ExpressJet rolled out the latest markets in its independent flying -- Monterey, Bakersfield, Birmingham, New Orleans and El Paso. Carrier CEO Jim Ream recently said ExpressJet would most likely begin releasing load factors for the branded flying in July after all the markets have logged at least one full month of service (DAILY, May 10).
TripAdvisor, an operating company of Expedia Inc., has acquired four travel media businesses, adding five new travel brands to its portfolio and more than 24 million monthly online visitors.
Questions from members of the European Parliament (MEP) to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff illustrate that the debate on passenger name record data transfer is far from resolved despite the looming July 31 deadline to reach a new accord. In a speech Monday to the European Parliament, Chertoff reiterated the importance of collecting PNR data in the fight against terrorism, but in a nod to European privacy concerns, he stressed that the data would be protected by the Congress and U.S. government agencies (DAILY, May 15).
Embraer believes most of the demand for aircraft in the 70-seat-plus E-Jet family will be for the largest members of group -- the 98- to 118-seat Embraer 190 and 195. Firm-order backlog for the 70-seat Embraer 170 stood at 30 aircraft at the end of the first quarter. The backlog for the slightly larger 78- to 86-seat Embraer 175 totals 70 aircraft. The Embraer 190's backlog has outpaced its smaller counterparts, with 262 aircraft set for delivery to customers. The -195 backlog numbers 39 aircraft.
Lufthansa finalized an agreement with Bombardier to buy 15 CRJ-900s. The carrier unveiled its plan to order the aircraft last month. Lufthansa also struck a preliminary deal with Embraer for 29 190 jets, superseding a deal Swiss International Air Line had for 15 Embraer 170s and 15 Embraer 195s. -LR
The first set of Boeing 787 wings to be delivered from Japan arrived in Everett, Wash., yesterday. The wings, made by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya, were flown to the Everett facility in Boeing's modified 747-400, known as the Dreamlifter. Boeing still must complete additional work on the wings, such as attaching the wingtip and movable surfaces.
Thai low-cost carrier Nok Air will launch its first international flight May 31 from Bangkok to Bangalore with a Boeing 737-400, offering a fare of $246 per roundtrip. "Bangalore being one of the most dynamic and prosperous cities of the country, we expect to see excellent traffic," said CEO Patee Sarasin in a statement. Nok Air, which is targeting tourist traffic, serves Thai destinations, including Chiang Mai, Udon Thani, Phuket, Hat Yai, Krabi, Mae Hong Son, Loei, Pai, Phrae, Chiang Rai and Hua Hin, promoted extensively in India.
The Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association is calling on FAA and agency contractor Lockheed Martin to fix problems with the flight service station system. AOPA received hundreds of complaints about FSS in one month, AOPA President Phil Boyer said in a letter to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey. Boyer claims there have been three system outages in the past two weeks, with the longest lasting more than an hour. AOPA also cites "computer glitches, excessive hold times, dropped calls and poor quality briefings/services."
The European Commission moved one step closer in achieving its climate change goals yesterday by approving Italy's national allocation plan for carbon dioxide emissions in the 2008-2012 trading period of the European Union's emissions trading scheme (ETS). The EC approved Italy's plan, provided the country makes several changes to meet Kyoto and EC emissions caps because Italy's NAP is 6.53% over the EC's carbon dioxide allowance for the country. Once the changes are made, the approval is automatic. Italy's NAP is the 21st that the EC has cleared.
Brazilian airline TAM is moving closer to becoming a member of Star Alliance, say industry sources, who tell The DAILY the carrier is expected to sign code-sharing agreements with several Star Alliance members in the next few weeks; cooperating with individual members is a prerequisite for eventually joining the group. TAM last month announced a code-sharing deal with Portuguese carrier TAP, under which TAM will put its code on all of TAP's flights between Portugal and Brazil, while TAP will code share on some domestic TAM flights.
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.
