Comments from British Airways and Lufthansa moved the Wayne County Airport Authority to spend an extra $2.5 million for a larger customs and immigration area in Detroit Metro's new international North terminal. "BA and Lufthansa pointed out that they'd have flights arriving within 20 minutes of each other, which could generate long lines," said airport spokesman Michael Conway. "We want passengers at the McNamara and North terminals to be equal, so this made sense."
Two leading government agencies this week reported that the U.S. aviation trust fund is rebounding nicely, and a new study by an aviation consultant claims that the trust fund is in healthier shape than advertised.
Oklahoma City Will Rogers World Airport has launched a campaign to get direct service to Baltimore/Washington, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Francisco. The airport developed a multi-tiered marketing incentive program with Alexandria, Va.-based consultant Campbell-Hill Aviation Group to persuade airlines to serve these cities directly.
Ethiopian Airlines has posted profits in nine out of the past 10 years and CEO Girma Wake predicts that trend will continue as the carrier reveals plans to boost U.S. service and acquire at least five Boeing long-haul aircraft.
Northwest pilots will start voting on their $358 million tentative concession agreement April 6 and will finish May 3, reports the Air Line Pilots Association unit. The flight attendants' union and management are finalizing details of their tentative deal with management but have scheduled road shows around the country. They have not scheduled a start date for a vote.
Three of the world's largest aircraft leasing companies issued a stern warning this week to U.S. legacy airlines that they shouldn't expect any more discounts, deals or bailouts in the future as the leasing giants have lost confidence in the U.S. carriers and would rather deal with customers in other parts of the world.
AirTran's application for two within-perimeter slots now available for Washington National Airport (DAILY, Feb. 28) isn't up to snuff, but the carrier has found a way around that -- it would have U.S. Transportation Dept. take two slots from either of the rival bidders (US Airways or Comair) in exchange for the within-perimeter slots. DOT would then be free to award the two slots to AirTran, which would use them to launch service from DCA to Indianapolis or Chicago Midway (DAILY, March 22).
Airport operator BAA this week said it has decided to close London Heathrow's Terminal 2 once all airlines have relocated to other terminals in 2009. The company calculated that only 1.5 million passengers would be handled in the facility annually once all current relocation plans are implemented, "giving rise to questions around the economic and operational viability."
Boeing yesterday announced a new order for 30 Boeing 737s by GE Commercial Aviation Services, including the first order for the 737-900ER by a leasing company; GECAS also placed 30 options. The aircraft will be delivered between 2008 and 2010. The latest order means GECAS has ordered 68 737s in the past two years.
Cendant won a new client for its new airRes system from startup Virgin America, the second airline to opt for the system after WestJet became the launch customer last fall (DAILY, Sept. 19).
Virgin Atlantic Airways plans to carry 10% more passengers in its business-class cabin next year, one goal of a three-year strategy aimed at boosting profit margins. The airline said this week that it hopes to reach the goal by focusing on high-demand business routes, such as London-New York and London-Dubai, and on additional product upgrades. The airline's Heathrow clubhouse now features a jacuzzi and spa treatments, among other things.
United and Air Canada won approval for blind-sector code sharing that will enable the Canadian carrier to offer service to Mexico (DAILY, March 3). The AC code will appear on United's flights from Denver to Cancun, Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, San Jose del Cabo and Ixtapa/ Zihuatenejo, Los Angeles to Ixtapa/Zihuatenejo and San Francisco to Puerto Vallarta and Los Cabos [OST-2006-24079]. Air Canada does not have authority for the U.S.-Mexico points. -ARS
Lufthansa Technik, Europe's biggest maintenance, repair and overhaul provider, saw operating profits rise 26% to EUR258 million (US$311 million) last year, as the company's third-party business continued to grow. Sales were up 2% at EUR3.12 billion (US$3.8 billion). CFO Peter Jansen said that the unit's internal business actually declined, with Lufthansa Cargo having phased out maintenance-prone Boeing 747-200s. Fifty-eight percent of sales are now with outside customers.
The situation of troubled Bolivian carrier Lloyd Aereo Boliviano worsened earlier this week as payment came due on debts for aircraft leasing, fuel, employees' back wages, reimbursement for tickets held by stranded passengers, and other essential obligations -- with no resources in sight to pay them.
American yesterday announced that Thomas Horton is returning to the airline as its CFO, a position he previously held before leaving to join AT&T. American also made several other executive appointments, as it prepares for "the expected retirement of two key executives in the next few years."
South African Airways last week held an emergency response drill out outside Johannesburg to simulate a problem away from the airport. The full-scale emergency exercise, code named "Operation Kaizen," meaning continuous improvement in Japanese, was held at a site where two other simulations were completed in 2001 and 2003. "The exercise tested the airline's readiness to respond to a full-scale airline emergency, as well as the emergency policies, procedures and operational capacities of various departments within SAA," the airline said.
The Malaysian government surprisingly approved low-fare airline Air Asia to operate up to 96 routes under the rationalization of the domestic network, while Malaysia Airlines will operate 19 routes, an increase of 13 from the proposed six. Under the plan, which becomes effective Aug. 1, Air Asia will also take over the rural air service (RAS) routes from MAS. Air Asia will get financial assistance from the government to operate RAS.
Shareholders at Frontier Airlines gave management their consent to form a holding company incorporated in Delaware despite Institutional Shareholder Services' (ISS) negative response to the proposal (DAILY, March 6). In response to ISS concerns, Frontier management told shareholders the holding company would help the airline build the corporate framework to possibly form subsidiaries to support its growing Mexican network or new Canadian operations.
Glitches with the Embraer 190's entry into service continue to wane as software upgrades and targeted training for operator crews on the plane's systems boost the aircraft's dispatch reliability rate. JetBlue started flying the 190 in November, and CEO David Neeleman has noted the airline might have been too aggressive in putting the planes into service and aiming for 20-minute turn times. After three months of operations, Embraer VP Programs for the Airline Market Mauro Kern said, "Operations are much better," but "they're not perfect."
FAA's massive telecommunications modernization program is seriously behind schedule, and this will likely reduce the cost savings the agency can achieve from the program, the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s chief watchdog warned Senate lawmakers yesterday.
