The Transportation Security Administration has added North Carolina’s Craven Regional Airport to its list of seven facilities taking part in its employee screening pilot announced last week. The pilot originally included New York Stewart Airport, but officials declined to participate (DAILY, Feb. 6).
Lufthansa’s passenger traffic was up 7% in January based mainly on stronger demand for flights to the U.S. and Asia. The airline’s load factor improved by 0.9 percentage points to 76.9% as capacity grew more slowly than demand.
The Chile-based LAN group of airlines reported systemwide passenger traffic growth of 15% internationally in January. Domestic traffic was up 28.4%. The company posted an 11.6% gain in long-haul capacity to North America, Europe, the South Pacific and the Caribbean, while regional traffic increased by affiliated carriers in Argentina, Ecuador and Peru.
The first phase of the U.S.-European Union open-skies agreement could radically rework the transatlantic aviation market, provided enough ground can be covered in subsequent negotiations to satisfy the U.K. government, a consultant says.
Mexico’s airports continue to register traffic growth, thanks to low-cost startups that are powering growth in the domestic sector. Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico (GAP), manager and operator of 12 airports in Mexico’s Pacific region, reported Mexico’s low-cost carriers transported some 616,000 passengers in January 2008, or 46.8% of domestic traffic in January.
Expedia signed a deal with Travelport for GDS services in various European points. Expedia is committed to a multi-GDS strategy that will give users more flight options and more destinations when booking online. “The connection with Travelport GDS is a step we have taken in Europe to diversify our GDS mix as we continue to expand in size and geographic reach,” said Wes Peterson, VP of EMEA Transport & Tour for Expedia. “We are pleased to have access to the fares and inventory Travelport GDS will offer our customers in Europe.”
Tom Nunn is the president and CEO of Lynx Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Frontier Airlines Holdings, Inc. He was previously Frontier’s VP-aviation safety, security and regulatory compliance. His career spans almost 30 years and includes senior positions at Northwest and Western airlines. Aviation Daily: Why did Frontier Airlines decide to create Lynx as a subsidiary as opposed to just contracting the flying out?
Continental yesterday said it will distribute its highest-ever employee profit-sharing payout on Feb. 14. The airline will hand out $158 million to more than 45,000 employees. This will be the second consecutive year Continental has issued profit-sharing payments, after $111 million was distributed last year. Continental claims it has the most generous profit-sharing plan in the industry, sharing 30% of the first $250 million in pre-tax profit, 25% of the next $250 million and 20% of amounts over $500 million.
Mexicana in June will launch three weekly nonstops between Mexico City and Edmonton, Alberta, which joins Calgary, Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto as its fifth destination in Canada.
The French government has formally authorized the construction of a new airport near Nantes — the future Grand Ouest Airport, which will be located some 400 kilometers west of Paris and is scheduled to be operational in 2012. The EUR580 million (US$842 million) project foresees an initial capacity of 3 million passengers, which can be lifted to 9 million by 2050. The new infrastructure is intended to take over from the existing Nantes-Atlantique Airport and relieve some of the pressure on the Paris airport system.
With British Airways pilots to vote next week on whether to give their union strike authority, the union is stepping up its rhetoric against BA’s plans to launch a subsidiary carrier.
GE Security plans to have its CTX 9800 advanced X-ray machine ready for service outside the U.S. by the end of 2008. GE has already started initial data collection as precursor to certification by the Transportation Security Administration.
Despite projections of a downturn in activity after its record high order intake for 2007, Airbus has started the year by securing 238 aircraft in January alone. Although January order intake has typically been slow, with Airbus having often rushed to secure orders in December to pad its yearend numbers, this time that’s not been the case. The bulk of activity comes from a previously announced agreement with the Chinese government — CASGC is now on the books for 110 A320s.
The growing U.S. airline use of third-party MRO providers, particularly foreign repair stations, is a risk to the safety and security of the traveling public, according to many of the participants and speakers at an Airline Maintenance Outsourcing Summit held in Washington, D.C., Monday. The summit was sponsored by the Business Travel Coalition and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which wants a moratorium on outsourcing.
Even as the demand for helicopters grows exponentially, plans for a heliport on the outskirts of Delhi are being negotiated by government-owned Pawan Hans Helicopters, The DAILY learned at the Heli Power show in Delhi. It has yet to be decided whether the project will be a joint venture with a partner or run independently.
Combined load factor for Skywest and ASA dipped 1.2 percentage points to 71% in January 2008, as capacity growth edged traffic improvement in the month. The carriers together generated 1.31 billion revenue passenger miles in January, up 3.4% year over year, while available seat miles increased 5.1% to 1.84 billion. The airlines carried close to 2.53 million passengers in January, a 1.6% increase from January 2007.
Federal prosecutors announced spying charges and arrests Feb. 11 in two separate cases against a former Boeing engineer, a weapons systems policy analyst at the Defense Security Cooperation Agency and two Chinese natives — one a citizen — who lived in the United States, all of whom are alleged to have worked for China’s benefit.
Korean Air plans to trial a new “meet and assist” service for first-class passengers at its Incheon hub during March. Passengers connecting to or from Los Angeles and New York Kennedy flights will be met at the gate by airline representatives, who will guide them to their next flight. Passengers checking in at Incheon for LAX flights will also be escorted to the gate.
Flight attendants at Delta Air Lines will file cards Feb. 14 to elect the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA as their union representative. Delta’s flight attendants are not currently represented by a union. Once the cards are filed, the National Mediation Board certifies that enough cards have been submitted, and a vote on AFA can begin within 90 days. -
Continental and KLM on March 1 will resume code sharing on flights between Amsterdam and Entebbe, Uganda, that are operated by KLM. The carriers suspended code sharing on the route in May 2006 [DOT-OST-2001-10880].
Passengers on connecting flights through London Gatwick Airport’s North Terminal no longer have to conform to the one-bag restriction required by the U.K. Dept. for Transport, effective yesterday. Restrictions for connecting passengers were lifted in the South Terminal Jan. 7 but remain in effect for all other flights. The airport plans to lift those restrictions when it completes a construction project to upgrade and expand its security facilities.
The Chile-based LAN group of airlines registered net profits of US$308.3 million in 2007, an increase of 27.8% from 2006. despite spiraling fuel prices The company attributed the gains to “regional and long-haul passenger and cargo operations worldwide.”
