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
Astar Air Cargo's U.S.-Mexico exemptions were renewed by the U.S. Transportation Dept. earlier this week, but the department deferred a decision on amending the carrier's operating certificate to encompass all of Astar's U.S.-Mexico authority. DOT said it would "act on the carrier's certificate applications subsequently" [OST-2005-22621].
Indian carrier Jet Airways is considering a $400 million rights issue to fund the acquisition of aircraft dedicated to cargo service. Carrier Chairman Naresh Goyal said about 6% of Jet Airways' revenues is derived from cargo operations. An employee of American is expected to head the airline's cargo operations.
Fraport AG's six airports served 5.5 million passengers in April, up 3% year over year, but April traffic at Frankfurt Airport fell 0.3% to 4.4 million passengers. The German airports operator expected fewer travelers in April because Easter was in March, but continued good weather and strong demand resulted in relatively high traffic levels throughout the month.
Named Jeff Gruber technical committee chair, Tony Bailey education committee chair, Donna Bricker awards committee chair, John Wicht publication committee chair and Cheryl Jenke the new Western Pacific Regional director.
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, N.Y.
SilkAir starting May 25 will add four flights a week on the Singapore-Shenzhen route, raising the frequency to 11 weekly. The airline launched flights to the southern Chinese city on October 30, 2005, and uses Airbus A320s on the route. SilkAir, a regional carrier and wholly owned Singapore Airlines subsidiary, serves 28 points in Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, Philippines and Cambodia and Myanmar.
Start-up carrier Skybus said it booked more than 200,000 flight segments in two weeks and three days, and late last week the airline won FAA certification, paving the way for its May 22 debut. The certification took longer than expected, which led Skybus to ask the US DOT for a dormancy waiver since that agency gave Skybus its approval in March 2006.
Travelport Ltd., parent company of the group that includes Orbitz Worldwide, has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of a portion of its ownership interest in Orbitz. The company says the two still need to complete negotiation of financial and other terms in the planned IPO.
Singapore Airlines is in final talks to buy a stake in the smallest and financially weakest of China's Big Three airlines, Shanghai-based China Eastern, state media say. Although such a deal has long been expected, Singapore Airlines is playing down the prospects of succeeding with this project, saying it is only talking about cooperation with the unprofitable Chinese carrier.
The Caribbean Tourism Organization is concerned about how changing EU policy on climate change could affect tourism to the islands. With Dutch and French Caribbean islands under government influence of European nations, for example, they are moving to tax carbon emissions from airlines. These impacts will be discussed in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at a sustainable tourism conference sponsored by several airlines and the CTO May 17-20 (www. CaribbeanMediaExchange.com).
