Florida's Marathon Airport is in danger of losing its new service from Continental Connection and Delta Connection after the Transportation Security Administration turned down its request for security screeners. Marathon used a $750,000 Small Community Air Service Development grant to attract two flights a day to Fort Lauderdale on Continental Connection's Gulfstream International and one flight a day to Atlanta on Delta Connection's Atlantic Southeast. Both flights were scheduled to start in November.
Delta yesterday posted a $2.2 billion second quarter loss, but the large one-time reorganization charges overshadowed a $369 million operating profit and 7.9% margin thanks to higher revenue.
Emirates yesterday unveiled the latest upgrade to its business class, which will be installed on six Boeing 777s by yearend. The carrier is flying older business-class seats with another design on some of its older Boeing aircraft and a newer seat on its long-haul A350-500s. At first, the latest generation will be installed only on the Boeing fleet. The product will make its introduction on a Boeing 777-300ER that will fly from Dubai to London Gatwick. By yearend, six 777s will have the seat, including one that will fly from New York To Dubai.
Recommendations by an environmental committee in the U.K.'s House of Commons that outline ways to reduce carbon emissions are drawing fire from the country's low-cost carriers, which claim current taxes earmarked for environmental improvement are resting in the government's coffers.
Ryanair yesterday announced a major expansion at Dublin in what is a serious blow to Aer Lingus. The low-fare carrier will introduce 12 new destinations from Dublin early next year. The airline plans to fly to Madrid, Vitoria, Seville and Almeria in Spain, Tampere (Finland), Billund (Denmark), Bologna (Italy), Friedrichshafen (Germany), Rzeszow (Poland), Pula (Croatia), Grenoble (France) and Oslo (Norway). The announcement comes at a particularly bad time for Aer Lingus, which is planning an initial public offering next month.
Airports with exit lanes that are not adjacent to security entrances will have to hire their own employees, since the Transportation Security Administration will no longer provide screeners. "TSA has a finite amount of officers available, and we need to utilize them as efficiently as possible," said spokesman Christopher White. "We believe our best utilization is at security checkpoints, not exit lanes. This is the responsibility of airports and airlines," he said.
Cathay Pacific yesterday reported a HK1.67 billion first half net profit, which was unchanged from last year as high fuel prices could not offset a 13.4% jump in fuel prices. The airline reported that fuel expenses soared by more than 30% to HK8.7 billion as the average prices increased 29% to US$2 per gallon. Passenger and cargo fuel surcharges only partially offset the additional cost, the carrier said. Cathay's unit cost excluding fuel decreased by 1.3% with "continued efforts to increase productivity and reduce controllable overheads."
Delta next month can hold out service to three additional points in Mexico -- Ciudad del Carmen, Piedra Negras and Toluca -- as part of code sharing with Aeromexico and its subsidiary, Aerolitoral. The DL code will be carried on the Mexican carrier's flights from Delta's 28 Mexican gateways [OST-2001-10833].
Honda Motor Co., yesterday officially established a wholly owned subsidiary, called Honda Aircraft Company, which will be responsible for the development, sales promotion and production of the new HondaJet.
Finnair's second-quarter net profit tumbled to EUR3.3 million (US$4.24 million) as high fuel prices and lower fares in the Scandinavian air travel market eroded the bottom line. Sales were up 5.4% to EUR494.6 million (US$635.3 million). The carrier's yield dropped 4.6% in the quarter, as low-fare carriers intensified pressure on prices in the region. Finnair is more dependent than other airlines on European flights, as its long-haul network is limited.
Los Angeles and Jacksonville have become the latest airports to sign contracts to install new inline baggage screening systems. LAX has tapped Tempe, Ariz.-based PinnacleOne to provide construction management services for the airport's $130 million system planned for the south terminal. The company will handle field supervision, project controls, and government reporting for the project. Construction is expected to be completed by the last quarter of 2008.
AirTran is stepping up competition with Northwest and Spirit from Detroit with the addition of three new Florida markets -- Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Fort Myers -- starting Nov. 7, Nov. 15 and Dec. 21.
DHL last week added five direct flights from Asian cities to its New York Kennedy hub. The new flights include two direct daily frequencies from DHL's Hong Kong hub and one direct flight each from Bangkok, Singapore and Taipei. These flights will add eight tons a day to the capacity of DHL's international air network.
A strong showing at the Farnborough Air Show boosted Airbus' order total through July to 200, although Airbus still lags rival Boeing in terms of order numbers this year. Nearly half of the Airbus total comprised the popular A320, followed by 25 orders for the A321 and 46 for the A319. The A350 led twin-aisle orders with 13, followed by 11 orders for A330 models. Boeing has 518 net orders through Aug. 1, including 400 for the 737 and 77 for the new 787.
A German district court in Kiel yesterday said a deal between Luebeck Airport and Ryanair that lowered the airline's landing charges and handling fees is illegal. The court said the airport should make public the exact content of the agreement and indicated that Ryanair might be forced to pay back alleged subsidies.
The City of Orlando should reimburse the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority for $1.7 million in revenue diversions, according to an audit done by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's Inspector General (OIG). OIG also found that the city kept $493,000 in parking fine proceeds that should have been used to offset the authority's cost for issuing tickets. "We also found that the aviation authority was not recovering its capital and maintenance costs of plant inspection stations and could be losing as much as $144,000 per year in rental income," said OIG.
FAA tells employees the new controller contract will be implemented Sept. 3, with supervisors and managers attending training sessions to prepare for the transition to the new contract. FAA is exercising its right to impose contract terms on the controllers union after reaching impasse in negotiations earlier this year.
Lower July delay numbers -- helped by a new FAA flow initiative -- have dragged the delay total for this year almost back to last year's levels, according to traffic data supplied by the agency. There were 47,649 delays in July compared to 58,471 in the same month last year, FAA said. The total for the calendar year through July was 262,932 delays -- slightly ahead of the 261,130 delays for the same period in 2005. On-time gate arrivals and departures are both at about 76% for the fiscal year to date, which is slightly better than FAA's target rate.
Germany's Fraport Group revenue grew 3.5% to $1.2 billion in the first half of 2006, compared with the same period last year. The group credits the growth to higher revenue from retail and parking and security services. Operating expenses rose 4.4% to $1 billion in the first half More than 25 million passengers passed through Frankfurt Airport in the first half, up 1.3% year over year. Weather and strike-related cancellations in the first quarter were balanced by strong passenger traffic during the World Cup in the second quarter.
American plans to discontinue its flights between Dallas-Fort Worth and Osaka, Japan from Oct. 27. The loss of this route is expected to drive additional traffic to the twice-daily DFW-Tokyo service, American said. The Boeing 777s used on the DFW-Osaka flights will be used to upgrade aircraft on the DFW-London Gatwick route.
Air France, effective Aug. 10, will increase the fuel surcharge on its long-, medium- and short-haul flights, citing "extremely high oil prices." The airline will charge an extra seven euros (US$8.99) on long-haul flights, add two euros (US$2.57) on medium-haul services and one euro (US$1.28) on short-haul flights. Air France said it plans to reduce the surcharge once oil prices remain below $65 for 30 consecutive days. -JF
Qatar Airways this week launched a new inflight entertainment system on its Airbus A330s, which offers live digital satellite television on individual seatback screens.
