Varig this week finally received some good news when Magistrate Ayoub discarded bankruptcy for the airline because the company is being restructured under judicial protection.
A working group tasked with looking at ways to improve safety and lower noise at Teterboro, N.J., Airport is expected to formally hand over a package of recommendations to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey on Friday. National Air Transportation Association President James Coyne, who co-chaired the working group, called the recommendations so significant that "we would be doing things at TEB that aren't being done at any airport around the world."
Maxjet yesterday reported that it recorded its highest load factors since its November launch and is in midst of negotiating deals for a third and fourth Boeing 767 to expand service.
Bmi regional will soon carry US Airways' code on intra-U.K. flights and from the U.S. to third-country points, if Star Alliance partners bmi and US Airways have their way. The U.K. carrier and US Airways filed an application with the U.S. Transportation Dept. to amend bmi and US Airways' code-share exemptions and authorizations to include bmi regional. The US Airways code will initially appear on bmi regional's Glasgow-Manchester, Aberdeen-Manchester, Edinburgh-Manchester and Leeds/Bradford-Paris flights [OST-2004-18932]. -ARS
Air China yesterday reported a RMB2.4 billion (US$300 million) net profit for full-year 2005, as a 14% revenue jump helped to offset a spike in fuel prices.
Thai Airways yesterday named Apinan Sumanaseni as its new president, effective May 1, to replace Kanok Abhiradee. Apinan joined the carrier in August 1975 and currently is executive VP-operations. Somchainuk Engtrakul was appointed acting president by the government last summer after Kanok was stripped of his management duties.
FLYi could soon own shares in United, and at the same time United could succeed in persuading FLYi to drop an antitrust claim if the court overseeing FLYi's liquidation approves a deal the two sides hammered out to settle outstanding claims FLYi made related to United's three-year stint in Chapter 11.
By: Steve Lott, Aviation Daily Aircraft are an airline's most important asset, and cutting labor costs of the crews that work on the planes yields significant savings, but a new analysis shows that U.S. airlines clearly still haven't made enough utilization gains to help offset rising maintenance and ownership expenses.
FAA yesterday dismissed speculation that the agency was preparing to return to the negotiating table with its controllers union, and said the impasse process will continue. The National Air Traffic Controllers Association yesterday said it was accepting a public offer from FAA to return to the bargaining table. NATCA called on the agency to rescind its declaration of impasse, and the union said both sides should retract their best and final offers and return to negotiations.
One day after the Bush Administration asked acting National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Mark Rosenker to chair the board, former Chairman Ellen Engleman Conners handed the President her letter of resignation. She intends to leave NTSB May 31. Conners joined the safety board in March 2003 as chairman for a two-year term. During her tenure, Conners was outspoken, spearheading an uncharacteristic move by NTSB to directly warn pilots about the risk of ice build-up on aircraft wings (DAILY, March 28, 2005).
Republic Airways Holdings subsidiary Chautauqua Airlines won the first victory in the regional airline free-for-all after Continental picked the carrier to fly 69 jets the Houston-based airline plans to yank from its capacity purchase agreement with long-time partner and former subsidiary ExpressJet. Last December, Continental unveiled plans to bid out that flying after the airline failed to reach a deal with ExpressJet for a reduction in rates. Continental wanted a $120 million reduction in rates, while ExpressJet worked out a deal for a $60 million cut.
Monday's deadline for the court handling Delta's bankruptcy to rule on the rejection of Comair's flight attendant contract came and went, with no ruling from the judge.
Delta and KLM want to expand their code share to include the European carrier's regional subsidiary, Cityhopper. Cityhopper would carry Delta's code on flights from Amsterdam Schiphol Airport to Hamburg, Hannover, Nuremberg and Bremen, Germany; Oslo, Norway; Luxembourg, and Newcastle, U.K. The airlines say they plan to introduce the service "as soon as possible."
Orbitz and Galileo parent Cendant Corp. yesterday tapped outsider Jeff Clarke to be president and CEO of its Travel Distribution Services division, which will be renamed Travelport and spun off this year.
South African Airways' CFO Tryphosa Ramano plans to resign from the airline May 31 to pursue other interests. She joined the airline in April 2004 and was responsible for the finances of the carrier as well as the profit improvement program and fleet management. Ramano previously worked as a portfolio manager at Rand Merchant Bank Asset Management and before joining SAA was the chief director of asset management in the National Treasury responsible for the restructuring of state owned entities. -SL
Arizona's Williams Gateway Airport Authority board is reviewing a proposal that would add the city of Phoenix to its membership. Under the proposed plan, Phoenix would become the fifth member government in the airport authority, joining the municipalities of Mesa, Gilbert, Queen Creek and the Gila River Indian Community. Each member government has a single board seat and vote.
Bolivian Customs last week impounded a Lloyd Aereo Boliviano aircraft because the aircraft's origins and licensing status were in doubt. The aircraft, revealed pilots union President Jose Luis Dalence, is of "unknown origin and dubious use, and has not been licensed or submitted to maintenance because management under Ernesto Asbun has never revealed this information." Dalence will join other union representatives for meetings with Asbun on labor's purchase of 50% of LAB's equity. Government officials are expected to oversee the meeting.
Gulf Air last week expanded its electronic ticketing in the region, allowing travel agencies in Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, using Sabre's global distribution system to provide paperless tickets.
China Airlines will carry the Delta code on its flights between Taipei and Tokyo. The blind-sector code share should launch within 30 days [OST-2002-11459]. The two carriers began code sharing on Delta's Los Angeles-New York flights in March, and earlier this month China Airlines started carrying the Delta on CAL flights from Anchorage to Taipei, and from Taipei to Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. -ARS
A Brazilian court ruled Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) President Ernesto Asbun cannot legally dispose of his equity shares in the carrier until he pays $17 million to former partner VASP Airlines, impeding LAB employee efforts to buy Asbun's shares and save the carrier. The shares, along with all of LAB's assets, are under lien at the court on a motion brought by VASP(DAILY, March 6). An attempt by Asbun to sell or transfer such LAB shares would be subject to civil and criminal judicial action in Brazil.
The DOT Inspector General is still "in the process of reviewing allegations" that National Air Traffic Controllers Association head John Carr made against FAA in February, an IG spokesman says. Carr asked the IG to examine whether FAA broke federal regulations that prohibit the agency from lobbying Congress on any piece of legislation.
JetBlue yesterday hired long-time US Airways executive Richard Zeni as the carrier's new VP-revenue management. Zeni has already started in the new job and replaces Brad Boggess, who left the company last year. Zeni will report directly to CEO David Neeleman, a change from when the position reported to the senior VP-sales and marketing. Zeni worked in US Airways revenue management department since 1996 and most recently was managing director of pricing and revenue management development. He started his career at Piedmont Airlines.
Northwest agreed to extend until May 15 a deadline by which partner Pinnacle Airlines had to pay more than $21 million in additional aircraft security deposits.
