The exemption that let Zoom Airlines begin marketing and presales of tickets for its anticipated London Gatwick-New York flights in the U.K. was amended by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation so that similar activities can begin in Bermuda (DAILY, April 26). Two of the seven flights the airline hopes to launch next month will stop over in Bermuda. A decision on route authority for the services is still pending [OST-2007-27060]. -ARS
Alitalia's stock price fell 5.4% to EUR0.89 yesterday after Italian media reported that none of the three approved bidders (DAILY, May 10) for the airline offered more than EUR0.40 per share.
Construction has begun on the Airbus A320 family final assembly line in China. The factory is being built in Tianjin and will be completed by August 2008. The first Chinese-built A320 is planned to be delivered in the first half of 2009. Airbus plans to build up to four A320s in China. It sees a demand for 1,900 single-aisle aircraft in mainland China in the next 20 years.
"Most stakeholders" of the European air transport sector want to keep a European Union code of conduct for computer reservations systems, says a report drawn up by the European Commission's Directorate General for Transport and Energy (DG-TREN).
ST Aerospace's subsidiary SAS Component extended its contract with Martinair to cover six Boeing 767s. The deal, valued at US$37 million, entails component management and maintenance over three years. Martinair has been a SAS Component customer for 18 years.
Industry watchers in Chile say the recent commercial alliance between LAN and TAM is the latest move by the Chilean carrier to oppose GOL's objective to become Latin America's most important air operator, which the Brazilian LCC allegedly seeks through gradual regional country-by-country expansion. Analysts also say the alliance with TAM is LAN's Plan B for Brazil, which was implemented after Plan A (minority ownership of bankrupt Varig) failed. -LZ
The open-skies agreement between the U.S. and the European Union may force American and United to reduce their valuation of the slots they hold at London Heathrow Airport, or to start amortizing these assets, the carriers told the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Air-India will take delivery of its first Boeing 777-200LR aircraft next month for nonstop operations to the U.S. East Coast; the new merged airline will be named Air-India with the merger completed by July.
Traffic for member airlines of the Miami-based Latin American Air Transport Association (ALTA) carried 8.4 million passengers in March, up 6.8% from last year. Traffic and capacity increased slightly, 1.3% and 4%, respectively. The higher growth in capacity than in RPKs brought down the load factor to 68.4%, 1.8 percentage points less than in the previous year. Excluding Varig, passengers carried, traffic and capacity increases during March were 16%, 20.7% and 22.3%, respectively, while load factor fell 0.9 percentage points.
The Star Alliance is collaborating with technology providers to bring more advanced technologies to its members, especially new mobile phone uses, as a way to cut costs and keep its 17 member airlines competitive.
The Bolivian government's silence on whether they will help beleaguered carrier Lloyd Aereo Boliviano prompted unions to hold a mass meeting aimed at establishing a mobilization strategy. Fstlab, the federation of nine labor unions in charge of what is left of he airline, told Los Tiempos last week it would now resort to the strategy of mobilizing the country' major political, economic and social forces behind the common aim of salvaging the former flag carrier, whose operations the Bolivian government suspended last month.
The D.C. Court of Appeals has ruled against FAA in a case where the plaintiffs wanted a review on the runway use procedure at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood Airport. The city of Dania Beach, Fla., argued that the procedures outlined in the FAA letter would route more jet aircraft onto two previously restricted runways, causing more noise, soot and exhaust fumes over residential areas. It also argued that FAA made the change without a required environmental review.
Glasgow Airport will undergo a GBP 30 million (US$59.4 million) facelift under an investment program announced by parent BAA. The airport's SkyHub project aims to deliver faster security, increased terminal capacity and better customer service through a series of construction projects. BAA will take 18 months to expand the current terminal by 4,000 square meters.
What started as a NASA research initiative has grown into a combined NASA-FAA Web-based flight- test safety database. The goal is to create a one-stop reference guide for members of the flight test community who may not have had access to significant safety information because it's been restricted to specific users.
Priceline.com Inc. saw its first-quarter gross travel bookings, which includes the total dollar value of the sale, inclusive of all taxes and fees, rise 33.7% from the like 2006 period to $998 million. The company said it expects to generate up to $4.2 billion in gross travel bookings for the full year. Priceline reported a $16.3 million GAAP net loss for the quarter, which included an $80 million payment -- $30 million of which will be paid by insurance carriers -- to settle a class action lawsuit brought in 2000.
Northwest has secured the $1.4 billion in annual labor-cost reductions it targeted in Chapter 11, regardless of whether flight attendants ratify the latest tentative agreement, but its $350 million in non-labor savings will take at least until 2008. The company tells the Securities and Exchange Commission it attained about $100 million of the target last year and expects $190 million more in 2007. That leaves about $60 million for next year.
Netherlands-based aircraft lessor AerCap yesterday revealed an order for 10 Airbus A330-200s, adding to its existing orders for this type. AerCap ordered 20 A330-200s in December, and company said the latest order will help it meet the demand for "modern smaller widebody aircraft." It only took AerCap four months to arrange customers for 13 of the original 20 orders, said CEO Klaus Heinemann. The company ordered 32 A320s in 1999 and another 70 in December 2005 through a joint venture with LoadAir. -AS
Louisiana leaders are joining with the U.S. controllers' union and other aviation groups to urge FAA to speed up efforts to reopen the control tower at New Orleans Lakefront Airport, which was extensively damaged in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff yesterday reiterated the importance of passenger name record data transfer in fighting terrorism. In a letter to the European Parliament, Chertoff cited examples of terrorist and smuggling attempts foiled through the use of PNR data. "We must not take this valuable counterterrorism tool away from border law enforcement professionals by limiting or restricting the kind of information sharing and analysis that has already proven effective."
Embraer is raising the price of its Phenom 100 light jet from US $2.85 million to $2.98 million. The airframer noted it was basing the rise on January 2005 economic conditions. The first aircraft is in its final assembly.
Aeromexico will this summer inaugurate flights from Cancun to Austin and San Antonio and from Mexico City to Oakland and San Francisco, pending regulatory approval. The new service would launch on July 1. Aeromexico expects to operate daily nonstop service on the routes with its Boeing 737-700 or MD-87s. Unknown is Aeromexico's plan for Guadalajara-Houston. The carrier in late April won a designation for the route together with Cancun-Austin and Cancun-San Antonio awards but did not include the route in its proposal [OST-2007-28218]. -ARS
