Members of the Air Line Pilots Association ranked foreign control of airlines as their top issue when looking at presidential candidates, followed by airport access, terrorism, honest government and flight time (fatigue), according to an ALPA poll conducted by the Wilson Center for Public Research. ALPA has not yet backed a candidate. In 1996, three out of four ALPA pilots were Republican, but now more than 55% say they are independents.
British Airways says it wants the one-bag restriction lifted at London Gatwick and other airports as quickly as possible, and is working with the U.K. government and BAA to achieve this. The government today lifted the carry-on restriction at some airports – including Heathrow – after a year of lobbying by BA and aviation groups, but the rules remain in place at other airports.
The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers filed a petition Thursday for an election with the National Labor Relations Board to represent 850 automated flight service specialists at Lockheed Martin. IAM currently represents 15,000 other employees at Lockheed Martin under 35 different contracts at 46 sites nationwide.
AirTran has awarded Israel Aerospace Industries’ Bedek Group a maintenance contract for the landing gear on the carrier’s Boeing 737 fleet. The long-term maintenance contract extends the two companies’ existing decade-old business relationship. AirTran has ordered 115 737s and has so far taken delivery of 50.
NASA’s partial release of data from a controversial airline safety survey still has left some questions unanswered among observers in Congress and industry. Keeping a promise NASA Administrator Michael Griffin made before lawmakers in October, NASA on the last day of 2007 released a redacted version of data from the $11 million National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS) pilot survey that contained little analysis or illumination of safety trends.
You can now register online for AVIATION WEEK events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) APRIL 15-17 MRO/MRO Military North America, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. SEPT. 12 Management Forums, Green Aviation, Brussels, Belgium OCT. 2-3 Lean/Six Sigma, San Francisco, Calif. OCT. 29 Avionics Outlook, Phoenix, Ariz. NOV. 26-27 BizAv Trends/VLJ West, San Diego, Calif.
Mexico’s Aviacsa is planning to launch new flights to New York and Los Angeles next month. The airline would offer four weekly flights between Monterrey and New York Kennedy and four weekly flights between Guadalajara and Los Angeles, using Boeing 737 aircraft in both markets. Mexico’s civil aviation department awarded the carrier designations for the routes in late November [DOT-OST-2007-0128; DOT-OST-2007-0129]. Aviacsa flies to Las Vegas and Houston from Monterrey and Mexico City and also serves the Los Angeles-Monterrey market.
Sixteen cities that received Big Sky’s Delta Connection service will be affected by Big Sky’s end of East Coast operations (DAILY, Jan. 2). Eight are Essential Air Service communities (Ogdensburg, Massena, Watertown, Plattsburgh, Saranac Lake, N.Y.; Cape Girardeau, Mo.; Jackson, Tenn.; Owensboro, Ky.) that don’t have many options for alternate air service. Also on the list: Allentown, Pa.; Bangor, Me.; Boston; Burlington, Vt.; Cincinnati; Fredericton, Canada; Trenton, N.J.; and White Plains, N.Y. Delta said it was offering customers with reservations booked after Jan.
Dayton Airport is hoping a new marketing campaign will help boost its fortunes in a region where it competes with Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Columbus and Louisville. More people should be flying out of Dayton, said Gene Conrad, the airport’s air service development coordinator. “We want people to know that we are served by nine airlines offering 22 nonstop destinations, including a new flight to Las Vegas on AirTran,” he stated. “We are losing 50% of our traffic to Cincinnati for nonstops.”
Flights operated by 20 scheduled U.S. carriers arrived on time some 80% of the time in November, besting the previous month’s 78.2% rate and the 76.5% rate recorded in November 2006, the U.S. Transportation Dept. said in its latest Air Travel Consumer Report. The rate is the second-best showing for 2007, behind the 81.7% rate recorded in September, and the seventh-best November since 1995, shows data from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS), a part of DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration.
Merger partners Midwest and Northwest are extending their code-share relationship to Indianapolis. Northwest will carry Midwest’s code on flights from Indianapolis to Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Orlando, San Francisco, Seattle/Tacoma and Tampa for travel beginning Jan. 8. The code share is in line with an MOU signed by the carriers last year (DAILY, May 18). Northwest and Midwest already code share out of Milwaukee and Kansas City.
Carlson Wagonlit Travel’s 2008 Travel Trends Survey finds that five of the top 10 international destinations for 2008 are likely to be in Mexico, and travel to cruise ports in general will likely be in high demand.
Kenya’s international airports in Nairobi and Mombassa were open and operating normally yesterday with daily international flights despite riots and genocide following allegations of election tampering.
Brazilian low-cost carrier GOL Airlines over the holidays signed a contract with Boeing to exercise pending options for 34 737-800NG aircraft, and followed up that news with an order for 40 additional units of the same type for delivery between 2012 and 2014. The 74 aircraft are list priced at US$5.5 billion and will increase GOL’s total order to 161 airplanes, allowing for the return this year of 27 737-200s still in operation.
Unions have called off their threatened strike at BAA facilities after the airport authority offered to make changes in its pension scheme. Unions haven’t accepted the BAA offer, but say there is now a door for negotiations. Strikes were threatened for Jan. 15 and Jan. 17/18. Meanwhile, Virgin Atlantic next week faces flight disruptions, with cabin crew strikes forcing the cancellation of limited flights. Affected are flights on Jan. 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18.
Lufthansa says it will boost hirings this year even after two years of work force increases. The 2008 plan calls for 4,300 new employees to be brought in house, primarily in the airline operation. The carrier says the expansion will include 2,000 cabin crew and 1,000 for passenger service on the ground. Pilot training should reach 360 students. Lufthansa says the numbers will bring its three-year total to 9,785 employees.
Air France-KLM have begun talks with takeover target Alitalia, to hammer out the details of the planned acquisition. The goal is to try to wrap up discussions by the end of February.
Today is the last day for groups to apply for the Dept. of Transportation’s federal task force on developing model contingency plans for airports and airlines to coordinate during extended delays.
American yesterday reported that its 2007 capacity was down by about 2% across the board, although December capacity fell by less than 1% thanks to an increase in international flying. Full-year capacity was down 2.3%, with domestic decreasing 2.6% and international 2%. Traffic dropped 0.7% for 2007, with domestic down 1.3% and international rising by 0.4%. This translated to an overall load factor growth of 1.4 percentage points to 81.5%, with domestic up 1.1 points to 82.8% and international climbing 1.9 points to 79.2%.
Mexico’s Aerolineas Mesoamericanas (ALMA) is the latest low-cost carrier to signal its intent to fly to the U.S., with plans to launch flights from its Guadalajara base to Las Vegas and San Antonio this year. Flights between Guadalajara and Las Vegas would start the second week of February, while San Antonio service would commence in June. ALMA said it would serve Las Vegas three times weekly but did not specify the offer to San Antonio. Bombardier CRJ-200s would be used on both routes [DOT-OST-2007-0124].
