The Air Transport Association has informed the White House that it is adamantly opposed to a unilateral decision by the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) to force airlines to obtain biometric information on departing foreign passengers.
The Air Transport Association is preparing a new proposal on aviation funding for submission to the Senate Finance Committee, as the debate in the Senate progresses from user fees to a restructured tax system.
Germany's Fraport Group posted a healthy 32.7% hike year over year in its first quarter profit, to EUR36.5 million (US$49.4 million); revenue rose 15.1% to EUR561.2 million (US$760.2 million). Fraport's airports handled 24.5 million passengers in the first quarter, with its six wholly owned facilities -- Frankfurt, Frankfurt-Hahn, Lima, Antalya, Varna and Bourgas -- accounting for 15 million travelers
The Italian Ministry of the Economy is expected to unveil its assessment of non-binding offers for Alitalia next week, as the Italian flag carrier continues its bumpy privatization amid labor conflicts and hefty debates on economic "nationalism".
The Air Transport Association is throwing its support behind new legislation promoting coal-to-liquid fuel technology. Although the bill does not directly reference aviation uses of coal-to-liquid, ATA President James May believes this technology has promise for the airline industry. The legislation was introduced by Reps. Rick Boucher (D-Va.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.). May told The DAILY that "there is not a lot out there" in terms of alternatives to traditional aircraft fuels, and coal-to-liquid "is certainly worth investigating."
Three U.S. airlines -- Southwest, American and Delta -- recently decided to make major investments to retrofit their aircraft, so they can fly the very precise approach paths enabled by required navigation performance (RNP). The biggest of these investments will likely be made by Southwest, which has decided to upgrade its entire fleet of Boeing 737s to be RNP-capable. The airline's 272 737-700s are already equipped for RNP, and the retrofit would bring the remaining 219 aircraft up to the same standard.
Traffic at airports on Mexico's East and West coasts rebounded in April 2007, with both Grupo Aeroportuario del Pacifico and Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste reporting double-digit growth for the month. ASUR reported total traffic at its airports was up 18%, 21.2% domestically and 15.9% internationally. The gains were expected because the Southeast region is continuing to recover from Hurricane Wilma, which hit the area -- and regional tourism -- hard in October 2005.
Rome-based Air One said it is converting options for 50 more Airbus A320s into firm orders. The airline plans to take delivery of the aircraft until 2012. The options were part of a 2006 order for 40 A320s that are to replace its existing fleet of Boeing 737s. Air One said it is also in talks with aircraft manufacturers over an order for long-haul aircraft, as it wants to start serving long-haul routes next year. Air One is one of the three bidders for financially struggling Alitalia. -JF
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff this weekend is expected to meet with the interior ministers from the six largest European Union countries and European Commission Vice President Franco Frattini to discuss data protection and data sharing rules.
Pinnacle heads back into negotiations with pilots this month after missing a March 31 deadline to reach a deal, which led partner Northwest to warn that it would remove 15 aircraft from its fleet.
The government of Oman has pulled out of financially struggling Gulf Air. Officials revealed the move during a visit to Gulf Air's other shareholder, the government of Bahrain. Further information on the reasoning was not available immediately.
EasyJet's shares dropped by almost 8% on May 8 after the airline said its load factor deteriorated in April. Passenger numbers were up 10%, but the load factor dropped from 86.4% to 83.1%. "We continue to see pressure on yields in the summer against the high comparatives from last year and due to continued competition," CEO Andrew Harrison said. According to Harrison, April yields fell from the same period last year. EasyJet on May 9 will publish its results for the six months ended March. -JF
Austrian Airlines says it will soon be the first European airline to outfit its 767 fleet with blended winglets. The airline expects to save 1,000 tons of kerosene per aircraft per year because of improved aerodynamics, while at the same time extending the range of the aircraft by 670 kilometers. Austrian says that at certain destinations, it can increase its payload by up to five tons when using 767s with winglets. -JLM
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey says the agency is "running the numbers" and analyzing the Senate proposal for FAA reauthorization to see how closely it aligns with the Administration request. However, she says it is very difficult to assess the overall effect without knowing what the Senate Finance Committee will propose regarding taxes. "You can't take just one financing element in isolation," Blakey notes.
Singapore's Changi International Airport signed an agreement with Maharashtra Airport Development Company (MADC) to serve as a consultant as part of the effort to convert the domestic airport at Nagpur to an international one. MADC will pay $120,000 for the consultancy services, MADC Vice Chairman and Managing Director R.C. Sinha said at the Asia Pacific Airports World Conference in Singapore. The consultancy is for a period of nine months, after which MADC will invite international bids for private-public partnership.
The American Society of Travel Agents reports that agencies are selling far fewer air tickets than they were in 2000, based on The 2006 ASTA Agency Profile report. In 2000, agencies said that 56.1% of their total sales came from airline tickets. By 2006, that dropped to only 24.7% of their sales. That shift is mainly due to a concerted effort by agencies to sell more cruises and tours -- which pay high commissions -- over the past few years since airlines cut agent commissions.
Frontier Airlines named Gerry Coady its new VP and chief information officer, effective May 14. Coady most recently was the chief technological officer and executive VP of engineering at Evident Software in Bloomfield, N.J. Before that, he was the chief information technology officer at Xcel Energy in Denver. Frontier President and CEO Jeff Potter says, "Information and technology are critical to every aspect of our operation." -LR
John Newhouse, author of Boeing Versus Airbus, The Inside Story of the Greatest International Competition in Business, will address the luncheon meeting of the International Aviation Club Tuesday, May 15, 2007, at the Marriott Metro Center hotel, 775 12th Street NW, Washington, D.C. Lunch will be served at 12:30 p.m., preceded by a reception at 11:45 a.m.
Delta is ending service between Atlanta and Trenton six months after the service started, citing low passenger demand; the final flight will be on June 7. The three daily flights to Boston still remain, said Julie Willmot, a spokesperson for Mercer County, which oversees Trenton-Mercer Airport. "The economy here is really strong, so it is an attractive place to do business," she said. "The county will still collect $300,000 in rent and fees from [Delta Connection carrier] Comair." No incentives were used for the service, she added. -BW
Eos named Holly Nelson as its VP Finance & Controller. Nelson was previously senior VP, controller and chief accounting officer with JetBlue. Nelson will report to Eos Executive VP-Finance and CFO Eilif Serck-Hanssen.
US Airways Group said its consolidated unit revenue dropped in April and warned that this trend could continue for the rest of this quarter. "As we've seen from other airlines, the passenger [unit revenue] environment has weakened from the rapid growth rate seen in 2006 leading to more difficult year-over-year comparisons, particularly in the second quarter," said US Airways President Scott Kirby. The timing of the Easter holiday also hurt April revenue performance, he said.
Canada's two largest carriers, Air Canada and WestJet, both grew their traffic faster than capacity in April, prompting the carriers to post increases in their respective load factors. Air Canada's revenue passenger miles were up 3.5% to 3.6 billion, while available seat miles rose 2.2% to 4.3 billion. That spurred the carrier's load factor to grow one percentage point to 83%. WestJet's RPMs jumped 23% to 936 million and ASMs 16% to 1.1 billion, lifting load factor 4.3 points to 82.8%. -LR
European regional low-fare airline FlyBE yesterday placed an order for 15 more Bombardier Q400s. The order comes on top of 45 Q400s previously ordered and leaves the airline with a fleet of 60 Q400s. FlyBE also secured options for another 15 of the type. The aircraft will be delivered in the next two years and will replace Embraer ERJ-145s that FlyBE inherited as part of the takeover of BA Connect. FlyBE has invested more than $2 billion in its fleet over the past two years. -JF
