United this week named Sean Donohue to his fourth job in the past six months as part of what seem to be fairly regular appointments and job changes within the carrier's senior executive ranks.
SAS is creating a new travel company which will sell holiday packages in the 2,400 Scandinavian convenience stores of the Norwegian retail chain Reitan Servicehandel. The service, which will operate under the commercial name "Go," is scheduled to be launched in Norway in January 2007, and in Denmark and Sweden during spring 2007. Bookings will be possible through dedicated computer terminals installed in the stores, as well as on the Internet and from a mobile phone, said Robin Kamark, senior VP-Airline Commercial at SAS.
KLM yesterday decided not to reinstate flights to Beirut because the route was losing money even before flights were suspended. As soon as Air France resumes flight operations to Beirut, KLM passengers will be able to fly to and from Beirut with service through Paris Charles de Gaulle. Earlier this month, KLM decided to end its service to Amman and Damascus on Oct. 29 because those routes are also losing money (DAILY, Aug. 10). -SL
Alaska Airlines in recent days ran at least two charter flights and extra frequencies to help people stranded by floods between Anchorage and Fairbanks. Due to more than 6.5 inches of rain during the past week, the flood waters washed out highways and portions of the Alaska Railroad. There were landslides that severed the rail line and a major road this weekend, south of Denali National Park. Parks Highway is not expected to reopen until today at the earliest and portions of Richardson Highway are limited to one lane.
Airservices Australia awarded Sensis a contract to provide a wide-area multilateration system that will provide controllers with more accurate surveillance over Tasmania. Sensis will deploy its Multistatic Dependent Surveillance system, using multilateration and automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) for en-route ATC coverage. Airservices plans to use the system operationally from 2008, once the required regulatory approvals have been granted. -AS
FAA this week appointed two new regional administrators, for the Northwest Mountain and Southern regions. Douglas Murphy, the current head of the Northwest Mountain region, will take over as regional administrator for the Southern region. He will replace Carolyn Blum, who has retired from the agency. Murphy has been with FAA for 36 years, during which he has held various regional and headquarters management roles, including the superintendent of FAA's Oklahoma City Academy.
Cathay Pacific next months plans to add three South African destinations to its network thanks to a new code-share deal with British Airways Comair, a franchisee of the British carrier operating in South Africa.
FAA yesterday released a final rule on Chicago O'Hare flight restrictions, making only minor adjustments to the flight caps that have been in place since 2004.
Tiger Airways restructured its deal with SIA Engineering, shifting to a fixed price for line maintenance services instead of paying on a case-by-case business. SIA said the new deal would produce a more structured maintenance package for Tiger. The new contract is also fixed for a three year period, versus the companies reviewing the cost structure every six months. SIA Engineering is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Singapore Airlines, who also has a 49% stake in Tiger.
Adam Aircraft, one of the contenders in the twin-piston and very light jet market, yesterday finished a new round of $93 million in funding from the U.S. and Europe, which will give the carrier a boost as it tries to win certification of the A700.
U.K. airlines are nervous about the possibility of security delays causing further airport chaos during this weekend's bank holiday, although a strike that would have caused headaches for Stansted Airport was averted at the last minute.
Lufthansa today plans to resume service to Beirut after the airport partially reopened to commercial service. Lufthansa suspended service on July 20 and didn't expect to restart flights until Aug. 31; however, the airport last week made some relatively quick repairs after a cease-fire agreement was reached between Israel and Hezbollah (DAILY, Aug. 18). Lufthansa will operate five flights a week from Frankfurt to Beirut. British Airways franchise partner BMED canceled its flight from London to Lebanon last night.
Losses at CSA Czech Airlines widened by 45% in the first half, the airline said yesterday. CSA posted a net loss of 773 million koruna (US$35 million). Sales were up 9% at 11 billion koruna and the number of passengers increased 6% to 2.46 million. CSA suffered from a 31% increase in fuel costs, a 13% hike in staff expenses and 20% higher leasing payments. At the same time, yields were down 4.9%. CSA plans to cut 20% of the work force to cut costs. The airline aims to reach profitability in two years. -JF
Malaysia Airlines yesterday introduced a new fare system for its domestic flights in a bid to compete more effectively with low-fare airline Air Asia (DAILY, July 18).
The Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) petitioned the U.S. Transportation Dept. for an exemption to expand air service at its three international airports. The CNMI claims the need for exemption and relief is immediate, as it would speed the recovery of the local economy, which has suffered from a diminishing garment industry, declines in air service, lagging tourism and the need to maximize infrastructure and development investments.
The prospects and scope of a potential pilots strike at Britain's second-largest airline, BMI, should become clearer tomorrow, when votes are tabulated from last week's balloting by most of BMI's pilots.
Nav Canada saw significant traffic increases through the first part of the summer, continuing the positive trend of the previous 10 months of its fiscal year, ending Aug. 31. Traffic grew 5.2% in May and 3.4% in June, with fiscal year-to-date traffic up 3.2%.
Sensis and FAA have commissioned a new runway safety system at Bradley International Airport near Hartford, Conn., the latest site in the extensive deployment of this system.
Excel Aerospace logged its 24th Dash 8 turboprop maintenance deal with an unnamed U.S. regional airline and has already delivered two planes under the accord. Terms include heavy maintenance and major structural inspections. Excel pegged the deal's value at more than $1 million.
Mesaba's debtor-in-possession hearing, scheduled yesterday, was moved to Aug. 29 as a deadline draws near for the carrier's management to file its reply to an appeal by labor groups. The labor groups had asked the judge to reverse a ruling that gives management the right to void its labor contracts.
WestJet named Virgin Blue CEO Brett Godfrey to its board. Before taking the helm at Virgin Blue, Godfrey was finance manager for Virgin Atlantic and financial controller for Sherrard/National Jet in Melbourne. Both carriers are customers of aiRES, a new reservations system built by Cendant and IBS Software Services.
The Filipino government's plan to open Terminal 3 at Manila's Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) hit a snag, as Manila's High Court barred the opening until the government pays PHP3 billion (US$59 million) owed to an international consortium for the terminal's construction.
BAA's Edinburgh Airport has had to cut short a pilot program that allowed passengers with only one piece of hand luggage to clear security using a supermarket-style queue. The Fast-Track pilot, designed to help the airport cut wait times in security lines, started in July but ended after the failed terrorist plot in London Aug. 10 forced the airport to implement much tighter precautions.
