Controllers managing ramp operations at Seattle-Tacoma Airport now have displays provided by Sensis Corp. to show them aircraft taxiing on the ramp and parked at terminal gates, using data from the airport's Automatic Surface Detection Equipment Model X. The new displays will facilitate on-time pushbacks and help save fuel, according to Mike Ehl, director-airport operations at Sea-Tac.
Lufthansa Cargo saw its traffic grow in 2006 by 14% to Dallas/Fort Worth, prompting the airline to add a third weekly freighter flight from Frankfurt to DFW. Joe Lopano, executive VP-marketing and terminal management for DFW, said the strong North Texas economy is the reason for the increase in cargo traffic. Over the past 12 months, DFW has seen several international additions, such as nonstop flights to Paris and Brussels on Air France Cargo and new flights by Singapore Cargo.
Named Kathleen Petrowsky as the federal security director for Chicago O'Hare Airport. Petrowsky has served as the acting federal security director for ORD since last November.
The FAA has approved Naverus of Kent, Wash., to develop RNP approaches for airlines and airports in the U.S. in a move aimed at accelerating the adoption of these performance-based navigation techniques. FAA spokeswoman Alison Duquette says Naverus is the first company approved by the agency as a third party to develop RNP procedures. Naverus was also approved recently to assist airlines and airports complete the FAA process to apply to fly RNP procedures which require special training and equipment. The application can run to 800 pages.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] APRIL 11-13 -- ACMG's 5th Annual Air Cargo, Express & Freighter Aircraft Workshop, Grand Hyatt, Seattle, WA, 206-587-6537, fax: 206-587-6540, www.cargofacts.com, [email protected] APRIL 15-17 -- Helicopter Association of Canada: 11th Annual Convention & Trade Show, Vancouver, B.C., 613-231-1110, fax: 613-236-2361
The Airlines Reporting Corp. is turning its focus on new products that can improve airline revenue and yield management by selling more of the ticket data it has housed for years, such as standard and customized origin-and-destination data and travel agency sales reports. Mike Premo, VP-sales and customer relations, will add VP-marketing to his title on April 13, when John Kyle, VP-marketing and general manager of data and analytical products, leaves the company.
US Airways management tells employees in an update that nine passenger service agents graduated from classes and 40 new hires recently started classes as a result of staffing requests from Charlotte management. The carrier says agents from other cities, including Atlanta, Omaha and Pittsburgh, are working temporary duty in Charlotte.
IATA is calling for Asian carriers to accelerate their adoption of electronic ticketing. While the China market has 95% e-ticket penetration, the rest of Asia is only at 68%. This is mainly due to the "slow uptake" of e-ticketing by Japanese and Malaysian carriers, says IATA. The global average is 78% use of e-tickets, and IATA is targeting 100% usage by the end of this year.
The Transportation Security Administration has opened a request for information (RFI) for vendors and technologies to track passengers and their baggage in airports. TSA is starting to study its checkpoint of the future, which is designed to stretch security from the current single checkpoint area, said spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. The RFI emphasizes that TSA is just at the start of a process that will eventually be part of an integrated approach to enhancing the security of the national transportation system in the U.S.
Canadian MRO ExelTech Aerospace logged Alma de Mexico as a new customer after forging a contract with the airline to perform heavy maintenance on its CRJ-200s. ExelTech plans to maintain the planes at its RJ facility at Trudeau Airport in Montreal. Alma de Mexico launched in June with six -200s and eventually plans to fly 22 of the aircraft.
Virgin Blue says it is committing $2.5 million in the next five years to minimize the greenhouse effects of its crew and employees traveling on company business. The carrier is also considering a bio-fuel trial for ground vehicles, looking at ways to trim weight carried by its aircraft and working with air service providers to improve aircraft routes and flight profiles.
FAA's proposed rule on designing security into transport aircraft has survived a 90-day comment period with little response and less opposition. When the comment deadline passed April 5, only Bombardier, Qantas, AirTran and a handful of individuals had contributed to the docket. FAA will consider the comments as it decides whether to adopt the proposal, with or without amendments.
Delta saw total revenue passenger miles rise by 3.5% in March to 10.4 billion, but its domestic mainline traffic during the month fell 5.9% to 5.7 billion RPMs.
The U.S. and Japan reached no new agreement during aviation talks last week in Washington, nor did the two sides set a date for the next round of negotiations, a senior U.S. official told The DAILY. During three days of talks last week, negotiators aimed to hammer out an agreement to liberalize air services as outlined in the 1998 MOU, John Byerly, U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation, said. Both sides raised issues that they were unable to resolve.
Indonesia's civil aviation safety is under scrutiny yet again after an audit of Polonia International Airport in Medan, North Sumatra, revealed that the facility is not safe for operations.
Appointed Rick Armstrong VP-FlightSafety Simulation, promoted Patrick Coulter to manager and named Tasneem Hashmi assistant center manager for the Toronto Learning Center.
The National Pilots Association (NPA) at AirTran has released survey results that show 63% of its members support changing the mandatory retirement age of commercial pilots from 60 to 65.
JetBlue, Frontier, Spirit, Southwest and other new-generation carriers spend more money on advertising than legacy airlines, says Unisys R2A Transportation Management Consultants. Its latest "Scorecard" report says legacy carriers in the second quarter spent 10% of CASM on ads, while their new-generation counterparts spent 15%.
Germany's Fraport AG, which holds shares in 10 airports worldwide, is investing EUR50 million (US$66.8 million) for a 24.5% stake in China's Xi'an Airport, becoming the first foreign airport operator to invest in a privately held Chinese airport. The airport operator - parent company of Frankfurt Airport - will take over the airport's operations and commercial development. The transaction is expected to be completed by the third quarter.
