Last Friday's stockholders meeting at Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, which would have approved outstanding balance sheets, appointed new directors and trustees, and established new by-laws for the federation of LAB labor unions (Fstlab0, was suspended for lack of a quorum. LAB Chairman David Lozano said representatives for majority equity shares still registered in the name of former President Ernesto Asbun did not attend to make up a quorum, and the meeting was postponed while legal and other options are explored. -LZ
Airbus and Air France are liable for damages related to a 1992 Air Inter A320 crash, which killed 87 people, a French court ruled yesterday. The court in Colmar acquitted six defendants -- including former aviation officials and an ex-Airbus executive -- who faced criminal charges, according to the Association Press. Damages to be paid by Airbus and Air France were not immediately announced. The January 1992 flight was going from Lyon to Strasburg but crashed into a mountain as it was landing.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey today will talk about the "state of the FAA" and the revised Flight Plan 2007-2011 at an employee town hall meeting in Washington. The meeting will be broadcast to more than 100 FAA offices. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters will be on hand, as well as other FAA leaders, including ATO vice presidents.
Chile's international cargo market performed well in September, with traffic up 3.9% from the same month last year. Competition in the market increased as well, thanks to carriers such as Polar Air Cargo, Lan Cargo, CargoLux and Martinair Holland. International passenger traffic, however, fell 1% from September 2005 because of schedule cuts by Varig, Lloyd Aereo Boliviano and Aerolineas Argentinas. Passenger traffic grew 3.6%.
IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani last week told a public hearing on the renegotiation of airport management contracts held by Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 (AA2000) that the concession should be rescinded or modified; the company holds the concession to develop and manage 32 airports throughout Argentina.
Qatar Airways' launch of new nonstop service to New York slipped to next summer, but the airline has aggressive plans to start seven new routes to worldwide destinations in 2007. Starting Jan. 3, the carrier will add flights to Lagos, followed six days later with the start of service to Dar Es Salaam. In March, the carrier will launch service to Bali to complement its existing service to Jakarta. Also in March, the carrier will add Vietnam to its network when it starts flights to Ho Chi Minh City.
Air St. Thomas' commuter carrier authority was recently revoked by the U.S. Transportation Dept. The airline ceased operations in Aug. 31, 2005, though it still operates on-demand air taxi flights [OST-2006-26265].
AAR won new business with Northwest Airlines, inking a deal to perform heavy maintenance on five previously stored Boeing 757s being reintroduced into the carrier's fleet. AAR also plans to reconfigure 10 757s with an updated business class cabin and a larger coach cabin. Work starts this month at AAR's Indianapolis facility, and the targeted completion date is August 2007. -LR
By Pat Murphy, Gerchick-Murphy Associates In a recent opinion piece in The DAILY (Oct. 24), an industry commentator urged that the U.S. Dept. of Transportation reject both United's and Northwest's applications in the ongoing China route case, claiming it was "inconceivable" that valuable frequencies should be awarded to an "entrenched duopolist."
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Airport last week reopened its oldest runway, which began operations in 1969 but was closed two months ago for a repaving project.
Sharjah-based low-fare airline Air Arabia plans to add Yerevan, capital city of Armenia, to its network next month. The three-hour flight will be flown three times weekly. Air Arabia currently flies to 30 destinations in the Middle East, Indian sub-continent and Europe. The airline operates a fleet of 12 Airbus A320-200s. -WD
The Bulgarian government confirmed that it would sell 99.99% of flag carrier Bulgaria Air to Balkan Hemus Group, a private, Varna, Bulgaria-based company which already controls airline Hemus Air. Balkan Hemus has offered BGN13 million (US$8.5 million) and pledged to invest a little over BGN100 million in the next five years. Hemus also committed to raise employee numbers from 621 at the outset to 1,062 in five years. The Bulgarian state keeps a golden share, with the right to veto in strategic decision-making.
Skybus opted for an Airbus support package after ordering 65 A319s. The package is based on the Air+ by Airbus services and includes aircraft maintenance, component management and support, and engineering support. Skybus picked Airbus MRO network member ST Aerospace and airframer supplier Messier Bugatti as partners in the support deal, which starts in 2007 and continues for 12 years. Skybus plans to launch service in spring 2007. -LR
SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express today are expected to unveil a new name and single brand for the merged carriers, which have been operating separately under SN Airholding. The merger deal was unveiled in April (DAILY, April 4). There has been speculation in Belgium that the new name will be Brussels Airlines, but other observers hope that the Sabena name is resurrected.
FAA awarded Israeli Aircraft Industries (IAI) a supplemental type certificate (STC) to convert a Boeing 747-400 owned by Netherlands Rabobank Group from a passenger to freighter configuration. IAI also won similar nods from European and Israeli authorities. Air Atlanta Icelandic plans to use the aircraft on cargo missions.
SkyTeam members Continental and Aeroflot are applying for authority that will enable the carriers to code share between the U.S. and Russia. Under the reciprocal code-share agreement inked last April, Continental will carry Aeroflot's code on flights from New York Kennedy, Washington Dulles and Toronto to Houston and Cleveland. Aeroflot, meanwhile, would put the CO code on flights between Moscow and Frankfurt, London, Oslo and Paris.
The Transportation Security Administration has re-selected Illinois-based Aviation Security, LLC to handle passenger and baggage screening functions at San Francisco Airport under the Screening Partnership Program (SPP). The airport thought that SSP would be a good fit for its customers and operations, said spokesman Michael McCarran. The three-year, 11-month contract is valued at about $314 million. Airports could "opt-out" of using federal screeners through a pilot program under the Aviation and Transportation Security Act of 2001 (ATSA).
