John Carr, the high-profile president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association, was yesterday defeated in his re-election bid. NATCA members voted in favor of challenger Pat Forrey, previously NATCA's VP for the Great Lakes region. Sources told The DAILY that Forrey received 58% of the vote to Carr's 42%. Paul Rinaldi was elected executive VP. The newly elected officials will serve three-year terms beginning Sept. 1.
American said it will boost capacity on its Austin, Texas-San Jose, Calif., route by upgrading from MD-80 service to Boeing 757s. The airline said last week the move comes in response to "increased demand among its key corporate customers." The extra seats will help meet additional capacity demand, and also provide more opportunities to upgrade to first-class seats.
SIA Engineering is setting up a joint venture with Indian conglomerate Wadia Group to offer line maintenance for narrowbody and widebody planes at eight major airports in the country.
Swiss posted a CHF98 million (US$79 million) operating profit in the first half of 2006, up from a CHF9 million operating loss a year earlier. Revenues were up 11.7% at CHF1.9 billion (US$1.5 billion). Swiss said it benefited from the strong economic development in all of its important markets. CEO Christoph Franz pointed out that the airline needed an average 5%-8% operating margin to be able to fund future growth. Swiss plans to add two Airbus A340s to its long-haul fleet next year and is considering two more. -JF
Midwest Airlines next month plans to decide whether to sign a deal with a regional airline to fly 50-seat regional jets under the Midwest Connect brand, while also nearing a decision on expanding the Fairchild Dornier 328JET fleet flown by wholly owned subsidiary Skyway.
The merged US Airways is making some progress toward consolidating the labor contracts of America West and the old US Airways, but CEO Doug Parker predicts the union talks will take a long time and even believes the carrier may never consolidate all contracts.
Goodrich believes previous deals it has struck with Airbus on the A350 will stay intact, but until a clearer picture of the product emerges, any potential new product wins are hard to predict. Company CEO Marshall Larsen told analysts that it was understood by Goodrich that Airbus would honor its initial awards of engine nacelles on the A350 with the OEM.
United will end its last international routes from New York Kennedy, further retreating from the airport due to lack of feed, while it helps Delta grow from JFK by finalizing a deal to sell its route rights to serve London for $21 million.
Promoted Martin Wills to executive director of the European office, tapped Andy Williams to become senior VP-technical services, Thompson Young as VP-investment banking division, and Max Reilly and Ross McKenzie as VPs.
Frontier is closing the gap on lost unit revenue in markets where it competes directly with Southwest from Denver while swinging to a profit for the first fiscal quarter. Losses in unit revenue on the five nonstop routes where the carriers compete -- Chicago Midway, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Baltimore and Salt Lake City -- contracted from negative 20% year over year for January-March to negative 4% for April-June.
Manila-based, low-fare airline Cebu Pacific may lose its rights to operate to Tokyo if it does not launch flights to the Japanese capital by Sept. 15. Philippine Civil Aeronautics Board Executive Director Carmelo Arcilla said the regulatory body will not hesitate to give the rights to another local carrier to operate the flights should Cebu Pacific not use it by the deadline given. "CAB has given Cebu Pacific two years to acquire new aircraft to operate the route. There is no provision for extension," Arcilla said.
United won't release the design of its new international first- and business-class seats and upgraded product until late this year or in early 2007, reports Executive VP John Tague. "We have something exciting," he tells The DAILY, but he doesn't want to show the competition the new design any sooner than he has too. B/E Aerospace will make the seats, which will start appearing next year.
Venezuela's civil aviation institute is investing $30.5 million to upgrade its civil aviation facilities. The investment will fund the acquisition of digital alert systems to improve search and rescue operations, three specialized helicopters to perform these tasks and the repair and upgrade of 32 airport control towers.
Whose subsidiary Yu Zhi Lu Aviation Service Co. Ltd. provides domestic and international travel services to Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, named Jiduan Yuan an independent director.
The extraordinary meeting of Lloyd Aero Boliviano (LAB) shareholders scheduled for July 26 was postponed for two weeks because some 460 workers now oppose transfer of 50% of former President Ernesto Asbun's equity shares on the grounds that the move may help him avoid criminal charges.
The Air Traffic Control Association last week named Serco executive Peter Dumont as its new president. He will assume his post in mid-August. Dumont was Serco's VP and also held the job of acting chief operating officer. His responsibilities at Serco included FAA's contract tower program. Dumont is an Embry Riddle graduate and was an air traffic controller and manager for the U.S. Navy.
FAA's Airport Improvement Program for fiscal years 2005 and 2006 will be audited by DOT's Office of Inspector General. OIG has not audited AIP in 10 years. It will evaluate the effectiveness of FAA policies and procedures to ensure that the highest-priority projects are being funded under the agency's budgetary challenges and pending reauthorization. The audit begins Aug. 21.
A year after its takeoff, Mexicana's low-cost subsidiary Click this month reached a 7% domestic market share by carrying 1.3 million passengers; it plans to end the year with a 10% share. CEO Isaac Volin attributes Click's current 65% load factor to covering 38% of Mexico's territory. The carrier also has a 93% on-time record. The only LCC that operates out of Mexico City Airport, with mini-hubs at Guadalajara and Veracruz, Click is looking to expand its routes to include Cancun-Havana and Cancun-Miami. -LZ
30 Years Ago Aug. 2, 1976 -- The Association of Quebec Airmen is suing the Canadian government to test the legality of a rule that forbids the use of French in all but six small airports in Quebec Province. 20 Years Ago July 30, 1986 -- U.K. government this week will dissolve the British Airports Authority as a government corporation and form a public limited company to run seven U.K. airports. 10 Years Ago
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