Former sister carriers and current rivals Mexicana and Aeromexico would see their passengers sitting side by side on flights from San Luis Potosi to San Antonio, thanks to code agreements with Mexican carrier Aeromar. The rivals both filed for exemptions last week to serve the market through code sharing with Aeromar. Aeromexico's code would also appear on Aeromar's Mexico City-San Antonio services. Aeromexico, in turn, would carry Aeromar's code on its Mexico City-San Antonio services.
GOL probably won't reap the rewards of its Varig purchase until the second or third year of operation, some analysts predict, with GOL facing some potential earnings pressure as it revamps Varig's operations. The Brazilian low-cost carrier struck a deal earlier this week to buy the "new" Varig from VarigLog and Volo in a deal valued at US$320 million.
Curacao-based carrier Insel Air is aiming for a June launch of service to either Miami or Fort Lauderdale. The airline would use a 167-seat MD-83 for the service, which would operate daily. Insel Air is also seeking authority to operate charter flights in the market [OST-2007-27718]. Insel launched operations last year and currently flies to Aruba, Bonaire, Haiti, Las Piedras and Valencia, Venezuela; St. Maarten, Santo Domingo, D.R.; Surinam; and Trinidad. -ARS
If an FAA reauthorization bill is not passed by the Sept. 30 deadline, it may be put on hold until 2010, warned FAA Deputy Administrator for Airports Kirk Shaffer. The political focus will be on the presidential election in 2008, "and 2009 will be spent getting a new administration in place that will have other issues to deal with, including health care, defense and homeland security," he said.
American and Royal Jordanian won the U.S. Transporation Dept.'s approval to code share on each other's flights, a little more than a week before the Jordanian carrier's ascension to the oneworld alliance on April 1. Royal Jordanian's code initially will appear on 15 American domestic routes out of New York-Kennedy and Chicago O'Hare hubs. The AA code, meanwhile, will appear on Royal Jordanian's Chicago/New York/ London/Paris/Frankfurt-Amman services, as well as on flights from Amman to Dubai and Aqaba (DAILY, Dec. 26, 2006).
Delta showed great progress in its restructuring plan in February when it reported a net income of $55 million in its monthly operating report to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court; last February, it posted a $209 million loss. Excluding reorganization items, Delta's net loss was $43 million in February 2007. Its consolidated passenger unit revenue rose 1.4%, while its operating expenses fell 1.8%. Consolidated unit costs for the month fell 4.5%, while mainline non-fuel CASM was 7.61 cents, a 7.6% improvement from the same month last year.
Boeing yesterday revealed Avianca as the customer for 10 anonymous 787 orders, the largest Latin American order yet for the 787 program. As well as the 10 firm orders, the Colombian carrier also secured purchase rights for another 10 aircraft. The order was previously attributed to an unidentified customer on the Boeing Web site. Leasing company LCAL was also identified as the customer for one unidentified 787, bringing LCAL's 787 order total to 15. The company's previous orders were placed in 2005.
BAA has announced plans to spend another £40 million (US$78.6 million) in its effort to reduce lines at security checkpoints in the seven U.K. airports it operates from under its "Putting Passengers First" plan. The plan calls for BAA to hire another 1,400 security guards and open 22 new security lanes at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Southampton airports. Once the hires are completed, the company has pledged to keep security line wait times to five minutes or less for 95% of the day.
Sukhoi Civil Aircraft Co. is finalizing deals with two Russian operators for delivery of Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional aircraft. Aeroflot's regional airline unit, Aeroflot-Nord, plans to acquire 18 SSJs, while state-owned GTK Rossia will take six aircraft. SCAC currently has 61 firm orders, all from Russian carriers.
Congressional concern over the potential of non-certified maintenance stations performing critical maintenance continues to rise while industry maintains the facilities handle only minor services. During a hearing yesterday held by the House aviation subcommittee DOT Inspector General (IG) Calvin Scovel pointed to an investigation the IG conducted in 2005 that showed six non-certificate domestic and foreign facilities performed scheduled maintenance and 21 supplied maintenance critical to aircraft airworthiness.
Republic Airline Inc. this week filed for two more exemptions to serve the U.S.-Mexico market as part of its Frontier flying (DAILY, Jan. 12). The carrier wants authority to fly from both Denver and Kansas City to Cancun. The seasonal services, which Republic plans to start on Dec. 1, will be operated with 76-seat Embraer 170 aircraft [OST-2007-27746]. Republic last month won exemptions for several U.S.-Mexico markets to be operated from Frontier's Denver hub (DAILY, Feb. 23). -ARS
British Airways is looking at bidding for rival BMI if BMI Chairman Michael Bishop sells his stake, U.K. news reports said yesterday. The Times said BA would get access to valuable slots at London Heathrow Airport, where BMI has about a 13% share. That compares with 40% held by its bigger rival. BA did not comment, while BMI said it was not up for sale.
IATA Director General and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said passenger demand continues to exceed expectations, with February's international traffic growing by 6.8% from the year-ago month; February traffic was also up by 6.1% from January 2007.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh has not seen much to like in the new U.S./European Union open-skies agreement, but he hopes one benefit of increased competition at London Heathrow will be more support in his campaign for a third runway at the airport.
Brazil's Sinergy, the holding company that controls Avianca and Ocean Air, plans to buy 20 new Boeing 787 Dreamliners for its affiliated carriers. The company said in a statement that it was meeting the objective to lead the airline sector in Latin America and that Avianca and Ocean Air would soon become the first carriers in South America to operate Dreamliners. -LZ
Royal Jordanian has officially become a member of the oneworld alliance, making it the first airline from the Middle East region to link up with an alliance. The airline becomes the first new oneworld partner in nearly six years. The next members to join in the coming days are Malev and Japan Airlines,including JAL's five associates, which will join as affiliate members. Two members of the LAN alliance will also join as affiliates--LAN Argentina and LAN Ecuador. They all will be official members by April 1. Later this year, Dragonair will join them. -JLM
Bombardier's management doesn't appear willing to commit to deciding on the launch of its larger CSeries aircraft family this year, opting to take time to evaluate the right decision and declare the aircraft's fate in 2008. The aiframer unveiled its proposed CSeries in 2005. A year ago, Bombardier put the launch of the CSeries on hold after potential customers told the airframer that it would be difficult to wait until Bombardier's original 2010 entry-into-service date (DAILY, Feb. 1, 2006).
A final FAA reauthorization bill must give local airports the capacity, authority and flexibility to manage their capital development programs to balance available funding sources, according to testimony before the House aviation subcommittee yesterday.
The Transportation Security Administration has created a new position to help area directors and federal security directors. The senior field executive (SFE) was created to improve area directors' connectivity to the field and to provide advice, guidance and support to FSDs, said spokesperson Amy Kudwa. The agency has filled all 12 positions, she added.
U.S. and Japanese officials expect to return to the negotiating table next week in Washington to discuss further liberalization of air services between the two countries, a State Dept. official said. The negotiations are scheduled on April 3-5 and are expected to pick up where November's informal talks left off. Next week's negotiations aim to move closer toward the full liberalization outlined in the 1998 MOU.
Monday's suspension of Mexican low-fare carrier Azteca Airlines is leaving ticketed passengers stranded, almost two weeks before heavy Easter holiday travel. Mexican civil aviation authorities suspended the carrier, which operated at lower fares to 19 destinations in Mexico and Los Angeles, for alleged "safety problems and financial troubles." The government gave the carrier 90 days to correct the deficiencies.
