The O'Hare Modernization Program won a key victory in its land acquisition effort after the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that OMP could move ahead with the purchase of St. Johannes Cemetery. OMP offered St. John's Evangelical Church in Bensenville, Ill., $630,000 for the cemetery, which is a key part of the effort to relocate Runway 10C-28C (DAILY, April 3, 2006). Opponents charged OMP with violating the Illinois Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Increased domestic travel powered growth at the airports managed by Mexico's GAP (Grupo Aerportuario del Pacifico) and OMA (Grupo Aerportuario del Centro Norte), and both companies credited Mexico's low-cost startups for the continued boom.
Although its plans to include aviation in its emissions trading scheme has been widely criticized, the European Union is not alone in pressing the case for cap-and-trade systems, working papers filed on the eve of the ICAO General Assembly suggest.
Airline employees are expected to rally on Capitol Hill Tuesday to urge Congress to alter the current aviation funding system. The gathering will coincide with the House Ways & Means Committee's markup hearing on the financing aspect of FAA reauthorization. The Air Line Pilots Association, in a recent letter to lawmakers, advocate that more of the cost be shifted to non-airline users of the aviation system.
Midwest Air Group's traffic increased 28.2% in August, a record for the month. Capacity was up 22.8%, lifting load factor to 82%. For the first eight months of the year, scheduled RPMs were up 16.7%, while ASMs rose 13.4%. Load factor averaged 80% during the period.
Continental intends to take advantage of both shrinking hubs in the North Central U.S. and a $16 billion incentive package offered by Ohio to grow capacity at Cleveland Hopkins by 40% in two years. The airline saw what other airlines were doing in drawing back capacity at hubs such as Chicago, Detroit and Columbus, a spokesman says, and began talking to the mayor and governor's offices about incentives to capitalize on beefing up service. By next summer, Continental will serve 20 new nonstop destinations from Cleveland.
American starting May 1 plans to carry Iberia's code on its New York Kennedy-Barcelona flights. The carrier is asking the U.S. Transportation Dept. to quickly amend the authority covering their existing code share [OST-2001-11037].
Carnival Corp. intends to stop paying travel agents a 5% commission on the air fares they book in conjunction with a cruise, in hopes of making its air rates more competitive. The company, which operates brands such as Carnival, Holland America Line, Princess, Seabourn, Costa and Cunard, will implement the new policy Oct. 15 for its North American brands. A representative of Carnival says this will not affect its relationship with airlines and how they negotiate contract rates.
A flurry of activity is expected on FAA reauthorization legislation in the next few days that could even see the House pass its version of the bill by the end of the week. The House Ways & Means Committee plans to hold a markup hearing Tuesday on the financing elements of reauthorization, which would clear the way for the whole bill to go to the House floor. Industry and congressional sources believe a floor vote is possible as early as Thursday.
Frankfurt Airport handled a record 5.1 million passengers in August, up 1.7% year over year. The airport's growth was fueled by increases in intercontinental traffic, which was up 2.8%. The United Arab Emirates market continued to grow, up 11.5%. Demand for Caribbean destinations also rose by 5.6%. Within Europe, traffic on business travel routes to West European destinations was up 4.4%, while domestic traffic climbed by 2.6%.
Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein tells employees that in late August the load factor at the carrier's Hawaiian operation Go was 73%, 10 points higher than last year. Ornstein says Go is "chipping away," gaining market share. At the same time, Mesa and Hawaiian Air Lines on Sept. 25 will face a judge who will rule on HAL's charge that Mesa violated a confidentiality agreement signed in 2004, when HAL was in Ch. 11 and Mesa was a potential investor. HAL says Mesa didn't destroy evaluation materials until after HAL filed its lawsuit in February 2006 (DAILY, Sept. 6).
Travel by Americans to the Middle East is on the verge of doubling since the beginning of the year, according to data from the Commerce Dept.'s Office of Travel & Tourism Industries. In January, 33,493 U.S. citizens flew to the Middle East, which grew to 44,179 by March, and totaled 61,611 in June, the latest month available
Industry observers note it is looking more and more likely that an extension will be required for Transportation Dept. appropriations as a House-Senate conference begins to hammer out a compromise on Fiscal 2008 funding. Many obstacles must be overcome to finish work on the bill before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. Chief among these are presidential veto threats against both the House and Senate versions, mainly over spending levels. Many believe the Transportation bill will be swept up in an omnibus appropriations bill.
The board of directors of ATPCO (Airline Tariff Publishing Co.) has hired Bill Andres as CEO and president. Andres joined the company last week. Most recently he was senior VP of the Americas for OAG. He is a former president and CEO of Air Wisconsin, former VP of sales at United, and former president of Globe Aviation Services.
ExpressJet Holdings has named Patrick Kelly a member of its board of directors. He is the CFO of Vignette Inc., a software company, and is a past CFO of The Sabre Group and VP-financial planning at American.
Delta through Connection partner Shuttle America this winter will boost its U.S.-Mexico offer from Atlanta with a new route and added capacity. Pending regulatory approval, Shuttle America would fly its 70-seat Embraer 170s from Atlanta to Monterrey and Quertaro. The year-round, service to Queretaro would begin Jan. 14, while Shuttle America will begin flying to Monterrey on March 3. ASA already operates Atlanta-Monterrey, and Delta plans to have both carriers operating the service year-round, as well [OST-2007-29135].
FlyForBeans, a low-cost startup based at Cardiff International in Wales, is finalizing Boeing 737 lease deals and hiring cabin crew and revenue and marketing managers. The airline maintains it will launch in the fourth quarter, with flights to more than the 12 (as yet unnamed) European destinations it originally intended.
A change in the way engine maintenance cycles were accounted for in its balance sheets helped Italian flag carrier Alitalia narrow its year-over-year losses for the first half of 2007 by EUR9 million to EUR211 million (US$293 million). The decision to capitalize and amortize the shop visits "according to their period of economic use" -- the period between two shop visits -- also affected the carrier's operating loss, which shrank by EUR3 million to EUR127 million (US$176 million).
