The omnibus spending bill ironed out between the House and Senate does not extend Airport Improvement Program (AIP) contract authority but contains other measures that were more warmly received by the industry. Although the bill extends FAA funding and taxes to support the FAA through Feb. 29, 2008, the bill does not extend the contract authority for Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants. This prevents the FAA from making AIP grants at least through that date. (DAILY, Dec. 18).
Fears about a stalemate on basic design between the Colombian government and Opain, awarded the US$650 million concession contract for Bogota’s Eldorado International Airport (DAILY, Dec. 18), were confirmed this week at a public hearing held by the Superintendence of Transportation and Ports, as government officials rejected the prospect of amending the deal.
Northwest used a fashion show at Detroit Metro Airport to debut the carrier’s first new uniforms in 17 years. The uniforms will outfit Northwest’s flight attendants and customer service agents. The employees worked with designer Miranda Moss and TwinHill to create the new garments, said spokesman Roman Blahoski. The uniforms are composed of 15 pieces, using more durable, high-tech fabrics in a palate of colors, including charcoal gray with a hint of red, white and periwinkle blue. The uniforms will debut next fall, Blahoski said.
An unusually large number of U.S. major and regional airlines will all be facing contract negotiations with flight attendant unions in the next two years.
The O’Hare Modernization Program (OMP) is one step closer to acquiring St. Johannes Cemetery as part of the ongoing expansion at the airport. The U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a motion by St. John’s Church to stop OMP from receiving legal title to the cemetery. The motion sought to keep the injunction in place while a petition for review was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result, the injunction imposed more than two years ago by the Seventh Circuit has been lifted.
The Teamsters union will leaflet eight major airports today to tell the traveling public that United outsources all heavy maintenance of its 747s and 777s to South Korea and China, where only five of 2,179 mechanics are FAA certified. This is a protest against the planned sale of the San Francisco maintenance base. The Teamsters are attempting to organize at United.
St. Kitts & Nevis-based startup SKN will operate initially as a charter carrier at the beginning of 2008 with two 32-passenger Dornier jets, reports DAILY affiliate AvNews Latin America & Caribbean .
The long-awaited bilateral traffic rights agreement between India and Hong Kong was finally signed after prolonged discussions that will give each side opportunities to launch 27 new services between the countries. While India can operate the 27 services from any point in India, Hong Kong carriers can operate 10 services to Delhi, six to Mumbai and 11 to Bangalore, Chennai and Kolkata.
The movements of airport police units and security teams would be harder for potential terrorists to predict under ARMOR, a software program developed by a team of computer scientists at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering.
The European Commission launched a new investigation into state aid allegedly handed out to Olympic Airlines since 2005, adding uncertainty to the Greek flag carrier’s already somber prospects.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia has ruled that it will hear a case brought against FAA by a runway lighting company that claims the agency imposed arbitrarily strict tests on its products.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has issued a final report on the Air France A340 which ran off the runway at Toronto’s Lester B. Pearson International Airport in 2005 and is calling for tighter rules for approach and landing during convective weather. Wendy Tadros, head of the TSB, noted that 10 large aircraft have gone off runways around the world in bad weather since the Toronto event on Aug. 2, 2005. “This is an unacceptable risk,” she says.
European Union governments will not have to finance the security measures implemented at EU airports, according to a compromise hammered out this week by the European parliament and the EU council of ministers in a so-called “conciliation procedure” about new draft rules on aviation security. The European parliament initially echoed concerns voiced by the industry and wanted governments to pay for all security upgrades that supplement basic measures (DAILY, April 26).
Transportation Secretary Mary Peters yesterday ended months of speculation about New York airspace reform by announcing peak-hour flight caps at JFK and Newark and raising the specter of slot auctions for any new capacity generated at the two airports. Peters also announced the creation of an executive-level DOT position in New York to oversee operational improvements in the New York airspace — a position some in the industry are already calling the “New York airspace tsar.”
The decision on selecting the preferred bidder for Alitalia was postponed again, and the troubled airline’s board of directors decided to reconvene on Dec. 21 to continue its appraisal of the rival bids.
The FL Group has sold 15 million shares in Finnair, reducing its holdings in the finish carrier to 12.40% from above 15%. The transaction represented a divestiture of 11.7% of its holding, says the FL Group. The company says it is part of a broader strategy to reduce its exposure to the aviation sector. FL Group and the Finish government owned a combined 80% of Finnair before the selldown. In addition to the core holding, affiliated FL Trading holds another 0.29%.
Lockheed Martin is running a simulation in a research laboratory in Rockville, Md., to show how System Wide Information Management (SWIM) technology can transform air traffic control nationwide. The simulation was demonstrated for Aviation Daily on Dec. 11.
The Southern California Regional Airport Authority (SCRAA) in late January will unveil results of a survey designed to define its mission going forward. SCRAA was revitalized in March by Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and charged with finding regional solutions to take pressure off Los Angeles International Airport. The authority was originally created in 1984, but was deactivated almost 20 years later.
Debt watcher Fitch has given an F1 rating for up to $80 million in commercial paper notes for the Panama City-Bay County Airport and Industrial District Airport Facilities.
Iberia added three weekly frequencies to its current twice-daily Madrid-Buenos Aires service, all operated with 352-seat Airbus A340-600s configured for 52 in Business Plus and the rest in Economy. A pioneer in Spain-Argentina air services since 1946, Iberia now becomes the leader in long-hauls from Madrid with three daily flights to Buenos Aires on some days of the week, followed by Sao Paulo and Mexico City.
