FAA plans to increase its capital spending on modernization efforts by more than $1 billion a year by fiscal 2012, with the largest increase -- nearly $500 million -- slated for FY2009.
The LAN Airlines group plans to triple a planned share issue in order to fund fleet expansion and a stock option plan for employees. The company's board of directors approved a capital increase of more than 22 million ordinary shares. This replaces the earlier plan -- announced in January -- to increase shares by 7.5 million. The latest increase proposal will be voted on at an April 5 shareholders meeting.
The Air Transport Association yesterday briefed Senate lawmakers about why FAA's controversial aviation funding overhaul doesn't go far enough, while the National Business Aviation Association argued that the FAA's proposal goes way too far. The basic positions of ATA and NBAA are well known, but the groups revealed fresh details during a hearing held by the Senate Commerce Committee. Also testifying were the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the American Association of Airport Executives, and the Cargo Airline Association.
US Airways this week said unit revenue increased in February, although the improvement was limited by the operational effects of severe winter storms in the middle of the month. The "length and severity" of the storms meant unit revenue was lower than expected, and unit costs were higher, said President Scott Kirby. They caused a "decline in close-in bookings and traffic, particularly on short-haul markets in the Northeast," Kirby said. The airline would not divulge specific unit revenue or cost numbers.
Congress needs to raise the passenger facility charge cap to $7.50 and boost Airport Improvement Program grant funding to $3.8 billion in fiscal 2008, sot that airports can keep pace with increased capacity and financial demands, according to testimony given by the American Association of Airport Executives.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines selected ExelTech Aerospace to perform airframe and avionics mod- ifications, and structural upgrades, on 44 Bombardier CRJ-200 aircraft. ExelTech will upgrade the aircraft at its Montreal Regional Jet Maintenance Facility at Montreal Trudeau Airport. It expects the work to take about 14 months to complete. ASA, a Delta Connection carrier and wholly owned subsidiary of SkyWest, has been an ExelTech customer for four years.
Aeromexico will no longer offer service to Corpus Christi from Monterrey or Reynosa in Mexico. The airline told the U.S. Transportation Dept. this week it will not renew its exemption for Monterrey and will not pursue an exemption for Reynosa. DOT deferred awarding authority for Reynosa because the airport had not been assessed by the Transportation Security Administration [OST-2006-23702].
Oneworld partners Iberia and American are moving to amend their code-share authority so that Iberia can put the AA code on Madrid-Washington Dulles flights the Spanish carrier is launching on June 2. On the same day, the carriers plan to begin code sharing on American's flights from Dulles to Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth and Los Angeles, and both are seeking to amend their authority to cover the code sharing.
Ethiopian Airlines this week won its foreign air carrier permit from the U.S. Transportation Dept., after a long nine-year wait. The carrier operates flights to the both Washington and Newark through exemption awards [OST-1998-3727].
The European Commission cleared EUR7.3 million (US$9.6 million) in state aid from the Bavarian government that will be used to help cover the costs of transforming the former German military airbase of Allgäu in Memmingen into a regional airport. The rest of the funds will be provided by local businesses. The Land of Bavaria and the city of Augsburg were also authorized to inject EUR8.85 million (US$11.6 million) into Augsburg Airport, in an attempt to develop it into a business airport. -MT
British Airways predicts its revenue will increase by 4%-5% this year, but fuel cost will also rise significantly, the airline told investors yesterday. BA said its fuel bill for the 2007/2008 fiscal year will increase by about GBP100 million (US$193.2 million). Total costs, excluding fuel, will be up by about GBP50 million; however, the airline is still on track to achieve a 10% operating margin for the year.
Russell Chew, former chief operating officer of FAA's Air Traffic Organization, will become chief operating office at JetBlue, effective March 19, the carrier said yesterday. Chew, who had announced he was joining Hawaiian when he left FAA recently, joins JetBlue at a time of bad publicity from poor performance during a Feb. 14 ice storm at its New York JFK hub. CEO David Neeleman said Chew will help JetBlue launch "a new era of customer service." Chew will report to the president, David Barger.
FAA yesterday raised its estimate for the number of controllers expected to retire in the next 10 years, and the agency also boosted its hiring target for this year to achieve the net increase of 189 needed to offset a growing surge in retirements.
Singapore-based low-fare airline Tiger Airways will launch four-times-weekly flights to Perth on March 23, instead of in November as planned. The carrier earlier planned to offer daily flights starting in November but brought forward the schedule due to heavy demand for seats on the route. Service to Perth, Tiger Airways' 15th destination, will be expanded to daily service on May 1.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport topped Airports Council International's list for passenger traffic and aircraft movements in 2006. Passenger traffic worldwide rose 5% to a record 4.3 billion passengers in 2006. Cargo was up 4% year over year to 1.7 billion metric tons. International traffic rose 6.7% to 1.8 billion, total cargo was up 3.7% to 84.5 million metric tons, total international freight gained 6.3% to 51 million metric tons and total aircraft movements climbed 1.2% to 73 million.
Boeing and ST Aerospace signed a deal to offer the 767-300 BCF, with launch customer All Nippon Airways scheduled to receive the first 767-300 converted freighter in 2008. Boeing's decision to select ST Aerospace as its partner reflects a natural progression of its work with the MRO, said Marco Cavazzoni, VP-freighter conversions for Boeing. "ST Aerospace has earned the right to be on this program," he said, and was not selected based on a geographic decision, but rather on demonstrated performance.
While FAA's reauthorization proposal provides a framework to begin discussions, more work is necessary to ensure proper airport funding to meet growing demand for passenger and cargo service, according to testimony issued by Airports Council International-North America.
Cathay Pacific despite increased fuel costs posted a profit of HK$4.1 billion (US$524.5 million) for the year ended Dec. 31, up 24% from the previous year. Revenue hit a record high HK$60.8 billion (US$7.77 billion), up 19.4%, with passenger sales accounting for HK$33.5 billion. Expenses jumped 18.8% to HK$55.6 billion (US$7.1 billion) with fuel accounting for HK$20.2 billion of expenses.
Qatar Airways is "in the final stages of negotiations" to confirm its Airbus A350 order, CEO Akbar al-Bakr told The DAILY at the ITB Travel/Tourism Fair in Berlin. Al-Bakr said Qatar Airways remains "committed to Airbus and has full confidence in [Airbus CEO] Louis Gallois." He was convinced that "Airbus will build a fine airplane."
