A dispute about design changes at Miami Airport's new South Terminal has caused the opening to be delayed from the fourth quarter of 2006 to the first quarter of 2007. Airport contractor Parsons-Odebrecht came up with proposals for finishing the building that were not acceptable, said John Cosper, deputy director of capital improvement for MIA. "We are not on the same page on costs, but we're negotiating. Parsons-Odebrecht, in turn, is negotiating with their subcontractors," he said.
Virgin America this week unveiled plans to outsource its customer service calls to a Florida-based company that runs a "virtual" call center with agents working from their homes.
A bill that would provide Wichita Mid-Continent Airport with $5 million to fund an airline incentives program has been passed by both houses of the Kansas legislature. The bill now awaits the signature of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D).
Vought Aircraft Industries plans to cut its staff as much as 20% by this summer as it works aggressively to reduce costs and improve short-term cash flow.
Avion Group yesterday said it has bought seven Boeing 747-400s, most of which will be converted to cargo aircraft and flown by Avion's wet-lease operator, Air Atlanta Icelandic (AAI). Avion bought six passenger 747s and one cargo version, with one coming from Cargolux and the remainder from All Nippon Airways. Four of the passenger aircraft will be converted to cargo and introduced to the AAI fleet along with the single cargo aircraft. The two remaining passenger aircraft will go to Avion's charter carrier, Excel Airways.
Passengers flying out of Nashville Airport March 31 faced long delays at Transportation Security Administration screening points after problems with X-ray equipment and metal detectors. The machines were not operating because of an "operational issue," said TSA spokeswoman Amy Kudwa. "We tried to upgrade the operating software, but there were complications. It was an isolated incident." As a result, TSA was forced to screen people and carry-on bags by hand, causing the delays. Operations at the airport were back to normal by noon.
By: Steve Lott, Aviation Daily The music is still playing loudly in the game of alliance musical chairs and is not expected to stop any time soon as the groups make changes and additions and push to line up partners in China, India and the Middle East.
Shuttle America last week won authority to operate flights between the U.S. and the Bahamas, authority it will use to launch Saturday-only United Express service between Washington Dulles Airport and Nassau on June 10 (DAILY, March 20). The exemption award noted that Shuttle America said it would also use the authority to operate code share flights in the market with large aircraft for other major U.S. carriers [OST-2006-24218]. -ARS
An impressive 88.1% increase in fourth-quarter net profit helped drive Embraer's 2005 profit to a record $445.7 million, and the manufacturer also highlighted its strong cash position and order book.
Venezuelan carriers are poised to invest heavily in the U.S.-Venezuela market, hoping to capitalize on the change that will likely come as a result of Venezuela's upgrade in the FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment Program (DAILY, March 27).
FAA on Friday carried out its threat to file an unfair labor practices complaint against the Professional Airways Systems Specialists (PASS) union, alleging that the union failed to conduct "good faith bargaining" during recent contract talks.
Air Canada yesterday signed a 10-year lease for one new Boeing 777-300ER from ILFC to accelerate its widebody fleet renewal program and return one of its Airbus A340s two years earlier than planned.
TAP Portugal posted a EUR9.9 million loss (US$12 million) for the 2005 financial year despite significantly higher revenues. The airline attributed the loss to the soaring fuel prices that resulted in its spending EUR93 million more on kerosene than expected. Revenues grew 9.9% to EUR1.4 billion (US$1.7 billion), and TAP's fuel expenses were EUR287 million (US$348 million). The airline carried 6.4 million passengers, up 5.5% from 2004. TAP joined the Star Alliance last year. -JF
Northwest won exemptions from the U.S. Transportation Dept. for code sharing with SkyTeam partner Continental on CO's Houston-Queretaro, Mexico, flights and for Cincinnati-San Jose del Cabo and the Atlanta-Cozumel/-Merida/-Puerto Vallarta code share with Delta [OST-2006-23979].
Cathay Pacific plans to boost its cargo service with two new weekly freighter flights from Hong Kong to India. The new service will operate every Tuesday and Friday, starting June 2 with a Boeing 747-200F. It will depart Hong Kong at 11:40 a.m. and arrive in Mumbai at 3 p.m. local time the same day before continuing to Chennai later that afternoon and heading back to Hong Kong at 7:50 p.m., arriving in the early hours of the following morning in time for connections to the U.S.
Most U.S. airlines over the weekend matched the modest fare increase in non-low-cost carrier markets, and it appeared airlines embraced the move to stop absorbing airport passenger facility charges, but other attempted fare hikes did not win support.
The escrow account into which Aerolineas Argentinas pays penalties to compensate for the disparities in fees charged to U.S. carriers (DAILY, Aug. 31, 2005) now stands at $3,163,891.49. The airline last deposited $22,540.16 into the account for the week ended March 26, the 114th deposit into the account since January 2004 [OST-2003-15092].
Gulf Air plans to add nearly 70 new frequencies from its Muscat hub this summer to several new and existing destinations in its network, including Paris. When all the new services are added, Gulf Air will have 195 flights per week from Muscat, a 55% increase from its current schedule of 126 flights per week. The carrier will operate seven flights a week to Jakarta and Kathmandu, six to Amman, four to Paris, two to Islamabad and Dammam, and one to Sana'a. It also added one nonstop flight four days per week to Kuala Lumpur.
Luxair will cut 200 jobs or 10% of its work force, freeze wages from 2007 to 2009 and slash unprofitable destinations from its network in an attempt to break even by the end of 2008, the 36.5% state-owned flag carrier announced yesterday in Luxembourg. The airline said it posted a EUR12 million loss (US$14.6 million) in 2005, and "if no concrete measures are taken, projected results by the financial year 2008 would amount to a loss of over EUR21 million."
Korean Air and Kenya Airways will launch three weekly code-share flights on the Seoul Incheon-Bangkok-Nairobi route on April 20. Korean Air will operate the Incheon-Bangkok route, while Kenya Airways will fly the Bangkok-Nairobi sector. The flight will operate on Monday, Thursday and Saturday. Nairobi will be Korean Air's second African destination. The other is Cairo, which is served nonstop three times weekly. -WD
Qantas Engineering yesterday opened its new A$55 million (US$39.4 million) material and logistics distribution center in Mascot, near Sydney. The 17,500-square-meter facility houses components required to service and maintain Qantas' mainline fleet. The highlight of the facility is a high-rise Miniload Automated Storage and Retrieval System comprising four stacker cranes that travel at speeds of 24 meters (or 26 yards) per second to retrieve 260,000 components from storage trays in more than 30,000 locations within the facility.
