Shuttle America this week won authority needed to operate Delta Connection service from Atlanta to Punta Cana and Puerto Plata in the Dominican Republic. The carrier needed an exemption for the flights because it is using its large aircraft -- 70-seat Embraer 170s -- for the seasonal service. Shuttle America will begin operating on the route in September [OST-2007-27814].
The FAA and the Dept. of Veterans Affairs have launched a new program -- A Hero to the Nation-A Hero to the Skies -- to offer disabled veterans training to become air traffic controllers or technicians. The program is designed to help veterans transition into the civilian work force, and will be a benefit to the FAA and its shrinking controller work force. They can take advantage of VA vocational rehabilitation benefits at the same time as they train for air traffic control and airway transportation systems specialist positions.
ExpressJet this week launched the latest round of its branded flying from Sacramento to San Antonio, Spokane and Tucson. Flights to Colorado Springs start April 30, followed by service next month to Oklahoma City, Albuquerque and Tulsa. Horizon plans to compete with ExpressJet on its flights between Spokane and Sacramento (DAILY, April 4).
Mexican carrier Aviacsa is seeking U.S. Transportation Dept. authority to operate unscheduled air taxi flights from points in Mexico -- mainly Monterrey and Toluca -- to U.S. points with one Raytheon 125 and one Canadair 600. The carrier currently serves the U.S. with scheduled flights to Los Angeles, Houston and Las Vegas [OST-2007-27827]. -ARS
Mesa Air Group reported a 5.1% rise in revenue passenger miles for the first quarter for a total of 1.7 billion RPMs, up from 1.6 billion in the first quarter 2006. Available seat miles rose 4.1% to 2.3 billion ASMs, leading to a load factor improvement of 0.7 points to 73.89%. For the month of March, RPMs rose 3.4% to 630 million, while ASMs were up 2.3% to 801 million. Load factor rose 0.9 points to 78.7%.
Guggenheim Aviation Partners (GAP) ordered the Rolls-Royce Trent 700 engine for up to six Airbus A330-200 freighters in a deal worth $200 million at list prices. The engine maker is also offering its TotalCare service packing to GAP, which means Rolls-Royce is responsible for maintaining the powerplants.
Frontier plans to unveil routes for its new Lynx Aviation subsidiary next month as the first of 10 Bombardier Q400 turboprops are delivered to the carrier. The company tapped its own VP-Safety and Security Tom Nunn as Lynx's CEO, and other administrative staff are in place, a Frontier spokesman said. Pilot training has also started.
T2-Global.com, a U.K.-based travel portal that launched its U.S. Web site in January, has signed a long-term distribution and e-commerce alliance with Worldspan. T2's U.S. storefront serves U.S. travel buyers. The company intends to spool up in 15 more countries this year, all with Worldspan's travel shopping, booking, transaction processing and e-ticketing programs. The GDS also supplies the site with global airfares from its hundreds of participating airlines. -JLM
JetBlue continues to expand its service to the Caribbean and says it intends to fly to Aruba from Boston Logan Airport, bringing the number of nonstop destinations it serves from Boston to 27. On June 30 it will add Saturday-only nonstop flights to Aruba with flights starting at $149. Two days earlier, it also is adding daily nonstops to San Diego, with fares starting at $159 one way. JetBlue operates out of a newly renovated Terminal C at Logan.
A global emissions trading scheme devised by the airlines may be the only option for airlines to avoid paying punitive taxes to individual countries, Andrew Herdman, director general of the Association of Asia-Pacific Airlines, told a conference in Hong Kong last month.
Hawaii-based Pacific Wings will spread its ops to the mainland through Essential Air Service flying in New Mexico, and Great Lakes will add more EAS markets to its roster this summer with flights to four Upper Peninsula communities.
The European Parliament's transport committee is amending a European Commission proposal on airport and aircraft security checks. For instance, the parliamentarians have voted that restrictions on bringing liquids on board should expire after six months. They can be renewed but only after "a thorough re-evaluation of the security risks and a thorough evaluation of costs and operational impact associated with those measures," the legislative amendments states.
Aeromexico and Aerocalifornia are losing ground to low-cost carriers that entered the market last year, figures from Mexico's Department of Transportation (SCT) show.
The battle over fees being charged to airlines at Los Angeles Airport has intensified after United, followed by other carriers, decided to tack on a $10 surcharge for passengers flying out of the facility.
Pinnacle Airlines tapped Ramco to supply maintenance and engineering software to the airline, replacing its existing software. The software will automate maintenance and engineering processes in real time, and be integrated into the Sabre Flight Control Suite.
Colgan was reselected by the U.S. Transportation Dept. to operate Essential Air Service at Victoria, Texas. The carrier, flying as Continental Connection, will operate 12 weekly nonstop roundtrips between Victoria and Houston with 34-seat Saab 340B aircraft. Colgan was the only carrier to submit an EAS proposal for Victoria and has served the community since 2005. The annual subsidy rate of $610,049 will take effect on July 1 -- Colgan's proposal budgeted a $93,000 annual profit for the service [OST-2005-20454]. -ARS
Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris will expand its fleet of Airbus A319s from nine to 14 in a bid to add new routes in the central and northern part of the country and offer additional options to market segments that now travel by bus, said Chairman Pedro Aspe. The move could increase traffic from 1 million to 3 million a year, Aspe told reporters recently.
Chinese and U.S. aviation officials yesterday confirmed that UPS will be the first non-Chinese carrier to be allowed to operate a hub in China, and at the same time UPS announced it has signed a contract covering the building of its new hub facility at Shanghai's Pudong Airport.
Amadeus struck deals with Mexican LCC VivaAerobus and Colombian carrier AirOasis for a customer management product that includes booking and baggage collection. Dubbed the "customer management solution," the product's other offerings include sales and Web support, call center, inventory and departure control functions.
Air Travelers Association President David Stempler says proposed legislation to create an Airline Passengers' bill of rights will do nothing for passengers, but will instead increase flight cancellations and cause air fares to rise.
Delta, long the No. 3 carrier in Latin America, "by this summer will be the second-largest player in all of Latin America," says Bob Cortelyou, VP-network planning. It now has 58 destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean, a region where it has expanded heavily in the past 13 months, and one that plays a large role in its turnaround plan, he says. While no carrier comes close to competing with the amount of traffic American carries in and out of its San Juan, Puerto Rico, hub, Cortelyou says, "We have a Latin American hub. It's called Atlanta."
