Comair pilots say little movement is occurring in their negotiations with management as the deadline approaches for an $8 million rise in the airline's pilot pay costs. That potential increase is a result of concessions Comair pilots agreed to last year before parent Delta filed for bankruptcy. It was part of a plan by Comair to ensure its growth. An agreement management reached with pilots post-Chapter 11 in January vaporized after Comair didn't meet certain cost targets in a tentative deal it recently negotiated with flight attendants.
ABX saw its third-quarter profits sink to $6.6 million, with the drop due mainly to primary customer DHL withdrawing some business in May. Last year, ABX reported a third-quarter profit of $7.4 million, of which about $1.3 million came from management of line-haul truck operations for DHL before this agreement was terminated. Third-quarter revenue was also down, from $369.9 million in 2005 to $281.3 million this year.
The European Commission has created a new high-level group to advise it on the future of aviation regulation. The formation of the group came after a meeting in Brussels in September of representatives from national civil aviation administrations, aviation industry and Eurocontrol. Representatives were charged with finding ways to improve the efficiency and performance of the aviation system, while ensuring the highest safety standards.
U.S. negotiators said the informal government-to-government talks with Japan held last week in Tokyo were "productive," although officials would not say if there was any movement on key issues. The two sides plan to hold formal talks in the first half of next year in Washington, with the goal moving closer to the liberalization first outlined in the 1998 MOU.
Airbus should have told its customers about the A380 production problems much earlier, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al-Baker said. "They could have seen the problems at least six to eight months before they were published," Al-Baker told London's The Times in an interview. "Like all airlines, when we are buying airplanes, we are committed to certain routes," he said. "We would have been planning at least 10 new routes, but at the moment we have to settle with at least seven. We are unhappy about the delay." -JF
Engine lessor Willis Lease Finance Corp. yesterday swung to a modest $1.7 million net profit, compared with a $501,000 loss last year thanks to a 12% jump in lease revenue.
British Airways this month will begin the roll-out of a redesigned business-class product in its Boeing 747-400 fleet, and while the 777s will receive the same treatment, the airline is still deciding whether it will be worth retrofitting its 767s.
International Aero Engines struck a deal with low-cost carrier Tiger Airways for long-term aftermarket agreement as part of the V2500Select program introduced by IAE last year. V2500 engines power Tiger's Airbus A320 fleet. IAE valued the deal at $300 million. Select also includes an upgrade program that IAE plans to start testing early next year (DAILY, Nov. 13).
Kuwaiti leasing firm ALAFCO ordered six Airbus A320s following a deal last year for six A350s. ALAFCO also has options for another six A350s (DAILY, Nov. 11). Kuwait Financing House is the ALAFCO's main shareholder, and the leasing company's aircraft portfolio includes A300s, A310s and A320s.
The International Aviation Club of Washington next week plans hold its November meeting on Nov. 21 at the Marriott Metro Center in Washington. The lunch will feature a panel discussion on the post-election legislative outlook with representatives from the House aviation subcommittee and Senate Commerce Committee.
Fraport's six airports served 63 million passengers between January and October 2006, a 1.5% increase year over year. Frankfurt Airport alone reported an 0.8% rise in passengers served in the first 10 months of the year, at 44.9 million. The airport operator blamed the small increase on "increasingly serious capacity constraints" but remained optimistic on positive financial results for the 2006 fiscal year.
KLM yesterday confirmed a deal to convert six Boeing 737-800 options as part of its network growth plan at the same time it plans to spend about EUR100 million to upgrade its aircraft cabins fleetwide.
Egypt-based carrier Air Cairo yesterday took delivery of its first Airbus A320 purchased directly from the airframer. The delivery is the first from a total for four A320 aircraft ordered from Airbus. Air Cairo plan to operate the aircraft on charter routes between Europe and within the Middle East. The airline is majority-owned by Egyptair and Egyptian banks. The A320s will be configured to seat up to 174 passengers in an all-economy configuration.
Moody's Investors Service has changed the outlook on debt issued by Southern Cross Airports Corp. and Sydney Airport Finance Co. Pty Ltd. from stable to negative. The move comes only a day after Sydney Airport parent Macquarie announced plans to issue new bonds to raise $650 million to pay Ferrovial for its 20% stake in the facility.
Airport workers in Canada's 29 largest airports will receive biometric Restricted Area Identity Cards by the end of 2006, said Lawrence Cannon, minister of transport, infrastructure and communities. The cards, issued by Transport Canada and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, will use fingerprints and iris scans to identify workers accessing restricted areas at airports. The system will cover more than 120,000 aviation workers, including flight crews, refuelers, caterers and others who require access to restricted areas.
Mesaba closed on its deal with Marathon Structured Finance Fund for $24 million in debtor-in-possession financing. At the end of September, the airline's cash balances had dropped to $7.6 million from $20 million at the end of March. At one point, the carrier said it was losing about $1 million per week as is worked to gain concessionary deals from pilots, flight attendants and mechanics. Votes by the respective unions representing those labor groups should occur by the end of the month.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh believes there is no chance of a transatlantic open-skies deal being completed in the next 18 months. The effect of the U.S. election on the open-skies process is still unclear, but in general there is little appetite for the agreement among politicians on either side of the Atlantic, Walsh says.
Boeing plans to mark about 2,000 Boeing 787 parts with radio-frequency identification (RFID) tags as several airlines explore applications of the technology and the industry prepares for better data exchanges.
The European Commission said it "intends to make a specific legislative proposal" on the integration of aviation into the European Union's Emissions Trading Scheme "within the next few months." A new, dedicated piece of legislation will be drawn up for aviation (DAILY, July 6), separately from the overall revision of the plan that is scheduled for the second half of 2007. "The [European] Commission Council [of Ministers] and European Parliament have all expressed support for bringing aviation into the EU ETS," added the EC.
Eurocontrol's Maastricht control center recently became one of the first European air traffic control facilities to be certified under the new requirements of the Single European Sky process. The Maastricht Upper Area Control Center handles en route traffic for the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Northwest Germany. The certification was granted after scrutiny by the Netherlands Transport and Water Management Inspectorate. This audit verified that procedures meet European Union standards in several areas.
The FAA and India yesterday in New Delhi officially signed an MOU that sets the terms and conditions under which FAA may provide support to India's Ministry of Civil Aviation under the U.S.-India Aviation Cooperation Program. The deal has been in the works ever since the two countries sealed their open-skies agreement in April 2005 (DAILY, April 15, 2005). The signing of the MOU was held up over a liability clause, but eventually the two sides agreed. The MOU includes technical assistance, job training and personnel exchange programs. -SL
