British Airways head Willie Walsh believes the new Transatlantic Economic Council should put its weight behind efforts to fully liberalize the U.S.-European aviation market.
Delta reported healthy international traffic increases in October while keeping domestic capacity nearly flat. And while the Pacific market is the smallest of any of the regions Delta serves, it saw by far the largest increases. Its traffic rose 41.4% during the month in the Pacific to 133 million RPMs on 60.9% more capacity to 182 million ASMs.
Bmi and United have expanded their code-sharing deal from London Heathrow to include five new U.S. destinations. Bmi can now sell direct flights operated by United to Chicago, Los Angeles, Washington, San Francisco and Denver, with flights starting March 30. Bmi says it intends to expand the code-sharing arrangement at a later date to include "a range of domestic U.S. destinations beyond the gateway cities."
Qatar Airways will become the first airline from the Persian Gulf region to serve Scandinavia when its winter schedule becomes effective on Nov. 27. Qatar will launch four flights a week from Doha to Stockholm, Sweden, and increase to five its Doha-Geneva weekly flights, also taking Doha-Geneva-Newark flights to five. Those flights were launched over the summer. CEO Akbar Al Baker said the airline will continue its aggressive expansion efforts in 2008.
Delta signed a $1 billion agreement with Chromalloy Gas Turbine under which Chromalloy will develop about 50 Parts Manufacturing Approval (PMA) parts for CFM56-5 and -7 engine engines, as well as commit to send 250 customer engines to Delta for overhaul in the next 10 years. Delta already maintains and overhauls CFM56-3 and -7 engines, but this deal adds -5 engine MRO capability to its services.
Canada and Singapore yesterday signed a bilateral air services accord that removes all restrictions on passenger services between the two countries. The agreement is the latest in Canada's Blue Sky program to liberalize the country's bilateral air services agreements. The deal struck with Singapore allows any number of nonstop passenger and freight scheduled services between the two countries, a Transport Canada spokesman said.
Airbus selected Rockwell Collins to supply the Trimmable Horizontal Stabilizer Actuator (THSA) for the A350, which is the first time the European airframer will supply the actuator for an Airbus aircraft. Hamilton Sundstrand serves as the THSA supplier on the A380. Rockwell Collins said its actuator incorporates two independent means of drive and redundant failure detection technology to meet the latest certification requirements.
Dallas Fort Worth Airport is pursuing new service in Mexico, Central and South America to compete with other U.S. gateways that have a foothold in those regions. The airport is partnering with the Dallas and Fort Worth Convention and Visitors Bureaus to spend $4 million targeting those areas as part of a $5 million marketing campaign dubbed "Visit DFW." The remaining $1 million is slated to market DFW to Asian destinations, particularly South Korea.
Air China will begin nonstop services between Beijing and Sydney Dec. 1, using Airbus A330s, competing with Qantas. The Chinese carrier plans three flights a week. Air China, the country's second-largest carrier, is also doubling its services between Beijing and Bangkok to twice daily and will start flights between Beijing and Macau.
Hong Kong Express Airways will maintain its current growth rate throughout 2008 as it adds Southeast Asian connections to draw more traffic to its main business in the difficult Chinese secondary-city market. The carrier has begun its ninth scheduled service, a twice weekly flight from Hong Kong to the Burmese capital, Yangon (Rangoon), and will add Kuala Lumpur to its network this month. It is already connecting Hong Kong with Bangkok and describes that service as successful.
Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and primes minister of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and ruler of Dubai, has created the Dubai City of Aviation. The city was created in an effort to keep the focus on Dubai's aviation sector as part of the Dubai Strategy Plan 2015, and help it set operating standards and streamline management for both Dubai International Airport and Jebel Ali International Airport, the latter of which has just been renamed the Al Maktoum International Airport.
Jet Aviation Group has sold its airline and cargo-handling division to Dnata Airport Services, a handling specialist based in Dubai, for an undisclosed sum. The sale, which does not include fixed-base operation facilities in Geneva and Zurich, will allow Zurich-based Jet Aviation to focus on its core business and general aviation activities. At the same time, it will permit Dnata to expand outside of its existing Asia-Pacific base. Dnata currently serves Singapore, Manila, Australia, Pakistan and China, in addition to Dubai. [email protected]
The annual base salary of new AirTran CEO Bob Fornaro will rise from $420,000 to $500,000 under terms of a new three-year deal that became effective Nov. 1. In a filing with U.S. regulators, AirTran explained Fornaro's new agreement also includes annual cash incentive awards with at target of 150% of his annual base salary.
Airport security screeners speed up when lines are long, but only when inspecting laptop computers, according to new research by the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York.
Franco Frattini, European Commission VP for justice, freedom and security, unveiled a raft of anti-terrorist draft legislation, including the creation of a European Passenger Name Record (PNR) plan very similar to the one enforced in the U.S. The plan, which Frattini wants implemented by the end of 2010, would apply only to flights to and from the European Union.
Asiana Airlines of South Korea will begin twice-weekly flights between the central Korean city Cheongju and Beijing with A321s with seating for 177. The connection for Cheongju, a city of about 600,000 people, reflects the extraordinarily strong business and tourist links between China and South Korea.
United will launch its daily, nonstop San Francisco-Guangzhou service on June 18, and is now selling the flights. The new route will be United's sixth daily nonstop to China and its third Chinese city, after Beijing and Shanghai. It was awarded the rights in October by the U.S. Transportation Dept. It will operate combined passenger and cargo service with a Boeing 777 configured for 10 First Suite seats, 45 Business Class seats and 198 in Economy, with 84 of those in Economy Plus.
Boeing has completed firm configuration of the 747-8 Intercontinental passenger variant but denies it is considering revisiting earlier studies of a shorter stretch to satisfy the longer-range demands of potential customers like Emirates. "The program froze the airplane configuration at a 5.6 meter (about 18 feet) stretch, which is the same length as the 747-8 Freighter (about 250 ft.). That is the only length we will be building. We will not be building a shorter version at this time," says the company.
British Airways believes onerous hand-baggage restrictions at London Heathrow Airport could be lifted by yearend due to new screening technology that is being trialed in some transfer areas at the airport. The trial "gives everybody confidence" that the restrictions can be relaxed, BA CEO Willie Walsh says.
Etihad Airways has begun interlining with Australia's Virgin Blue. The United Arab Emirates carrier has been flying to Sydney since March and Brisbane since September. It says the service between Sydney and Abu Dhabi has been so successful that it will raise the frequency to 11 flights a week from next March. [email protected]
Air India looks set to become a member of Star Alliance. "We will in all likelihood propose Air India as a Star member," Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said. "I assume that we will be able to make a decision in December." Star Alliance CEOs are meeting in Beijing and Shanghai on Dec. 10 and 11 to celebrate the admission of Air China and Shanghai Airlines to the group. A decision to propose Air India would have to be made at the Star Alliance Chief Executive Board meeting, which takes place in Beijing. [email protected]
