ATR opened its fourth spare parts center in Auckland, New Zealand, joining other facilities in Paris, Miami and Singapore. DHL plans to manage the facility as part of an agreement it reached with ATR last year. ATR also plans to open another spare parts warehouse in Delhi. The Auckland center joins a sales office the airframer opened in Sydney last November to bolster its presence in the Pacific region.
AirTran's new flights to St. Louis and San Diego are heating up competition with American and Delta and sparking direct rivalry with Southwest. The carrier's four daily flights from St. Louis to Atlanta start May 8, followed by a single daily flight to Orlando on June 7. Its seasonal service from San Diego to Atlanta begins May 24 with daily flights, to be doubled on May 31. AirTran executives said recently the carrier is targeting three to five new cities this year (DAILY, Dec. 11, 2006).
The Dominican Republic's new civil aviation law is the "most important step taken in the past 20 years to develop the country's commercial aviation," said Norge Botello, CEO of the civil aviation authority (DGAC), when announcing the law at a news conference last week.
Colombia last week handed over the facilities and installations at Bogota Eldorado Airport to private consortium Opain for development and management in the next 20 years with investments of $650 million.
AirTran asked New York state's Supreme Court to direct Midwest to explain why the carrier believes it doesn't have to comply with state law and release its shareholder list to AirTran. A hearing is set for Jan. 30. AirTran has a tender offer to Midwest shareholders for $13.24 per share that expires Feb. 8.
Scientists in Japan say that a new technology that uses radio waves to identify specific explosives, such as TNT, could be used in future to screen baggage at airports. The technique was unveiled in the Institute of Physics journal "Superconductor Science and Technology." The new technique has advantages over traditional detection methods, such as X-rays, because it can distinguish between different types of white powder, from flour and salt to drugs and explosives.
Grupo TACA, continuing its expansion in South America (DAILY, Jan. 10), increased weekly frequencies on its Lima-Sao Paulo route from seven to nine through the end of the summer vacation season in March, a capacity jump of 30%. The daily flights are operated with Airbus 320s.
United crawled to a slim full-year net profit for 2006, although the airline saw a loss for the fourth quarter that was not helped by winter storms in December at its Denver and Chicago hubs that trimmed about $40 million from passenger revenue. The airline recorded a net profit of just $25 million for the last 11 months of 2006 - the period since its emergence from bankruptcy protection. This was an improvement of $423 million from the same 11 months in 2005, excluding reorganization costs.
Flights between Taiwan and the Republic of China (PRC) for the Lunar New Year holidays Feb. 13-25 will operate nonstop across the Taiwan Strait. China Airlines and its wholly owned subsidiary carrier Mandarin Airlines will each operate eight flights both ways. Eight flights will run from Taipei to Shanghai Pudong, four Taipei-Guangzhou, two Taipei-Beijing and two Kaohsiung-Shanghai Pudong with a mix of Boeing 747-400s and Airbus A330-300s.
Already preparing to launch flights to four new cities this year, Spirit Airlines' CEO says the carrier could add at least that number or more in 2007 as it continues its push into Latin America and the Caribbean. Spirit plans to start service from Fort Lauderdale to St. Maarten, Port-au-Prince and Caracas, Venezuela, in April. Flights to Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, start in March. CEO Ben Baldanza told The DAILY he is in final discussions on more destinations, which he will unveil in the coming weeks.
Miami-based Association Of Latin American Airlines reports that in November 2006 traffic for its member airlines decreased 3.8% from the same month last year. Capacity fell by 0.4% in November, resulting in a 2.4% decline in load factor to 68.2%. Alta member airlines carried 7.5 million passengers in November, up 2.5% from November 2005.
Guggenheim Aviation Partners announced this week it is selling $1.6 billion worth of aircraft, including at least 11 Boeing 747-400s, to leasing company Aircastle. Of the 38 aircraft to be sold, 12 are freighters: four 747-400ERFs to be delivered new from the manufacturer, seven 747-400s that have been or are about to be converted to freighters, and one MD11SF. The other 26 are passenger aircraft.
Virgin America is mounting a letter-writing campaign in its bid to reverse the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s tentative rejection of the would-be carrier's certificate application.
U.S. Transportation Dept. Secretary Mary Peters yesterday said the long-awaited administration proposal for FAA reauthorization will be unveiled shortly after the fiscal 2008 budget comes out Feb. 5. Some industry observers expect the proposal to be released within a few days of the budget, but Peters would only commit to "a few weeks" after the budget release. She did add that DOT hopes to beat this target, however.
While British Airways tries to hammer out a last-minute deal to prevent a strike by cabin crew workers, its competitors are already sizing up the market opportunities that will arise if BA has to cancel flights next week.
United's $5 one-way fare increase, initiated late last week, started to unravel yesterday, possibly because some airlines tried to spread the increase to many short-haul markets.
Passengers traveling by air in the European Union rose by 8.5% and air freight rose 3.5% in 2005 to more than 700 million and 11 million tons, respectively, according to new statistics released by Eurostat; the survey covered the EU, candidate countries and Iceland, Norway and Switzerland. Of these passengers, 23% flew on national flights, 42% on intra-EU flights and 35% on international flights. London Heathrow remained the busiest airport in the EU, handling 68 million passengers in 2005, 10% of all travelers in the EU and up 1% from 2004.
Mexican airport operator Grupo Aeroportuario del Sureste (ASUR) announced that the board named Fernando Chico Pardo, current chairman of the board, to the position of interim CEO, effective immediately.
The Transport Workers Union says it expects to begin negotiating with American in November on a new contract for the airline's ground workers. The union says it has taken note of the airline's return to profitability and will bargain accordingly. "The gains are there, it's time to share," the union says. By May, TWU will have consulted with its local chapters on contract proposals.
WestJet yesterday named Vito Culmone as the new CFO. Culmone will join WestJet March 1, having previously held the position of VP-commercial finance with Molson Canada. Culmone will assume the responsibilities of CFO from acting interim CFOs Janice Paget and Derek Payne, who accepted the role following the retirement of Sandy Campbell in July 2006. "Not only is the balance sheet healthy, the strategies for growth indicate a bright future," said Culmone. -SL
