The CEO of Brazilian civil aviation regulator ANAC said he supports abolishing bilateral agreements among countries in the region in favor of a more multilateral approach.
Travel agents and corporate department sales tracked by the Airlines Reporting Corp. hit record levels in March, rising 4% from March 2006 for a total of $8.7 billion. ARC processes transactions for 154 airlines and three railroads. The $8.7 billion in total sales represents the largest five-week month since 2000. During the month, domestic fare revenues fell 3% to $4 billion, and international fares rose 11% to $3.5 billion.
Singapore Airlines -- the largest carrier serving Australia in passenger numbers -- is extending its relationship with the country following an MOU with the government of the state of Victoria for a two-year US$66,000 (S$1million) tourism promotion to market the state to China, Japan, India and Singapore. The agreement complements an existing understanding with Tourism Australia for strategic cooperation to promote Australia.
Croatia Airlines, a Star Alliance regional member, will replace its legacy IT system with the Star Alliance Common IT Platform (CITP). The airline has signed an agreement to use the next-generation platform with Amadeus, the IT provider. Star Alliance VP of IT Aman Khan said the decision demonstrates that "this solution is suitable for carriers of all sizes within our alliance." It enhances customer service functions, such as sales, as well as airport systems functions such as ticketing, check-in, inventory, fare quoting and schedules.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. has started to move its headquarters from L'Enfant Plaza to Southeast Washington, a process that has some federal workers worried about a slight lag in reports as data and computers are shipped. The move will reduce 25% of its rental costs and will take until June to complete. The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration is the first to go. Neither FAA nor the Surface Transportation Board is moving. All DOT phone numbers remain the same. The new address for DOT headquarters eventually will be 1200 New Jersey Ave.
GOL last week reported its first-quarter profit slid by 35%, with the company attributing much of this drop to the wave of cancellations it was forced to make due to air traffic controller labor problems in Brazil. The cancellations "suppressed demand" in the quarter, which led to lower-than-expected yields and load factors, GOL executives said. The airline is expecting strong second-quarter growth thanks to the addition of new aircraft and the absorption of the Varig fleet.
Airlines and industry observers praise the Transportation Security Administration's enhanced airport employee screening effort unveiled April 18, but a Congresswoman advocating for 100% screening thinks the plan doesn't go far enough. TSA partnered with the American Association of Airport Executives, Airports Council International-North America and the National Air Transportation Association to develop standards to increase the tools available for screening without actually screening all workers.
You can now register online for AVIATION WEEK events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) OCT. 17-18 -- MRO Asia 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Shanghai, China NOV. 7-8 -- MRO Europe 2007 Conference & Exhibition, Fiera Milano Congressi, Milan, Italy NOV. 28-29 -- A&D Finance Conference, New York, NY
Lawmakers and the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s Inspector General last week called on DOT to improve its monitoring and enforcement of airline customer service, although it appears house leaders will hold off from introducing further "passenger bill of rights" legislation - at least for now.
United Chief Operating Officer Peter McDonald says, "There is too much capacity, and we've been pretty outspoken about that. We've actually been quite outspoken about what should be done about it and that is to allow constructive consolidation to occur." While United doesn't have a particular partner in mind, McDonald says it believes consolidation should be treated like open skies. "We feel that a free market approach is best, and the government should allow those that want to combine and take out redundant costs and reallocate capacity to be able to do so."
Continental this summer plans to begin installing in-seat power and audio-visual on-demand in the economy cabins of its Boeing 757-200 fleet. The premium cabins already have these features. Both of the last two 777s delivered to Continental have in-seat power and AVOD throughout the aircraft, and the carrier plans to upgrade the rest of its 777s to the same standard.
Delta management has some concern about potential operational challenges at New York Kennedy this summer, but the carrier is laying the groundwork to ease passenger disruptions resulting from weather events at the airport.
Dayton Airport is negotiating with UPS to give control of its abandoned 1 million-square-foot cargo facility back to the city, says Director Iftikhar Ahmad. The airport would bring its cargo business back into the community, bringing in more non-airline revenue and creating jobs.
London Heathrow's new tower is expected to open this weekend, and it will also debut a new ATC system supplied by Nav Canada. Heathrow is the latest U.K. airport to receive the Nav Canada extended computer display system (EXCDS), following Stansted, Gatwick and Luton towers. EXCDS eliminates the need for paper flight strips and improves tower coordination.
Hawaiian Airlines reported a 14.2% increase in traffic during the first quarter to 1.6 billion revenue passenger miles, while passengers carried rose 14.8% to 1.4 million. Available seat miles rose during the period by 14.2%, for a nearly level load factor of 87.4%. For March, RPMs increased by 22.1% to 679 million RPMs, and ASMs rose 17.2% to 745 million. Load factor gained 3.6 percentage points to 91.1%. -JLM
The U.S. Transportation Dept. will re-bid Essential Air Service for Silver City and Clovis, N.M., instead of reconsidering proposals submitted for the service earlier this year. Officials representing the communities voiced displeasure with last month's award to Great Lakes, which switched the hub served from Albuquerque to Denver (for Clovis) and Phoenix (from Silver City). Community leaders said they hoped for such service as add-ons, offered in addition to regular service to Albuquerque (DAILY, April 4).
Etihad Airways placed orders with G.A.S. Global Aviation Services for the supply of galleys, crew rest compartments and other cabin components for its growing fleet of Airbus A340-600s. G.A.S. will also build crew rest compartments for Turkish Airways' Airbus A310 fleet.
Southwest, disenchanted with first- quarter costs and projections for domestic growth, is thinking about departing slightly from its successful business model and leveraging its enviable brand position. The airline reported a first-quarter profit yesterday of $93 million, up from $61 million this time last year. It also had record first-quarter revenues of $2.2 billion, up 8.9% from last year. But its operating costs rose 4.3%, and operating income fell to $84 million from $98 million.
