If a new funding system is introduced for FAA, it must be accompanied by strict oversight and encourage more cost-effective use of FAA services, but achieving consensus on such a system will be extremely tough, according to a government report issued last week.
JetBlue is looking at a number of options as it tweaks its capacity estimates for next year from 18%-20% to 14%-17%. CEO David Neeleman tells analysts it makes a lot of sense to "deal off the bottom," in terms of adjusting the fleet. "As we move forward into next year," Neeleman says, "with the delivery stream of 12 airplanes, chances are we'll just take the 12 airplanes," and then sell some older aircraft. It could be two, three or four planes.
The Chicago Dept. of Aviation and the O'Hare Modernization Program are co-sponsoring an aviation and construction industry job fair on Nov. 29, 2006. The fair has attracted almost 50 companies, city departments and trade associations, including the Chicago Transit Authority, Duty Free Americas, Hudson group and Walsh Construction Co.
Thai low-fare airline Nok Air leased four Boeing 737-400s from GECAS. The four aircraft were initially owned by Malaysia Airlines, later sold to the lessor and leased back by the carrier. MAS also performed heavy maintenance on the aircraft and painted them in Nok Air's livery before delivering the aircraft to the Thai carrier.
Delta next month will begin carrying KLM's code on flights from KLM's U.S. gateways (Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York Kennedy, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.) to Charlotte, Cancun, Panama City in Panama and San Jose in Costa Rica. Delta will initially carry the code on flights to the points out of Atlanta, but Comair and ASA are also approved to carry the code in the markets where they fly for Delta [OST-2004-19214].
ATR picked Servigistics to manage spare parts inventory for the airframer. ATR sells spare parts from three different distribution centers and also offers customers global maintenance agreements. Servigistics is headquartered in Atlanta, and has regional offices in Bristol and Tokyo. It offers a single data model for parts and work force management and pricing options.
EasyJet plans to launch a daily flight between Edinburgh and Munich April 4. The new route is a result of an investment by the Scottish Executive designed to support direct air service to Scotland. It's the first direct flight to Edinburgh from Southern Germany.
The Allied Pilots Association yesterday presented American with a proposal that would let the airline operate a Dallas-Beijing flight in return for certain concessions by the company. American is one of four carriers that applied for a new China frequency that is to be awarded soon by the U.S. Transportation Dept. However, American must win union consent to fly this route because it would not be covered by the current contract.
Lloyd Aereo Boliviano CEO Franklin Taendler announced an agreement with workers for a new, limited-time schedule of payments that will allow them to collect at least one-fourth of salaries and benefits owed since February. Taendler told Los Tiempos the move was feasible because revenues from ticket sales have gone up to $7 million a month and are expected to increase by 20% as international routes are re-established to handle yearend holiday traffic. -LZ
Boeing yesterday added 29 new orders to its backlog -- with all but one of these for unidentified customers -- and Airbus also continued its strong fourth quarter with a major order from Brazilian carrier TAM.
GECAS repossessed four Boeing 737-300s from debt-riddled Indonesian flag carrier Gauda for non-payment of leasing charges. The four aircraft were flown from Jakarta to the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport in Kuala Lumpur. GECAS hired Malaysia Airlines to carry out heavy maintenance on the four aircraft.
Vietnam Airlines is nearing a deal with Boeing to buy another 10 Boeing 787s, The DAILY has learned, as part of the carrier's long-haul expansion plan and the airline also is considering a deal to buy five ATR-72s for more regional service.
Passenger traffic through Sharjah International Airport jumped 37% to 2.23 million in the first nine months of the year. Cargo handling hit an all-time high with 411,697 tons, an increase of 17.9%.
Alaska Airlines management and representatives of the Air Line Pilots Association this week exchanged contract negotiation openers as a prelude to formal bargaining scheduled to start in January.
Commutair won U.S. Transportation Dept. approval to alter its essential air service offering at Saranac Lake/Lake Placid, N.Y., from three roundtrips each weekday and each weekend to Boston to two roundtrips each weekday and each weekend to Albany and one weekday and weekend roundtrip to Boston. Commutair, which operates the service as Continental Connection, expects to begin the new service pattern around Nov. 27 [OST-2000-8025].
Construction of Seattle-Tacoma Airport's third runway recently reached a milestone when construction crews placed the last load of dirt on the embankment that will support the new runway.
Cargo carrier ASTAR on Wednesday night won a court injunction to prevent its pilots from striking, after the carrier heard a rumor that pilots may be contemplating such a move to protest pilot firings. The U.S. District Court in Dayton, Ohio, approved ASTAR's request for a temporary restraining order to be imposed on its pilots, who are represented by the Air Line Pilots Association. The judge agreed that a strike would damage the financial condition of ASTAR and its customers.
China Southern this week reported that sales of electronic tickets has topped RMB10.4 billion (US$1.3 billion) and that the carrier represents more than 32% of the e-tickets issued in China.
Brazilian officials investigating the September collision of a Legacy jet and a GOL Boeing 737 plan to examine Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) gear and other comm/nav equipment in a laboratory as the probe moves into its next phase. Releasing a preliminary report yesterday that offered few new details of the crash sequence, authorities said the next steps also include interviewing air traffic controllers and incorporating FAA analysis. Officials expect to publish their formal conclusions in about ten months. -LR
Asian network airlines in 2007 are expected to post only "modest improvements" over 2006 income, says a new forecast planned for release today in Osaka at the annual meeting of the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines. While the 17 members have been careful to match capacity growth with demand, "there is a risk that new aircraft deliveries...could reverse the upward trend in average load factors and put further competitive pressure on fares."
World Air Holdings this week extended the leases on eight aircraft to keep MD-11 and Boeing 757 aircraft in its fleet longer. The company's subsidiary World Airways added five years to the leases of three MD-11 passenger aircraft and three MD-11 freighters. The aircraft are leased from International Lease Finance Corp., and the terms were to expire in 2008 and 2009.
ANA recently expanded its electronic ticketing service to 57 routes to 15 airports in Japan, as part of its goal to make domestic travel easier. "This also means that passengers connecting from ANA and partner airline international flights will have a greater choice of domestic destinations using just a single e-ticket," the airline said. Until now, e-tickets had only been available on 21 domestic routes, and by spring next year, all ANA domestic flights with international connections will be available for e-ticketing.
The Association of Flight Attendants will have more time to prepare a response to an application from Alaska Airlines that seeks to eliminate the requirement for a procedure in their Boeing 737-400 passenger/cargo operations that a flight attendant enter the cockpit in the event a pilot becomes incapacitated. FAA found that "AFA-CWA has a substantive interest in the exemption request and has shown that good cause exists to extend the comment period" to Dec. 22.
CSA Czech Airlines cut its loss in half to $14.8 million in the first nine months of 2006. CSA attributed the improvement mainly to a 35% increase in its charter business.
