British Airways says U.K. regulators should slash a third from the rate of return BAA is allowed to earn from its airport assets. BAA is currently allowed to collect a 7.75% return on its asset base, but the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority is reviewing what the user charge level should be from 2008-2013. British Airways wants the rate of return cut to 5.6% in the next charging period, said the airline's economic regulation manager, Andrew Cunningham, this week.
The case for reforming FAA's funding system has been overstated by the Bush Administration, the senior House Democrat on aviation issues argued yesterday.
While the Bush Administration has not released its proposal for FAA reauthorization, the agency recognizes that increased Passenger Facility Charges can help lessen the demand for and burden on the Airport Improvement Program, said FAA Administrator Marion Blakey at the ACI-NA annual conference. "The administration is concerned that we can't drive AIP numbers up because it will affect investments made in other areas, such as technology and modernization," she said. "All of those things are part of the tradeoff as we discuss how to finance the system to function best.
Officials with the Dublin Airport Authority are calling Ryanair's offer to build a second terminal at Dublin Airport a publicity stunt, and label the carrier's estimate of close to EUR760 million for the construction of the new facility "spurious."
Continental executives yesterday stressed they will continue their recent focus on international growth, although next year's international capacity growth will be at the lower end of the annual growth target because of a shortage of aircraft. Continental intends to grow mainline capacity 5%-7% a year, mostly through more international flying, President Jeff Smisek said during an investor conference yesterday; however, next year, Continental plans to add only 5% capacity, which Smisek admitted will be "at the bottom of our targeted...range."
Amadeus yesterday named Arnaud Debuchy the new director of its airline business group, responsible for airline account management and sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. Debuchy was previously director-Amadeus Travel Intelligence Unit, a post he has held since 2004.
As work begins on FAA reauthorization in 2007, the federal role in financing airports may be reduced at a time when airlines are ill equipped to provide significantly more support for needed capacity enhancements, according to a new report from Fitch Ratings.
SAS Maintenance Training plans to open a new training center in Riga during the fourth quarter to better serve customers in the Baltics and Eastern Europe. SAS personnel will offer training on Boeing 737 classics and next-generation planes. SAS said the site -- set to be housed in the SAS Flight Academy at Riga Airport -- will operate under Swedish Part 147 regulations.
Air France Industries won new business from China Eastern Airlines to repair CFM International CFM56-5C and GE CF6-80C2 engines powering the carrier's five Airbus A340-300s and 10 A300-600s. AFI plans to repair the CFM engines at Paris Orly, while CF6 work will be completed at AFI or at Amsterdam Schiphol, where AFI partner KLM Engineering and Maintenance is based.
Singapore Changi Airport reported steady traffic growth in August with nearly 3 million passengers transiting the airport, a 6.4% in-crease from the same period last year. Traffic for the first eight months rose 8.2%, putting Changi on track to surpass last year's record of 32.4 million passengers. On the cargo front, Changi processed almost 157,100 metric tons, with freight growing by 3.1%.
Delta this winter plans to add three more cities to its Los Angeles min-hub expansion as it works to increase feed to its growing Mexican and Latin American network.
FAA is dropping its two-year-old prohibition on buying, selling and leasing arrival slots at Chicago O'Hare Airport during the month leading up to the agency's new anti-congestion system at the airport. Under the FAA order in effect at O'Hare for the past two years, slot exchanges have been allowed only in one-for-one swapping. This order will expire Oct. 28. FAA will honor slot deals concluded by then, incorporating them into the startup of the new rule the following day.
FedEx Corp. intends to replace its Boeing 727-200s with 757-200s during the coming decade -- if it can find enough of them, fast enough -- under a $2.6 billion program to buy and modify the aircraft.
European Union and U.S. officials meet tomorrow in Washington with the intent of working out an interim deal on passenger name record (PNR) data transfers from airlines to U.S. law enforcement agencies before the current agreement expires Oct. 1. European officials want to go ahead with an interim agreement to set the stage for a more permanent deal that would involve aviation industry input.
Canadian startup Porter Airlines passed a significant milestone toward its launch after receiving its air operator certificate and Canadian Transport Agency license. Porter plans to unveil fares and schedules soon. The carrier has taken delivery of the first of 10 Bombardier Q400s and will fly four of the planes from Toronto City Centre Airport by yearend (DAILY, Sept. 9).
In an attempt to sidle its way into the China market, US Airways asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. for authority to code share with two Star Alliance affiliates.
Cathay Pacific on Dec. 1 will inaugurate passenger service to Shanghai Pudong Airport with daily Airbus A330/340-300 flights. Cathay operates twice-daily flights to Beijing, a daily service to Xiamen and 12-times-weekly freighter flights to Shanghai.
The Manila International Airport Authority (MIAA) initiated talks with Philippine Airlines to get the airline to pay PHP2.1 billion (US$42 million) in unpaid aeronautical charges since 1999. MIAA General Manager Alfonso Cusi said the unpaid charges must be recovered, failing which the process of the law will take its course. Cusi said MIAA is willing to compromise with the airline for an amicable settlement. He noted that MIAA had been very flexible with PAL but is no longer obliged to provide a service without being paid.
Aviation security measures will get more than $6.3 billion in Fiscal 2007 under a Homeland Security spending bill worked out by House and Senate negotiators. Both the House and Senate are expected to take up the Homeland Security appropriations bill this week, now that negotiators for both legislative bodies have reconciled their differing versions. Leaders of both houses plan to adjourn for the fall campaign season by Friday.
Airline analysts yesterday reduced their third-quarter earnings expectations for American after the airline acknowledged revenue growth was lower than expected due to the lingering effects of last month's security scare. American said its consolidated unit revenue is likely to be up 7.1%-8.1% in the third quarter, with mainline unit revenue growing 6.6%-7.6%. The London bomb threat and resulting security restrictions reduced revenue by about $50 million in August and September.
By: Steve Lott, Aviation Daily U.S. network airline executives deserve a fair amount of blame for mistakes made in recent years, but one area where they're due for some praise is in matching capacity to demand. While long in coming, mastery of the concept boosted load factors and led to huge revenue benefits, according to a new analysis by The DAILY and partner Eclat Consulting.
