Air France/KLM is tired of denying reports on its alleged interest in Alitalia and decided to take the issue to Consob, the Italian stock exchange watchdog. The company said it "will be asking the Italian stockmarket authorities to investigate the continued false rumors concerning a listed company."
British Airways yesterday went with Boeing in the first round of its long-expected fleet renewal. The airline placed an order for four Boeing 777-200ERs and selected the type over the rivaling Airbus A330. "It was a close decision between the Boeing 777s and the Airbus A330s", British Airways Commercial Director Robert Boyle said. "However, the ease of assimilating up to eight aircraft into our existing 777 fleet, rather than having a small number of A330s, swung the balance in Boeing's favor."
US Airways has asked the City of Phoenix to delay weighing in on a 10-year, $2.9 billion improvement plan for Sky Harbor Airport after expressing concern that those cost estimates could be dramatically lower than the actual expense. Airlines were presented with the proposed upgrades late last week, and US Airways argued that it had limited time to consider justifications for certain projects.
Two Reveal explosives detection systems (EDS) machines are being deployed at Wichita Mid-Continent Airport (ICT) in Kansas, the Transportation Security Administration announced Wednesday. The Reveal CT-80 machines are smaller in size and, at about $350,000 apiece, less than half the price of other EDS machines in use at many airports. The bigger machines can run from $900,000 to $1.3 million each, according to TSA.
Airbus plans to open its new engineering center in Mobile, Ala., on Monday. EADS CEO Thomas Enders will attend the opening, as will Airbus North America Chairman Allan McArtor. The center will handle some A350 design work and would be expanded if Airbus wins the U.S. Air Force tanker contract.
Los Angeles World Airports claims it has been subsidizing seven airlines with expired leases at Terminals 1 and 3 at Los Angeles Airport in a bid to boost their bottom lines. LAWA came out swinging against seven airlines that filed a complaint with the U.S. Transportation Dept. over a tripling of user fees that was approved by its board last month (DAILY, Jan. 17, Feb. 20). The action by seven airlines occupying LAX Terminals 1 and 3 signifies their ongoing refusal to pay their full and fair shares of costs to operate, said LAWA in a statement.
Republican members of the House aviation subcommittee, backed by many of their Democratic counterparts, introduced a bill to accelerate FAA's plans to increase the pilot retirement age. The bill would raise the mandatory retirement age from 60 to 65, just as FAA plans to do in a lengthy rulemaking process. The House proposal would make the change within 30 days of its being passed.
Airbus canceled its long-expected announcement on the Power 8 restructuring plan that was scheduled on Feb. 20, after top executives disagreed on important parts of the turnaround plan at an EADS board meeting on Sunday.
Seven airlines unhappy with rental increases that will almost triple user fees at Terminals 1 and 3 at Los Angeles Airport brought their fight to the U.S. Transportation Dept., moving for a hearing that could decided the fate of the recent hikes by Los Angeles World Airports (LAWA). The hikes, which would cost more than $1 billion in the next 15 to 20 years, have the potential to hurt the operations of low-cost airlines, the predominant users of Terminals 1 and 3, and could result in higher airfares.
Boeing yesterday revealed that Air New Zealand and Polish LOT are the buyers for the five anonymous 787 orders placed last week. The Air NZ deal was for four additional 787-9s. The airline in December announced plans to buy the aircraft, which will boost its total 787 orders to eight. Deliveries of the latest orders will occur between 2011 and 2013.
While JetBlue faces a price tag of more than $20 million from its operational breakdown that started with last week's storms and continued through the weekend, most analysts think the situation won't have a lasting effect on the company's financial performance. Analysts Merrill Lynch lowered its first-quarter earnings per share estimates from $0.14 to $0.07, factoring a $20 million pretax expense from the storms and another $10 million in expenses to ensure last week's challenges don't recur. It lowered full-year estimates from $0.50 to $0.40.
FAA plans to name Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell as acting replacement for the agency's departing Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew. Sturgell will also retain his responsibilities as deputy administrator. The agency is launching a nationwide executive search to find a permanent replacement for Chew, who is leaving FAA at the end of this month to head operations at Hawaiian.
Thai Airways International over the next month will place an order for eight Airbus A330-300 aircraft; Thai Airways currently operates a fleet of 12 A330-300s Delivery will start in April 2008 and continue through to 2010. The new aircraft will replace six 20-year-old A300-600Rs and two Boeing 747-300s that will be phased out in stages, starting April 2. The remaining 13 A300-600s also will be phased out and replaced with A330-300s, an airline official said. The entire exercise is expected to be completed by 2012.
Between February 2006 and January 2007, a record 30 million passengers traveled through Sydney Airport. In that period, 30,107,858 passengers traveled through the airport, a 4.6% increase from the same period a year earlier. International passenger traffic also hit a record, with 996,968 people using the international terminal. International passenger growth remained strong in January 2007, fueled mainly by travel from Australia to the U.K., Korea and India.
Mexicana and Iberia plan to code share between Spain and Mexico via Miami, pending the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s nod. Under the code share, Mexicana will carry Iberia's code on its Miami-Cancun flights [OST-2007-27328].
Lufthansa posted an operating profit of EUR845 million (US$1.1 billion) last year, up from EUR577 million a year earlier. Sales rose 9% to EUR19.8 billion (US$26 billion), the airline said in a regulatory filing. Lufthansa plans to propose a dividend of EUR0.70 per share, up from EUR0.50 in 2005. The company will disclose its detailed financial results on March 8. -JF
The stretched version of Bombardier's CRJ-900, previously known as the CRJ-900X, has now launched as the CRJ1000, with its 100 seats just 10 shy of the smallest member of the proposed C-Series family. CRJ-700 launch customer and Air France subsidiary Brit Air will also take that role with the CRJ1000, ordering eight aircraft with eight options. Italian carrier My Way is converting 15 of 19 CRJ-900s it ordered to the CRJ1000. Bombardier also logged a 15-plane order from an undisclosed customer.
Emirates is eyeing further expansion in North and South America following the launch of two new routes later this year, a senior Emirates executive tells The DAILY. The airline has identified "seven or eight potential routes within the Americas that are viable for us," said Nigel Page, Emirates' senior VP for commercial operations in this region. Emirates is determined to "build up its network of routes" throughout North and South America, said Page.
By: Lori Ranson, Aviation Daily The Middle East may be the second-smallest region in the world in terms of capacity share, but that's set to change by 2010 when that corner of the globe surpasses Latin America and garners a 7% share, up from its current 4.5%. Much of that rise rests on current capacity growth rates in the Middle East. Taking a look at year-over-year capacity growth for February, the world's scheduled airlines are logging a 7.3% growth rate, while Middle Eastern carriers have bolstered their capacity by a whopping 18.2%.
