U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters believes a U.S.-China open-skies agreement can be achieved by the end of May and will tomorrow meet with high-ranking Chinese aviation officials to lay the groundwork for the next round of negotiations.
Singapore-based budget airline Jetstar Asia, owned 49% by Qantas Airways, has put aside its plans to operate to India and is looking at Southeast Asia and China for expansion. "It is difficult to drive budget leisure traffic with no accommodation available," Jetstar CEO Chong Phit Lian told The DAILY, referring to the carrier's recent withdrawal of services from Bangalore. Jetstar Asia had suspended its flights started in September 2005 to Kolkata last May, an unprofitable route with load factors only in the 40s.
Mesa added two executives to the management team of its Hawaiian subsidiary Go; new VP of e-Commerce is Frank Among,who was most recently VP-sales for Ezrez Software based in Honolulu. Chris Wyland is Go's new VP-business development, joining the airline after serving as VP-sales for The Best Of, Inc., based in California. Mesa also added an executive to its existing staff after naming William Hoke VP-finance. Hoke joins Mesa from Insight Enterprises, based in Tempe, Ariz. -LR
Emirates appears to be content with the revised Airbus A350XWB design. Airline President Tim Clark said in an interview yesterday that "there was a canyon" between the Boeing 787 and the Airbus A350...That gap has closed. Airbus listened." The airline is considering an order for about 100 aircraft in the A350/787 size category and could make a decision later this year. With 45 A380s and a huge Boeing 777 fleet on order, Emirates is one of the most important customers for both airframers.
Xiamen Airlines is negotiating with Boeing to expand its existing order of 35 Boeing 737-800s to 60. The Chinese carrier wants the additional 25 aircraft to be delivered from 2011 through to 2013. Delivery of aircraft from the two-year-old order was already started and should end in 2010.
Manila-based Philippine Airlines on April 21 will increase services to several international destinations. Two weekly flights will be added on the Xiamen and Nagoya routes, turning the offer into a daily service. The airline uses Airbus A320-200s for Xiamen flights and A330-300s on service to Nagoya.
Barnes Aerospace and has signed an aftermarket revenue-sharing program agreement with GE under which Barnes gets the exclusive right to supply designated aftermarket parts to GE and its customers for the life of relevant engine programs. The agreement covers spares for the CFM56 and CF6 engine families, but it was not clear at press time if the deal covered all variants of the two powerplants. Barnes will make the parts at its facilities in the U.S. and Singapore, a spokesman said.
Improvements in still and 3D facial recognition technology have caused a strong drop in error rates, according to a new study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology.
The airlines, rather than Congress, should take steps to fix customer service issues, such as long tarmac delays -- at least until the Transportation Dept.'s Inspector General completes an investigation, a top DOT official told the Senate Commerce Committee yesterday. (See related story on Page 4.) After the IG's review, which is slated to be completed in June, "we will consider, what, if any, further action is appropriate," Michael Reynolds, deputy transportation secretary for aviation and international affairs, told the committee.
China Airlines, starting April 18, will offer three weekly Kaohsiung-Chiang Mai flights, using Boeing 737-800 aircraft. The carrier also serves Chiang Mai from Taipei, service that was launched last month. China Airlines also operates the Taipei-Bangkok route.
Viking Air Ltd. is proceeding with plans to restart production of the de Havilland DHC-6 Twin Otter and is scheduled to deliver the first Series 400 airplane within 24 months.
South African Airways expanded its service to 15 new U.S. cities through its code share with United. The airlines began putting SAA's code on United's flights on March 31 to Atlanta, Austin, Charlotte, Cleveland, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Miami, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Raleigh/Durham and St. Louis. SAA offers daily flights to New York and Washington from South Africa. United code shares on SAA to 14 cities in South Africa.
GOL's management reasons that demand in Brazil still warrants capacity growth and that recent pricing softness is more a byproduct of negative publicity surrounding the country's air traffic control problems and exchange rates.
The National Transportation Safety Board asked FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to collaborate on ways to alleviate controller fatigue after the board's current investigation of the August 2006 Comair CRJ crash indicated the controller who cleared the aircraft appeared to have logged only two hours of sleep in the 24 hours before the accident. The safety board's recommendations come as NATCA campaigns on Capitol Hill to change the contract FAA imposed on controllers last year (DAILY, March 9).
Virgin America is willing to meet requested U.S. Transportation Dept. stipulations to win final approval to launch U.S. flights but asked the department to reconsider the condition calling for CEO Fred Reid to resign.
Salt Lake City Airport was among hundreds across the nation to implement new badging requirements under the Transportation Security Administration's Aviation Security Directive 1542-04-08E.
A close-to-failed takeover deal of Air Sahara last year has got a new lease on life, with India's largest carrier, Jet Airways -- in its second attempt to buy the carrier -- expected to sign an agreement in a day or two, once its new offer is submitted to the arbitration panel for a final decision. The merger is the biggest aviation deal in India. Once the deal is signed, Jet will have 33% of the market share with a fleet size of 68 planes for the domestic market and 11 for international routes.
Restrictions preventing U.K. carriers from receiving blanket authority to offer expanded services at Guam, Alaska and the Northern Marianas Islands will expire on March 30, 2008, when the U.S.-European Union open-skies agreement will begin to take effect, the U.S. Transportation Dept. decided last week.
Continental announced the sale of $1.1 billion of Pass Through Certificates, Series 2007-1, to finance the purchase of 30 new Boeing 737-900ERs and 737-800s. The proceeds from the sale of the certificates will initially be held in escrow by a depository institution, and then used to acquire equipment notes. The aircraft are scheduled for delivery beginning in January 2008 through March 2009.
After working for two weeks to avert a crisis at airports due to differences between the government and ATC controllers, Brazilian President Luiz Inazio Lula da Silva expressed elation at reports from civil aviation regulators that most airports operated normally during Easter Week. Nationwide, only from 5.5% to 7% of flights had been delayed for one hour or more at peak traffic periods.
