Budget airlines serving Bangkok would fly into the old Don Muang Airport under a proposal that operator Airports of Thailand will present to its new board next month. The operator is also considering building a budget terminal at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport. If the new board approves of the Don Muang plan, it will be presented to the government next year, said Suwannee Samrongwatana, VP of the planning department at AOT.
Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.), the expected new chair of the House Transportation Committee, said yesterday that he still opposes easing rules on foreign ownership of U.S. carriers and user fees to fund the nation's air traffic management system. Oberstar told a Capitol Hill news conference that he hoped DOT Secretary Mary Peters "would just simply set aside" plans to change the rules on foreign ownership, adding there is bipartisan opposition to the move in Congress.
Boeing yesterday promoted Nicole Piasecki to VP-Boeing International and president of Boeing Japan, responsible for boosting the company's partnerships in Japan. She will report to Laurette Koellner, president of Boeing International and will be based in Tokyo.
Airbus A318s powered by CFM-56 engines last week received approval for 180-minute extended-range twin-engine operations, giving airlines and VIP customers more flexibility to use the plane on longer flights.
TSA Administrator Kip Hawley is in Brussels this week to meet with the European Union's Aviation Security Committee and to attend portions of the EU-U.S. Transportation Security Cooperation Group. He will also meet with his counterpart, Jonathan Faull, the European Commission's director general for justice, freedom and security, to discuss airport security issues.
Ryanair yesterday said it will extend the deadline for its bid to buy Irish carrier Aer Lingus until Dec. 4. The low-fare airline needs the support of Aer Lingus staff if its hostile takeover attempt is to be successful. The Employee Share Ownership Trust is finalizing a membership vote by Nov. 22.
Embraer's CEO believes the company's service business is fast becoming a relevant profit area, and the airframer is preparing to offer customers more service options starting in May next year. The company already has three maintenance, repair and overhaul centers near Lisbon, in Nashville and in Gaviao Peixoto, Brazil. Revenues from customer services at Embraer during the third quarter grew to US$130.7 million, about 14.6% of total revenues, compared with US$93.9 million, or 8.8% a year ago.
The U.K. government must establish a timetable to accelerate the development of new runway procedures and the building of a third runway at London Heathrow Airport, says British Airways CEO Willie Walsh.
Apple yesterday signed a deal with Panasonic Avionics Corp. to develop a system that lets passengers link their personal music and video iPod player into an aircraft inflight entertainment system.
AirTran executives believe the carrier's tie-up with Frontier will strategically help it capture incremental passengers during historically slow times without adding the complexity of a typical code-sharing relationship. The two U.S. low-cost carriers are allowing customers to earn and redeem frequent flyer miles in their respective programs. AirTran and Frontier are also linking to one another's web sites through a referral element of the partnership, which allows customers visiting one site to book flights with the other carrier.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. is making a small shift in the way it imposes startup conditions on U.S.-Mexico route awards, after deciding to overturn a previous decision affecting ASA and Northwest that some airlines saw as a departure from DOT standards (DAILY, Aug. 3.)
Global passenger traffic grew 2.5% in September 2006 from last September, following rises of 2.3% in August and 2.6% in July, according to new statistics from Airports Council International. The 4% boost in September's international traffic was offset by 0.8% growth in domestic traffic. Domestic traffic was down in North America by 1%. Traffic in Latin America fell 4% due to the Brazilian market continuing to underperform as Varig entered bankruptcy. Sao Paulo, the continent's busiest airport, saw traffic plummet 11%.
UPS next year plans to open a new pilot base in Anchorage as part of its plan to boost operations to Asia. The new domicile will be fully staffed by May 2007, the carrier said. "The opening of this domicile will help ensure on-time departures, create more flexibility for the flight crews and improve service to customers," said Bob Lekites, VP-airline and international operations. Initially, the Anchorage base will be staffed by 80 MD-11 pilots, including some who are receiving promotions along with others who are transferring.
U.K.-based Thomsonfly has awarded a $3 million contract to Air New Zealand's engineering services division, ANZES, for the installation of a new inflight entertainment system and heavy maintenance checks on nine Boeing 767-300s.
Comair management avoided having to impose concessions on flight attendants after they voted to ratify a tentative deal reached last month. The deal includes a 7.5% pay cut with partial snapbacks at the end of four years (DAILY, Oct. 17). Airline management said the contract provisions won't take effect until the end of December, or until management reaches a deal with other labor groups.
FAA's Air Traffic Organization is stepping up efforts to secure support for new system it wants to phase in for maintaining equipment used in the National Airspace System (NAS). ATO has expressed an interest in adding reliability-centered maintenance to other methods used to repair equipment. RCM uses data and analysis to identify value-added maintenance processes.
The Professional Air Traffic Controllers Organization is moving closer to a hearing on what could be an expensive age discrimination suit against FAA. The latest step in this long-running legal challenge saw the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission uphold an earlier decision to certify the suit as a class action. FAA has one more opportunity to ask EEOC to review this decision, but if that fails, the case will be argued before the Texas EEOC office.
Aeromexico yesterday revealed it has ordered two more Boeing 787-8s and 10 737-700s, which were previously attributed by Boeing to unidentified customers. The 787s are scheduled for delivery in 2010 and the 737s in 2010. The airline earlier announced plans to lease three 787-8s from ILFC, to be delivered beginning in early 2010. The 787 orders, along with recently delivered 777s, will replace leased 767s on routes to Europe, South America and Asia.
Malaysian low-fare airline Air Asia reportedly plans to launch long-haul flights in late 2007 or early 2008 and wants to lease four widebody aircraft to operate flights to Europe. While Malaysia Airlines (MAS) is not eager to give up any routes it is operating or rights it has partially used, Air Asia may opt for the routes that were dropped by the national carrier. Madrid was axed from MAS's network five years ago due to poor passenger load, while Vienna and Manchester were terminated in April under the carrier's turnaround business plan.
