Falling oil prices yesterday led ANA to announce plans to lower international fuel surcharges from April 1. The carrier applied to Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport for permission to pare the fuel surcharges for international flights from a high of $108 for tickets issued on or after April 1.
Boeing yesterday added five unidentified 787 orders to its backlog; so far this year, Boeing has 18 aircraft orders, and all of them are for buyers who wish to remain anonymous. Through Feb. 14, Boeing listed nine orders for 787s, five for 777s, three for 767s and one for a 737. The total does not include an order for 27 767 freighters that was finalized yesterday. -AS
European states next month will meet to discuss progress in an ambitious initiative to redraw European airspace borders, but this summit may be overshadowed by disagreements that are already emerging about the project's direction.
ICAO member states are preparing to implement recommendations March 1 that will bring the rest of the world in line with rules already in place in European Union states and North America, prohibiting the carriage of liquids in passengers' hand baggage.
Airports are taking a wait-and-see attitude on key provisions in FAA's draft 2007 reauthorization bill, which include major changes in Airport Improvement Program grants and Passenger Facility Charges. But the consensus among industry players is that any final bill must ensure that funding is available to accommodate future passenger and cargo growth.
A day after Frontier said it would launch service between Orlando and Memphis, AirTran also announced new flights on the route. Frontier and AirTran struck a deal late last year that allows passengers to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles in their respective programs (DAILY, Nov. 15). The carriers also agreed to link to each other's web sites.
Europe's Air Traffic Alliance and Boeing are expected to announce a new round of joint flight trials in June to test new ATC procedures and technology on transatlantic routes, according to an industry source. These flights will likely involve SkyTeam aircraft flying between New York and either London or Paris. The Air Traffic Alliance includes Airbus and Thales. So far, Boeing and the alliance have trialed new procedures on flights into Sydney Airport.
Airlines may be beefing up their online products, but they must do more if they want to reach younger travelers who are increasingly wired and less brand-loyal, an industry analyst told The DAILY. Southwest recently took the wraps off its downloadable Ding application, which alerts customers in real time of the latest fare offers for up to 10 cities. Hawaiian Airlines' Hawaii Anytime also is a downloadable "widget" that packages real-time fare deals along with Web cameras of Hawaii, Hawaiian-themed screensavers and streaming radio.
Air France/KLM's third-quarter profit tripled as Europe's biggest airline benefited from strong demand, particularly on its Asian and North Atlantic routes. Net income increased to EUR229 million (US$301 million) from EUR77 million a year earlier. Sales were up 5.9% to EUR5.75 billion (US$7.55 billion). The airline stated that it expects "very strong results" for the full year. The company saw yields rise by more than 4%, while costs remained essentially flat.
BAA announced plans to redevelop London Heathrow's Terminal 3 as part of its 10-year, GBP6 billion (US$11.7 billion) capital investment program to improve the central terminal area at the facility.
The world's busiest airport has announced plans to operate a three-year pilot of the registered traveler program. Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport plans to put out a request for proposal in the next six weeks, said spokeswoman Sterling Payne. "We will have a pilot that will include a 30-day cancellation clause to give us flexibility," she said. "We hope to have the program operational sometime in the second quarter of 2007."
Virgin America this week supplied data to the U.S. Transportation Dept. regarding a $20 million loan from Cyprus Capital to support its campaign to win the department's nod to start operations. Virgin America filed a lengthy response with DOT last month after the department tentatively rejected is application, citing concerns about the fledgling carrier's meeting foreign ownership standards.
Delta will carry Aeromexico's code on flights from Atlanta to Madrid and on the New York-Barcelona service pending regulatory approval. The carriers, which hold authority and rights for some blind-sector code shares, need to have their authority amended, so that they may carry the other's code on flights to and from points in any country beyond and behind the operating carrier's homeland [OST-2000-7708].
Sensis has secured a second U.S. customer for its Aerobahn aircraft ground management system, with Continental buying the system to improve efficiency at its Houston hub.
Frontier will invade Northwest's Memphis stronghold in May, competing directly on flights to Denver, Las Vegas and Orlando. The Denver service includes two daily nonstops. The carrier plans to offer a single daily trip from Memphis to Las Vegas and Orlando.
FAA plans to change its funding formula to pay for operations and modernization programs over the next decade ran into skepticism -- and sometimes hostility -- at the House aviation subcommittee yesterday.
Ireland's air traffic control organization this week joined an alliance of six Nordic nations in a wide-ranging collaboration effort. The Irish Aviation Authority joins the ATC organizations of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, Finland and Estonia in the coalition. It was formerly called the Nordic Alliance but with the addition of IAA will be changed to the North European Alliance.
South Africa is substituting five of 25 U.S. points its airlines are allowed to serve under the U.S.-South Africa bilateral to include five new cities that SAA will serve through its code share with United and its Express carriers. The government asked to replace Baltimore, Cincinnati, Fort Lauderdale, Salt Lake City and West Palm Beach with Austin, Charlotte, Columbus, Indianapolis and Kansas City. The airlines expect to launch the new code share next month [OST-2007-26817]. -ARS
JetBlue and Cape Air solidified a partnership deal after 11 months of negotiations. The DAILY first reported in May that the two airlines were discussing a potential tie-up to connect JetBlue's passengers arriving in Boston with Cape Air flights to Hyannis, Martha's Vineyard, Nantucket and Provincetown (DAILY, May 25). Now JetBlue passengers can book flights from other destinations to the Cape Air points via the JetBlue web site for flights starting March 19.
Airservices Australia this week announced a commercial agreement with Honeywell that will see them jointly develop and market new satellite-based landing and approach surveillance systems. The agreement covers the Ground- Based Augmentation System (GBAS) and the Ground-Based Regional Augmentation System (GRAS). Prototypes of these systems are being used at Sydney Airport, in conjunction with Qantas. The two companies will market these systems in different regions.
WestJet could start flights to transborder business destinations within the next year or two, but the airline's management believes the carrier need to strengthen U.S. point of sales and create the right number of frequencies in those markets.
