The broad economic base of Houston's primary service area, as well as its sound financial operations, strong historical demand for air carrier service and modest future debt needs led debt watcher Fitch Ratings to give an A+ rating to $125 million in airport bonds. Fitch also affirms the 'A+' rating for roughly $2.2 billion outstanding subordinate lien airport revenue bonds.
Congestion pricing in some form would be the most productive solution to the rampant overscheduling and delays that characterize congested airports today, according to a new study from The Reason Foundation. "Until [congestion pricing] is implemented, near-term congestion will only get worse because the airlines want to be on the ground with the most flights in their base schedules when FAA moves to impose a 'voluntary' schedule reduction on the incumbents," writes study author David Plavin.
The heads of Delta's Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) unit yesterday told members that hedge funds who are spreading rumors of mergers with United do not have members' interests at heart, and no merger will occur without ALPA's input.
The European Commission took a step toward creating an open aviation area with Israel by formally proposing that negotiations should begin. The ball started rolling yesterday on the long-rumored talks when Jacques Barrot, EC VP-transport, said Israel and the EU should sit down at the negotiating table. An open aviation area "will strengthen the aviation links between the EU and Israel and will establish a high level of regulatory standards, in particular in the fields of safety and security," Barrot said.
The International Air Transport Association yesterday released survey findings that the vast majority of business travelers prefer e-tickets, and slightly more than half want more self-service options. IATA's annual Corporate Air Travel Survey reveals that 89% of those surveyed prefer e-tickets. Overall, 54% said they wanted more self-service, with travelers from the Africa and the Middle East recording the highest self-service approval with 64%, followed by 57% in the Americas, 53% in Europe and 51% in Asia/ Pacific. The survey covered 10,000 travelers.
US Airways yesterday became the latest U.S. carrier to unveil London Heathrow service for next summer; the announcement was a sur- prise since US Airways was not expected to be able to find Heathrow slots by then.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. is asking oneworld carriers American, Iberia, Finnair, Malev and Royal Jordanian to submit additional information that the department needs for consideration of the carriers' antitrust immunity application (DAILY, July 30). SkyTeam carriers Alitalia, Air France, Czech, Delta, KLM and Northwest in August suggested that DOT ask for more information about plans to cooperate with British Airways and how the immunized carriers would cooperate in global markets, among other concerns.
Emirates, which soon will supplant Singapore as the largest Boeing 777 operator, is looking for U.S. pilots. On Dec. 4-12, it will hit Chicago, Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Houston, Atlanta, Miami and New York to recruit. The airline, which today employs 125 U.S. pilots, launches Dubai-Houston flights Dec. 3. Chairman Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum heads to Seattle from Houston the next day for meetings with Boeing.
Asia's airlines resolved to tackle challenges on critical issues, such as safety oversight and investigations, air traffic management, passenger facilitation and liberalization and sustainable aviation, during the recently concluded Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) 51st Assembly of Presidents. AAPA is the trade association of 17 major scheduled international airlines that collectively carry 285 million passengers and 10 million metric tons of cargo.
Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) last weekend readied a regular flight to meet the Nov. 20 deadline set by airline regulator DGAC to reissue its operating permit (DAILY, Nov. 15). Former LAB President Antonio Chiquie told Los Tiempos that technical and financial prerequisites in support of reissue would be submitted shortly.
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, speaking at a news conference in Rio, encouraged more foreign ownership of Brazilian airlines but discarded "total" opening of the sector to carriers from abroad.
Finnair says that fourth-quarter operational performance is exceeding expectations, allowing it to increase its full-year profit guidance. Operating results are projected to exceed EUR90 million, whereas only a few weeks ago, the carrier expected it would be able to surpass only EUR70 million. Moreover, management says that the final quarter should have a clearly profitable financial results; before, there was merely an expectation it could be in the black.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon last week inaugurated Terminal 2 at Mexico City International Airport (AICM), which will increase capacity from 32 million annual passengers to 40 million, and flight operations from 54 to 62 per hour.
EasyJet posted a significant profit increase in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30 and expects earnings to improve even more in 2008 -- CEO Andrew Harrison said pre-tax profit in 2008 will be about 20% above last year's level.
Air Berlin yesterday revised its guidance for the fiscal year 2007 downwards, in spite of improved results for the third quarter. The company said it expects to get close to last year's operating profit of EUR64 million. Earlier in the year, the airline said it would exceed last year's profit (DAILY, May 10). Air Berlin's shares remained largely unchanged.
Tourism is the most potent anti-poverty tool in the world, and international financial institutions such as the World Bank and IMF should back developing world airlines, Lelei LeLaulu, president of Counterpart International, told European aviation officials this week in Oslo.
Japan yesterday began collecting biometric data from all foreign passengers entering the country. Additional staff will be deployed at Narita, Kansai and Chubu airports to handle any potential for increased processing time. Passengers who refuse to surrender biometric data will be denied entry into the country, The DAILY has learned. [email protected]
CAE and Malaysian budget carrier AirAsia signed a contract giving CAE the responsibility of managing AirAsia's Type Rating Training Organization (TRTO) at the AirAsia Academy, which provides pilot training for all of AirAsia's current and future pilots. The contract is valued at about US$51 million over 10 years. CAE will start pilot training services at AirAsia's six-bay simulator training center at the academy at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in early 2008.
Startup carrier Air Peru International (API) would take off as soon as its operating license and other paperwork is completed, probably in December, CEO Guillermo de la Torre said at a news conference this week in Lima.
The rush to Southeast Asia is on -- overbookings are up nearly 20% and the winter vacation season barely started -- and Singapore Airlines, Thai International Airways and Korean Air are hoping India will give them additional frequencies to fill the gap between supply and demand for seats. Passenger traffic between Singapore and India grew 17.5% between January and August this year, compared with the previous year, Changi International Airport said.
