterday morning. A spokeswoman told The DAILY that if any repair requirements were discovered, they were minor. Another five aircraft included in the snap inspections were already offline for routine maintenance.
Czech Airlines plans to boost operations in Prague-Slovakia market, which it says has grown solidly in a year’s time. More than 213,000 passengers flew on CSA flights between Prague and Slovakia in 2007, up 4% from 2006. The airline operated 3,200 flights between the countries, close to 10% growth year over year, while cargo carriage was up 11.5% year over year.
The on-demand air taxi market soon will not be able to keep pace with demand, small aircraft manufacturers and air taxi operators say, and this segment of the industry will be expanding worldwide. Linear Air, based in Concord, Mass., is the latest carrier to join Richard Branson’s new venture — Virgin Charter Marketplace. Linear Air said yesterday it will offer its services to Virgin’s customers in the U.S. Northeast and mid-Atlantic states, and in eastern Canada.
Airports operator BAA has agreed to sell its World Duty Free Europe Ltd. to Italy’s Autogrill S.p.A. for GBP546.6 million (US$1.1 billion). BAA sold the unit as part of an ongoing effort to shed what it calls “non-core assets.” The airports operator will use the proceeds to repay the debt of Airport Development and Investment Ltd., the company created by Spain’s Ferrovial. Autogrill, parent of HMSHost and Alpha Airports, will operate duty-free stores at BAA’s seven U.K. airports under a 12-year deal.
IATA yesterday echoed major airlines in criticizing the U.K.’s Civil Aviation Authority for allowing large increases in passenger charge caps at London airports (DAILY, March 12). IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani, a regular opponent of airport and ATC fee increases, described airport operator BAA as an “out-of-control monopoly” and CAA as a “weak” and “phantom” regulator. He called for the various reviews of BAA that are under way to recommend “an ambitious agenda for change.”
WestJet plans to launch a new nonstop route between Calgary and Newark, N.J., which the carrier says will be the first time a Canadian airline has linked these airports. The seasonal daily flights will begin June 2.
Air Berlin shares fell by as much as 11% yesterday after the airline announced a sharp drop in profitability for 2007. The carrier’s operating profit declined from EUR64.2 million in 2006 to EUR21.5 million (US$33 million), and net profit was down from EUR50.1 million to EUR11 million (US$17 million), while revenues increased from EUR1.58 billion to EUR2.54 billion (US$39.36 billion).
Nav Canada says it will expand its automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) program to cover its East Coast transatlantic approaches, and has awarded a contract extension to Sensis Corp. to provide the required systems. ADS-B ground-based transceivers will be deployed along the Labrador and Baffin Island coasts of Canada, which Nav Canada says will provide “enhanced surveillance of transatlantic air traffic.” Nav Canada handles by far the majority of westbound transatlantic flights.
Italian carrier Air One says its first flights to the U.S. — from Milan to Chicago and Boston, starting in June — will be much needed if Alitalia follows through on plans to scale down operations (DAILY, Sept. 6).
Lufthansa expects its profit to improve further this year, as the airline is aiming at becoming Europe’s most profitable network carrier. The continent’s second-largest airline yesterday said it has reached a net profit of EUR1.4 billion (US$2.2 billion) on sales of EUR22.4 billion (US$34.8 billion), an improvement of 63.1% from last year. The operating margin was 6.9%, above Air France-KLM’s, but still below British Airways.’ Its net profit reached EUR1.6 billion (US$2.49 billion).
Chinese aircraft group Avic 1 is sending 150 engineers to Britain’s Cranfield University to study commercial airframe and engine design. In three groups spread over three years, the engineers will develop a design for a 130-seat airliner — just as an exercise, not to put it into production. Cranfield’s Professor John Fielding chose the aircraft size, so that part of the course doesn’t say anything about specific Chinese ambitions.
Lessor CIT Aerospace yesterday announced an order with Airbus for 15 new A320 family aircraft and five A330s. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in 2011 and continue through 2014. CIT has ordered 189 aircraft from Airbus, of which 93 have been delivered. The total comprises 152 A320s, 30 A330s, and seven A350s.
Singapore Airlines, starting March 30, will increase capacity to Delhi by 24% with the addition of two weekly flights using a Boeing 777-200, taking its weekly flights to India to 57. SIA’s regional subsidiary SilkAir also operates an additional 15 flights to three smaller destinations.“Our aim is to step up the flights from New Delhi to double daily in the near future,” said C.W. Foo, general manager-India.
Ryanair has come out swinging over what it called a “sneak” decision by Aviation Regulator Cathal Guiomard to unilaterally approve a 50% hike in check-in desk charges at Dublin Airport proposed by the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA).
Estonia and Latvia signed memoranda of understanding with the U.S. yesterday, paving the way for their entry into the U.S. Visa Waiver program. “This is a milestone occasion, a major step forward,” said U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in Riga. Estimates show that the Visa Waiver Program will bring 23,000 additional Estonian and Latvian visitors to the U.S. and more than US$80 million in spending over the next five years.
Almost 84% of the world’s airlines feel increased pressure to respond to IT security threats, a rise from the high of 80% recorded the previous year, according to the second annual SITA Global Airline IT Security Survey. SITA polled 152 airlines in late 2007 and found that 63% of respondents have created dedicated security management teams, up from 55% in 2006 (DAILY, Nov. 30, 2006). There is also a significant shift to using the specialist services of outsourced third parties, rising from 22% in 2006 to 36% in 2007.
New York Kennedy Airport could reduce delays and increase capacity by adding a new runway between two existing runways, claims a new study by the Washington, D.C.-based Reason Foundation. A new runway safely built between Runways 4R and 4L would still give JFK runway spacing greater than the separation between runways at San Francisco Airport and similar to that at Boston Logan Airport, said the study.
Sensis this week unveiled the next-generation version of its VeeLo airport ground vehicle tracking technology. The VeeLo NextGen has an improved wide area augmentation system (WAAS)-enabled GPS receiver, and it broadcasts location and identity, using Mode S extended squitter automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADSB) message format.
