Great Lakes and Alaska-based Ellis Air Taxi this week were both reselected by the U.S. Transportation Dept. to operate essential air service in North Dakota and Alaska, respectively. Great Lakes will continue EAS operations at Dickinson, N.D., until Jan. 31, 2009, operating as a code-share partner of both United and Frontier. It will receive $1,696,977 in annual subsidy for a two-year period starting next February. The offering will consist of three roundtrips each weekday and weekend to Denver operated with 30-seat Embraer Brasilias [OST-1995-697].
Singapore's High Court decided that International Chamber of Commerce arbitration in the dispute over the third terminal of Manila's Ninoy Aquino Airport will go forward despite Philippine government appeals to stop the proceedings from being held in Singapore.
Comair won from the U.S. Transportation Dept. an exemption to operate Delta Connection service between U.S. points and points in the Bahamas. The exemption will enable the carrier to assume flying the Cincinnati-Nassau route, which is currently operated by the mainline carrier, in January (DAILY, Oct. 20).
SkyEurope widened its loss for 2006 to EUR57 million from ERU28 million the previous year as the airline made investments in fleet renewals, a new yield management system and introduced routes that haven't reached their full maturity level. For the fourth quarter, the carrier lost about EUR7.1 million. Losses in the third quarter reached EUR16.5 million (DAILY, Sept. 6). The carrier cast the money it invested in various systems in 2006 as a "platform to profitability."
Mexico and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region on Nov. 20 signed an air services agreement that will function as a framework for developing future bilateral operations between the two countries.
Eight-month old Peruvian startup WayraPeru suspended operations temporarily after Chairman Peter Koechin, directors and high-level executives resigned and the airline was left adrift without management. Minority equity holder German Efromovich withdrew the Fokker aircraft being used in Wayra's operations. Partners hope to iron out their differences on equity ownership and management functions that led to this decision. The company plans immediately to reimburse some 1,500 passengers holding paid tickets.
Security wait times at U.S. airports over the Thanksgiving break were generally no longer than last year, despite tightened screening rules, aviation industry groups and TSA said yesterday.
Lufthansa Technik is building the capability to offer Airbus A330/340 C and D-checks at its Malta base. Lufthansa Technik signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Malta, under which Malta Industrial parks will build the hangar. The facility should be functional by 2008 subject to Lufthansa Technik's firming up a new collective agreement with local trade unions. Lufthansa Technik Malta currently offers C-checks on Boeing and Airbus narrowbody aircraft. -LR
The Airbus A380 completed the last of its route-proving flights yesterday, and Airbus said the aircraft met all of its performance goals, both in the air and on the ground. The final flight arrived at Toulouse after departing Vancouver Wednesday in heavy snow. The route-proving flights lasted 18 days, covering 69,000 nm in 152 flight hours. Route-proving is the last of the trials before type certification, scheduled in mid-December.
Delta shrank its losses for October from $213 million in 2005 to $88 million this year. Unit costs fell 4.1% to 7.12 cents as operating expenses dwindled by 6.9% on capacity reductions of 4.5%. As expected, US Airways executives met with Delta management and the carrier's creditors yesterday regarding the US Airways merger proposal. Delta said its position is status quo, noting it would fulfill the obligation to listen to US Airways' pitch but would "continue to progress toward filing our stand-alone plan by the end of year."
Mexicana got the nod from the U.S. Transportation Dept. to carry American's code on its Dallas-Mexico City flights. The code of American's oneworld ally Qantas will soon appear on Horizon's flights between San Francisco and Portland and on flights from Seattle to the Canadian cities of Victoria, Edmonton, Calgary and Kelowna. Meanwhile, Delta and Connection carrier ASA won exemption to fly from Los Angeles to Los Mochis, Mexico. The regional carrier will carry Delta's code on the flights [OST-2004-16945, OST-2006-26216, OST-2006-24984]. -ARS
Mexicana plans to expand its partnership with Japan Airlines, effective Dec. 1, moving the Mexican carrier closer to the oneworld alliance. Mexicana left Star Alliance four years ago and has decided instead to follow a "cherry picking" strategy of forging bilateral partnerships with other airlines, said CEO Emilio Romano. However, he said frequent flyers want to be part of a larger global alliance, and they want to use their miles to travel the world.
The White House needs to move quickly to get its FAA reauthorization proposal released to Congress, said former Transport Secretary Norman Mineta, who attempted to release a plan six months ago.
A high-level White House policy meeting scheduled yesterday was probably the cause of congressional concerns that a controversial airline foreign ownership rule was about to be issued by the Bush Administration, industry observers tell The DAILY.
Mexican low-cost carriers Volaris and Interjet, claiming "their patience has been exhausted," appealed to the civil aviation department (DGAC) to push for air traffic and other infrastructure upgrades at Toluca Airport.
The U.S. has the reputation of having worst entry process of any country for travelers trying to enter the country, according to a new survey, which will hurt airlines trying to boost international traffic and hub airports aiming to become transit points.
Global passenger traffic growth accelerated again in October after five months of cooling growth, although October also saw slowing growth in freight demand, according to the International Air Transport Association. Passenger traffic was up 5.3% in October compared with the same month last year, a higher growth rate than September's 4.7%. North American traffic climbed by 6.7% on a 6.5% capacity hike, although the biggest improvement was among Middle Eastern carriers, which saw 12.9% growth in October.
SR Technics Chairman Frank Turner is leaving the company just as the acquisition of the company by a consortium based in the United Arab Emirates becomes final. The company said Turner opted to depart from SR Technics for personal reasons. CEO Hans Lerch is taking over the Chairmanship until further notice. The MRO's newly formed board of directors includes representatives from each business in the consortium: Philip Haddad and Hugo Levecke for Mubadala; Robert Johnson and Robert Mionis for DAE; and Felix Herlihy and Osman Qureshi from Istithmar. -LR
American managed to buy back $61.8 million in debt securities as part of its latest effort to improve the health of its balance sheet. The carrier announced the buyback offer about a month ago, with the offer applying to $338 million in debt (DAILY, Oct. 25). This debt was issued between 1986 and 1992, and is among the company's highest-interest borrowing.
The European Commission has set a Dec. 22 deadline to approve the Hochtief AG consortium's purchase of Budapest Airport from BAA parent Ferrovial. The consortium inked a deal in October to buy Ferrovial's 75% stake in the airport.
