Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa presided over the ground breaking on the $575.6 million renovation of Tom Bradley International Terminal at Los Angeles Airport (LAX) Feb. 26. Under the project, the terminal will get 45,000 square feet of new space to hold the facility's new $140 million, in-line baggage security screening facility with an explosives detection system. The facility will also get a second gate to accommodate the Airbus A380 and the Boeing 747-800.
Middle Eastern airlines and airports are positioning themselves to capture more of the transit traffic between Europe and Asia and Europe and Australasia, industry analysts say, citing data showing that airlines and airports in the Middle East are adding capacity at a rate disproportionate to the region's population. If Middle Eastern airlines continue to grow at the current torrid rate, by 2012 they will transport 160 million passengers annually, and airports in the region will be able to handle 320 million passengers a year.
Airlines wanting to fly into Chicago O'Hare or Midway airports would have to follow a city-imposed passenger bill of rights under a bill being proposed by three local aldermen. The aldermens' bill is an extension of S.678 -- the Airline Passenger Bill of Rights -- introduced in the U.S. Congress on Feb. 17 by Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine).
Jet aircraft in storage dropped 5% to 528 in mid-February, down from 555 on Jan. 18, says a report from Merrill Lynch analyst Ronald Epstein. Storage of Boeing Next Generation 737s declined 44% to five aircraft as leases were transferred to different operators. The Embraer ERJ-145 fell 20% to four as one from the Rio Sul fleet entered service for Aerolitoral. Boeing 717s decreased 13% to seven as one was returned to service by Turkmenistan Airlines. Total parked jets dropped 2.6% to 1,922 aircraft. -BW
Dubai-based Dnata Cargo is taking full advantage of its position as a strategic center for cargo from North America and Europe to Asia. Government-owned Dnata recently opened the FreightGate 5 facility -- to handle premium cargo -- at the Dubai Airport Freezone Logistics Center. The new facility will triple annual throughput to 500,000 tonnes.
Lufthansa next month hopes to initiate its code share with Air Malta on the German carrier's flights to New York (Kennedy) and Washington (Dulles) from Munich, pending regulatory approval. The agreement will help Air Malta hold out service to the U.S. from Malta via Germany and is consistent with the U.S. bilaterals with the countries, which provide for third-country code sharing [OST-2007-27369]. -ARS
American is adding two daily nonstops between Jacksonville and Raleigh/Durham, beginning in May. The flights will be operated by American Eagle. The airport has had a successful month in terms of luring new service -- ExpressJet announced it will launch nonstop flights between Jacksonville and Austin, Kansas City and New Orleans also beginning in May.
Shuttle America after March 22 will put Air Canada's code on the United Express flights it operates to Huntsville, Ala.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Kalispell, Mont.; Palmdale, Calif.; Rockford, Ill.; and Halifax, Nova Scotia. The AC code is also carried on the Washington-Montreal, Chicago-Montreal and Chicago-Ottowa services Shuttle American operates for United [OST-2005-22989].
Pratt & Whitney plans to buy the spare parts inventory and engine overhaul tooling and machinery for JT8Ds, JT9D and PW4000s from Volvo Aero Engine Services, which is closing its doors after years of losing money. Pratt did not disclose the financial terms of its agreement to buy the majority of VAES' assets, saying only that the tools and machinery will be moved to Pratt & Whitney Global Services Partners locations and that the spares will be distributed among the six GSP engine overhaul centers and the company's spare parts hub in Dallas.
The International Association of Machinists yesterday filed a lawsuit against US Airways in an effort to force the airline to arbitration over a wage grievance stemming from the merger with America West. The two parties were scheduled to meet with an arbitrator yesterday and today, but US Airways instead filed a complaint in bankruptcy court attempting to block the union grievance. In its lawsuit, IAM challenges the airline's use of the bankruptcy court.
WestJet's Chairman Clive Beddoe says his involvement in overseeing the more routine areas of the airline is not as strong as the new management team that's come together over the past year takes on more of those tasks.
Boeing yesterday revealed that Brazilian carrier TAM is the buyer for four 777-300ERs that last week were attributed to an unidentified customer. TAM first announced its intention to order these aircraft in October, and has now added four further options. It will be the first Latin American carrier to operate the -300ER. TAM said the planes will allow the airline more capacity and flexibility on long-haul international routes. The carrier is using three MD-11s on transatlantic flights until the 777s are delivered.
Spanish LCC Vueling grew its revenues in 2006 by almost 73% to EUR$235 million (US$309 million), and expects 80% growth this year to EUR425 million (US$572 million). The carrier also posted strong growth in earnings before interest and taxes from EUR1.63 million (US$2.1 million) in 2006 to EUR28 million (US$37 million) in 2007. After completing an initial public offering in December, Vueling has a cash balance of EUR136 million (US$179 million).
Air Berlin managed to make a year of great changes to the company into a financial success and posted a net profit of EUR50 million (US$65.91 million) in 2006, compared with a EUR116 million loss a year earlier.
European officials who make the massive monthly migration from Brussels to Strasbourg will finally have access to low-fare travel: Brussels Airlines -- the product of the Virgin Express-SN Brussels Airlines merger that will launch operations March 25 -- will market seats starting at EUR49.99 (US$66) on its twice-weekly frequencies between the European Parliament's two main locations.
ExpressJet says California LA/Ontario Airport is set to be the busiest city in the 24-point network it plans to launch in April and May. Rounding out the top busiest cities are San Diego, Austin, Sacramento and San Antonio. The carrier plans to dedicate 44 of 69 aircraft coming offline from its Continental flying to the new branded service.
Trinidad & Tobago airline Caribbean plans to install blended winglets on five more of its Boeing 737-800 fleet this year. The carrier ordered six sets of winglets, and the first retrofit has already been completed at the Delta Tech Ops center in Atlanta. The remaining five are expected to be finished by September. Caribbean estimates the winglets will help it will save 370 gallons of fuel on each roundtrip between Trinidad & Tobago and Toronto, Canada. Overall, the six sets of winglets will save the carrier 660,000 gallons of fuel a year.
EADS' board of directors yesterday reached an agreement on the Power 8 restructuring plan, a decision the company said was made unanimously. EADS had to postpone the Power 8 announcement, originally scheduled on Feb. 20, because of a difference in opinion between Co-CEOs Louis Gallois and Thomas Enders (DAILY, Feb. 21).
Bombardier's overall aircraft deliveries were down about 3% for its fiscal year ending Jan. 31, from 337 the previous year to 326. Regional aircraft deliveries fell 18% from 138 to 112. Within that segment, deliveries of the 70-seat Q400 turboprop grew more than 90% from 16 to 31. CRJ-200 deliveries saw the most dramatic decline, from 36 to 1. The airframer saw an upswing in business aircraft deliveries, rising 7% from 197 to 212.
FAA decided to take all three major bidding teams to the next round in its competition for a big satellite surveillance contract. The three teams are contending to provide an automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast system, which FAA regards as a crucial plank of its future ATC system. Late last week, FAA's Joint Resources Council approved funding for the second phase of this program, which will include nationwide deployment.
The Transportation Security Administration plans to expand a pilot program testing X-ray technology, which can detect weapons and explosives beneath a person's clothes, to airports in New York and Los Angeles. The TSA began its long-awaited test of the controversial backscatter X-ray passenger screening technology last week at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with a closet-sized SmartCheck screening system manufactured by American Science and Engineering.
Russian aviation authorities want to consolidate the existing 102 ATC centers into just 13. Two of the consolidated centers have already been opened, and another five will be completed by 2010. This parallels a European initiative to simplify fragmented airspace by merging national airspace into larger cross-border blocks.
