ExpressJet and Frontier are negotiating a short-term deal that would see ExpressJet flying some 50-seat aircraft for Denver-based Frontier while that carrier continues to work toward FAA approval for its new Lynx subsidiary. Frontier wanted to launch Lynx in October but hasn't received authorization from FAA to start flights. A spokesman for Frontier said the two airlines are looking at an agreement that would start sometime around Nov. 15 and run through the end of January. He explained the potential deal entails three-to-four aircraft.
Modern parked jet totals rose slightly to 393 aircraft in mid-September, up from the 383 reported in mid-August, according to a report by Merrill Lynch analyst Ronald Epstein. "We expect some additional creep as the summer season ends," Epstein said. "We continue to hold our view that demand is still greater than the supply of aircraft and twin aisle aircraft appear to be in the highest scarcity."
Airbus says it has winnowed the field of potential industrial partners for some of its sites to five, but has not yet set a deadline for naming the winners. Airbus parent EADS is to decide soon if its Augsburg facility - the only non-Airbus site that may be sold or opened to partnering - will be included in the bidding. If that happens, as is widely expected, bidders will get time to revise their offers.
Embraer followed through on previous plans to unveil a potential new business jet offering, detailing designs for two mid-size jets. Last year Embraer executives said they were studying designs for two new jets to fill the gap between the 16-seat Legacy, which is built on the ERJ-135 platform, and its Phenom very light jet that seats eight-to-nine passengers.
Airport officials from around the nation say a passenger facility charge (PFC) hike is essential to infrastructure development, and airport groups are pushing to make sure the PFC increase is included in the final version of the FAA reauthorization bill. The House last week passed its version of the FAA reauthorization bill including an increase in the PFC cap to $7. However, the PFC increase is not included in the Senate version of FAA legislation, which has been approved at committee level but has not yet been scheduled for a floor vote.
An emergency FAA rule requiring inspections of slat track downstop assemblies on Boeing 737s becomes final Wednesday. The move is in response to the fire which destroyed a China Airlines 737 in Okinawa last month. After releasing its initial emergency rule last month, FAA received more reports of parts coming off of slat assemblies (DAILY, Aug. 30).
Carrier % Share Average Fare $ Jet Blue 41% 182 Delta 21% 179 American West 21% 203 America 5% 177 US Airways 5% 196 United 3% 188 Northwest 1% 182 Total IAD, DCA-MCO daily passengers: 1368 Note: New York includes JFK and LaGuardia airports Source: APGDat, the aviation data web site from Seabury Airline Planning Group. www.seaburyapg.com
In terms of route network, London Heathrow has already fallen behind Paris, Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Munich airports - and could soon be overtaken by Madrid, Rome and Milan, all because of a shortage of runway capacity, said British Airways CEO Willie Walsh.
Delta's recently concluded SiteSeer Challenge is part of the carrier's strategy to venture more into Web 2.0 activities, said Mark Krolick, managing director of worldwide marketing communications. The process started a year ago, said Krolick. "We wanted to do something that would capture the cultural phenomenon of reality television," he explained. "Reality TV continues to do well and has a loyal fan following ... we wanted to do something similar and ultimately came up with the SiteSeer challenge."
Delta is planning to launch flights six times per week - beginning June 3 - from Atlanta to Stockholm's Arlanda Airport. It plans to use the 214-seat 767-300ER with a refurbished business and economy class, including all-leather seats in the latter. The airline is intending to serve 21 of Europe's 25 largest markets from Atlanta in its summer 2008 schedule.
The executive council of the Air Line Pilots Association last week denied a request by veteran US Airways pilots to set aside an arbitration award proposing an integrated seniority list which the pilots claim favors former America West employees.
Two former SkyWest flight attendants were unsuccessful in their appeal of a previous court ruling that the Railway Labor Act preempts California labor laws. The complaint alleged that SkyWest flight attendants are not provided uninterrupted rest periods or meal breaks, and they don't receive overtime or state minimum wage for block time when an aircraft is readied for flight.
The European Union is continuing to build up its network of so-called "horizontal" air accords, which remove all nationality restrictions from the existing bilateral agreements with non-EU nations. The European Commission initialed an agreement with Mongolia on Friday and earlier this month "successfully concluded" talks with Armenia on another agreement. Similar accords were previously reached with Ukraine, Georgia, the Kyrgyz Republic and Azerbaijan (DAILY, June 5).
30 Years Ago Sept. 26, 1977 -- President Carter may have let Transportation Secretary Brock Adams announce the Administration's Concorde position to shore up Adam's sagging reputation. Carter earlier telephoned Adams to disclaim responsibility for adverse press comments about the secretary. 20 Years Ago
Europe's Association of low-fare airlines wants the European Commission to investigate restrictions on aircraft movements imposed at Rome's Ciampino airport by Italy's civil aviation authority. Four members of the European Low Fares Airline Association (ELFAA) -- EasyJet, Myair.com, Ryanair and Wizz Air -- serve Ciampino. ELFAA said Italy's aviation authorities cut daily aircraft movements at the airport from 138 to 100 and threatened to close the airport for five months as a result of "alleged problems" with the runway.
The Senate Finance Committee last week followed the lead of its House counterpart by raising general aviation fuel taxes, and electing not to tackle wider FAA financing reform.
Airbus has reached consensus on a lower thrust rating for the engines that will power the A350 twin-widebody as part of the process to refine the aircraft-maker's newest product offering.
A joint venture between Iberia and Consorci de la Zona Franca de Barcelona has signed a deal to build a EUR 24 million (US$33.7 million) maintenance hangar at Barcelona's El Prat Airport. Iberia will use the new 12,600 square meter hangar to perform maintenance on aircraft including the Airbus A380, Boeing 747 and smaller aircraft in the A320 and 737 families. The hangar will be equipped to carry out A and C maintenance checks. The facility is scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2009. [email protected]
