The U.S. Transportation Dept. reselected Air Midwest to serve El Dorado/Camden, Jonesboro, Harrison and Hot Springs, Ark., as part of the Essential Air Service program.
Midwest Airlines yesterday reiterated its claim that AirTran merger's proposal significantly undervalues Midwest and detailed its standalone growth strategy.
Airbus yesterday named a new head of its A350 program, who will lead the program in the post-launch phase. The new head is Didier Evrard, who previously led the product lines directorate for missile systems company MBDA -- a joint venture among EADS, BAE Systems and Finmeccanica. Until now, the A350 program has been coordinated by Airbus Executive VP-Strategy Olivier Andries, whom Airbus described as the "driving force" behind the A350, along with its programs team led by Executive VP Tom Williams. -AS
American next month will put the code of oneworld partner Finnair on its New York-Toronto flights, the first expansion of its code share since September 2005. The New York-Toronto services are operated by both American and American Eagle [OST-1999-6544].
Spanair yesterday signed a new bilateral agreement with Italy's Air One, offering code-share flights between Barcelona and Turin as part of its expansion program. Under the agreement, Spanair will code share on flights operated by Air One between Barcelona and Turin that connect with the cities of Rome and Naples, while Air One will code share on Spanair flights from Barcelona to Madrid and Oviedo.
Lufthansa yesterday reported new records for 2006 thanks to strong demand and new sales initiatives. The carrier said the number of passengers and total operated flights, as well as capacity and sales all ended the year at an all-time high. In 2006, the airlines in the Lufthansa Group carried 53.4 million passengers, up 4.2%. Sales rose by 2% on an increase of 1.8% in capacity. The passenger load factor was up 0.2 percentage points to 75.2%. "Passenger numbers in December, boosted by the mild winter weather," climbed 6.9% for the month.
Miami Airport reports that its current fiscal year cost per enplaned passenger is $17.01. The DAILY reported the airport's cost was $21.50, based on numbers provided by Los Angeles World Airport (DAILY, Jan. 5).
Shuttle America will begin flying the Atlanta-Kingston, Jamaica, route for Delta in March pending regulatory approval. The airline needs an exemption to operate the service daily as a Delta Connection carrier because it plans to fly in the market with 70-seat Embraer 170s [OST-2006-26712]. Delta currently offers daily service in the market -- mainline service is operated Friday to Sunday, and Connection carrier Atlantic Southeast Airlines operates the flights Monday to Thursday with 70-seat CRJ-700s. -ARS
Singaporean low-cost airline Tiger Airways secured a US$100 million loan underwritten by BNP Paribas to support pre-delivery deposits for eight new Airbus A320s on order. The deal's structure calls for the loan facility to be drawn down over the next three to four years as those pre-delivery payments come due. The eight aircraft are scheduled to join Tiger's fleet between 2008 and 2010.
Airbus signed a deal with Goodrich to provide nacelle and thrust reverser systems of variants of the recently launched A350XWB, which Goodrich values at about $10 billion in original equipment and aftermarket revenue for 20 years. The contract includes the integration of the Goodrich technology with each engine manufacturer's offering.
Grupo TACA, after a year that saw $750 million in sales and traffic that moved 3.6 million passengers through Central America, expects traffic to drop in the upcoming months by 5%-6% due to high fuel costs. The company, however, said the decline would be offset by 10% growth at the end of 2007 through fuel economy strategies now being implemented.
Aerosur can proceed with the launch of flights between Santa Cruz and Miami announced last August, when the carrier was sought to take advantage of troubles at leading Bolivian carrier Lloyd Aereo Bolviano. The daily wet-leased flights will be operated by Ryan International. A Boeing 757-200 configured to seat 180 passengers will be used [OST-2006-25990].
The U.K.'s Exeter Airport has been sold by the Devon County Council for GBP60 million (US$116.2 million). The facility was sold to Regional and City Airports (Exeter) Ltd (RCA) and was touted by the council as good news for the airport's future development. RCA is an arm of Balfour Beatty, a U.K.-based engineering, construction and services group.
Maxjet recently placed another order for DigEplayer inflight entertainment units for its international expansion. "The new order for our IFE portable by MAXjet will service their newest aircraft," said DigEcor CEO Brent Wood. "It is wonderful to have new orders from existing customers that have used the product and come back for more." Wood said the company has signed contracts with other airlines and will make announcements in the coming weeks.
Arbitration between German ATC organization DFS and its controllers union will extend through January, forestalling the possibility of a controller strike. The two parties yesterday agreed to hold their first arbitration meeting Jan. 19, with subsequent arbitration dates of Jan. 22, 25 and 26.
The Air Transport Association is projecting a $4 billion net profit in 2007 for all U.S. passenger and cargo airlines. ATA in its economic outlook estimates that the airline industry will report 2006 earnings of $2 billion-$3 billion. A profitable 2006-2007 would be the first back-to-back period of profitability since 1999-2000.
Joe Bogosian, FAA assistant administrator for international aviation, is expected to leave the agency Feb. 1 to take a high-ranking industry post. He will be president and COO of Safran-North America.
Three West Virginia Essential Air Service communities may end up in the US Airways network, as two of three carriers offering up proposals to replace RegionsAir in the market plan to serve the communities under the US Airways Express brand.
The European Commission proposed launching negotiations with Canada for an "Open Aviation Area Agreement" and will seek this week to revive talks with the U.S.
