U.S. Transportation Dept. administrative law Judge Richard Goodwin fined a passenger $1,900 for his behavior on board a US Airways flight in 2002, acknowledging that the amount was "significant" and that he intended for the penalty to have some "bite. It should have both punitive and deterrent value." Goodwin said the fine "will promote respect for proper conduct aboard aircraft and for the safety and security responsibilities associated with air transport."
SAS Group sold its Spanish ground-handling operation Newco Airport Services to Teinver Group. The company previously held a 55% stake the company. The move is part of SAS's strategy to focus on its core market in Scandinavia. SAS also plans to sell its Spanish airline, Spanair. [email protected]
FAA yesterday issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that doesn't require aircraft to have Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcasting avionics on board until 2020 even though the ground system may be finished by 2013. ADS-B involves aircraft broadcasting their GPS-derived positions to other aircraft and to air traffic controllers on the ground, giving controllers a way to track aircraft without using radar.
In a landmark decision expected to have wide repercussions in Latin America, a federal civil and commercial appeals court in Buenos Aires ruled that Mexicana Airlines must pay $14,250 to an Argentine couple that missed a July 2002 vacation in Puerto Vallarta due to overbooking by the carrier.
DayJet Services, a subsidiary of DayJet Corp. LLC, intends to formally launch revenue services today at the completion of ceremonies at Boca Raton and Tallahassee, Fla. The company has been quietly operating passenger-carrying flights in a soft launch mode to ensure everything went smoothly before formally launching. It received FAA approval to operate its Eclipse 500 jets on Sept. 5 under a Part 135 certificate.
Ryanair said it will launch 70 new routes in October, as it continues to take delivery of more aircraft. A particular focus of its growth will be Spain, where the carrier adds to its operations in both Madrid and Barcelona and opens a base in Valencia.
CAE signed three contracts to design and make three full-flight simulators (FFSs) and associated CAE Simfinity training devices valued at about C$50 million, bringing the total FFS sales CAE has announced in fiscal 2008 to 21. The contracts include a CAE 7000 Series Boeing 747-8 FFS for Boeing subsidiary Alteon Training. Alteon also ordered a suite of CAE ground school training devices for the new Boeing 747-8 aircraft, including a CAE integrated procedures trainer and 36 virtual maintenance trainers.
Pinnacle reached a deal with partner Northwest to defer 15 Bombardier CRJ200s moving to Northwest subsidiary Mesaba, with Northwest agreeing to pay Pinnacle $1.5 million in costs related to the delay. The aircraft are exiting Pinnacle's fleet as a result of that company missing a March 31 deadline to reach a new labor agreement with its pilots. A pilot agreement was a stipulation in a new air services agreement Pinnacle reached with Northwest last December (DAILY, April 4). Pinnacle management and pilots resumed negotiations in May (DAILY, May 9).
Aerolineas del Sur boasts a new name -- Aerolineas Austral Chile, S.A., plus a revamped image and an expanded fleet. The airline previously was expected to be renamed as Air Comet Chile (DAILY, May 18).
Spanish low-fare airline Vueling yesterday issued a second profit warning for its current fiscal year, sending its stock into a 12% dive. The airline warned it could post a full-year loss before interest, tax amortization, depreciation and rent. In a worst-case scenario, the loss could total EUR10 million (US$14.16 million), Vueling said. The airline is facing increased competition from Ryanair and EasyJet in the Spanish market. [email protected]
European Union transport ministers mandated the European Commission to negotiate an air transport agreement with Canada at their Oct. 2 meeting in Luxembourg. The EU's aim is to create an 'Open Aviation Area' with Canada. The European Commission claims that the liberalization would boost traffic on EU-Canada routes from 8 million passengers today to 14 million by 2011. The EC's study also sees that the agreement "could create 3,700 jobs already in the first year".
The ongoing media wrangling over the number of big players waiting to bid for Aeromexico is alienating other bidders, Jesus Ramirez Stabros, secretary of Mexico's congressional transport commission, told El Universal.
Air France said it is seeing strong loads on its Paris-Seattle service, which has carried some 32,000 passengers since its June 11 launch. The airline is modifying its schedule from the daily service it offered during the summer to five weekly departures (Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday) in the winter schedule. The flights use two-class, 219-seat Airbus A330 aircraft.
Colombia's AeroRepublica this week announced the delivery of two new Embraer 190s that will be used on its domestic routes and "in the further development of international markets," the carrier said. Excluding the latest additions AeroRepublica has five of the type in its fleet, with firm orders for four additional 190s -- two to be delivered before yearend and two to come next year -- as well as options for eight that will expire in 2011 and eight rolling options. The carrier also flies eight MD-80s. [email protected]
Traffic in Chile in August improved 22.3% from the same month in 2006, to 731,795 passengers, Chile's civil aviation board reported. Cargo volume increased 18.1% internationally and 0.5% domestically. Traffic to Rio de Janeiro was up 77.7%, Lima 40.9%, Paris 33.6%, Sydney 33%, Quito 31.8%, Bogota 31.8% and Caracas 31.4%. Lan Airlines (52.4%) led airlines in market share for the year to August 2007, followed by GOL (6.5%), American (4.6%), Aerolineas Argentinas (4.2%) and Iberia (3.6%). Together, they accounted for 71.3% market share.
Media coverage of aviation's role in global CO2 emissions is preventing dialogue about the appropriate approach to take, said Cathay Pacific CEO Tony Tyler. Tyler, speaking at the inauguration of the Hong Kong Chapter of the Asia Pacific Aviation Media Association, referred to some of the "wildly inaccurate and downright untruthful things that are said in some parts of the world (media) about aviation's role in climate change."
The Transportation Security Administration announced yesterday it is creating an Office of Global Strategies to coordinate operations in foreign countries. The office, to be headed by Bill Gaches, a 20-year veteran of the intelligence community, will oversee the regulatory and inspection responsibilities of TSA aviation security experts overseas. Also yesterday, TSA named Keith Kauffman assistant administrator for the Office of Intelligence.
The European Commission is expected to proffer a proposal to create a European passenger name record (PNR) system at the beginning of November, as part of a series of measures aiming at tightening controls on travelers entering the European Union. One of the last points under discussion in the run-up to the presentation of Europe's future PNR data stocking system -- which will be modeled on the one implemented in the U.S. -- is whether passenger data will be recorded for all flights or only those linking up the EU with non-EU destinations.
The annual cost of airline delays has reached $9 billion, twice the entire budget of the Airport Improvement Program (AIP) grants, said U.S. Transportation Dept. Secretary Mary Peters.
Starting Nov. 1, JetBlue will accept only credit and debit cards for inflight purchases. The carrier is using technology supplied by LiveTV to handle the purchase of alcoholic beverages and future inflight offerings.
Lufthansa is adding routes more quickly than expected to its Duesseldorf base. The airline will launch services to six additional European destinations in summer 2008, among them Usedom, Newquay and Jersey.
