FedEx reached a contract deal with its pilots on the weekend, welcome news for the carrier before the peak shipping season begins. FedEx stocks rose nearly 2% Monday as investors responded to the tentative deal. The company has been in negotiations with its pilots for about two years, and the talks have been under control of the National Mediation Board since October. Rival UPS reached a similar deal with its own pilots in June, with a ratification vote expected by mid-September.
BAA is reviewing its performance during the U.K. security crisis earlier this month, but the airport operator says this is a routine practice, rather than a response to heavy airline criticism.
Boeing yesterday identified India's Air Sahara as the previously anonymous customer for 10 737-800 orders placed earlier this year. The aircraft are scheduled to be delivered from mid-2009 and will be fitted with blended winglets. The order "reflects our confidence both in the growth of India's aviation market and Air Sahara's modernization and expansion plans," the airline said. Including this order, Boeing has logged 422 gross orders for the 737. -AS
Air Canada last week promoted two executives to lead network planning and marketing, effective immediately. Daniel Shurz, formerly senior director-airports, responsible for airport operations, was appointed VP-network planning. Before joining Air Canada in 2005, he held a number of positions in the planning division at United. Shurz replaces Ben Smith, who kept responsibility for network planning at Air Canada on an interim basis, following his appointment as CEO of Air Canada Vacations in January.
The Pacific Asia Travel Assoc. recently hired Nicki Page as its regional representative in the Gulf and Arab region Page is executive director of Fusion Marketing Management LLC, a Dubai-based tourism marketing consultancy. After working with PATA on a project basis, Page was formally appointed as PATA Director-Gulf Region at a recent planning meeting in Bangkok. The Gulf is a "large and growing source of travelers for the Asia/Pacific region," with visitor arrivals to Asia growing at an average rate of 12% a year since 2001, said PATA CEO Peter de Jong.
Royal Jordanian yesterday launched a new advertising campaign to highlight the carrier's work to upgrade all air and ground services. The tagline for the new campaign "change is in the air" and includes a television commercial showing changes to its aircraft interiors. "We wanted to create a way to show off the new interior without being boring," said Hussein Dabbas, VP-marketing, sales and services. The advertisement shows a clear bubble that floats through the plane highlighting all the changes "like a personal tour guide."
The National Transportation Safety Board's probe of an uncontained engine failure on an American Airlines Boeing 767 in June has led the board to urge FAA to act more stringently in requiring inspections of General Electric CF6-80A/80C2 and some 80E1 engines. The high-pressure turbine (HPT) Stage One disk in the Number One CF6-80A engine experienced an uncontained failure and broke into several pieces, which punched holes in the wing, with some pieces scattering as far as 3,000 feet from the aircraft.
Alaska Airlines plans to hire 27 full- and part-time employees in Bethel, Alaska, after ramp service handler D&G recently told the airline it can't staff the station, starting this fall.
Saudi Arabia's civil aviation administration is evaluating applications by six companies for licenses, and it plans to decide who will get its nod by the end of the year, says the Arab Air Carriers Association.
Continental expects to increase the number of at-home reservations agents connected to the North Houston reservations center to 80 by next month. The airline plans to expand the program to Salt Lake City and Tampa centers, and wants to have 500 reservations agents working from home by yearend.
The Aspen/Pitkin County, Colo. Airport (ASE) will be closed to all air traffic for two months beginning April 9 for runway resurfacing, officials said, but it should not cause a major disruption, as work will wait until after the busy ski season.
The Irish government will sell the biggest part if its 85.1% stake in Aer Lingus next month, Transport Minister Martin Cullin said in a statement yesterday. The initial public offering is scheduled for "late September." The government hopes to raise up to EUR500 million to fund the airline's expansion.
Austrian Airlines could go ahead with a capital increase of EUR400 million this year to ease its financial problems, according to Austrian press reports. The capital increase could see the state share in the airline rise from the current 37.9%. According to preliminary plans, state holding OIAG, as well as the federal states of Vienna and Lower Austria, could participate, along with large Austrian businesses with state influence or ownership. Austrian declines comment. The move is intended to keep the airline flying without a powerful foreign investor.
Lloyd Aereo Boliviano's nine labor unions said Friday they would proceed "aggressively" to recover the package of equity shared owned by former President Ernesto Asbun and recently transferred to U.K. consortium TAA. The decision followed the passage of a deadline by which TAA was to deliver documentation on corporate solvency and other key issues related to its offer to finance LAB's rescue.
Mercury Air Group reported a slightly deeper loss for the March quarter and warned that the loss of two crucial contracts will deal a major blow to future revenue. Mercury subsidiary Maytag Aircraft Corp. failed to win a follow-on air terminal services contract from the Air Force's Air Mobility Command. Also, last week another Mercury subsidiary -- MercFuel -- lost its largest customer when a fuel administration contract was ended. The two contracts represented more than 25% of group revenue.
The governmental aviation talks between the U.S. and China scheduled this week were called off on Friday after the Chinese canceled their Washington visit, providing no explanation for the change.
The Colombian government last week awarded the 20-year concession to modernize and manage Bogota Eldorado Airport, which involves investments of $650 million, to Colombian/Swiss consortium Opain.
SkyWest could be in the best position to capitalize on the RFP Delta sent to regional carriers last week, analysts from Raymond James note. "With its contract already affirmed, SkyWest can bid on all three components of the RFP, and to the extent that any of the flying represents incremental growth, SkyWest is contractually guaranteed to maintain its current proportion of Delta Connection flying," assuming its costs are at least the second-lowest.
FedEx, Polar Air Cargo and Northwest last week won four all-cargo frequencies apiece to operate service from the U.S. to Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou as part of Transportation Dept. proceedings aimed at doling out 29 U.S.-China frequencies (DAILY, July 12, Aug. 22). All the carriers plan to use the frequencies to augment their existing U.S.-China Zone 1 cargo service [OST-2006-25275].
Parent UAL Corp. appointed Sean Donohue senior VP-flight operations and onboard service, Hank Krakowski VP- flight operations and Charlie Ahmes VP-onboard service.
Bali-based Indonesian carrier PT Air Paradise International has sold 49% stake to an undisclosed Australian company. The Australian company had planned to acquire Air Paradise, but Indonesian law limits foreign ownership in a local airline to a maximum 49%. Ministry of Transport Director Edi Wibowo declined to identify the company, saying government approval of the sale is not final.
