Civil business judge Basilio Cruz on Tuesday dismissed motions and injunctions by Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) workers and sustained proceedings in favor of the troubled carrier’s bankruptcy.
Traffic on Allegiant’s scheduled services jumped 64.5% in November on 62.3% more capacity. Load factor increased 1.1 points to 78.9%, and the airline carried 290,399 passengers in the month, 68% more travelers than the previous year. Systemwide traffic, which includes scheduled, fixed-fee contract and non-revenue flying, was up 60.6%.
Republicans have picked Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas to be the ranking member of the Senate aviation subcommittee. Hutchison will take over the panel’s senior Republican post from Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who will retire from the Senate later this month. Hutchison previously chaired the aviation subcommittee when Republicans controlled the Senate.
The International Aviation Club will hold its annual holiday party on Thursday, Dec. 13, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Canadian Embassy. Reservations must be made by mail or messenger and must be received by Dec. 7. For more information, please visit www.iacwashington.org.
Members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) at Pratt & Whitney’s Connecticut plant have voted to ratify a three-year contract that includes annual pay raises of 3.5%, as well as a 16% improvement in pension benefits.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) yesterday called on Transportation & Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) to work with him to change pilot retirement age provisions this year. “It is very clear that legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration will not be signed into law before the end of this year,” Mica wrote in a letter to Oberstar, “I strongly believe it is our obligation and this committee’s responsibility to see to it that our most experienced pilots are permitted to continue flying commercial aircraft.”
Traffic on Allegiant’s scheduled services jumped 64.5% in November on 62.3% more capacity. Load factor increased 1.1 points to 78.9%, and the airline carried 290,399 passengers in the month, 68% more travelers than the previous year. Systemwide traffic, which includes scheduled, fixed-fee contract and non-revenue flying, was up 60.6%.
Malaysia Airlines signed a contract with ATR for 20 ATR 72-500s at the biennial Langkawi Airshow 2007, being held Dec. 4-8 in Malaysia. The order includes options for 15 aircraft and is valued at some US$650 million. MAS is acquiring the aircraft for its regional subsidiaries, Firefly and MASwings, launched in April and October, respectively. Firefly is replacing its current Fokker 50 aircraft as it establishes its hubs in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor Bahru and Kota Kinabalu; it will take delivery of its first ATR aircraft in 2008.
International passenger growth slowed slightly in October, and there was a more noticeable dropoff in cargo volume, according to the International Air Transport Association. Passenger traffic was up 7.7% in October, compared with the 8.2% year-on-year increase in September. Cargo volume, meanwhile, increased 3.6%, down from September’s 5% growth. IATA noted that “economic volatility is having a more immediate effect” on freight than on passenger demand. November and December are still expected to see cargo growth, but at slower rates.
EU opens air talks with Jordan European Union transport ministers authorized the European Commission to start aviation talks with Jordan, aiming “essentially at markets opening between the EU and Jordan,” said the ministers. Negotiators will seek to establish a so-called “Euro-Mediterranean Aviation Agreement,” which would include the harmonization of regulatory conditions based on the European aviation legislation.
Malaysia’s AirAsia X, enjoying strong demand for its initial long-haul, low-cost service to Australia, will probably soon order 10 additional Airbus A330-300s, firming up options it took when it ordered 15 of the aircraft in April. The airline is also seeking two A340-300s for nonstop services to London Stansted Airport, although it says the type is costly to run and is on its shopping list only because no other suitable aircraft are available.
European Union transport ministers mandated the European Commission to start talks with ICAO in an effort to stop duplicating security audits and inspections on the EU territory. “As both ICAO and the EU have acted in parallel in setting up their respective security programmes, the EU [countries] are today confronted with two monitoring systems with the same objective,” concluded the ministers last week in Brussels.
The seemingly endless torrent of orders for commercial aircraft isn’t far from beginning to subside, says Airbus’s chief salesman, John Leahy. By the end of November, the company had booked orders for more than the 1,111 aircraft that its customers signed for in 2005 — the previous record for the company and the industry — says Leahy. Airlines have ordered 6,000 aircraft in the past three years, about half as many as they are now operating. The market can’t go on like that forever. “This year is probably reaching the peak,” Leahy says.
The Dept. of Homeland Security has addressed legislative mandates requiring the Transportation Security Administration for designating and releasing sensitive security information (SSI), according to a new Government Accountability Office report.
Consolidated traffic for Brazilian sister carriers GOL and Varig was up 59.9% in November 2007 from the same month last year, the carrier’s parent company reports. Capacity for the carriers was up 61.6%, while loads fell 0.7 percentage points from November 2006 to 65.8%.
Republicans have picked Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas to be the ranking member of the Senate aviation subcommittee. Hutchison will take over the panel’s senior Republican post from Sen. Trent Lott (R-Miss.), who will retire from the Senate later this month. Hutchison previously chaired the aviation subcommittee when Republicans controlled the Senate.
Dramatic changes in aviation in India are propelling the industry and creating opportunities for Canadian investors, GE India Head Tejpreet Chopra said at the Indo-Canadian Business Chambers summit in Delhi
Environmental groups, state and regional governments yesterday called on the Environmental Protection Agency to address greenhouse gas emissions from the country’s aircraft fleet. Earthjustice filed the petition on behalf of environmental groups including Ocean, Friends of the Earth and the Center for Biological Diversity. The filing seeks to “require the EPA to evaluate the current impacts of aircraft emissions...and reduce aircraft emissions or explain why it will not act,” the group said in a statement.
Mumbai-based aircraft maintenance operator Livewel Aviation Services signed an agreement with Jebel Ali Airport to set up a 23,960 square-meter maintenance, repair and overhaul facility at the newly launched Dubai World Central Aviation City. This is the first such agreement to be signed by an Indian company.
Chile’s domestic and international traffic continued to soar in October, with the former going up 28.8% and the latter 11.4% from the same month last year, figures issued by Chile’s Civil Aviation Board show. A total of 7,351,520 domestic and international passengers were carried between January and October, an increase of 19.1% from the same period in 2006. Major foreign destinations from Santiago were Buenos Aires, up 24.5%, and Sao Paulo, up 10.8%..
Continental Airlines and the Transportation Security Administration have begun testing a pilot program that will allow travelers to receive their boarding passes electronically on their cell phones or personal digital assistants. TSA announced the program’s launch yesterday, noting Continental is the first U.S. carrier to test paperless boarding passes. The electronic passes will be scanned by TSA security officers at the airport checkpoint, eliminating the need for a paper boarding pass, the TSA said.
Southwest Airlines now operates five hangars at Dallas Love Field. The carrier’s 80,000-square foot, $18.5 million new addition, under construction since November 2006, is open and performing basic checks, a Southwest representative confirmed yesterday. Southwest’s fifth hangar already has two aircraft in for A checks, the spokeswoman said, adding that the carrier can simultaneously accommodate up to three Boeing 737-700NG aircraft with winglets.
