Management contracts for six important airports in Central/Western Colombia -- Jose Maria International, Olaya Herrera, Los Garzones (Monteria), El Carano (Quibdo), Antonio Roldan (Carepa) and Las Brujas (Corozal) -- will be auctioned off by the civil aviation department (Aerocivil) on Oct. 17.
Volvo Aero inked a deal with Pratt & Whitney to reduce the weight of the turbine exhaust case (TEC) on the GP7000 engine powering the Airbus A380. Volvo Aero said it would build and support the TEC for the engine's lifetime. The company's goal is to cut the TEC's weight by more than 10%, which should reduce fuel consumption and environmental effects. Volvo Aero expects to start building the TEC in 2010. The GP7000 is a product of the Engine Alliance -- a 50/50 joint venture between Pratt & Whitney and General Electric.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport has won the 2007 Airport Safety Award from the Flight Safety Foundation. DFW was lauded for its leadership in developing innovative safety initiatives, including perimeter taxiways, area navigation procedures and a surface movement guidance system. The area navigation (RNAV) procedures were introduced in cooperation with NASA and FAA.
JetBlue and Hawaiian were both fined by the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s enforcement office for not having on-time performance information handy for consumers during reservation phone calls. U.S. code says carriers must provide on-time information to consumers upon request during the course of a reservations call "for any flight which has been assigned an on-time performance code under Part 234." DOT telephone surveys found reservations agents failed to provide the on-time information in several instances.
The sale of Airbus' factories in Germany could be delayed further, according to one local report. Detailed negotiations with a preferred bidder are likely to start in early 2008 and the transaction could be completed as late as April 2008, according to business magazine Wirtschaftswoche. Airbus originally planned to finalize the sale of its sites in August, but had to delay the decision several times.
A U.S. Trade and Development Agency-funded study on air traffic management in sub-Saharan Africa is expected to wrap up by the end of the year, agency officials say. The Communications Navigation Surveillance/Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) study focuses on the 14 member countries of the Southern African Development Community (SADC). The $808,359 study was commissioned in 2002 and has been conducted by DORS, Inc of the U.S.
Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim, responding to criticism by the International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations (DAILY, Oct. 3), said in a TV interview that Brazil's air space is now safer, "although safety is one thing and its perception by the public is something else." Jobim, who oversees aviation in Brazil, highlighted the continued training of some 600 professional controllers and equipment modernization as signs that safety is a priority.
The San Diego International Airport Authority board of directors has unanimously approved a measure to create an international air service incentive program.
British Airways plans to conduct more than 70 proving trials of various aspects of London-Heathrow's new Terminal 5, and some have already been completed, says airline CEO Willie Walsh. Many of the trials will involve hundreds of members of the public, "doing what actual customers might be expected -- or, just as important, not expected -- to do in an unfamiliar airport environment," Walsh says. Other operational trials will be conducted by BA staff only. T5 is scheduled to open March 27.
San Diego Airport will begin a pilot to test common-use terminal equipment at three gates and six ticket counters. The airport hopes the test will let it be more flexible with airline space in the future.
The controversial proposal of using congestion pricing as a means of reducing delays needs to be examined carefully, Jeffrey Shane, under secretary for policy at the U.S. Transportation Dept., tells the American Bar Association in Memphis. "Sure, there are other tools out there as well, but none of them are likely to work as well as the marketplace in allocating that scarcest of resources -- a takeoff or landing slot."
The Transportation Security Clearinghouse (TSC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE), has reduced the electronic fingerprint record fee and name-based background checks for aviation workers to $27 from $29.
Singapore Airlines and US Airways on Oct. 7 will begin the code share they planned to launch last June (DAILY, May 2). The carriers won U.S. Transportation Dept. approval for the cooperation in August (DAILY, Aug. 22).
You can now register online for AVIATION WEEK events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) OCT. 17-18 -- MRO Asia 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Shanghai, China OCT. 29-31 -- A&D Programs, Phoenix NOV. 6-8 -- MRO Europe, Milan NOV. 7-8 -- MRO Europe 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Fiera Milano Congressi, Milan, Italy NOV. 28-29 -- A&D Finance Conference, New York, N.Y.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] OCT. 8-11 -- International Flight Simulator Engineering & Maintenance Conference hosted by CAE, Hilton Montreal Bonaventure, Montreal, Quebec, +1 410-266-2008, e-mail [email protected], http://www.arinc.com/fsemc
Disney Cruise Lines will begin offering onboard check-in for passengers' post-cruise flights out of Orlando Airport. Under the program, cruise passengers' checked baggage will be taken directly to the airport and boarding passes will be delivered the day before disembarkation. After arriving at Port Canaveral, passengers go directly to Customs and then to the airport, security and the assigned departure gate. Participating airlines are AirTran, Alaska, American, Continental, Delta, Northwest and United/Ted.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is widening its use of screening technologies, awarding contracts worth $52.3 million to seven companies for deployment at security checkpoints in airports and mass transit facilities, the agency announced last week.
Alaska Airlines reports a 1.7% increase in September traffic for Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air to 1.4 billion revenue passenger miles. During the month, capacity increased 4.2% to 1.9 billion available seat miles, leading to a drop in load factor to 71.8% from 73.6% last September. For the first nine months of this year, RPMs totaled 13.9 billion, a 2.8% increase from the 13.6 billion recorded a year earlier. ASMs for the period rose 3.8% to 18.2 billion from 17.5 billion. Average load factor for the nine months was 76.7%, down from 77.5%.
"Ryanair, we believe, is a rare investment candidate given its pronounced competitive cost and pricing advantages - 37% unit cost advantage and 26% price advantage over its nearest competitor," say analysts at Raymond James. "We believe that the company's strong balance sheet, combined with its industry-leading low costs, enables Ryanair to weather just about any competitive threat," they add.
The president of the Regional Airline Association thinks cutting schedules at one airport won't solve the delay in the chronically congested New York area, rather the mix of traffic needs consideration in crafting a strategy to reduce congestion. Recently, FAA said it is requiring carriers to submit summer schedules further in advance for New York Kennedy (DAILY, Sept. 21). Other demand management techniques, including congestion pricing, are being debated.
