The House passed legislation (H.R.1615) last week that would make it illegal to aim a laser pointer at the cockpit of an airplane, recommending five years in prison for such an offense. The bill passed by the Judiciary Committee on May 2. Rep. Ric Keller (R-Fla.), sponsor of the bill, says the FAA has reported more than 500 incidents of pilots being blinded or somehow disoriented by a laser beam. Currently, there is no federal law that prohibits shining a laser beam into a cockpit.
Asia/Pacific aviation continues to grow amid increasing demand for seats, figures from the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines show, as its member airlines carried 11.6 million international passengers in April 2007, a year-on-year increase of 2.9%.
After launching service in 2000 as a "new kind of low-fare airline" not at all reliant on traditional GDSs or online travel portals to sell its tickets, JetBlue continues to change its distribution strategy under a new contract with Expedia Inc.
Frontier executives are planning to name the first routes its new Lynx subsidiary will debut in December sometime in the next few weeks. Denver-based Frontier ordered 10 70-seat Bombardier Q400s and created Lynx to fly the aircraft. Late last week, carrier CEO Jeff Potter told analysts Frontier would name four new mountain destinations and five non-mountain routes for Lynx soon. The Frontier offshoot won U.S. Transportation Dept. approval last month (DAILY, May 7).
Northwest sees its fleet of Boeing 757s as an important component in how it will compete in the North Atlantic market under the U.S.-EU open-skies accord, says Grant Whitney, manager of Atlantic Planning. "Our 757s are a way for us to serve a robust market. They will help us make money, but also achieve our strategic goals," he notes.
With help from the Homeland Security Dept., the University of Maryland has put the Global Terrorism Database on line. Billed as the world's largest unclassified database of terrorism attacks, it includes 80,000 terror incidents from 1970 through 2004. Over the next 12 months it will be updated through 2007 by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism based at Maryland. http://www.start.umd.edu/data/gtd/
Promoted Sean Menke, formerly executive VP and chief commercial officer, to executive VP-commercial strategy and named Benjamin Smith, formerly president and CEO of Air Canada Vacations, executive VP-commercial.
Northwest is making ticket purchase, check-in -- and any other transaction now available on nwa.com -- accessible to mobile phone and personal data assistant users.
ANA subsidiary AJX will put Asiana's code on flights between Tokyo Narita and Honolulu to carry Asiana's Korea-U.S. traffic. The code share would launch July 1 pending regulatory approvals [OST-2007-28625].
Aeroflot's profit more than doubled in the first quarter. The airline posted a $69 million net profit in the period, up 115% from last year. Revenues grew 37% to $663 million. The carrier attributed the improvement to higher fares and strong demand. Aeroflot is one of the bidders for Alitalia (DAILY, May 24).
The executive board of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) voted by an 80% margin to end its support for FAA's mandatory retirement age for pilots, known as the Age 60 Rule.
ATR has defined the cockpit upgrade for its 50- and 74-seat turboprops and is in talks with main suppliers about the improvements. Company Senior VP-Commercial John Moore said earlier this week at the Regional Airline Association convention the upgrades would produce maintenance costs savings, better handling for pilots and a weight reduction.
AARP Services has chosen Birmingham, Ala.-based MedjetAssist, a medical evacuation company, as a preferred travel provider for AARP's 38 million members. AARP members will receive an 18% discount on MedjetAssist memberships. Under the membership plan, members who fall ill more than 150 miles from home anywhere in the world, will receive MedjetAssist transport to their hometown hospital or the nearest hospital of their choice.
Landing fees at Memphis International Airport will fall, but gate and terminal fees will rise slightly under the facility's FY2008 budget, which begins July 1.
While opportunities to bid on requests for proposals covering large quantities of aircraft might be scant in the U.S. marketplace, the president of Trans States Holdings sees promise in markets for 50-seat aircraft as a result of favorable lease rates on the planes.
Ryanair is launching a new base in Bristol in November, a significant move that will position the carrier to compete head-to-head with EasyJet, which also has a large presence at the airport. Ryanair will fly to 13 destinations and base two Boeing 737-800s in Bristol. EasyJet currently offers 33 routes from Bristol, a base it inherited from Go when it took over the ex-British Airways subsidiary in 2002. -JF
Management at Scandinavian low-cost carrier Sterling Airlines reached a deal with its pilots, averting a strike. The pilot agreement is the carrier's last step in its merger with Maersk Air that began in 2005. FL Group bought Sterling last year.
Air France/KLM is launching a new cost-cutting program to reduce expenses by EUR1.4 billion (US$1.9 billion). Unit costs are supposed to come down 3% through the far-reaching measures that are being applied across the two carriers.
Changi Airports International has signed a memorandum of understanding with Vietnam to develop Phu Bai-Hue Airport. The development of the airport is part of a plan by the Vietnamese government to develop Thua Thien Hue Province, located on the north central coast of the country, as an international tourist destination. The government gave approval to designate Phu Bai-Hue as an international airport in March, said the Ministry of Transport.
Chinese logistics group LinkGlobal Logistics bought Germany's Parchim Airport and promised to invest about EUR100 million (US$134 million) to upgrade the field. LinkGlobal is understood to be planning cargo services from Shenzhou to Parchim. The airport, situated between Hamburg and Berlin, has a 9,000-foot runway sufficient for long-haul services and currently operates some charter flights. Lufthansa Cargo, for its part, stated that operating a cargo airport in Parchim was "economically senseless and logistically unattractive." -JF
