Northrop Grumman unveiled yesterday the first widebody commercial aircraft equipped with its Guardian counter-surface-to-air missile system going into regular scheduled service. The FedEx MD-10 is the first of 11 the cargo carrier will fly with the directed infrared counter measures (DIRCM) technology over the next 18 months, testing whether the equipment -- developed for the military -- is cost-effective and reliable for commercial aircraft operations.
Cathay Pacific's August traffic jumped 5.2%, outpacing a 3.9% capacity rise, partly helped by surprisingly strong business traffic. The passenger load factor was up 1.3 percentage points to 83.1%. Figures for the first eight months of the year show traffic rising 9.4% and capacity 9.3%, compared with the same 2005 period. The amount of cargo carried in August was 94,987 tonnes, up 0.5% but slightly less than the 0.7% increase in cargo capacity.
U.K. airport operator BAA yesterday revealed the extent of the financial hit it took during last month's security scare, with passenger traffic and revenue lower than expected in August. Passenger numbers were down 5%, compared with earlier forecasts, and the total of lost revenue and extra security costs was GBP13 million (US$24.4 million). Overall, passenger traffic was up by just 0.3% compared to August 2005. U.K. domestic traffic was most affected, down 7.6% for the month.
U.S. government watchdog the Office of the Inspector General believes FAA's aging aircraft regulations introduced last year have gaps that could result in missed opportunities to identify structural damage on planes.
Tiger Airways not only plans to add three more planes to its six-aircraft fleet by yearend, but also plans another base this year in Southeast Asia. CEO Tony Davis told attendees yesterday at a conference in London of Tiger's second base, and that the carrier plans to announce an order for seven more Airbus A320s financed by RBS, HSH and Standard Chartered.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. decided to make final its tentative decision awarding Delta, Frontier and JetBlue a highly desired exemption for three U.S.-Mexico routes (DAILY, June 23). Delta won primary exemption authority for the Los Angeles-Puerto Vallarta route, while United won backup authority. JetBlue won the primary exemption and Delta was selected as backup for the New York-Cancun route, and Frontier won primary authority and Delta backup authority for Los Angeles-San Jose del Cabo.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. tentatively approved transfer of out-of-business Independence Air's interstate scheduled passenger certificate to Northwest subsidiary Compass Airlines. Compass plans to launch service in October between Washington Dulles Airport and Northwest's hub at Minneapolis/St. Paul, initially using a single, 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200.
A renewed Varig has been quietly working to become fully operational again, with assistance from the Rio bankruptcy court overseeing the Varig restructuring program and from airline regulator ANAC (DAILY, Aug. 14 & 18). While Varig, the courts and ANAC sometimes disagree on some issues -- mainly legal -- they are cooperating to make Varig, now under new ownership, financially and operational viable.
Boeing is having a big week for aircraft orders, with Atlas announcing a new order for 12 747-8 freighters yesterday, and Qatar on Monday confirming speculation that it is the previously unidentified customer for 20 777s.
EasyJet is continuing to press the U.K. government to return to previous security policies to ease burdens on customers. Carrier CEO Andrew Harrison noted that EasyJet's bookings are back to normal, but the real issue is tolerance of the new procedures. He believes the government should revert to pre- Aug. 10 hand luggage policies with the exception of liquids being banned substances. Harrison also said the rise of body searches from 20% to 50% was "inappropriate," and called the policy of having customers remove their shoes "daft."
Thai Airways International will launch three weekly flights to Hyderabad, its sixth Indian destination, on Oct. 28 with Airbus A330-300 aircraft; service will increase to five weekly flights with the summer schedule next year. Thai Airways was granted the rights for Hyderabad with the enhanced air services agreement that was signed between Thailand and India early this year. The agreement also paves the way for seat capacity to increase in stages from 9,700 a week to 18,000 and for more airlines from each side to operate Thailand-India routes.
Chile's domestic and international traffic made moderate gains in the first seven months of 2006, improving 5.5% and 5.1%, respectively, from the same period in 2005. Figures from Chile's civil aviation board (JAC) show airlines carried 1,891,223 domestic passengers and 2,425,624 international passengers in the period. Top international destinations include Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Madrid, Lima, Miami, Quito, Guayaquil, Havana, Caracas, Frankfurt and Zurich.
Boeing completed the debut flight of its Large Cargo Freighter -- a modified 747-400 -- on Saturday, launching the flight test program for this aircraft. The first LCF took off from Taiwan's international airport for a two-hour flight. Boeing test pilot Joe MacDonald said the aircraft handled so well that "quite often during the flight, it was easy to forget you were in an LCF rather than a regular 747-400." Eventually, three LCFs, will be used to ferry 787 sections to Seattle. Taiwan's Evergreen Group is modifying the three aircraft.
Frontier hasn't finalized the financing package for the 10 Bombardier Q400s it ordered recently, but the tentative structure of the deal shows most of the aircraft will be owned and mortgage financed; the carrier is creating a wholly owned subsidiary -- Lynx Aviation -- to fly the planes. Airline executives said they have signed a term sheet with a financing party, but because the final documents haven't been signed, they opted not to disclose the party's identity.
The move from price regulation to "light-handed" price monitoring at Australia's major airports has produced important benefits, according to a draft report released by the country's Productivity Commission (PC).
Transport Canada last week proposed amending its aviation regulations to help reduce the risk of mid-air collisions by requiring aircraft in Canada to install collision-avoidance equipment.
Manila International Airport Authority's revenue for the first six months jumped 18.2% to PHP3.1 billion pesos (US$61.37 million) from the same period last year, an improvement that General Manager Alfonso Cusi attributed to higher domestic and international traffic. Cusi declined, however, to reveal numbers on passenger and cargo traffic or MIAA's profit for the period.
