Airports Council International-North America (ACI-NA) and the Air Transport Association (ATA) are working to develop plans that airports and carriers can use to accommodate passengers inconvenienced during irregular operations (IROPS).
U.S. airline shares followed the rest of the market downward yesterday, and despite action by the Federal Reserve to cut its funds rate by 0.75 points, major airline stocks still ended the day with significant losses. After a day of wide fluctuations, most carriers’ shares were down by at least 2%, some as much as 9%. By comparison, the Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the day down by just over 1%.
Philippine Airlines will launch three-times-weekly service to San Diego in the fourth quarter pending approval from the U.S. Transportation Dept. The service, operated with Airbus A340-330 aircraft, would stop over in Vancouver and provide the only direct flights between the Philippines and San Diego, PAL said. The Philippine government, to facilitate the service, is seeking to swap out Dallas as one of the U.S. gateways that Philippine carriers can serve under the U.S.-Philippine bilateral.
Copa Airlines and sister carrier AeroRepublica saw their consolidated traffic grow 9.4% on 8% more seat offer in December, resulting in a one-point increase in load factor to 76.4%.
The federal government and the private sector should work cooperatively to establish a national-level strategic communications campaign to promote the U.S. as the premier visitor destination in the world, according to a report issued by the Secure Borders and Open Doors Advisory Committee.
Qatar Airways will start flying to Guangzhou at the end of March, operating four weekly Airbus A330 flights. The frequency will increase to five flights in May. The expansion will push Qatar’s traffic into China to more than 20 flights per week.
Singapore Airlines is considering an all-business class service from Singapore to New York and Los Angeles. The airline’s head of corporate affairs, Stephen Forshaw, told The DAILY that all five Airbus A340-500s currently used on the routes would have to receive a complete interior refurbishment.
Finncomm Airlines has exercised its remaining options for ATR turboprops with a decision to buy five ATR 72-500s. The sale makes Finncomm Europe’s largest ATR operator, the aircraft maker says. The latest deal is valued at more than US$90 million. The aircraft are to be handed over between 2009 and 2011 in a 68-seat configuration. The aircraft feature the more powerful PW-127M engines.
Ryanair has named Birmingham its 25th base. Two Boeing 737-800s will be permanently located there, with eight more to follow. Ryanair says the expansion should generate 5 million passengers in additional traffic.
Macquarie Airports (MAp) reported a 5.2% increase year over year in December traffic at its four airports, to 77 million passengers; Macquarie controls Sydney, Copenhagen, Brussels and Bristol airports. Sydney Airport traffic was up 4.4% year over year to 2.8 million passengers. The airport posted growth on travel from New Zealand (1%), China (11%), India (22%), Canada (7%), Germany (9%) and France (10%). The airport saw traffic drops from the U.K., the U.S., Korea and Japan.
The oneworld alliance expects to add at least one new member in the first half of 2008, American CFO Thomas Horton says. A oneworld spokesman confirms the alliance is “in talks with a number of airlines who are potential candidates for joining … and we are anticipating that we’ll be able to confirm at least one as a member-elect in the coming months.”
Air France-KLM says it is moving forward with plans to delist from the New York Stock Exchange and deregister from the Securities and Exchange Commission in the coming weeks. The documentations to proceed with the moves decided on in November by the airline group’s board of directors is planned for Jan. 28, with the delisting to take effect Feb. 7, followed by the deregistration on May 7.
Initial findings into the crash landing of a British Airways Boeing 777-200ER at London Heathrow Airport on Jan. 17 show that both engines failed to respond to auto-throttle demands for increased power with the aircraft on late final approach.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JAN. 26 — Airline Pilot Job Fair hosted by AIR, Inc. in Dallas, Texas, 800-538-5627, e-mail: [email protected], www.jet-jobs.com FEB. 6 — European Aviation Club luncheon featuring Willy Walsh, CEO of British Airways, Hotel Bristol Stephanie, Brussels, e-mail: [email protected]
As U.S. airlines plan for another year of very high jet fuel prices and weaker air travel demand growth in 2008, debt watcher Fitch expects the pace of recovery in credit fundamentals to slow, according to a new report.
Qantas and Continental last week said Boeing’s 787 delay will cause some disruption to their expansion strategies, and they are both developing contingency plans to cover for the later entry of 787s to their fleets. Continental said it is apparent it will not be receiving its first 787 in March of 2009 as scheduled, and it does not know when the new delivery date is. The carrier was expecting three 787s to be delivered in 2009. Boeing last week admitted it will have to delay 787 deliveries due to production headaches (DAILY, Jan.17).
FAA’s Acting Administrator Robert Sturgell is asking airlines to take some additional steps to address runway safety – beyond those already announced. He wants each airline’s chief pilot and director of operations to confer with FAA Flight Standards Director Jim Ballough by the end of next week, and he also urges airline chief pilots to visit every pilot base within the next month. FAA operations inspectors will accompany the chief pilots on these visits
Competition is tight for four available within-perimeter slot exemptions at Washington National Airport — five carriers, including AirTran and Midwest, submitted applications to the U.S. Transportation Dept. for the operating authority.
Brasilia International had the poorest record with on-time average of less than 27% as it handled 10 million annual passengers, according to a list of international airports with the worst on-time performance in 2007 issued by Forbes Magazine and disseminated by EFE News Wire. Airports ranking third and fourth in poor performance were both in Sao Paulo – Guarulhos International (4l% on time) and urban Congonhas (43% on time.)
American’s fleet planning experts are spending most of their time evaluating the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350, airline executives say. However, the airline “continues to be discouraged” by the lack of a timeline for development of a next-generation narrowbody. This is pushing American toward bringing in more new 737-800s as replacements for its MD-80 fleet, rather than waiting for the next-generation aircraft.
Any emissions trading system countries agree on should be mediated by ICAO, said Daniel Elwell, FAA assistant administrator for policy and environment, but each country should be responsible for managing its own emissions trading system.
