Chinese airport charges will fall 5% under a new table of prices to take effect on March 1. Charges for Chinese airlines’ international services will rise, however. The Civil Aviation Administration plans to create a uniform system of charges in the coming five years.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that flight delays, mishandled bags and customer complaints were all up in 2007 from 2006. BTS reports that an average of 73.4% of flights arrived on time last year, compared with 75.4% in 2006. The 20 carriers that file with BTS also reported 7.03 mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers, up from 6.73 in 2006. BTS further reports that consumer complaints to the DOT were up 58.2% last year, reaching 13,168 complaints, compared with 2006’s 8,325.
Airports will see more advanced X-ray machines deployed under the Transportation Security Administration’s $6 billion FY2009 budget submitted by the Bush Administration. The budget includes $1.2 billion to speed up the installation of inline baggage-screening systems. TSA plans to help fund that effort by requesting a temporary, four-year hike of 50 cents in the passenger security fee, currently set at $2.50 per airline segment.
GWAO Celebrates 20 Years! Everyone in the aviation community will be celebrating the 20th Annual Greater Washington Aviation Open on Monday, May 5, 2008 at Lansdowne Resort in Virginia – and we want you to be there.
FAA’s Fiscal Year 2009 budget request once again slashes Airport Improvement Program funding but is tripling funding for the NextGen air traffic control modernization program. The total FAA budget request of $14.6 billion is down from the FY2008 budget of $14.92 billion enacted by Congress. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters urged Congress to move on the FAA reauthorization bill, currently stalled in the Senate, to restore the funding mechanisms for the agency.
Of the 75 large U.S. airports required to add enhanced surface markings to their runways by June, 71 had done so by the end of last year, said Dick Marchi, ACI-NA senior VP-technical and environmental affairs. A further 229 are in the process of doing so, Marchi said. The markings are an effort to prevent runway incursions and over-runs.
British Airways is concerned about how the U.S. economic slowdown and credit market crisis might hurt transatlantic travel, but these trends will not cause BA and other airlines to think twice about adding new flights in this market, a senior airline executive tells The DAILY.
Board members for Southern California Regional Airport Authority (SCRAA) have decided to disband, one of four options unveiled last week by a consulting firm it hired to study future options (DAILY, Jan. 29). It is the second time that SCRAA, originally created in 1984, had its plug pulled in 2003. The authority was revived in June 2006 by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who made transportation issues a highlight in his administration.
Finnair has exercised one of its remaining options for Airbus A330s to continue its long-haul fleet growth. The carrier still retains two A330/A340 options. It has already fielded three A340-300s and should receive two more this year. The A330s are being bought to replace seven remaining MD-11s. The newly bought aircraft should arrive in 2010, Finnair says.
Departing Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa calmly reaffirmed last Sunday that exclusive talks for the sale of Alitalia to Air France-KLM would continue, even though the privatization of the ailing flag carrier is rapidly turning into legal and political mayhem.
A Lloyd Aereo Boliviano Boeing 727-200 chartered by Military Air Transport (TAM), carrying 151 passengers and eight crew members from Cobija in Northeastern Bolivia to La Paz, made a crash landing last Friday on a jungle bog after two unsuccessful approaches to Trinidad Airport, 45 minutes away.
Mississippi’s Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport has become the latest to offer a registered traveler program, but other facilities polled by The DAILY seem to be in a holding pattern with their own efforts. Gulfport has chosen Vigilant Solutions’ Preferred Traveler program as its service provider. The airport’s program will be similar to one already being operated at Jacksonville International Airport, said spokeswoman Leslie Dobson.
Air Comet Chile (ACC), in an unprecedented development, was awarded the only Santiago-Lima frequency not exercised by the LAN group at last week’s government auction. LAN received six additional frequencies and already operates a total of 21, so ACC was able to obtain the seventh. The issue was not strongly contested, El Mercurio reported, as frequencies were auctioned off one by one. For the sixth, LAN lowered its bid to US$40,000 and ACC offered US$50,000 to win.
Luke Air Force Base and the Tucson Air National Guard are promising to stand down training missions from noon on Feb. 1 to noon Feb. 4, so FAA can use the airspace to handle the extra traffic coming to Phoenix for the Super Bowl. As usual there was a temporary flight restriction centered on the stadium, and the Scottsdale Flight Services District Office designated three local “put down” airports, where the military could force violators to land.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) FEB. 6 — European Aviation Club luncheon featuring Willy Walsh, CEO of British Airways, Hotel Bristol Stephanie, Brussels, e-mail: [email protected] FEB. 21 — Wings Club Luncheon featuring Stephen Finger, President, Pratt & Whitney, Yale Club, New York, 212-867-1770, e-mail: [email protected]
Airbus has launched alternative fuel flights trials, using the A380, betting initially on a gas-to-liquid approach but acknowledging that biomass-to-liquid fuels will be more environmentally attractive once they become available.
