Mesaba reached tentative deals with pilots and flight attendants over the weekend but remained locked in negotiations with mechanics yesterday to forge a concessionary pact. The carrier's management opted to delay imposing contract terms on those groups last week after winning approval from the court overseeing its Chapter 11 case to void labor contracts. About $24 million in debtor-in-possession financing awaits Mesaba if it wins concessions from its labor groups.
European low-fare airline SkyEurope has moved away from radical outsourcing, saying keeping some work in house is actually cheaper. "It's not very smart to just outsource everything," SkyEurope Chief Operating Officer Jason Bitter told delegates at MRO Europe in Amsterdam last week. The airline reverted to doing ground-handling in-house at major stations, along with line maintenance and maintenance planning. "We now have a more pragmatic, less philosophical approach."
Antigua-based Caribbean Star Airlines on Dec. 1 will reinstate daily service to Curacao from Trinidad, to promote tourism and trade. "Curacao has been at the center of our expansion plans for quite some time," said Skip Barnette, CEO of Caribbean Star and sister airline Caribbean Sun. "I am pleased the governments of Curacao and Trinidad/Tobago expressed support by authorizing the new service so quickly." -LZ
The European Commission authorized two state aid plans to support regional air traffic in the French Antilles and Guiana. One plan that will give tax credits to aircraft lessors will enable Air Caraïbes to charter a 100-seat Embraer 190 to operate routes between Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana, as well as a 70-seat ATR 72-500 for routes between Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint-Martin.
The National Transportation Safety Board sent a team of representatives to Nigeria to aid in the investigation of the ADC Airlines crash of a Boeing 737 over the weekend. The accident occurred near the Nigerian capital of Abuja shortly after takeoff.
Harris Corp. says it is still on track to meet its December 2007 target for completing FAA's massive telecommunications upgrade, even though FAA has taken a cautious approach and set a new deadline of December 2008 to provide a buffer in case of overruns.
After months of criticism and questions, Airbus won a small vote of support yesterday from Qantas, which converted eight A380 options into firm orders.
Korea Airports Corp. (KAC) will invest KRW261 billion (US$276 million) to expand Jeju International Airport (JIA). Plans to build a new airport for KRW1.5 trillion were called off due to the high cost involved. The proposed expansion would enable JIA to meet traffic growth until 2030.
B/E Aerospace more than tripled its third-quarter profits year-over-year as the company continued to build its backlog with strong contributions from all business segments. Net earnings during the quarter were $31.4 million, up from $10 million a year ago. B/E's backlog grew by $600 million to $1.6 billion. CEO Amin Khoury noted no single program drove B/E's backlog growth, noting the company captured two retrofit programs. He pointed out demand for new-buy widebody interiors for international carriers remained robust.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Honeywell are partnering to start a maintenance, repair and overhaul base at Schiphol Airport for auxiliary power units. The first APU will be repaired in the second quarter of 2007.
Boeing should pick a North American airframe MRO partner for the GoldCare 787 lifecycle support program yearend, DAILY affiliate Overhaul & Maintenance reports.
The head of Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA) is pledging significant improvement in the coming months ahead as the carrier tries to work with Delta to improve scheduling as part of what it is dubbing the "relaunch" of its operational performance. In the latest U.S. Transportation Dept. rankings of carriers' performance in August, ASA had the worst on-time rate of 58.1% (DAILY, Oct. 10).
Spanair is launching five new domestic routes, in a bid to grab market share from rival Iberia and attract more business traveler. The new services launching on Oct. 29 will link up Madrid with Granada, San Sebastian and Almeria, as well as Barcelona with Valencia and Granada. SAS's Spanish subsidiary said that these routes were "especially" aimed at business travelers. The company is looking to take a 40% total market share, up from 25% today.
FAA says delays are up 44% for the month through Oct. 26, although traffic rose just 2% from last year. A bad run of weather is the major culprit for the delay increase, with the system being hit by everything from snow and thunderstorms to high winds and low ceilings. Runway work at some large airports has also not helped
Midwest Airlines still aims to make a decision between Airbus and Boeing on a replacement for its MD-80s by yearend, but its top priority is to select a regional carrier to fly its 50-seat jets. Once the carrier decides between the A320 and the 737, CEO Tim Hoeksema doesn't expect deliveries until 2008.
Cathay Pacific last week unveiled plans to add Beijing to its freighter network next month after gaining approval from China to launch a new twice-weekly service.
The Transportation Security Clearinghouse (TSC) has contracted Verified Identity Pass, Inc. to use the Central Information Management System (CIMS) to provide interoperability under the Registered Traveler program.
AirTran could add four to five new cities in 2007, including the already announced markets of Daytona and Newburgh, N.Y., COO Bob Fornaro says. Executives note they'd like to increase AirTran's east-west exposure from Atlanta and other places since those routes are better performers in September and October than certain Florida routes.
Swiss International Air Lines plans to boost its capacity in Basel by more than 40%, starting early next year with new service to several European destinations.
