United parent UAL Corp. this week announced its third senior management change in the past four weeks as the carrier continues to tweak its organizational chart.
Air France plans to add service to Colombia and Venezuela, while KLM will bring Ecuador and Peru into its network, revealed Bogota-based Air France-KLM Regional Manager Bruce Donzelmann. The airlines increased capacity between Europe and Latin America's Andean region last year.
Fifteen House Democrats asked the Government Accountability Office yesterday to investigate security conditions at commercial airports around the U.S. and what the Transportation Security Administration is doing about them. Led by Rep. Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, senior Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, the lawmakers asked the GAO to follow up on a report it issued in April 2004 identifying weaknesses in perimeter security and access controls.
Alitalia's rebel trade union Sindacato Unitario Lavoratori Trasporti (SULT) has called a 24-hour strike for flight attendants on June 17 and said more strikes could take place in the coming months. Union sources claim the June 17 strike could force the carrier to slash up to 200 flights.
The Air Transport Association's proposed user-fee plan that is intended to overhaul some of FAA's funding mechanisms is drawing fire from regional carriers. Representatives from the general aviation community have repeatedly voiced their concern over ATA's proposal, which suggests that fees be based on arrivals and departures, and how much time a flight spends in the air traffic control system (DAILY, March 9).
South African Airways was fined $83 million by the South African Competition Commission for allegedly illegally fixing prices with Lufthansa on routes from South Africa to Germany. A case against Lufthansa is understood to be in the process of settling for a similar fine, the commission said. SAA has admitted the wrongdoings, while Lufthansa has not commented on the case. SAA last month became a member of Star Alliance but has been code sharing with Lufthansa for many years. -JF
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport is hoping that its new $41 million Joseph M. McDade Terminal will help attract new airlines and gain service to more destinations. Under the master plan, begun in 1993, the airport has spent $57 million, with the goal of attracting new business to the region and luring more travelers to its facility. Changes include new and expanded roads around the airport, a new parking garage and more surface parking, a new terminal apron and a pedestrian tunnel for easier access to the airport.
United this year plans to launch three weekly flights from Washington Dulles to Kuwait City as it tries to tap into the passenger and cargo traffic related to the war in the Iraq.
EasyJet could set up a franchise operation in the Middle East, EasyJet founder Stelios Haji-Ioannou said yesterday. The low-fare carrier would need a local partner, he added without going into more details. Some of Stelios' other businesses, such as EasyHotels, are expanding in the region.
Russian airframer Sukhoi expects to make a decision about stretching its RRJ 95 model to 110 seats in the fall as development of the company's 60- to 65-seat plane has been frozen.
Brazilian development bank BNDES denied three requests for bridge loan financing for Varig, revealing some of the possible players in the carrier's restructuring (DAILY, May 22). Banco BRJ applied for $167 million and Varig's workers group TGV for $150 million. BNDES did not reveal the third applicant. As to why the applicants were denied loans, the bank said none of the applications was guaranteed by a bank surety bond and the applicants had no resources of their own as collateral.
JetBlue executives are meeting with Cape Air's management today to take steps toward finalizing JetBlue's first potential passenger link with another airline. The deal would enable JetBlue passengers arriving in Boston to connect with Cape Air flights to Nantucket, Hyannis and Martha's Vineyard, Mass., and check their baggage to their final destinations.
This year's late Easter lifted U.S. airlines' year-over-year traffic growth between 2% and 3%, while legacy airlines' 4% domestic supply cuts helped raise domestic load factors four points in April, according to a Goldman Sachs analysis. Yields soared 11%, for the third consecutive month of double-digit gains, driven by a 14% increase in domestic markets.
Spanish international low-cost carrier Air Madrid leads airlines in the number of delays at the terminal, some as short as 15 minutes and some as long as seven hours. So far this year, only two Air Madrid flights have arrived or departed on time. Air Madrid's Jose Luna Vasquez cited heavy maintenance being performed in Madrid as the culprit behind the delays, and said "Delays over three hours are only occasional and the result of major maintenance to guarantee safety."
Avianca recorded a $15 million operating profit during the first quarter despite high fuel costs, President Fabio Villegas reported, as domestic and international traffic grew 10%.
House Democrats, supported by the controllers' union, have launched a campaign to try to force a House vote on a bill that would circumvent FAA's ability to impose a contract on the controllers.
Cathay Pacific recently decided to strip all the paint from all freighter aircraft in its fleet as part of its strategy to find new ways to cut costs. The carrier put its first Boeing 747 freighter into service last week with the new silver polished livery. With the paint removed, the 747 is about 200 kilograms lighter and saves more than HK$1.5 million on the airline's annual fuel bill. Virtually the entire aircraft body has been stripped bare, except for the tail and a strip along the nose to maintain the airline's identity.
Russian aircraft manufacturer Sukhoi expects to receive an order from SAS for the Russian regional jet before the end of the year, Sukhoi's head of civil aircraft program Viktor Subbotin said yesterday at a news conference in Moscow. SAS is known to be studying large regional jets and has said that the study includes Sukhoi. If it placed an order, SAS would be the first Western customer for the program. -JF
Spirit Airlines CEO Jacob Schorr plans to step down from his position after nine years with the airline, and the board decided to promote Ben Baldanza as his replacement.
Uruguay's state-owned Pluna, weary of long-protracted, futile negotiations for partnership with Venezuela's Conviasa, is renewing of its quest for other partners. Pluna President Carlos Bouzas said recent institutional and management changes in Conviasa had stymied concrete results for the alliance as originally envisioned.
Austrian Airlines recently reported that bookings completed through the Internet jumped 62% for the first four months of the year, compared with the same period in 2005.
