Michigan-based Kalitta is asking the U.S. Transportation Dept. for two weekly fifth-freedom frequencies that would let Kalitta carry cargo between Hong Kong and Madras, India. The airline in an application to the DOT said it “currently has customers who are offering cargo to be carried between Hong Kong and Madras.” Kalitta said it would start the service as soon as it received authority from DOT and relevant Hong Kong and Indian authorities.
Lufthansa next week will launch service between Berlin and London City Airport. The airline at first will fly the route twice a day, but it hopes to receive slots to add a third frequency. The service will use Lufthansa’s Avro RJ-85s.
U.S. airlines reported a combined domestic and international load factor of 80.5%, a record for the 10-month period, the U.S. Transportation Dept. said last week. Some 646.1 million passengers were carried on domestic and international flights from January to October 2007, up 3.6% from the same period in 2006, DOT’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. Domestic traffic was up 3.5% and international traffic 4.5%
The entire airline industry could be purchased by a single hedge fund, says Transportation Economist Dan Akins. He says the value today of Southwest is $8.3 billion, Delta $3.2 billion, AMR 2.9 billion, UAL 2.8 billion, Northwest 2.7 billion, Continental $1.8 billion and US Airways about $1 billion. He predicts more investments in 2008 by foreign airlines in U.S. carriers, such as the recent Lufthansa stake in JetBlue because of the weak dollar, which also will give European carriers the upper hand with the new open-skies rules.
MIT Macroeconomist Olivier Blanchard says he has “no clue” whether oil prices will continue to rise. His research leads him to believe that current prices are surprisingly high, and at $90-$100 per barrel, there are many alternative energy sources worth exploiting. Futures markets do not predict much change, which he says is “a reasonable assumption.”
Mexican airport operators GAP, OMA and ASUR all reported double-digit gains in traffic for their airports in December 2007, thanks to gains in the domestic market resulting from increased operations by the country’s startups and low-cost carriers.
Defense Technology and Requirements February 12-13, 2008 National Press Club Washington, DC Register Today - it is not a coincidence that Defense Technology and Requirements is scheduled the week after the release of the President’s FY2009 budget request to Congress! Join us as we: -- Analyze technology requirements for both the ongoing war on terror and the Defense Department’s longer-term transformational initiatives. -- Address growing constraints on affordability.
Aerolineas Bolivianas (BoA), created last year by the Morales government with a US$15 million initial investment, has completed paperwork with civil aviation regulators and could start operating in April on trunk domestic routes with five leased aircraft, Bolivia’s Minister of Public Works Jose Kinn announced last week. CEO Ronald Casso said that BoA would offer special low “social fares” adjusted to general guidelines by sector regulators.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection should move ahead with plans to create the International Registered Traveler (IRT) program in Congress’s omnibus spending bill passed in December, say two travel policy groups. Both the Travel Industry of America (TIA) and the National Business Traveler Association (NBTA) lobbied to include an IRT provision in the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations for Fiscal Year 2008. The program would be operated by Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Passenger traffic at BAA’s seven U.K. airports rose an anemic 0.7% to 10.9 million year over year in December, hurt by cancellations during the Christmas holidays due to fog. Traffic in the North Atlantic rose 6.3% to 1.5 million passengers, while other long-haul routes were up 2.5% to 2.2 million. European scheduled traffic remained the same year over year at 4.3 million passengers, while European charters were down 1.7% to 431,400.
With 23 airlines possibly in active contract negotiations with their flight attendants’ unions in the next 18 months, those unions say they have “strong resolve” to secure monetary gains after meeting last week in Washington to strategize.
The Schiphol Group plans to spend almost $1 billion to expand and upgrade facilities at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport. Priorities include a major overhaul of Runway 18C-36C, an upgrade in baggage handling and the redevelopment of Lounge 3.
Passenger traffic at U.K. airports has slowed in the past two years, hurt by airline cost increases and skyrocketing fuel prices, according to a report from the Civil Aviation Authority. Passenger traffic at U.K. airports has grown at an average annual rate of about 6% since the mid 1970s, more than twice the rate of economic growth in the U.K., said the report. “However, over the last few years the growth rate, although still positive, has fallen to approximately 2% per annum. The decline has affected both the London and the regional airports,” it said.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) JAN. 16-18 — ACI-NA Insurance & Risk Management Conference, Coral Springs Marriott Hotel, Golf Club & Convention Center, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, 954-753-5598 or 800-311-8018, www.aci-na.org/ asp/meetingdetail.asp?art=1552 JAN. 17 — Wings Club Luncheon featuring Robert Genise, CEO, DAE Capital, Yale Club, New York, 212-867-1770, e-mail: [email protected].
Continental has contributed another $60 million in cash to its defined pension plans. The airline contributed about $336 million to its pension plans last year, which it says was significantly more than the minimum funding requirement. “We want to keep our promises and remain focused on retirement security,” said Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner.
The Allied Pilots Association at American has asked management to join it in requesting help from the National Mediation Board to iron out a new collective bargaining agreement. The two have been in negotiations for more than 16 months. The APA will wait until close of business today to hear management’s response before contacting the NMB on its own.
While some Mexican carriers already resorted to surcharges to offset high fuel prices, Jorge Luis Moya, VP of Mexico’s air transport chamber, Canaero, admits some airlines will soon increase fares to offset rising costs.
Air New Zealand is asking the U.S. Transportation Dept. for authority to carry bmi’s code on its scheduled service between Los Angeles Airport and London Heathrow. The code share would begin on March 30. Air New Zealand requested that DOT expedite the process and award the code-share authority by monthend, so that bmi could begin to promote the service to its customers [DOT-OST-2008-0011].
German carrier Air Berlin last week applied to the U.S. Transportation Dept. for authority to operate its own services to the U.S. Air Berlin currently code shares with sister carrier LTU on that carrier’s Duesseldorf-New York/-Miami/-Fort Myers and Berlin-Melbourne, Fla., services (DAILY, Nov. 8), although the carriers won the authority from DOT only last month.
Starting in 2014, driver’s licenses presented as identification by U.S. passengers before boarding aircraft will have to comply with tougher federal security regulations, the Dept. of Homeland Security says. Improved security features for the so-called REAL ID driver’s licenses include verification of the license holder’s Social Security number and immigration or citizenship status. The licenses will have to be tamper-resistant, and issuing agencies must verify electronically all identification documents provided by license applicants.
