AirTran CEO Joe Leonard says taxi times from the fifth runway in Atlanta that opened in May are roughly half of "what people expected." Taxi times from Runway 5 to the concourse are running about four minutes, instead of eight.
A congested congressional calendar is making it increasingly likely that the fiscal 2007 Transportation Appropriations bill will not be completed before the November elections, sources say, which would mean a continuing resolution for U.S. Dept. of Transportation agencies, such as FAA.
Midwest Airlines this week will start cutting over to an upgraded revenue management system made by Revenue Technology Services, reports Chief Marketing Officer Scott Dickson. The next-generation RTS system will be able to manage more flights faster and juggle more fare classes, he says, and should also bring a "gradual improvement" in yields and revenue.
Frontier is renegotiating its Global Distribution System contracts and hopes to strike new deals that spur cost reductions by the end of the summer, executives say. AirTran's distribution expenses dropped 10.6% after the carrier negotiated new rates with its GDS partners in the fourth quarter last year.
A ground-handling strike prompted the cancellation of 75% of the operations scheduled at Barcelona El Prat Airport on Friday. Ninety-eight flights were slashed by 4 p.m. local time, Spain's airport authority Aeropuertos y Navegacion Aerea reported.
FAA proposes a rule that would extend the interval for first-class medical certification from six months to a year. The interval for third-class medicals for pilots under 40 will rise from two years to five. These two changes -- consistent with ICAO efforts -- will reduce annual applications by 75,000, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey says.
Varig hit a few snags -- both in the airports and in the financial markets -- as it worked to relaunch flights, as mandated by Brazilian airline regulator ANAC (DAILY, July 25).
Boeing CEO Jim McNerney says the company will not modify its own product plans because of Airbus' expansion of its A350 family. The A350 is "a single airplane trying to cover two of the most successful families of airplanes that we've ever had...We've got two pretty good-size bookends on either side of their airplane," he says, referring to Boeing's 787 and 777. He says the A350 will be a good airplane and will fit some missions well.
Boeing's short-field performance package for the 737 earned FAA certification last week, and Boeing says the first aircraft with the package went to Brazilian carrier GOL.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] AUG. 2 -- ATCA 2006 Annual ATCA Golf Outing, Waldorf, Md., 703-299-2430 Fax 703-299-2437, email [email protected] AUG. 6-8 -- Airport Board Members and Commissioners Conference, Co-sponsored by AAAE & ACI-NA, San Francisco, Calif., 202-293-3035, email [email protected] AUG. 29-31 -- SAE's General Aviation Technology Conference & Exhibition, Wichita (Kan.) Hyatt, 724-776-4841, fax 724-776-0790, www.aerospace.sae.org
US Airways this week plans to make more changes and upgrades to its web site that should fix the "remaining bugs" and make the site easier to navigate, reports Scott Kirby, executive VP-sales and marketing. The problems first appeared when the carrier merged the old US Airways and America West sites, but the consolidated site is "functioning pretty effectively now," Kirby says. He admits the airline "did a poor job communicating the changes."
JetBlue hasn't reached economies of scale with its 100-seat Embraer 190s, according to its CEO, but reliability is improving and the carrier is targeting double-digit daily utilization for the aircraft by yearend. The airline was the launch customer for the plane and debuted service last November.
Raytheon is considering selling its aircraft division as it weighs in several alternatives for the business, and has tapped Credit Suisse as its financial adviser for the transaction.
International passenger traffic grew 6.5% in June, IATA reported, leading to higher load factors, but high fuel prices are still the black cloud hanging over the industry.
Mesa is carefully eyeing the requests for proposals being floated by some U.S. major carriers, but its CEO believes potential leases for larger turboprops must match the duration of the business for his company to benefit. Earlier this week, Jonathan Ornstein told analysts Mesa was familiar with Bombardier's Dash 8 family of turboprops. The carrier flies 16 37-seat Dash 8-200s and plans to add another Dash 8-100 in the next three months in its Delta operation at New York Kennedy.
Republic Airways Holdings filed a shelf registration statement for its shareholder WexAir covering 2 million shares. This follows a deal US Airways struck with Republic earlier this week to transfer 30 orders for Embraer 175s to RAH to fly in the major carrier's Express network, starting in 2007.
Pilots at bmibaby are voting to authorize a strike action over several issues, including a 2.4% pay cut and a hike in pension contributions from 10% to 18.5%. The British Airline Pilots Association said it expects to disclose results of the vote on Aug. 16. Separately, BALPA also gave BMI management seven days notice that it plans to seek a strike action vote for BMI mainline and BMI Regional Pilots. -LR
Airbus says an anti-A380 bill introduced by House aviation subcommittee Chair John Mica (R-Fla.) is "senseless" and will be "counter-productive for the U.S. economy." The bill proposes blocking federal spending on airport improvements for the A380. Airbus says many U.S. airports are "competing for the A380 for the business it will bring their way." Many of the airport modifications will also be needed for Boeing's proposed 747-8, says Airbus.
Virginia's Norfolk International Airport has landed charter service to the U.K. after nine months of negotiations. Cosmos Holidays has hired charter operator and sister company Monarch Airlines to fly between Norfolk and Kent International Airport, located about 78 miles east of London. The flight, which will operate from May to October 2007, coincides with the 400th anniversary of the founding of the first permanent settlement at Jamestown, said Cosmos spokeswoman Barbara Kurau.
FAA this week appointed airline executive Dan Elwell as the agency's new assistant administrator for policy, planning and environment, replacing Sharon Pinkerton. Elwell is currently managing director of international and government affairs for American. Pinkerton left FAA last year to take a senior role at the Air Transport Association. Separately, Air Traffic Organization VP-Safety Bill Davis has been posted to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy for a year, beginning in September.
Ryanair is considering co-financing a second runway at London Stansted Airport, CEO Michael O'Leary said, to help ease some of the congestion at the growing facility. The runway and additional terminal buildings could compete with existing facilities at the airport, he hinted without revealing more details. Ferrovial, the new owner of London airport operator BAA, is reviewing plans to build a second runway at Stansted that could relieve congestion at the metropolitan area's primary airport for low-fare carriers.
