Sharjah-based Air Arabia launched a joint venture with the Sharjah Dept. of Civil Aviation. Sharjah Aviation Services plans to offer passenger, ramp and cargo handling at Sharjah Airport, Air Arabia's base. The airport predicts serving 8 million passengers by the end of the year.
Northwest has extended until Feb. 11 the deadline for furloughed pilots to preference a position in the carrier's new Compass subsidiary because of a later-than-intended mailing of an expression of interest letter to the pilots, ALPA leaders tell union members. ALPA encourages furloughed pilots to return the letter because doing so alone doesn't ensure a position at Compass, "but failure to respond to this letter disqualifies a furloughed pilot for future employment at Compass unless he or she is furloughed again."
Thailand this week decided to reopen Bangkok Don Muang Airport, prompted by the increasing number of defects found at the newer Suvarnabhumi Airport that was serving as the city's sole airport. Cracks on taxiways and Suvarnabhumi's western runway already were logged when more defects surfaced, including the poor condition of 11 aerobridges. The Ministry of Transport closed the bridges at Gates D5 and F1 because the walls need to be replaced. The bridges at Gates B4, C7, D6, F5, G3 and G5 are slightly damaged but still operable.
Ryanair's shares gained more than 6.4% yesterday, after the airline raised its full-year earnings outlook and reported much better-than-expected figures for the third quarter ended Dec. 31.
FAA Chief Operating Officer Russell Chew intends to leave the agency at the end of this month. Chew oversaw the establishment and early development of the FAA's Air Traffic Organization, in one of the most extensive shake-ups in the agency's history. He was hired from the airline industry in 2003. Chew is expected to reveal his new employer this week, although he confirms he will remain in the aviation industry.
FAA yesterday released a Fiscal Year 2008 budget that once again proposes a significant cut for airports funding and also outlines the agency's long-awaited reauthorization proposal. The full details of FAA's new funding plan will be revealed in its reauthorization proposal that is expected to be released as early as next week, but there was enough in the budget documents to give a general picture. The system will be funded through a combination of fuel taxes paid by general aviation operators and user fees collected from airlines.
Pratt & Whitney (PW) signed an $84 million, five-year agreement with U.K. carrier MK Airlines to upgrade its fleet of JT9D engines with durability kits. The deal covers 36 upgrades, with deliveries starting in May. The upgrades allow for extended time-on-wing and contain new first- and second-stage turbine blades and vanes, and a new second-stage turbine seal. MK is a privately held cargo airline offering scheduled and non-scheduled services flying Boeing 747s and DC-8s.
Oneworld partners American and LAN affiliate Lan Peru won authority from the U.S. Transportation Dept. to code share on each other's flights after a two-year wait (DAILY, Jan. 4, 2005).
Grupo TACA completed 99.7% of its flights scheduled within its far-flung route network throughout the Americas. TACA also scored high in on-time performance indexes with 91.9%, and reports that only 1.15 per 1,000 passengers were affected by overbooking.
Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said yesterday that a total of 7,300 jobs are threatened if authorities go ahead with plans to impose a strict ban on night flights at Frankfurt Airport. Lufthansa Cargo and leisure carrier Condor would be affected in particular, Mayrhuber said. Frankfurt Airport plans to build a fourth runway for landings only but has in return applied for a nightly ban on flights. Lufthansa heavily criticized the move in the past. -JF
Pinnacle followed through on plans to order larger turboprops for its newly acquired subsidiary, Colgan Airlines, striking a deal with Bombardier for 15 74-seat Q400s and a new 10-year agreement with Continental to fly the planes from its Newark hub. Late last week, Pinnacle CFO Peter Hunt told The DAILY the carrier was close to detailing an order for larger turboprops for service at Colgan and said the carrier had been in talks with ATR and Bombardier about a potential order (DAILY, Feb. 2).
B/E Aerospace posted fourth-quarter earnings of $21.7 million, with the company's interior systems business reporting the largest amount of growth in operating earnings, growing 139% to $15 million.
BAA has come out strongly against initial price controls outlined by the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority, saying the proposal does not adequately account for aviation industry risk. In December, CAA recommended caps of 8% a year plus 4% for retail price inflation and 2% a year plus 2% RPI, respectively, for Heathrow and Gatwick (DAILY, Dec. 6). It also recommended removing caps at Stansted.
A Rio bankruptcy court recently ordered Brazilian civil aviation regulator Anac to return some of Varig's slots at Sao Paulo Congonhas Airport, only a day after Anac canceled the slots. Anac canceled 119 of Varig's domestic routes involving 22 slots at Congonhas, basing the decision on the underutilization of some routes despite the carrier's being granted a full operational license (DAILY, Dec. 11). Varig, in its defense, said it fully intends to boost operations on the routes in conjunction with its fleet renewal, now in progress.
GOL Airlines intends to launch nonstop flights between Lima and Mexico City before yearend but will discard for the time being plans for domestic operations in Peru, an airline official told local reporters. Marketing VP Tarcisio Gargioini was in Lima to monitor the start of flights from Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires to Lima.
British Airways traffic was down 2.8% in January as a result of the planned cabin crew strike. At the same time, the airline increased capacity 1.5%, leading to a three-point decrease in load factor to 69.5%. BA said it lost about GBP80 million (US$157 million) in revenues because of the planned strike. The three-day walkout was averted at the last minute, but BA said many premium passengers changed their tickets and used other carriers in the period affected.
ExpressJet is spending close to $8.5 million in airport facilities and infrastructure to launch branded flying with 44 50-seat regional jets exiting its Continental fleet. The carrier has been developing its independent flying platform since it decided to keep 69 jets Continental started cutting from its capacity agreement with its former subsidiary last year.
