Port authority Aviation Director Bill DeCota and Stewart International Airport General Manager Diannae Ehler are in the U.K. this week touting the benefits of the facility for another alternative for direct service between New York and Europe. The airport is hoping that the new open-skies treaty will provide more opportunities.
A winter storm in the Midwest on Feb. 6 caused so many cancellations that systemwide operations were down more than 13%, FAA says. Chicago O’Hare was particularly hard hit, with operations down by 57%, compared with average Wednesdays last year. The airport was down to one runway for much of the day.
Midwest Air Group’s traffic was up 10.2% on 10.2% more capacity in January, as gains in the Midwest Connect operation offset weakness in the Midwest Airlines operation, but the group recorded a load factor of 62.4% for the month because of a dip in loads at both airlines. Midwest Airlines traffic was down 6.1% year over year to 283,907 revenue passenger miles. Seat offer fell 2.5 points from January 2007 to 437,302 available seat miles. The airline logged a 64.9% load factor rate, down 2.5 points from the same month last year.
Total passenger traffic at the nine southeastern airports operated by Mexico’s Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR) increased 15.7% year over year in January. Domestic traffic was up 27.9% as all airports except Huatulco reported gains in the month. International traffic was up 9% from the previous year — traffic at Merida fell 15.3%, while Tapachula traffic slid further to 17.6%.
Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air honored five airports for special achievement during its first annual Air Service Conference held Feb. 5-7. The invitation-only conference was designed as a way for the carrier to meet with contenders for Allegiant service, along with checking in with existing facilities. As a result, the carrier will no longer attend air service-related conferences. Illinois’ Greater Peoria Regional Airport won the “Above and Beyond” award for helping Allegiant get an aircraft back in operation after a severe winter storm last year.
Amadeus Consulting is partnering with Aero Tech Consulting (ACTI) to start a $300,000, year-long research project covering the how the aviation industry adopts new information technology for airport business operations.
The U.K.’s National Air Traffic Services this week selected an Era product for ground vehicle tracking at London Gatwick Airport. Era will provide its Squid vehicle tracking units in support of Gatwick’s Advanced Surface Movement Guidance and Control System (A-SMGCS) which is scheduled to become operational in April. The Squid system incorporates ADS-B transponders that will work within A-SMGCS. They will allow controllers to view a more complete picture of ground movements.
Legislation to extend FAA’s contract and tax authority, which expire at the end of this month, could be introduced in the House of Representatives as early as this week. The House Transportation and Infrastructure and Ways and Means Committees are working on a bill that would extend the FAA’s contracting authority and ability to collect taxes, T&I spokesman Jim Berard said. The two committees could introduce legislation as early as today, he said.
CAE has signed two contracts in India — one to become the managing partner of government-owned Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi flight training academy and a joint-venture agreement with the Airport Authority of India to develop the Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute.
JetBlue reported its passenger unit revenue rose 10% in January, even though its load factor dropped 0.5 points to 75.6%. Traffic rose 7.2% and capacity grew 8%. Passenger numbers were up 4.9%.
Southwest Airlines has launched its 2008 Adopt-A-Pilot mentorship program. From February through May, more than 800 classes of fifth-graders will be able to adopt Southwest pilots. Using aviation-related activities, hundreds of volunteer pilot mentors will guide students through core subjects, such as science and math, either in classroom visits or by e-mail and postcards when they’re on the job. Adopt-A-Pilot launched in 1997 as a small community outreach program. For more details, visit www.southwest.com/adoptapilot
Air Canada yesterday reported its strongest-ever results for both the fourth quarter and full year 2007, and the airline said signs are positive for the current quarter. The carrier’s net profit for the fourth quarter was C$35 million, a turnaround from a C$144-million net loss the previous year. the full year profit of C$429 million, compared to a net loss of C$74 million in 2006.
Continental, looking to increase capacity without adding flights, this week began using Bombardier Q400s on some Continental Connection services from its hub at Newark Liberty Airport.
Mesa reported double-digit declines in traffic, capacity and loads for January 2008, likely the result of winter weather that hurt the carrier’s operations in the month. “Despite the impact on our operations of severe winter weather, our people all around the country worked hard to provide our passengers with the best possible service,” Mesa Air Group Chairman Jonathan Ornstein said in the traffic release.
The push for consolidation has some industry watchers concerned about the potential effects on regional airlines, but Republic Airways’ Chairman and CEO Bryan Bedford isn’t too worried — in fact, he believes Republic is very well positioned for 2008 and is looking forward “to seeing where consolidation takes us, if it happens at all.”
As expected, the House aviation subcommittee yesterday vowed to restore any funds cut from the Airport Improvement Program by the Bush Administration’s FAA budget request, which slashes the program by $765 million to $2.75 billion. “There is no question that [the AIP program funds] will be restored if the cuts are able to go forward as the administration proposed,” House Aviation Subcommittee Jerry Costello, D-Ill., told The DAILY. The majority of the members of the subcommittee on both sides of the aisle oppose any cuts to the AIP program, he said.
After several months of mulling the reorganization of three of its subsidiaries, the SAS Group has decided to divest only the Spirit Air Cargo Handling unit and keep the other two entities for now. The group has decided to give the SAS Ground Services operations another 18 months to prove itself, says Mats Jansson, SAS president and CEO. The unit, for now, will remain an independent subsidiary with targets to meet to retain that status or else be sold. One of the goalposts is improving the cost base by SKR400 million.
Strong customer reponse to its proposed all-businesss-class Airbus A318 service between London and New York already has British Airways thinking about growing the offering. BA CEO Willie Walsh says the initial customer feedback has him considering placing orders for more aircraft, adding that a decision could come before the 32-seat aircraft start operations next year from London City Airport.
GOL and VRG (Varig) parent GOL Linhas Aereas Inteligentes reported lighter loads for their carriers in January, as increases in traffic couldn’t keep pace with improved seat offer. The carriers together generated 2.6 billion revenue per passenger kilometers (RPKs) in January, 40.1% more than in January 2007. Capacity was up 54.4% to 3.8 billion available seat kilometers, while loads fell seven percentage points to 68.5%.
U.K.-based Meinl Airports International has unveiled a plan to build a new, EUR210 million (US$307.3 million) low-cost airport outside of Warsaw, Poland. The new airport will be built at Sochaczew, about 24 miles from Warsaw, on the site of a former military base. The airport will open in 2011, and passenger volumes are expected to reach 2 million by 2012.
Abu Dhabi based-Etihad Airways is adding four new cities to its India route, following successful bilateral talks between the governments of the UAE and India towards liberalizing flying links. The airline will add Chennai (Madras), Jaipur, Kolkata (Calcutta) and Kozhikode (Calicut) to its route network. No dates have been fixed for the launch. “Etihad is always keen to build up its Indian services, and we are thrilled to have been given the rights to serve four new cities in this exciting market,” said Etihad CEO James Hogan.
DOT gave the nod to Hainan Airlines to begin nonstop flights between Seattle and Beijing on June 9, the carrier announced on Tuesday. The flight will kick off with four weekly frequencies and is the first nonstop between Seattle and China and Hainan’s first North American destination, the carrier said in a statement.
