The European Parliament has significantly curtailed the number of airports that will be affected by European Union airport charging rules. Parliamentarians this week voted to apply the new airport charging system only to airports with at least 5 million passengers per year (or 15% of traffic of that member state), whereas the European Commission set the barrier at 1 million travelers. If the change makes it through the EU’s legislative process, 67 airports would be affected by the new rules.
Indonesian carrier Lion Air will order more Boeing 737s at next month’s Singapore air show to add to the fleet of 122 Boeing 737-900ERs already under contract. The aircraft will support the airline’s ambition to spread itself across Asia with franchised affiliates, the same strategy that’s being used by budget airlines from neighboring countries: Malaysia’s AirAsia, Singapore’s Tiger Airways and the Jetstar subsidiary of Australia’s Qantas, all of which operate Airbus A320s.
A decision about Virgin Blue’s future majority owner is likely to be announced before the end of February, sources close to the negotiations told The DAILY. Australia’s second-largest airline is likely to end up in the hands of a financial investor, the sources say. They claim that the airline will not be sold to a strategic investor. The sources were not prepared to disclose the identity of the bidders, but said that three parties are still in the race. According to them, a final decision has not been made.
Boeing is admitting to an even more serious slippage in its 787 program than previously announced, and says it will be more than two months before it can even identify exactly how long the customer delivery delays will be or when the bulk of the test fleet will join the program.
The European Union yesterday argued before the Worlt Trade Organization (WTO) that NASA research and development funds to Boeing constituted illegal subsidies for the airframer’s civil aviation programs.
After meeting with two senior VPs at Northwest on Tuesday, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.) said Northwest is indeed in talks with Delta about a merger, even though Delta is still looking at an option involving United.
Cleveland-Hopkins Airport has signed a $2 million, five-year deal to make Pepsi the exclusive pour at the facility. “We spent a lot of time looking at opportunities for non-aeronautical revenue. First, we hired Airport Marketing Inc., which has experience with developing these kinds of opportunities,” said Airport Director Ricky Smith. “They confirmed it was a viable option to pursue, so we started the process.”
Wall Street analysts are skeptical about American’s lack of urgency in cutting capacity more sharply due to the slowing U.S. economy, but the carrier notes it is not yet seeing travel demand falling away.
Manchester Airport will be free to set its own airport charges, while London Stansted will continue have its fees regulated by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), according to a ruling by the U.K. Dept. for Transport (DFT).
Latin American carriers like their Boeing narrowbodies. According to ALTA’s new 2007 Yearbook, Boeing controls 51% of the Latin American fleet with 436 aircraft, followed by Airbus at 29% (247 aircraft). Narrowbodies make up 75% of fleets (636 aircraft) while regional aircraft account for 14% (122) and widebodies 11% (92). TAM had the largest fleet when this was published at 101 aircraft, followed by LAN with 80.
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FAA this week downgraded the Philippines’ safety rating from IASA Category 1 to Cat 2, The DAILY has learned. The U.S. State Dept. told the government of the Philippines of the rating downgrade, said FAA spokesman Les Dorr. No specific reasons for the action were available at press time. Cat 2 indicates that a country’s civil aviation authority — not its individual carriers — are not meeting some ICAO standards, Dorr explained. Typically, these issues center on government oversight of carriers and safety infrastructure in place, he said.
American is asking some pilots to postpone vacation in February due to a potential spike in retirements, but the airline rejects union claims that this is evidence of understaffing. The Allied Pilots Association says the request is very unusual, indicating that cost-cutting has reduced staffing levels too far. The airline is essentially allowing — and asking — some categories of pilots to defer vacation already scheduled for February.
State-owned Cubana de Aviacion this week inaugurated nonstop Havana-Santiago, Chile, service using new 230-seat Ilyushin 96 aircraft. The route was previously operated by LAN Airlines, with Havana served as a stopover on the airline’s weekly flights to Cancun.
Airbus has authorized Iberia’s maintenance and engineering division to train technicians to work on its equipment, becoming the first European carrier to receive this certification.
A European private investment company will become the largest shareholder in Eclipse Aviation in a deal that paves the way to establish a new production facility for the New Mexico company’s very light jets (VLJs) in Russia.
Lloyd Aereo Boliviano workers and directors expect that the carrier’s licence to operate as a scheduled carrier will be reissued this week, the second recent triumph in the 14-month ordeal of the Bolivian airline. Working in its favor is the success of the carrier’s charter operation. LAB last week increased to 47 the number of charter flights operated to major cities in Bolivia through Feb. 10.
China will tighten last year’s restrictions on rampant airline growth, refusing to accept new applications from any kind of airline until 2010 and limiting aircraft purchases. The new policy abolishes earlier exceptions under which the civil aviation administration would consider applications for new freight carriers and passenger airlines serving underdeveloped parts of the country. No more than three new airlines will be approved each year from the backlog of applications received before the original limits were announced in August.
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Air New Zealand plans to expand jet service on its domestic network and is adding Boeing 737s to its domestic fleet to achieve this. The airline said it is considering Invercargill, Hamilton, Dunedin and Palmerston North for 737 service, all of which are currently served with turboprops. It will pick at least two of these cities to receive 737 flights for a six-month trial. Air NZ stressed that many provincial centers have been pushing for jet service to draw more business traffic.
A wildcat strike by Aerolineas Argentinas (AR) ground workers at Buenos Aires Ezeiza Airport entered its sixth day on Jan. 15, and though the airline worked to normalize operations by yesterday afternoon, some were predicting a wobbly week at the airport.
