Allegiant CFO Linda Marvin resigned from the company, and officially gives up the title Sept. 30. Marvin plans to work with Allegiant during a transitional period that ends Dec. 31.
Airbus continues to adhere to its philosophy of choosing suppliers for the A350 earlier in the design process, handing Honeywell a major contract for the aircraft's auxiliary power unit and air management systems. Previously, Airbus has said its philosophy for the A350 is to choose fewer partners that offer more incorporated packages (DAILY, April 30). The deal with Honeywell is worth $16 billion over the contract's 20-25 year time span. Aftermarket support and service is also included in the deal's value.
As the ICAO General Assembly gets underway this week in Montreal, the organization is predicting that passenger traffic will more than double by 2025, but ICAO President Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez warns that this growth cannot come at the expense of the environment.
CSA Czech Airlines last week unveiled its revamped logo, part of a "corporate revitalization plan" it has implemented over the past year and a half. The new logo is already in use on the airline's Web site. The traditional CSA initials and SkyTeam logo are still present but the carrier's name is spelled out. The airline said incorporating its name into the updated logo and livery will make it "easier for foreign customers to identify" in comparison to the acronym.
The Airlines Reporting Corp.'s (ARC) proposed administrative fee increase for travel agencies will be discussed by its Joint Advisory Board on Oct. 18, although the Fees and Charges Working Group decided not to endorse the increase.
The Bush administration yesterday issued a long list of objections to the House reauthorization proposal, and threatened a veto unless significant changes are made to the legislation.
GE plans to work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) on research to explore the potential of crop oils such as canola and soybean as alternative fuels for aircraft. The 18-month, $3 million program aims to develop technology to produce a cheaper alternative to petroleum-based jet fuel, GE says. Concerns from both civilian and military customers about rising fuel expense and emissions are at least two elements driving GE's overall research into alternative fuels.
The Transportation Security Administration has been testing advance technology (AT) X-ray machines at security checkpoints at Washington National, Albuquerque and New York Kennedy airports. TSA is leasing seven of the new machines, from vendors L3 Communications, Smiths Detection and Rapiscan Systems, under a $1.4 million contract. The machines are able to provide screeners with clear, high-definition X-ray images.
Garuda Indonesia may return leased Airbus A330s if it cannot satisfactorily rearrange a $737 million debt to the European Credit Agency, says Indonesian state enterprises minister Sofyan Djalil. The Antara news agency says Garuda paid $214 million each for six A330-300s bought between 1992 and 1998 with financing from the European agency.
Competitors Sabre and Amadeus have jointly launched a new payment processing platform called Moneydirect to automate all travel payments -- except air -- for travel suppliers. The two GDSs announced their intent to launch such a product in August when they filed for antitrust approval from the European Commission. Moneydirect will initially focus on hotels, cruise lines, tour operators, car rental companies, ferries, railways and travel intermediaries such as wholesalers.
Alaska Airlines is teaming up with broadband satellite Internet provider Row 44 to test wireless connectivity aboard its flights. The satellite-based system uses an antenna in a radome mounted on top of the aircraft to connect through the Ku-band frequency. The signal is then transmitted by Wi-Fi routers mounted throughout the aircraft cabin. Alaska plans to begin testing the system next spring on a single Boeing 737. If the test is successful, the carrier plans to deploy the system throughout its 114-aircraft fleet.
Air China will begin a twice-weekly Boeing 767 service between Athens and Beijing via Dubai on Nov. 28. The service will leave Beijing on Wednesdays and Sundays and Athens on Mondays and Thursdays.
Silverjet plans to start flights between London Luton and Dubai Nov. 18. The carrier will use the 5,000 square foot terminal at Dubai airport. Silverjet said it will offer Halal and Arabic menus and a woman's-only powder room.
America West will no longer operate Oakland-San Jose del Cabo services, the airline told the U.S. Transportation Dept. earlier this month in a dormancy notice [OST-2004-18440]. America West has operated as US Airways since the 2005 merger. The carriers will continue to fly with separate route and operating authorities until the carriers are merged under a single certificate later this year.
Acknowledging the growth in traffic between the two countries, Panama and Cuba have amended their bilateral agreement to increase frequencies from 21 to 28 weekly flights. According to a notice posted on the Web site of Panama's civil aviation authority, the new agreement was signed in Cuba last week when a delegation of Panamanian officials visited Cuba. The agreement raises the number of frequencies and allows flights from Cuba to land in more destinations in Panama.
The U.S.-Philippines designation needed by Hawaiian to launch Honolulu-Manila service will have to come from United -- Continental pointed out that its affiliate Continental Micronesia holds the Route 2 authority and has used it consistently since winning it in 1993. Hawaiian earlier claimed that both designations were available, since United and Continental do not use their designations (DAILY, Aug. 31). United has no intention to restart Philippines service but did not want the U.S. Transportation Dept.
Russia's SAT Airlines is looking to start flights to the U.S. with a Boeing 737-200 aircraft, to carry passengers and cargo between Vladivostok, Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky and Anadyr and Anchorage, the carrier said in an exemption application to the U.S. Transportation Dept. SAT was formed in the wake of the reorganization of Aeroflot's Sakhalin United Flight Unit and has been operating on its own since 1993 [OST-2007-29212].
Finnair and regional carrier Finncomm Airlines are creating a joint ATR commuter aircraft maintenance company, called Finnish Aircraft Maintenance (FAM), which is scheduled to start operating at the beginning of 2008 at Helsinki's Vantaa airport.
Network carriers were the only carrier group to report improved profit margins in the second quarter of 2007, figures from the U.S. Transportation Dept's Bureau of Statistics show. Profit margins for network carriers stood at 9.2% in the quarter, the highest since 2000. The LCC group reported an 8.1% margin and regional carriers reported a 5.7% margin, down 2.7 percentage points and 2.4 percentage points, respectively, from the same quarter last year.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) has begun a new program that allows part-time screeners to pay the same health care premiums as their full-time counterparts.
The Air Passenger Duty (APD) system in the U.K. should be scrapped and replaced with a tax favoring new, fuel-efficient aircraft, EasyJet proposes in a report it tabled this week in London. In a report labeled "The Surprising Truth About Flying and the Environment," the airline recommends "the scrapping of APD and replacing it with a tax based upon aircraft types and distance traveled." This would mean "for the first time, all U.K. aviation would be included and airlines would be incentivized to operate the most environmentally-efficient aircraft."
U.S. carrier Ryan International Airlines was slapped with a $20,000 fine for conducting wet-lease operations as part of a long-term agreement with Bolivian carrier AeroSur that was not approved by the U.S. Transportation Dept.
