Elected David Chevalier, of Blue Hawaiian Helicopters, and Mark Gibson, of Timberland Logging, as representatives of the regular member commercial category and the regular member corporate-private category, respectively; it also elected Edward Newton chairman, Michael Suldo vice chairman, Patrick Corr treasurer and Mark Gibson assistant treasurer.
United recently completed an "audit" of more than 3,600 aircraft seats, lavatories, overhead bins and entertainment systems due to a drop in customer satisfaction ratings of interior aircraft conditions and cleanliness. The airline formed a team armed with checklists of 28 items and found a wide variety of improvement areas, including seat covers, personal video screens and headsets. The airline is finishing a cost analysis of the needed fixes.
Boeing last week revealed that Cargolux is the customer for two 747-400 freighters that had previously been listed under unidentified customer. The two freighters will be delivered in 2007 and 2008, and will bring the carrier's 747 freighter fleet to 16. The two aircraft are worth $450 million at list prices. Cargolux is also the launch customer for the 747-8 freighter, with 10 firm orders and 10 options. Deliveries of the 747-8s are scheduled to begin in 2009.
Lufthansa is considering the expansion of its corporate jet offering, Executive Vice-President Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori said at the International Tourism Exchange in Berlin. "Lufthansa Private Jet is performing above our expectations," he said. As part of the operation, the airline offers its passengers connecting services from Frankfurt and Munich to cities within Europe, using small corporate jets in cooperation with NetJets.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) MARCH 18 -- Airline Pilot Job Fair hosted by AIR, Inc., Sheraton Gateway Hotel, LAX Airport, Los Angeles, 800-538-5627, www.jet-jobs.com MARCH 20-21 -- ACI-NA Spring Washington Conference, co-sponsored by AAAAE & ACI-NA, L'Enfant Plaze Hotel, Washington, www.aci-na.aero, 202-293-3035, email [email protected]
The seven founding members of the Middle East airline alliance Arabesk (DAILY, Oct. 13, 2005) this week formalized their relationship after a year of talks and preparation and signed a deal with Sabre Airline Solutions to help execute the agreement.
Boeing yesterday identified Turkey's Pegasus Airlines as the carrier that ordered six 737s earlier this year. The order had previously been listed as unidentified. The 737s will be delivered from 2008 and together will be worth $406.5 million at list prices. The carrier also has purchase rights for another six 737s. Pegasus already operates 14 737s.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. will require Air Midwest and Alaska-based carrier Island Air to continue to operate their respective services to Clarksburg/Fairmont, Morgantown and Parkersburg, West Va., and Alitak, Alaska, for another 30 days. Air Midwest will continue its unsubsidized service to the West Virginia communities until April 19 or until RegionsAir launches subsidized service that will connect the locales to Cincinnati [OST-2005-20736].
SkyEurope unveiled a plan to cut fuel surcharges and other fees from charges it adds to tickets and instead include those items in passenger base fares, noting the only remaining cost on top of fares would be net of airport departure and government taxes when those charges apply. -LR
EasyJet christened its 16th base this week at Milan Malpensa Airport. Between March 10 and May 20, the carrier's three Airbus A319s based at Malpansa will start flights to nine destinations -- Paris Charles De Gaulle, Athens, Malaga, Madrid, Naples Olbia, Palmero, Lisbon and Ibiza. The airline now serves 40 routes from 11 Italian airports. -LR
Transport Canada on Wednesday grounded Toronto-based NexJet Aviation because of "a number of suspensions and Notices of Suspension, regulatory offences and the company's inability to demonstrate operational control, including proper record keeping and aircraft maintenance." The cancellation of the charter airline's operating certificate "does not preclude any further regulatory action at a later date." -SL
Pratt & Whitney Canada (PW&C) President Louis Chenevert received a significant promotion, moving to the OEM's parent company UTC as president and chief operating officer, while current CEO George David said he's staying on in that role for at least two more years. David and Chenevert will serve in a newly formed Office of the Chief Executive, which means UTC executives currently reporting to David will report to the members of the Office.
United, Continental, Northwest and the Air Line Pilots Association support moves by Guam to improve traffic through the grant of authority and exemptions for foreign carriers but worry that a lure of extrabilateral authority would undermine the U.S. in future negotiations with countries with restrictive bilaterals. It's an argument carriers have made before in cases concerning Hawaii and Alaska but a tack that nonetheless has failed to sway the U.S. Transportation Dept.
Jetstar's 250 pilots voted for changes to their contract that grant higher wages and the ability for some pilots to move to widebody aircraft when the Qantas subsidiary starts long-haul flights to Asia with Airbus A330s this year. Jetstar will fly six A330s before flying the 10 Boeing 787 Qantas has on order. The first delivery is scheduled in 2007. Sydney's Australian Industrial Relations Commission certified the deal. But The Australian reported that Qantas' mainline pilots were upset with the deal and might take legal action to block it. -LR
Comair flight attendants are firing back at management, arguing the airline hasn't justified the rejection of their collective bargaining agreement by the bankruptcy court handling Delta's Chapter 11 case.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. will not revoke eight beyond-perimeter slots at Washington National Airport from America West (DAILY, Jan. 13), shooting down arguments from the Air Carrier Association of America that the merger with US Airways invalidated the slot award under the "limited incumbent carrier" condition.
The Latin American Airline Association (AITAL) this week protested increases to air traffic control fees and fuel taxes by the Jamaican government and warned that the move may hurt air service to the island. "Some member airlines are already planning to avoid Jamaica airspace, and others may choose other destinations for future flight expansions," AITAL said. Jamaica increased en route air traffic control charges by 180% and also hiked communications fees, said AITAL. In addition, a new jet fuel storage and handling fee of 3.7 cents per gallon was imposed.
The Czech Republic yesterday announced an order of two Airbus A319-based corporate jets, which will be used for military and government flights. The two Airbus Corporate Jetliners (ACJs) will replace Tupolev Tu-154s in the government fleet. The new aircraft will be powered by CFM 56-5 engines. A "quick-change" kit will allow the ACJs to transport either troops or government officials. Cabin outfitting will be carried out by Lufthansa Technik, at Hamburg.
Star Alliance this week named Philip Saunders VP-sales, marketing and loyalty, effective March 20. Reporting directly to the Star CEO, Saunders will be responsible for all marketing and sales functions at the alliance. Saunders joins Star from SN Brussels Airlines, where he was executive VP-commercial. He also worked at British Airways and Deutsche BA.
