Delta is fighting the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s tentative decision to award two highly contested U.S.-Mexico exemptions to JetBlue and Frontier (DAILY, June 23), arguing that the department has a bias against legacy carriers and that its proposals were better. In the tentative decision last month, Delta beat out United for the Los Angeles-Puerto Vallarta designation. It lost the New York/Newark-Cancun designation to JetBlue and the Los Angeles-San Jose del Cabo designation to Frontier but received backup authority for both markets.
Becoming more competitive with airports, such as Pittsburgh and Detroit, increasing non-aviation related revenues and adding new destinations in the West are the goals of Ricky Smith, the new director of Port Control, where he oversees Cleveland-Hopkins International Airport.
World Air Holdings filed its 2005 financial results last week after its tardiness led the Nasdaq exchange to delist its stock in May. World described the filing of its 2005 10-K form as a "major step in getting the company back on track for timely SEC filings." World said the "major [filing] issues have been resolved," and the completion of the 2005 report should allow the company to file its first-quarter and subsequent reports "on a timely basis."
Air China, effective July 10, will reroute its daily Beijing- Chengdu-Lhasa flight to operate nonstop to the Tibetan capital, reducing flight time by two hours to four. The return flight, however, will operate via Chengdu. Air China's decision to operate nonstop flights to Tibet was made following the opening on July 1 of the Qinghai-Tibet railway link, which takes 48 hours. An Air China official in Beijing said the airline expects traffic to pick up significantly with the operation of the nonstop flights. -WD
A Rio bankruptcy court decided to postpone the new auction (DAILY, July 6) to sell Varig until July 14, after consultative opinions and other documents clarifying the Volo de Brasil/VarigLog bid for the airline were submitted as late as last Friday. The creditors meeting to approve the Volo/VarigLog proposal was also rescheduled, to July 12.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] JULY 16-18 -- Summer Legislative Issues Conference, Co-sponsored by AAAE & ACI-NA, Washington, D.C., 202-293-3035, email [email protected] JULY 17-20 -- FAA/ATCA 4th International Aviation Training Symposium (IATS), Oklahoma City, 703-299-2430, Fax 703-299-2437, email [email protected] JULY 22 -- Airline Pilot Job Fair hosted by AIR, Inc., Dallas, Texas, 800-538-5627, www.jet-jobs.com, email [email protected]
EasyJet is making sweeping profit predictions for fiscal 2006, building on its strategy of casting a wide net for ancillary revenues. Previously, EasyJet predicted a 10%-15% increase from its 2005 profit of GPB68 million (US$125 million). Now executives predict even more robust earnings growth of 40%-50%.
The JAL Group and Japan's large travel management group JTB signed a new partnership deal in an attempt to boost demand for international travel from Japan, promote new destinations overseas and expand demand for travel to Japan from other countries.
South African Airways' full-year profit sank 90% to ZAR65 million (US$9.1 million) due to a labor strike last summer that shuttered operations and a spike in fuel prices.
Tunisair last week signed a firm order for the extended-range version of the Airbus A319 and announced plans to retrofit up three more A319s for extended-range operations. Tunisair wants to operate longer flights within Africa and to Middle East points. The aircraft features an additional center fuel tank compared with the standard A319.
You can now register online for Aviation Week events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or contact Lydia Janow, 212-904-3225 or 800-240-7645 ext. 5 (U.S. and Canada only) SEPT. 19-21 -- MRO Asia, Xiamen, China OCT. 24-26 -- MRO Europe, Amsterdam NOV. 13-15 -- Aerospace & Defense Programs, Phoenix
Thailand is considering building a low-cost carrier terminal at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Airports of Thailand (AOT) began a feasibility study for the proposed facility, reports AOT President Chotisak Asapaviriya, and the findings will be submitted to the Ministry of Transport and Communications by monthend. A decision on whether to build the terminal would be made by September.
United disagrees with the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s tentative decision to award the Los Angeles-Puerto Vallarta designation to Delta and wants to persuade DOT to reconsider its decision and choose United.
IATA says it will try to persuade the U.S. Transportation Dept. not to withdraw approval for airlines to hold discussions on a certain type of interline fare. The international airline group -- as well as individual airlines -- is expected to file objections to DOT's show cause order within the 45-day comment window. IATA believes that further discussions with DOT can produce a proposal that would keep the interline discussions but also address DOT's competition concerns.
Embraer is flying an agricultural crop-dusting plane that burns ethanol. The initial results are "very good," says CEO Mauricio Botelho, who noted that the cost of ethanol in Brazil is one-fifth the cost of aviation fuel. "Ethanol may be a good choice" for broader use as an aviation fuel, he said, but "it competes with food," which may weigh against widespread replacement of aviation gas with ethanol.
The unsecured creditors committee of Comair parent Delta notes labor cost reductions sought from flight attendants are necessary for Comair to be cost competitive, noting that "other regional carriers are about to be awarded significant amounts of regional flying for Northwest and Continental." While Comair "expressed interest in obtaining this business," it was unsuccessful because those airlines declined to wait until its costs were restructured.
Embraer won type certification from the European Aviation Safety Agency for its 100-seat 190 aircraft, paving the way for Finnair and Air France subsidiary Regional to start operating the aircraft. The airframer predicts winning European certification for the Embraer 195 shortly, ahead of deliveries to FlyBe, which are scheduled to start next month (DAILY, May 16).
Brazil's booming economy and the possibility that Varig may declare bankruptcy have encouraged regional Sao Paulo-based airline Ocean Air to consider the launch of international flights before the end of the year. The carrier is owned by German Efromovich's Sinergy Aerospace, which controls Avianca/SAM and has a minority stake in Wayra Peru. Ocean Air applied first for authority from Brazil to Bogota and Los Angeles, to be followed later by Lima and Caracas.
Northwest's flight attendants yesterday voted to make the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA its new bargaining agent, dumping the Professional Flight Attendants Association after three years.
