South African Airways intends to launch one-stop service from Johannesburg to Chicago next May, entering a market served by both U.S. and European carriers with one-stop and code-share flights. The four weekly flights will be operated with Airbus A340-300 aircraft and will stop briefly at Dakar, Senegal. SAA will also offer service to points beyond Chicago via its code share with United.
Airbus has a lot riding on the relaunch of its A350 line, with the manufacturer relying on a new design for a three-aircraft family to be much more attractive to airline buyers than its initial A350 proposal.
Brazil is set to add at least 40 more air traffic controllers next week in Brasilia, which will help, but not solve, the controller shortage. A source from TAM said the government needs to hire at least 300 more controllers to fill the gap. Since the crash between a GOL 737 and a business jet, there have been controller slowdowns and a jump in sick calls. As a result, there are fewer controllers to handle rising traffic in the country.
Six of the major Western European nations are considering combining their airspace into one of the large blocks envisioned by the Single European Sky concept. Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland will conduct a feasibility study on the creation of a "Europe Central" functional airspace block. This is by far the largest effort by any nation to form an FAB.
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) should learn this week if he's successful in a bid for the top Republican spot on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. Mica, the departing chairman of the aviation subcommittee, would have had to step down -- even if the Democrats hadn't taken over Congress -- because of Republican-imposed term limits. The six-year term limit on chairmanships is why Mica says he isn't trying to switch from chairman to ranking member on the subcommittee. "You can't do that. Six is it," he says.
General Electric is readying 20 Secure Registered Traveler kiosks for deployment by yearend to the first five airports signed up for the trusted travelers program.
All of the Latin American airlines that have gone public in recent years have seen rising stock prices partly because they now offer a window into their performance and financial information, says Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg. "Investors will pay a premium for transparency," he tells the ALTA annual meeting in Cancun. Copa's stock is up 100% since its IPO, he notes.
TAM sees no immediate benefit to joining a global alliance, even though all three groups are wooing the growing carrier. "Everyone wants to marry TAM," says Paulo Castello Branco, VP-alliances and institutional relations. "We just want a date." The carrier is interested only in bilateral partnerships for the time being, he tells reporters at the ALTA annual meeting in Cancun.
The tax load that weighs down the Canadian airline industry is threatening the competitive position of companies in this sector and should be lightened, says a new report from the Montreal Economic Institute. The institute is an independent, non-profit, non-partisan research and educational organization that uses economics to study public policy issues.
The National Transportation Safety Board was unable to generate enough revenues to surpass expenses at the training center it opened in 2003, leading government investigators to conclude that the least expensive remedy is to buy out the lease and vacate the space.
The Italian government Friday announced it would open the sale of much of its remaining stake in Alitalia up for competitive bids. The process is the latest twist in the Italian government's efforts to salvage unprofitable Alitalia. Those efforts have intensified in recent weeks, with officials worried that time is running out.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. last week handed down fines to Israir Airlines and Vision Air for violations that included holding out air service without the proper authority. Israir, a long-time charter carrier and tour operator, was fined for offering charter flights from Oct. 31, 2005, to Feb. 13, 2006, without renewing its authority for the flights. The airline also failed to disclose how fuel surcharges and other taxes and fees figured into fares in ads that ran from December 2005 to March 2006.
Scandinavian airline SAS Group completed the spinoff of its hotel business, Rezidor Hotel Group AB, which started trading on the Stockholm stock exchange Nov. 28. The offer of 65% of the share and voting capital of Rezidor was nine times oversubscribed. SAS will cash in some SEK5.7 billion (US$827 million) and record a capital gain of about SEK4.7 billion (US$681 million) on the operation. At the same time, Carlson Hotels Worldwide Inc. bought an additional 10% stake of Rezidor from SAS, lifting its total shareholding to 35%.
DHL yesterday said it will increase domestic and international express rates by an average of 3.9% for 2007. The increase for air express and international shipments comprises a 5.9% rise in base rates, offset by a 2% reduction in fuel surcharges. The residential surcharge will increase by 10 cents, and the remote area surcharge rise by $2.
Chicago Midway has almost finished building the first of two Engineered Materials Arresting Systems (EMAS), a 1,000-foot safety buffer zone at the end of Runway 31-C. A Southwest 737 skidded off the runway at Midway Dec. 8, 2005, causing the city of Chicago to announce plans to install EMAS (DAILY, Dec. 13) at both local airports. The system is already installed at 21 runway ends at 16 airports, according to FAA.
ILFC picked AD Aerospace as the supplier for cockpit video surveillance systems on its Boeing 737-700s. AD Aerospace's FlightVu Flight Deck Entry Video Surveillance System (FDEVSS) features cockpit door cameras that link the multi-function displays (MFDs) in the cabin. Three cameras monitor the approach to the flight deck door and areas and forward galley areas. Carriers that use FDEVSS include Air Asia, bmi, Thomsonfly, Hainan, Air Seychelles and Hapagfly. -LR
Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport is betting that its international air service incentive program will help it add more transoceanic and Mexican flights by foreign flag carriers.
The European Union plans to sign agreements with Ukraine and Morocco on Dec. 12 as part of its program to expand its aviation rules to neighboring countries, says Daniel Calleja, European Commission director for air transport. By 2010, the EU hopes to extend common aviation agreements to 35 countries with a combined population of 500 million.
