American and its pilots union next week will move into a new phase in their contract negotiations, with the two parties beginning a series of meetings facilitated by the National Mediation Board. In a compromise deal, American and the Allied Pilots Association asked the NMB for five weeks of facilitated meetings, beginning March 10. The NMB agreed, and has assigned a facilitator. American intends to hold a preliminary session with the facilitator Feb. 28. This is still one step short of formal mediation controlled by the NMB.
Air Caraibes has selected Pratt & Whitney PW4000-100 engines to power three new Airbus A330-300s. The deal, which also includes a 10-year fleet management program, is worth US$180 million, Pratt said. Air Caraibes already has PW4000-powered A330s in its fleet.
The National Transportation Safety Board, following up on the FAA’s investigation into Go Airlines’ Feb. 13 overflight of its destination airport, found that there were no mechanical problems with the Bombardier CRJ-200 used in the service.
Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Sur (ASUR) registered a MXN190.84 million loss (US$17.7 million) for the fourth quarter as a result of changes in Mexico’s tax law. Net income for the full year 2007 fell 4.67% from 2006 to MXN548 million (US$51 million).
Pratt & Whitney on Feb. 20 signed a memorandum of understanding to maintain Jetstar Asia Airways’ fleet of IAE V2500-A5 engines on an exclusive basis for three years.
Traffic in Alitalia’s cargo and passenger operations dipped 8% and 3.8%, respectively, in January 2008. The airline attributed the declines to “a change in a marketing strategy, which aims to increase profitability rather than preserve volumes.” Alitalia said the change has resulted in increased yield levels, but it did not release those figures.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. fined tour operator Ritz Tours $55,000 for failing to disclose additional fuel surcharges and other taxes and fees on its printed brochures and mailers that appeared on its Web site and in direct e-mail ad campaigns during 2005, 2006 and 2007. Half of the fine is due March 1, while the remainder will be suspended for one year [DOT-OST-2008-0031].
FAA is turning its attention to reducing aviation emissions in Asia, Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell announced last week at the Singapore Air Show. The agency is launching the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE) program, which aims to reduce fuel burn and increase efficiency in the region. “We will aspire to fly green,” Sturgell said in a speech at the show.
US Airways plans to add three new routes to its transcontinental network this summer, with flights between its East Coast hubs and Sacramento and Tucson.
Venezuela’s Aeropostal /Alas de Venezuela reported last week its operations were getting back to normal after the recent collapse of its route network in the Caribbean (mainly to Santo Domingo and Curacao from Caracas) that suggested the carrier needed a bailout from Venezuela’s airline regulator INAC (DAILY, Feb. 4).
Wizz Air will suspend flights April 2-4 from Bucharest due to security measures related to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s summit in the Romanian capital. Wizz Air is having to cancel 20 flights outbound and an equal number of return flights.
British Airways has embarked on a last-minute lobbying campaign to ensure that regulators ease restrictions on London Heathrow Airport as a public consultation period for the development of the airport draws to a close. The on-going debate in the U.K. will lead to decisions on whether to give the go-ahead to a third runway and whether to allow the introduction of mixed-mode operations on existing infrastructure to free up capacity in the intervening time. The public comment period ends Feb. 27.
FAA plans to have automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) coverage for Gulf of Mexico oil platforms available by the end of 2009, FAA Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell says. ADS-B has long been regarded as a crucial safety improvement for helicopter operations in the Gulf, which does not have full radar coverage. FAA estimates helicopters fly more than 2 million operations a year to the 5,500 offshore oil platforms.
Spain’s Gadair has applied for the foreign carrier permit that it will need to operate wet-lease services on behalf of its affiliate, Air Ecuador (DAILY, Jan. 11). Gadair said it operates charter flights for tour operators and wet-leases for other Spanish carriers, and is working to launch scheduled service between Madrid and Bahrain. It plans to use Boeing 757s and 767s for the Air Ecuador wet-lease — it currently subleases one 757 from affiliate Hola Airlines and said it plans to lease 767-200s and -300s for its wet-lease operations.
Seoul Incheon Airport took first place in Airport Council International’s Airport Service Quality Survey. It was a hat-trick for Asia/Pacific airports in the survey, with Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur taking second and Singapore Changi taking third. “At Incheon, the management team takes pride in delivering quality airport service and sees it as being part of the overall tourism value chain,” said Craig Bradbrook, ACI program director.
Successful implementation of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will minimize short-shipped and lost baggage, while SMS messages when the baggage is unloaded from the airplane could be a new passenger service offering, according to a new study. UFIS Airport Innovation AS (UFIS AI) partnered with RFID Lab Norway, UPM Raflatac Finland, Lyngsoe Systems and the Nordic Innovation Centre on the case study, known as the Nice Travel Project. The study was designed to look at ways to show the advantages of RFID for the aviation sector.
Las Vegas McCarran Airport is pushing aggressively to add more airlines to its off-site bag check-in program, says Randall Walker, director of the Clark County Department of Aviation. “Our goal is to someday reach a point where 10% of all bags checked through McCarran originate at an off-airport drop point, and to get there we’ll need widespread airline participation,” he adds.
British Airways and its pilots union are entering conciliation in an attempt to resolve their dispute over hiring pilots for the new OpenSkies subsidiary. The British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) said conciliation is due to start within seven days, although the facilitator has yet to be named. However, the union is not backing away from its threat of labor action.“Should conciliation not progress in a timely and positive fashion, BALPA will be able to serve notice of action,” the pilot group said.
Profits for Auckland International Airport Ltd. (AIAL) were down 3.9% to NZ$47.5 million (US$37.9 million) in the first half of Fiscal Year 2008. The company, in the middle of a takeover offer from Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB), blamed increased operating expenses and NZ$5.8 million in one-off costs from the ownership proposal. AIAL also noted a rise in depreciation and interest costs associated with its investment program, combined with higher interest rates.
Bombardier last week took a significant step toward finally launching its C-Series program, after its board granted authority to offer formal sales proposals. The actual program launch decision will come sometime this year after Bombardier obtains firm commitments from customers. Prospects for this look decent because the manufacturer included glowing references from some potentially major players. Entry into service is planned in 2013. Bombardier painted the delay in launching the program in a positive light.
As pilots at Austral, domestic subsidiary of Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) were discussing whether and when to strike (DAILY, Feb. 21), AR last week agreed with the government that the country “requires more aircraft” and confirmed adding more units to its fleet.
