FAA's Air Traffic Organization is implementing a hiring freeze for non-controller/technician hiring in anticipation of Congress passing an extended continuing resolution, according to an agency memo. The agency will also consider stopping all controller and technician hiring after March 31. The CR effectively delays the transportation appropriations bill for the current fiscal year.
House and Senate Democrats say they plan to continue non-defense and homeland security government spending at current levels for the rest of Fiscal Year 2007. The decision, announced Monday by incoming Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-W. Va.), and the new chairman of House Appropriations, Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.), would end all earmarks as well as seek to pass a year-long joint resolution for appropriations early in the 110th Congress.
Even though JetBlue's shedding of a row of seats on its Airbus A320s results in reducing the number of inflight crewmembers to three, the decrease isn't part of the airline's strategy to drop to 80 full-time employees per aircraft.
An influential new report on fuel efficiency says FAA needs to press ahead with ATM improvements in order to help airlines cut fuel consumption, a finding that echoes earlier calls by the Air Transport Association. The Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC) this week released wide-ranging recommendations aimed at cutting U.S. dependence on foreign oil. The report says airlines could save the equivalent of 400,000 barrels a day by 2030 through improvements such as shorter routings made possible by a satellite-based ATM system.
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air last week unveiled additional nonstop service from Portland, Ore., to Las Vegas and Oakland, Palm Springs and San Diego, Calif., beginning Jan. 28.
SAS recently sold nine MD-82s to an affiliate of Mitsubishi Corp. SAS simultaneously entered operating leases for each aircraft. JetWorks Leasing, through its alliance with Sigma Aircraft Management, arranged the transaction with Mitsubishi Corp. JetWorks manages 33 aircraft, including Airbus A300B4 freighters, Boeing 737 Classics, 757s, 767-200EM/300ERs, MD-80s and Bombardier DHC-8s.
ICAO is urging its 189 member states to harmonize their policies on the exemption of liquids bought at airport duty-free shops or on board aircraft. The issue was highlighted at the Airports Council International general assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, last month, where Director General Robert Aaronson urged ICAO to develop uniform standards (DAILY, Nov. 8).
The U.S. Transportation Dept. is accepting proposals for carriers interested in operating essential air service at Hobbs, N.M., for a two-year term beginning June 1. Air Midwest holds the contract for the most current term and since June 2005 has received $519,614 in annual subsidy to operate two one-stop roundtrips each weekday and each weekend to Albuquerque with 19-seat Beech 1900Ds. Interested carriers must submit a proposal to the department by Jan. 8 [OST-2002-12800].
AirTran will likely review Midwest Airlines' plans to award 50-seat flying to a new regional partner if it has an opportunity to perform due diligence in its proposed takeover of Midwest. Earlier this year, Midwest asked regional airlines to bid on flying up to 25 50-seat regional jets (DAILY, June 6), and said it received more bids than it sought.
Van Scoyoc Associates, Inc., a Washington-based government relations firm, has been tapped by Airports Council International -- North America (ACI-NA) to handle the association's legislative efforts. VSA VP Steve Palmer will lead the team.
Venezuela's Avior won authority from the U.S. Transportation Dept. to serve Miami from Barcelona, Venezuela (DAILY, Aug. 3), making it one of the few Venezuelan carriers serving the U.S. with its own aircraft and crews. U.S. services offered by Venezuelan carriers were previously operated under wet-lease agreements before FAA decided to upgrade the country to Category 1 standing in the International Aviation Safety Assessment program last spring (DAILY, April 26).The five weekly flights will be operated with Boeing 737-200s. [OST-2006-25984]. -ARS
RAA tapped a director from its management company SmithBucklin as its new president. Roger Cohen assumes the role Dec. 18. Most recently, Cohen executed a government affairs program for First Advantage Corp. subsidiary Teletrack. He has also logged aviation industry experience through his time as VP-regional affairs for the Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association and 15 years at the Air Transport Association. Cohen's positions with that organization included managing director/staff VP-state and local government affairs.
Early this week, congressional hearings, government investigations, and high level meetings among key players continued to probe deficiencies in Brazil's air traffic control system.
Expedia Inc. plans to repurchase up to 30 million shares of its common stock in a tender offer at a price per share of $18.50-$22. The repurchase represents about 9/8% of the number of shares of common stock currently outstanding and 9.1% of the total number of shares of common stock and Class B common stock outstanding. The tender offer is expected to expire on Jan. 10. A modified "Dutch auction" will allow stockholders to indicate how many shares and at what price within the company's specified range they wish to tender.
Embraer plans to offer electronic flight bags built by CMC Electronics on its Embraer 170/190 jet families, its Legacy 600 business jet and Lineage 1000 corporate aircraft built on the 190 platform.
TUI Group is expected to announce tomorrow that it will cut about 200 administrative jobs in its airline division when Hapagfly and Hapag-Lloyd Express (HLX) are merged next year. Observers expect the concern to cut up to 4,000 jobs in total to improve profitability. Analysts expect TUI to also publish a profit warning because the group struggles with both slow demand for package tours and a downturn in its container-shipping business unit.
The Australian government stresses it will do nothing to stand in the way of a deal that sees an international consortium buy Qantas, and a leading airline analyst says the takeover is positive for Qantas' future.
The Spanish Ministry of Economic Development, which is also in charge of transport, ordered Air Madrid to inform its passengers that it may lose its air operator certificate for failing to address "deficiencies" that have led to repeated delays. Air Madrid, which operates low-cost services to Latin America and Romania, has been plagued with repeated delays, the most memorable a record 120-hour delay on a Barcelona-Buenos Aires flight in October. The Spanish ministry asked the airline to demonstrate that it has taken the necessary corrective measures.
BMI British Midland this week named former United executive Chris Roemmer as the new sales director for the U.S. Midwest. Roemmer most recently was the Cleveland account manager at United. Before joining United, Roemmer was account executive at Ikon Office Solutions.
With best wishes and good cheer, we present this year's Aviation Dilly, a satirical holiday tradition with the staff of Aviation Daily dating back to the 1950s. We sincerely hope you enjoy our goodnatured poke at the happenings and institutions, large and small, that make up this besieged business we all love. It's been a tough year, and times promise to stay tough for a little while longer, but we
More work needs to be done to formalize the relationship between government agencies and the Joint Planning and Development Office (JPDO) that was created to guide the development of the next-generation ATM system, according to an oversight report.
