Virgin America finally won U.S. government approval for its launch, and CEO Fred Reid still has to step down - but the U.S. Transportation Dept. extended his tenure for six months after the carrier's certification. The carrier offered DOT Reid's exit as part of sweeping changes to its application in January after the agency tentatively denied Virgin America's launch in December, reasoning the carrier's structure failed the U.S. foreign ownership test.
Canada on May 17 signed its first-ever air services agreement with Kuwait, expected to take effect immediately. Under the agreement, carriers from Canada and Kuwait are allowed to serve their choice of destinations in either country, Transport Canada said in a statement. The agreement also lets both countries freedom to designate carriers to operate routes between Canada and Kuwait and allows unlimited code sharing. In addition, Canada and Kuwait are allowing more flexibility for all-cargo carriers.
In the midst of fighting off a takeover from AirTran, Midwest struck a memorandum of understanding with Northwest Airlines to develop a codesharing pact. Northwest plans to carry the Midwest code on flights beyond its hubs in Detroit, Minneapolis-St. Paul and Memphis. Midwest will also place its code on Northwest flights from Indianapolis and a number of Northwest flights to Hawaii and Alaska. The Northwest code will appear on flights that connect at Midwest Milwaukee, Kansas City and Omaha.
LAN President Jorge Awad used his recent meeting with Peruvian President Alan Garcia to call attention to the decline in fifth-freedom frequencies between Chile and Peru. Awad was visiting Peru as part of a high-level mission of Chilean businessmen.
As Atlanta, San Francisco, Denver and the Washington, D.C., airports await the results of a request for proposal for a registered traveler program, a poll of facilities finds no one is rushing to start their own effort. The DAILY contacted 14 airports, and half said they had no interest in offering the program, while the other half is still in a wait-and-see mode.
ST Aerospace's SAS Component subsidiary struck a deal with Martinair worth US$24 million. The May 15 issue of The DAILY gave an incorrect dollar amount.
Before the ink was dry on the U.S.-European Union open-skies agreement, EU officials predicted it would result in 80,000 new jobs and a 50% increase in transatlantic business, but an analyst told The DAILY that these claims paint too rosy a picture as regulatory and capacity constraints could hamper growth.
Strikes by some Lan Argentina employees at Buenos Aires' Aeroparque Airport this week will continue, union leaders say, as negotia- tions with management did not progress to their liking. Strikes on May 14 and May 15 by some 500 Lan Argentina workers at Aeroparque caused 17 domestic flights to be canceled. Ninety percent of some 2,000 inconvenienced passengers were reassigned to Aerolineas Argentinas, and 10% were reimbursed the price of their ticket.
Citing the sharp drop in foreign visitors to the U.S. between 2000 and 2006, Travel Industry Association President and CEO Roger Dow this week called for a reform of the Visa-Waiver program.
Ryanair plans to add nine new routes from its Milan Bergamo base starting in December when it boosts the number of planes based at the airport from four to six. New flights include Alghero, Bari, Billund, Cagliari, Gothenburg, Porto, Riga, Santander and Tampere. The airline also plans to debut two new routes from Nottingham East Midlands to Budapest and Riga starting in October. -LR
Airbus looks set to record its best sales year yet for the corporate jet versions of its A320 family, helped by the addition of the A318 Elite to the corporate lineup. The manufacturer expects to reach 17 corporate jet orders during the first five months of this year, including 14 from the A320 family -- known as ACJs -- and three widebodies. This puts Airbus on pace to easily beat last year's total of 21 orders, company officials said.
Grupo TACA in July will increase its seat offer between San Jose, Costa Rica, and Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic from daily service to eight frequencies per week. The airline launched the route late last month and is the only carrier serving the city-pair. Airbus A319 and A320 aircraft are being used.
AirTran believes the response it received from its tender offer to Midwest shareholders is laying the groundwork for getting its three proposed nominees elected to the Midwest board. The Atlanta-based airline extended its tender offer to June 8 after the expiration of its previous offer on May 16. At that time, Midwest shareholders had agreed to tender more than 13.9 million shares to AirTran subsidiary Galena Acquisition Corp., accounting for 56.6% of outstanding Midwest Air Group shares.
Traffic for Copa Holdings airlines Copa and AeroRepublica was a mixed bag in April as one carrier reported gains and the other declines, when compared with April 2006. Copa was the more successful of the two subsidiaries with traffic that improved 19.1% on 20% more capacity. Load factor for the carrier stood at 77% last month, a 0.6 percentage-point drop from April 2006. AeroRepublica, meanwhile, saw its traffic fall 2.4% on 4% less capacity. Load factor slightly improved by 0.8 points to 52.3%.
The Senate Commerce Committee's FAA reauthorization bill included a slight increase for Airport Improvement Program grants, but declined to raise the cap on passenger facility charges.
SAS is on the verge of implementing a new pricing structure and moving to point-to-point service, leading the growing trend to tie fares directly to services offered. As a Star Alliance member, SAS operates under four divisions -- SAS Denmark, SAS Sweden, SAS Norway and Scandinavian Airlines International. The airline now concentrates on point-to-point service to mirror low-cost-carriers and is "weeding out" its one-stops, says Lars Lindgren, CEO of Scandinavian Airlines International. "This strategy is now under implementation."
Aerolineas del Sur (ADS), which will soon begin operating under the new name of Air Comet Chile (ACC), hopes to grow its current 17.1% market share to 30% by yearend, said Air Comet CEO Ignacio Pascual.
