Tampa Airport has become the latest facility to sign on with Smarte Carte's Mail Safe Express, which lets travelers mail items not allowed through Transportation Security Administration checkpoints. Smarte Carte introduced the product at Houston Intercontinental Airport in September 2004, said spokeswoman Christy Bipes. Currently, 12 airports, including Dayton, Fort Lauderdale, Minneapolis-St. Paul, New York LaGuardia and Washington Dulles, use Mail Safe Express, she said, with 20 more locations to be added this year.
While the question of Venezuela's Category 2 status in the FAA's safety oversight program is being settled (DAILY, April 4), the Venezuelan civil aviation institute barred a request by American for a fourth daily Miami-Caracas frequency that would have resumed service today with some 260 passengers. American continues to operate its other flights on this route.
DigEcor last week unveiled its new inflight entertainment system, the digEplayer XT, featuring a larger hard drive to store more movies and music. The unit sports an eight-inch TFT screen and has DVD-quality video. It also has a 60-gigabyte hard drive, USB 2.0 host port, two independently controlled headphone mini-jacks and optional 802.11 a/b/g wireless capability.
Southwest CEO Gary Kelly says it's unlikely the airline will add another city this year due to the limitation of the number of planes in its fleet. The airline has taken delivery of six Boeing 737s so far in 2006, and 27 more are set to enter service. Southwest has no plans to retire any planes this year or in 2007. Flights from Washington Dulles, Southwest's second new city this year, start in the fall.
A clean and roomy restroom is the feature passengers want most in a flight, says a new survey of 2,300 travelers from web travel information site TripAdvisor; a clean blanket or pillow was chosen by 27% of passengers. TripAdvisor found that 54% of respondents would pay for larger seats and more legroom. Bottled water was the most valued complimentary food or beverage, while fruits and vegetables came second. With onboard entertainment, 47% chose a video screen at every seat as the most important feature.
Wizz Air strengthened its component support agreement with Lufthansa Technik, extending the deal for five years to cover the carrier's expanding fleet of Airbus A320 planes.
Delta Connection carriers Comair and Atlantic Southeast Airlines won exemptions from the U.S. Transportation Dept. to use CRJ-700s on flights from Atlanta and Cincinnati to Toronto, starting in June (DAILY, March 21). Comair will fly to Toronto daily from Atlanta and will operate 33 of Delta's 40 departures from Cincinnati. ASA, meanwhile, will operate the Atlanta-Toronto service three times daily except on Saturday [OST-2006-24220, -24235]. -ARS
Newark and New York LaGuardia airports in February posted the worst on-time arrival of the major U.S. airports tracked by the U.S. Transportation Dept. Newark reported a dismal 60.9% rate, followed by LGA with only 64.1% of flights arriving on schedule. Neighboring Kennedy Airport did better with a 70.3% on-time performance. San Francisco and Seattle also posted rates under 70% largely due to weather delays.
EADS is one step closer to gaining full control of Airbus now that BAE has said it wants to sell its 20% stake of the airframer; late last week, BAE said it has started talks with EADS about the sale.
Lloyd Aereo Boliviano President and majority stockholder Ernesto Asbun has set a condition for his proposal to sell 50% of his equity in the rapidly deteriorating airline (DAILY, April 6). The condition calls for a deposit for $3 million in Bolivia's National Bank in the name of LAB's workers to confirm their serious intentions to acquire the 50% equity. Labor leaders reported later they were already negotiating credits with European banks for the $3 million, plus additional funds for operating capital.
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) APRIL 25-26 -- MRO Military Conference, Phoenix APRIL 25-26 -- MRO USA Conference & Exhibition 2006, Phoenix MAY 17-18 -- MRO Military Europe, Berlin SEPT. 19-21 -- MRO Asia, Xiamen, China OCT. 24-26 -- MRO Europe, Amsterdam NOV. 13-15 -- Aerospace & Defense Programs, Phoenix
Aerocalifornia, grounded by the Mexican government (DAILY, April 4) for aircraft safety issues, could be on the sidelines longer than the 90 days it was given to make improvements, a possibility that could leave some passengers stranded this summer.
A Delta pilots' strike that grounds the airline for more than two days "would trigger an event of default under our post-petition financing agreements," the airline said in a securities filing. "As a result, we could be required to cease operations permanently." Management believes a strike is not allowed under the Railway Labor Act and would ask a court to block any action.
ALPA is calling for a federal judge not to publicly release a cockpit voice recording from United Flight 93 during the trial of alleged Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui. ALPA says CVRs should only be heard in closed session. Releasing the tape serves no legitimate purpose and "sets a dangerous precedent that would affect the future privacy of all airline pilots," ALPA says.
To list an event, please send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] APRIL 19 -- Wings Club Luncheon featuring Barry Eccleston, President & CEO Airbus North America, Yale Club, New York City, 212-867-1770, email:[email protected]. APRIL 24-26 -- ATCA/FAA/NASA Technical Symposium & Golf Outing, Atlantic City, 703-299-2430, Fax 703-299-2437, email [email protected]
WestJet joins rival Air Canada in offering travel passes that give customers the option to buy 10 one-way flights between Toronto and Montreal/Ottawa for $1,200. Passengers must buy the passes by April 28 and use them by Aug. 31. Unlimited changes are free up to two hours before travel. The carrier said no reward miles are available for travel pass purchases, and seats may not be available on all flights.
Delta and Avianca want to amend their code-share authority so that Avianca can carry the Delta code on its new three weekly Bogota-Los Angeles flights. The new service will launch June 15. The carriers are authorized to code share on Avianca's Miami-Bogota/-Barranquilla/-Cartegena/-Medellin, New York-Bogota/-Medellin, and Fort Lauderdale-Bogota flights. Avianca also carries the Delta code on flights from Delta's Colombian gateways to additional points in Colombia, as well as Ecuador [OST-2002-14057].
Air Canada and WestJet this week both reported record load factors in March, as well as improved yields, as both carriers hope the trend will continue through the spring.
