Japan Airlines and Galaxy Airlines, a new Japanese domestic cargo airline, last week unveiled a plan to start code sharing to boost JAL's domestic cargo market. The deal is subject to government approval, but starting Nov. 7 JAL will put its code on Galaxy's flights between Tokyo's Haneda Airport and Kitakyushu Airport in northern Kyushu and between Haneda and Naha, Okinawa. "JAL hopes that the new code share will help expand its share of the domestic cargo market with these late-night cargo flights," the carrier said.
The oneworld alliance last week launch a new campaign to win more market share in France and Germany, which are already strongly linked to SkyTeam and Star. The alliance is spending several million euros on the campaign, which features the group's first external advertising in five years. "The overall aim is to increase awareness of oneworld and its members and the services and benefits they offer air travelers from France and Germany, with that translating into more customers and more revenues for its airlines," executives said.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] OCT. 17-19 -- National Business Aviation Association 59th Annual Meeting & Convention, Orlando, Fla., 202-783-9000 OCT. 18-20 -- Air Transport Association e-Business Forum, Louisville, KY., 202-626-4039, e-mail: admin@ ataebiz.org, www. ataebiz.org/forum.
Latvia's AirBaltic inked a deal with the Latvian Lottery and is now selling instant tickets inflight. Each ticket costs EUR1.42, with cash winnings paid on the spot. Ryanair also sells lottery tickets in the cabin.
Arinc Inc. last week won a significant contract renewal with San Francisco International Airport to supply the airport's common-use technology, 10 years after launching one of the first airport common-use systems at the same airport.
Preliminary FAA figures show runway incursions and operational errors for fiscal 2006 are down from the previous year and also below the target maximums set by the agency. There were 627 Category A and B operational errors, 50 fewer than in fiscal 2005 and 26 lower than the target. There were just 28 Cat A and B runway incursions for the year, better than the target of 34 and also lower than the previous year.
Etihad plans to add several new Asian and European destinations, reports Geert Boven, VP-commercial. He tells The DAILY that Kuala Lumpur and a Japanese city are possible additions next year and that the carrier is targeting as many as seven more European points. Etihad will have 34 planes by yearend 2007.
Comair late Friday reached a tentative deal with its flight attendants represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The deal comes about three days after management said it would impose concessions on flight attendants Nov. 15.
Cathay Pacific posted both passenger and cargo traffic growth in September, and executives predict a "stable" final quarter of the year. Last month, the airline carried 1.3 million passengers, up 4.6% from last year, falling short of the 5.9% capacity increase. The passenger load factor was up 0.2 percentage points to 76.6%. For the first nine months, traffic rose 8.8% and capacity 8.9% from the same period in 2005. The cargo load factor rose 2.6 points to 71.3% thanks to a traffic increase, which outpaced the capacity growth.
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security is about to award multiple contracts totaling up to $10 million to study alternatives to laser jammer countermeasures against shoulder-fired missile attacks on commercial aircraft. Congress directed DHS last year to evaluate Emerging Counter-Man Portable Air Defense Systems Technologies. The technologies must differ from the Directed Infrared Counter Measure systems being tested.
Most U.S. airlines are generating free cash flows this year and next thanks to modest capital expenditures, says Merrill Lynch analyst Michael Linenberg. "It seems to be one or two years out of every 10 that we witness this phenomenon," he says. American and United are likely to produce the best free cash flow returns of major airlines.
You can now register online for AVIATION WEEK events. Go to www.aviationweek.com/conferences or contact Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) OCT. 24-26 -- MRO Europe, Amsterdam NOV. 13-15 -- Aerospace & Defense Programs, Phoenix
Tapped Robert Morris, president of Union Bank of California Leasing, to fill William LeRoy's board seat. LeRoy, partner at BDO Seidman LLP, is resigning from the board in line with policy requirements of his firm.
Messier-Bugatti on Friday announced plans to boost its wheel and carbon brake production capacity by 2008, to keep pace with several new contracts recorded in the past 24 months.
Before setting its own standards, ICAO is waiting to see what action the European Commission takes to restrict liquids on commercial flights, an EC official says. The EC has rushed through legislation on new carry-on restrictions that will take effect in Europe from Nov. 6, and the U.S. has already introduced similar rules.
Passenger numbers were up by just 0.5% to 439 million for the first seven months of this year, with domestic passengers down 0.2%, according to new data released by the U.S. Transportation Dept. U.S. airlines operated 6.1 million domestic and international flights, 4.4% fewer than last year. Domestic flight numbers dropped 5%, while international flights increased 2.7%. Traffic rose 2.4% on a 0.5% capacity decline, for a load factor increase of 2.2 points to 80.3%.
