Continental’s pilot union reached what its claims is a ground-breaking deal with Copa Airlines that would give Continental pilots preferential hiring rights at Copa. Under the deal, furloughed or retired Continental pilots who are under 65 would get priority when Copa hires foreign pilots. It was negotiated by the Air Line Pilots Association’s Continental unit, Copa and the Copa pilots union known as SIPAC. According to ALPA, the agreement is “unique in the airline industry and the first of its kind for ALPA.”
The European Commission is moving closer to requiring biometric passports for entry into the European Union, even as it objects to U.S. efforts to engage individual member states on separate border and security issues. The U.S. Homeland Security Dept. last week sent several EU member states memoranda of understanding that addressed such issues as the Visa Waiver Program and air marshals on flights to those countries originating in the U.S. A DHS spokesman confirmed that the MOUs were sent to countries not currently covered by the VWP.
Airbus yesterday secured 11 more orders for its A350 program, including a second sale for the VIP jet version. Synergy Aerospace — owner of Latin American carriers Avianca, SAM, Oceanair and VIP — signed a memorandum of understanding for 10 A350-800s with options for 10 more. These carriers already have 47 A320 family aircraft and 10 A330-200s on order. Synergy has also reached an agreement with Rolls-Royce to use Trent XWB engines for the A350s in a deal that would be worth US$880 million at list prices.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. has launched comparative selection proceedings for the available Los Angeles-San Jose del Cabo designation. Three airlines can be designated for the route — American, Alaska and Frontier each holds authority, but the latter plans to cease service on the route April 13, so one designation will become available [DOT-OST-2008-0056]. United already submitted an application to start service on the route on April 14. Delta, meanwhile, opposed the application and signaled its intent to submit a proposal for service (DAILY, Jan. 31).
Colombia’s international passenger traffic grew 13% from 2006 to 2007 while domestic traffic rose 8% year over year, statistics from Colombia’s civil aviation department show. Aerocivil CEO Fernando Sanclemente said the growth is the direct result of diversification of the market with new international and domestic carriers, frequencies and destinations. The bilateral agreement with the U.S. went up 21 frequencies for each country and now includes Washington, Orlando and Fort Lauderdale, as well as additional cities in Colombia.
Witnesses testifying yesterday at a House aviation subcommittee hearing on runway safety stressed that although FAA has made great strides in addressing the issue, runway incursions continue to climb. The most serious incursions, Categories A and B, actually declined from 69 incidents in Fiscal Year 1999 to 24 in FY2007, U.S. Transportation Dept. Inspector General Calvin Scovel said in written testimony. But in the first three months of this fiscal year, serious incursions have occurred at a rate that could reach the highest level in six years, he wrote.
American’s pilots union is proposing a schedule of contract negotiations that would bring the two sides to mediation by the beginning of April. The protocol recommended by the Allied Pilots Association calls for four consecutive weeks of negotiations beginning March 3. If no agreement is reached, the National Mediation Board would take over the talks. And if there is still no deal after 120 days, the parties would request binding arbitration from NMB.
Caribbean Airlines is planning to launch flights between Trinidad & Tobago and Fort Lauderdale as soon as it receives the nod from the U.S. Transportation Dept. Flights between Trinidad & Tobago and Fort Lauderdale would launch on March 9. The airline would operate the route four times weekly with a Boeing 737-800.
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The cost to build an all-new airport in Doha, Qatar, has escalated from US$5 billion to US$9 billion, the Qatari government says, due to several external factors that are not hampering construction. The airport, scheduled to begin operations in 2010, is facing higher costs partially due to inflation but also because three stages of construction have been consolidated into one. The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation says higher labor and building material costs in the Middle East are driving expenses.
The European Commission and the Ministry of Transport of Israel agreed on the text of a so-called horizontal air transport agreement, which removes illegal nationality clauses from existing bilateral air accords between European Union member states and Israel. The accord was “a key step forward in view of a comprehensive aviation agreement to be negotiated between Israel and the EU,” said the EC after a round of talks in Jerusalem this month.
Airports operator BAA has added biometric technology to control access to its international lounge in London Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 1. In the past, domestic and international passengers had been segregated for border control purposes, said a spokesman. “The introduction of biometrics technology means that all passengers can enjoy the same facilities,” he said.
Emirates plans a $500,000 trial of radio frequency identification technology in its baggage-handling operation at London Heathrow, Dubai and Hong Kong airports. Emirates claims this is the industry’s largest RFID trial. An estimated half-million bags will be tagged in a six-month period.
The City of Chicago has issued a Request for Qualifications from companies wanting help it privatize Midway Airport. The city’s effort is part of an FAA pilot that allows five airports in the U.S. to be leased to private operators. Midway announced its intention to take the large-hub airport slot back in September 2006, with plans to complete the privatization by the end of 2007.
SkyWest, Inc. is being very cautious in its capacity projections for the next few months, as the company expects fuel prices may drive down block hour utilization of the Bombardier CRJ-200 fleet. SkyWest, Inc.’s Executive VP and CFO Bradford Rich forecast available seat miles would dip from 5.8 billion in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 5.7 billion in the first quarter of 2008 and then rise again to 6 billion ASMs in the second quarter of 2008, due to a decrease in utilization.
ExpressJet generated 796 revenue passenger miles systemwide (contract and branded flying) and flew some 1.2 billion available seat miles in January 2008. Load factor stood at 68.4% for the month — contract flying load factor was 73.5% and branded flying load factor was 53.4%. The airline operated 40,906 departures between the two carriers in the month.
Business-class carrier Eos plans to introduce daily service between London Stansted and Dubai, and is also launching flights from Newark to Stansted. The Dubai flights are due to begin July 6, and the Newark flights May 5. Eos flies 48-seat Boeing 757s, and currently has up to 44 weekly flights between New York Kennedy and Stansted.
Great Lakes’ scheduled service generated 11.9 million revenue passenger miles in January, up 11.5% from January 2007. Capacity jumped 29.3% to 27.58 million available seat miles. Load factor remained relatively flat, dipping 0.3 percentage points year over year to 43.2%. Revenues per available seat mile, meanwhile, increased 6.9% to 29.02 cents. Great Lakes carried 44,552 passengers on its flights in January.
The first meeting of the U.S. Transportation Dept.’s on-board delay task force is scheduled for Feb. 26 at the department’s headquarters. The notice, published in the Federal Register on Monday, spells out the objectives for the task force, which include studying past incidences of long runway delays for lessons on how to avoid repeats. The task force also will develop contingency plans for on-board delays and will review existing carrier and airport contingency plans.
A new regional airline to be based in India will launch in October under a joint venture that includes Emirates Trading Agency-Associated Construction. The Arab Air Carriers Organization says ETA-Ascon reportedly will establish a base in Chennai or Bangalore and fly to southern India. It currently is in negotiations with ATR, Embraer and Bombardier for regional jets.
