A renewed Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) and startup Aerolineas Sudamericanas (AS) are both making moves that will lead to more activity in Bolivia’s skies. Due to growing demand from tour operators for its new domestic charter flights (DAILY, Jan. 3), LAB increased frequencies through Jan. 13 and readied a third Boeing 727-200 for expanded operations after that date. AS, meanwhile, announced plans to start charter operations. It is in the process of winning its full commercial license from the country’s air transport regulator.
Denver International Airport has narrowed its search for a manager of aviation to four finalists--two with airport experience and two from other industries. The candidates are: John Clark, executive director and CEO of the Jacksonville Aviation Authority; Kim Day, former executive director of Los Angeles World Airports; Ron Cooper, former president and COO of Denver-based cable provider Adelphia; and Lynn Utter, chief strategy officer for Coors Brewing Company.
Delta has taken on two more Boeing 757s, bringing its fleet total to 15 aircraft. The aircraft, which came from American Airlines’ fleet, will be used on international routes and will go into service this summer.
Some travelers in the U.K., who rejoiced over the government allowing more than one carry-on bag, are facing some confusion over exactly which airlines and airports were participating. As of Jan. 7, the Department for Transport (DFT) gave approval for 21 airports, including Heathrow, Stansted, London City, Manchester and Glasgow to begin allowing passengers more than one carry-on bag. But some airlines decided to keep the one-bag-rule in place at all UK airports.
US Airways reported a 4.5% decline in December revenue passenger miles (RPMs) over December 2006, for a total of 4.9 billion. The airline’s domestic consolidated RPMs were down 7.3% during the month to 3.9 billion, while its Atlantic traffic jumped 16.2% to 537 million RPMs. Latin America was up 1.8% to 344 million. The fall in overall traffic was against a 4.4% cut in available seat miles, for a total of 6.5 billion. Domestic ASMs were down 7% to 5.3 billion, Atlantic up 22.9% to 707 million and Latin America ASMs were down 6% to 467 million.
A tax bill signed into law last month could refund or credit monies paid by airlines into the Leaking Underground Storage Tank (LUST) Trust Fund. The Tax Technical Corrections Act of 2007, passed by both houses of Congress on Dec. 18 and enacted on Dec. 29, says that refunds or credits on taxes could be made to any entity that paid fees “to any liquid after Sept. 30, 2005.” The 2005 Energy Policy Act levied LUST Trust Fund financing rates on all fuels. The new law exempts aircraft fuel for use by foreign carriers from LUST Trust Fund financing.
The second Airbus A380 could be delivered by the end of this week, company sources told The DAILY. The aircraft is tentatively planned to be handed over to Singapore Airlines on Friday, although that could still slip by a day or two. Singapore Airlines is operating its first A380 on a daily Singapore-Sydney roundtrip, but plans to introduce it on the London route once it has enough aircraft for a daily service.
Turkish Airlines Technic Inc. signed a joint venture deal Monday to build an aircraft engine overhaul center in Istanbul. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company will be called the Pratt & Whitney Turkish Technic Aircraft Engine Maintenance Center, and will be used to overhaul V2500 and CFM56 engines. The two expect to start work on their first engine in 2009.
Pilots, seeing job stability jeopardized by issues such as foreign ownership and control of U.S. carriers and looming industry consolidation, are taking a close look at presidential candidates’ stances on major issues affecting the industry. The union posed questions to the presidential candidates, and published their responses to date in the January issue of Air Line Pilot.
Eos Airlines has signed a partnership with US Helicopter to offer its passengers a connecting service between Manhattan and New York Kennedy Airport. Effective immediately, its customers may take advantage of complimentary transfers from Downtown Manhattan Heliport in the Wall Street area, or East 34th Street Heliport. Security screening will be conducted at the heliport, and luggage will be checked on to the airline. The helicopter ride takes about eight minutes. At JFK, passengers will be escorted to either the lounge or directly to their flight.
Brazilian regulators’ proposal to raise aircraft parking fees at Sao Paulo could cost international carriers as much as $90 million annually, IATA chief Giovanni Bisignani wrote Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in a recent letter obtained by The DAILY. In order to solve congestion issues at Sao Paulo’s international airport, regulators are proposing raising the fees charged to park aircraft during the day. Most international flights arrive at the airport in the morning and leave in the evening, a schedule driven by passenger demand, IATA says.
Chile’s November passenger traffic was up a record 16.2% to 823,183 passengers, Chile’s Civil Aviation Board (JAT) announced last week. Domestic traffic for the first time surpassed international by 413,140 passengers. JAT credits this to 77,300 “new air travelers” in Chile, as well as to the new structure of highly competitive domestic fares. JAT also reported that international traffic for the year-to-date at the end of November was up 17.2% to 4,485,690 passengers. -
Emirates is giving up management control of SriLankan Airlines and has not ruled out selling its stake in the carrier. Emirates President Tim Clark said that the SriLankan government wanted greater day-to-day control over the running of the airline. “We just felt that was not compatible with what we wanted to do and it was best that we agreed amicably to let the agreement lapse and give them a chance to take back control of the company,” Clark said in an interview.
Commuter Aerodiana on Jan. 10 will link its home base in Chachapoyas in Amazonas Province in Northeast Peru with major regional destinations Chiclayo (Lambayeque), Jaen (Cajamarca) and Bagua Chica and Bagua Grande (Amazonas), using a current fleet of Cessna Caravans for 15 and 25 passengers. Aerodiana will follow the low-cost carrier business model.
Revenue passenger miles (RPMs) at Great Lakes jumped 22.2% from December 2006 to December 2007. Available seat miles (ASMs) increased 21.5% to 25 million, resulting in a 0.3 percentage point increase in loads to 47.2%. The airline carried 45,197 passengers in the month, up 21.7% from December 2006. Revenue per available seat mile improved 2.8% to 30 cents, Great Lakes reported.
Mesa traffic fell 15.95% on 12.56% less capacity in December 2007, resulting in a 2.8-point decline in load factor to 69.82%. Revenue passenger miles in the month stood at 484,861, while available seat miles stood at 694,401. The company carried some 1.13 million passengers in the month, down 15.5% from 1.33 million in December 2006. Traffic for the year 2007 was down 1.32% on 1.91% less capacity from 2006. Mesa carried some 16 million passengers in 2007, up 4.58% from 2006, and loads improved half a percentage point to 75.73%.
American Eagle’s systemwide traffic fell 6.7% from December 2006 to December 2007 on 5.6% less capacity. Load factor dropped 0.8 points to 69.4%. For the full year 2007, traffic was down 1% on 0.7% less capacity. Load factor fell 0.2 points to 73.4%. American Eagle and Executive together carried 1.6 million passengers in December, down 6.5% year-over-year. Full-year numbers were down as well as the airlines carried only 18.52 million passengers in 2007, down 1.3% from the previous year.
Continental’s on-time performance dropped from 77.9% in November to 66.4% in December, as winter weather affected the carrier’s operations in the Northeast and Midwest, the airline reported last week.
Boeing is delaying by “a couple of weeks” the delivery of its second 787 flight test aircraft so suppliers can improve the “conditions of assembly” of their large deliverables, a company official said. In early December 787 GM Pat Shanahan said the second aircraft was due later that month. The newest delay is based on a desire to rid the system of as much “travel work” as possible, meaning supplier partners complete more of their assemblies before shipping them to Everett, Wash.
Of the batch of startups to take off recently, Colombian low-cost carrier EasyFly appears to be an instant success in the market. Founder Alfonso Avila said “operating to medium-sized destinations – some not linked before by air – we are filling profitable niches from Bogota to Yopal, Manizales, Neiva, Armenia, Pasto, Ibague, Valledupar, Arauca, Popayan, Cartago, Villavicencio and Barrancabemeja, at fares 23% lower than on equivalent stretches in other carriers.”
AirTran Airways Chairman Joe Leonard will give up that position after the May 21 annual board meeting in Charleston, S.C. Leonard turns 65 this summer, and already handed over the CEO reins in November to Robert Fornaro. Leonard, who lives in Minnesota, has said he intends to take on a new career, possibly with a private equity firm. His initial remarks about giving up the chairman’s seat in May were printed last week in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
