Czech Airlines last week week named five new Airbus A320 family aircraft that joined its fleet this year: Krkonose, Beskydy, Jeseniky, Vysocina and Sumava. All are named for mountain ranges in the Czech Republic. The aircraft are part of a 2004 order for six A320s and six A319s (DAILY, Oct. 18, 2004). Eight of the aircraft are already with the carrier, while the remaining four will be delivered next year. The airline last month exercised options for eight more A319s, which will be delivered in 2011-2012 (DAILY, Sept. 14).
Auckland International Airport has broken ground on its A$32 million (US$28.4 million) second runway. Located north of and parallel to the existing runway, the new runway is being built in stages. Stage one - 1,200 meters - will be ready in time for the Rugby World Cup in early 2011. The runway will eventually be 2,150 meters.
Regional Airline Association President Roger Cohen says the association is going through a major overhaul of its Web site for an early 2008 debut. He notes it will be easier for RAA members, the government and media to access real-time, instant information. Another focus for the organization next year is stepping up its advocacy on security issues.
The European Commission is encouraged by the U.S. 9/11 Act's provision for an Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) program, but it still holds out hope that visa privileges offered by an ETA will be extended to all 27 member states, a European Union official tells The DAILY. The EC applauds a U.S. ETA and is thought to be considering its own program. But the EC has some reservations toward a U.S. ETA, an EC official in Washington said.
Falling fourth-quarter profits for some U.S. carriers appear more likely as $80-per-barrel oil estimates continue to stick, leaving few options for carriers without strong hedging positions or the ability to offset costs with higher fares. Standard & Poor's recently warned that U.S. airlines' ability to use fare hikes to compensate for fuel prices has started to deteriorate, since the economic boom that fueled demand is starting to wane (DAILY, Oct. 4).
SAS is demanding financial compensation by Bombardier because of the three-week grounding of its entire Q400 fleet last month (DAILY, Sept. 13). The airline grounded the fleet following two landing-gear failures, in Aalborg and Vilnius, on Sept. 9 and Sept. 12. "SAS will initiate discussions with Bombardier regarding compensation for the costs and lost income incurred," the airline said in a statement.
Business jet flights are not the cause of air traffic delays in the New York City area, the National Air Traffic Control Association union says, pointing instead to short-staffed ATC facilities and airline overscheduling. The Air Transport Association has been claiming that the bizjets operating out of Teterboro, a main business jet hub airport, are not taking their fair share of delays -- adding to airline woes.
The fault-finding to explain skyrocketing airline delays began before this week's release of DOT's August Air Travel Consumer Report, with the National Air Traffic control Association pointing to airline scheduling and controller shortages for holdups at New York airports that spread across the national system. Airlines reported that 71.7% of their flights arrived on time, up from 69.8% in July 2007 but were down 4.7 percentage points year over year.
GOL strengthened its ties to the SkyTeam Alliance through a recent interline pact with Air France. The Brazilian carrier already has a relationship with Air France's fellow SkyTeam member Delta through a previous interline agreement the carriers inked earlier this year. Through the deal, Air France customers have the option of buying tickets to cities in Brazil and South America served by GOL, and check their baggage through to a final destination.
ATR Head of Sales John Moore says operators in North America could order a couple of hundred turboprops during the next three-to-five years. ATR hopes to build up it market share in the region, particularly the U.S., and plans to debut the latest model of its ATR 42/72 in 2010 (DAILY, Oct. 3).
United's scheduled-only traffic dropped 3% in September, but traffic was down only 1.3% when including charters. For the first nine months, traffic fell 0.5%, while total system traffic, including charters, gained 0.3%. Capacity was down 1.7%, lifting load factor 0.7 points to 80.2% for scheduled service. Capacity including charters was down 2.1%.
Cardiff International Airport is in talks with Middle East carriers Etihad and Emirates Airlines to use Cardiff, capital of Wales, as the most immediate point to the Gulf from the U.K. "Cardiff is operating at two-thirds its capacity, is not as congested as other metros in Britain and is on the same road as Heathrow," Head of Marketing Peter Phillips told The DAILY on the sidelines of the Showcase Wales tourism event.
Grupo Mexicana upped the ante in the battle for Aeromexico by submitting a bid that is 25% higher than the top bid from rival investor groups. Mexicana wants to take at minimum 51% and potentially 100% of Aeromexico shares and is offering to pay MXN2.19 a share, which would value the entire share package at MXN2.17 billion (US$199 million). Mexicana said the deal would result in a US$200 million capital injection for the group.
The FAA branch overseeing operations at Northwest has to report by next month how it is working with the carrier to resolve concerns about maintenance safety that arose during an August 2005 mechanics strike. The mandate stems from an audit by the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s Office Of Inspector General of the conduct of FAA's Certificate Management Office (CMO) in Bloomington, Minn., after an inspector in that area voiced complaints about training for replacement mechanics and other maintenance processes.
Aeroflot recorded a RUB3.25 billion (US$130 million) profit for the first half of 2007. In the same period, the airline carried 3.77 billion passengers, a 17.9% increase from a year earlier. First-half RPMs were up 15.9%, and cargo and passenger operations resulted in a 21.7% improvement in revenues to RUB33.53 billion (US$1.34 billion), but expenses were up as well -- 15.4% to RUB31.9 billion (US$US1.28 billion).
Canada is eager to begin open-skies talks with the European Union, but the two sides can't sit down at the table until the Canadian government issues its mandate for the negotiations.
Delta load factors were up throughout the carrier's network in September, with all but one of its systems showing gains from the same month last year. The airline reported record loads for the month in its Latin American (71.6%), domestic mainline (77.7%) and domestic regional (75.5%) systems. On the whole, consolidated load factor was up 77.6%. Atlantic system loads remained flat, rising only 0.1 point from September 2006 to 80.2%, while loads in the Pacific system fell 10 points to 75.1%.
The European Parliament in its November plenary session is expected to toughen the current proposals to integrate aviation into the EU emissions trading scheme, following the quasi-unanimous approval of a draft report by the House's committee on the environment this week.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. last week revoked the commuter authority of Chalk's International Airlines. The Fort Lauderdale-based airline was literally grounded when FAA in 2005 beached the G-73T Mallard, the aircraft at the core of the airline's seaplane service from Florida to the Bahamas, after Chalk's plane crashed off Miami Beach (DAILY, Dec. 22, 2005). The airline gave notice it intended to restart operations last year but has not been in touch with DOT since those communications.
