The chairman of the Mexican airport operator ASUR last week submitted a proposal to increase his shareholding in the company to a majority stake. Under the tentative proposal submitted to the group, Fernando Chico Pardo would acquire 42.65% of ASUR's capital stock through a tender. The move would lift Chico Pardo's total stock holding to 54%, as he already holds some ASUR shares through Inversiones Y Tecnicas Aeroportuarios. ITA would hold some 7.65%, and the remaining 42.35% would remain in public hands through the New York and Mexican stock exchanges.
The Air Line Pilots Association says the risk of runway incursions remains too high, and the union is calling for FAA and airlines to implement all the recommendations made by the Commercial Aviation Safety Team in 2002. These recommendations, including new cockpit and ATC technologies, "are just as needed today as when they were first published," ALPA says.
Northwest received bankruptcy court approval for its $750 million rights offering and Continental plans to sell nearly $1.15 billion in pass-through certificates, the companies reported last week in SEC filings.
Sabre Holdings Corp. is now free to invest in future technologies and change its distribution model away from the glare of Wall Street by going private. Shareholders voted Friday to approve a $4.5 billion acquisition by Silver Lake Partners and Texas Pacific Group, companies with significant experience in technology and airline investments.
Named Kevin Cox, senior executive VP and chief operating officer for Dallas/Fort Worth International airport, to replace John Carpenter as VP-state & community affairs. Carpenter recently retired from the company.
John Byerly, deputy assistant secretary of state for transportation affairs, will lead the U.S. team when talks with Japan on liberalizing air services between the two countries resume April 3 in Washington. Ryuhei Maeda, director general and minister's secretariat for the Ministry of Land Infrastructure and Transport, will head the Japanese team.
US Airways says in an employee update that two more Embraer 190s should arrive during the second quarter to join the three aircraft already in the carrier's fleet. Three more planes are slated to come on line during the third quarter, followed by another three in the fourth for a total of 11 by yearend.
Alaska and American this month will begin code sharing on American's flights from Los Angeles to San Salvador, El Salvador, pending regulatory approval. The exemption application likely will get a quick nod from the U.S. Transportation Dept. because no U.S. carrier opposed the request [OST-2007-27733]. American offers daily service in the market with 188-seat Boeing 757s.
Ethiopian Airlines has passed the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), making it one of only five sub-Saharan African carriers to have passed the audit.
Moog Inc. last week announced it has been awarded the lateral control electronics (LCE) contract for Boeing's 747-8 program. Aurora, N.Y.-based Moog has been a supplier of flight control actuators to Boeing for nearly 30 years. Although the company has provided electronics to other manufacturers as part of actuation systems, this will be the first time it has supplied flight control electronics for a Boeing commercial program. The LCE controls the fly-by-wire aileron and spoiler actuators. -AS
The Next Generation Air Transportation Systems Institute, which has had difficulty keeping an executive director in place, is now seeking another candidate after the resignation last month of Stephen T. Fisher.
The European Commission's reservations about Ryanair's planned acquisition of Aer Lingus are "bizarre, unprecedented and politically motivated," Ryanair claimed after last week's leak of the EC's so-called statement of objections. The confidential 265-page document was sent to the parties concerned and leaked to the Bloomberg News agency.
Air Transport Association VP Safety and Operations Basil Barimo says in congressional testimony that according to a 2005 survey of the association's member airlines, 70% of all heavy maintenance checks -- C or higher -- were performed internally by direct airline personnel.
Haitian startup Haitair expressed frustration at delays in winning an exemption to operate U.S. service, pointing specifically to a new FAA policy on wet-lease operations that the carrier says is being applied inconsistently.
The U.S. and Argentina signed an agreement to double the number of weekly passenger flights between the two countries from the current 56 to 112 by March 2009, DOT Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday. When the agreement takes effect in a few weeks, the number of flights between the U.S. and Argentina will rise to 77 per week.
FAA has finally revealed its preferred alternative for the sweeping New York airspace redesign, with the agency opting to increase the terminal area through the addition of en route airspace. This integrated airspace proposal would dramatically improve ATC efficiency in the region, FAA said. The airspace would be less complicated, and controllers would have more flexibility in routing traffic. FAA also believes it would virtually eliminate ATC flow delays. The agency has promised a final decision by late summer.
American yesterday received board approval to invest $100 million in its maintenance business to aid its strategy of attracting more third-party work and make the unit self-supporting. The new investment will be used to update -- and possibly add to -- maintenance facilities, invest in new technology and make process improvements, the airline said. American and the Transport Workers Union will conduct due diligence on all potential spending of the new money.
As Delta pushes to exit Chapter 11 this spring, international growth continues to take precedence as domestic capacity this year is set to shrink by 2%. The carrier is looking at acquiring Boeing 787 aircraft, installing winglets on its existing aircraft and locating new seats that would increase comfort and capacity. About $900 million is set aside for capital expenditures, including improving facilities, particularly in the New York area. Delta management points out international seats will continue to rise, with most growth in Asia markets.
Although it may not be attracting headlines like the FAA reauthorization effort, one of the agency's most crucial and ambitious modernization programs is quietly preparing for its debut. Contractor Lockheed Martin and FAA are about to put the en route automation modernization (ERAM) program through formal acceptance testing at the agency's Atlantic City tech center. At the same time, the first deployment has already begun at the Salt Lake City en route ATC center, said Sue Corcoran, VP-aviation solutions for Lockheed's Transportation and Security unit.
Government authorities may be at fault for the nagging "crisis" of the civil aviation sector that hurt airport and air traffic control operations, Brazilian President Luiz Lula da Silva said this week.
A New York appeals court ruled Thursday in Northwest Airlines' favor, supporting a ban against a strike by its flight attendants while the airline struggles to reorganize under bankruptcy protection.
