Startup carrier Festival Airlines plans to base its operation at Rockford, Ill., Airport, south of Chicago. The carrier hasn't started the certification process with FAA or the Transportation Dept. but wants to fly Boeing 757s to leisure destinations in Florida and the Caribbean. Thomas Glasgow, former FedEx executive and adviser for Blackwater Capital, is president and chief operating officer.
Unions at Lloyd Aereo Boliviano are banding together in their call for more government involvement in helping to keep the carrier operational (DAILY, Feb. 28), claiming that airline President Ernesto Asbun is incapable of managing the carrier. "As being currently managed by Ernesto Asbun, LAB cannot keep flying for 90 days, Corrective action must be taken at once," said union leader Fernando Machicedo. "The government has to assume full management because Asbun's deficient capitalization and mismanagement could bankrupt the company."
The Transportation Security Administration on Friday promoted Dana Brown, chief of staff of the Federal Air Marshals Service (FAMS) as the new head of the service. Brown joined FAMS in 2003 after 25 years with the U.S. Secret Service, where he rose to assistant administrator of the Office of Administration. Brown started his law enforcement career as a police officer in Fairfax County, Va.
Engine lessor Willis Lease Finance added two carriers -- China Eastern Airlines and Shangdong Airlines -- to its Chinese engine-sharing pool, bringing the group's membership to seven.
LOT Polish Airlines will start from scratch in its search for a new CEO. The airline's supervisory board said in a statement that it will renew its efforts to fill the position, having failed to find a replacement for Marek Grabarek. Grabarek was forced out late last year (DAILY, Dec. 21) after a new government took over in November.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport's strong international cargo growth will get a further boost next month from new Air France all-cargo service to Paris, and two new China Cargo frequencies starting in June.
Malaysia Airlines is taking a hard look at its operating structure after posting dismal third quarter financial results (DAILY, March 1) and is considering route changes and aircraft returns in a bid to get back on track. "We will surely fail unless we radically change the way we run our business," said MAS Managing Director Jala Idris. "The airline's poor pricing, rising cost structure, a fleet that does not suit the airline's operations, weak operational performance and social obligations all contribute to the carrier's dismal performance," Idris said.
Airline pension relief will get passed through Congress, vows Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), who is fed up with the two-month delay in naming a conference committee to write a final pension overhaul bill. "The airline provisions need to get done because if any more airlines tank, the economy will tank right along with them," he says. If the committee isn't finalized soon, Grassley will pull airline relief out of the pension bill and add it to the tax reconciliation bill.
The ICAO Council yesterday elected Mexico's Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez as its new president, beginning Aug. 1, succeeding Assad Kotaite. The other candidate was Philippe Rochat of Switzerland. Rochat served on the ICAO Council from 1985 to 1989 and was secretary general of the organization from 1991 to 1997. Gonzalez has been Mexico's ICAO representative since January 1998.
Midwest yesterday decided to resume a frequent flyer partnership with rival Northwest after a three-year break. Midwest had partnered with Northwest for many years but ended the link in May 2003 (DAILY, Feb. 21, 2003). Midwest then started partnering with American, but the partnership was not reciprocal. Midwest frequent flyers could redeem miles on American, but American flyers could not redeem points on Midwest, so Midwest was losing out on potential revenue.
Delta executives late this week finally confirmed plans to cut more than 20% of the carrier's capacity from New York to Florida this summer after several days of chaos and confusion over a schedule filing error that frustrated financial analysts.
Airport executives responsible for organizing the Southeast Airports Disaster Operations Group (SEADOG) will hold an informational session in conjunction with the March 5-7 Southeast Chapter AAAE/AAAE Finance and Administration Conference in Jacksonville, Fla. The SEADOG session will take place the afternoon of March 7, immediately following the conclusion of the conference. Both events will be at the Omni Jacksonville Hotel. Admission to the SEADOG session is free. -SL
The U.S. Transportation Dept., moving forward with efforts to make air travel easier for disabled passengers, issued a notice of proposed rulemaking aimed at providing additional accommodations for travelers who are deaf, blind or hard of hearing.
Maxjet plans to delay the launch of its Washington Dulles service by several weeks because changes to its newest Boeing 767 are taking longer than expected. The carrier was planning to start flights from Washington to London Stansted on March 15 but has decided to wait until April 3 to start flying the route. However, demand is looking stronger than expected, and the airline will start the service with five weekly frequencies instead of four as previously announced. Service will operate Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Frontier's network is spreading north to Calgary, its first Canadian destination, but the carrier will have familiar company on its flights from Denver from rival United. Rumblings about Frontier's flights to Canada have been swirling for quite some time, and the airline won authority last month to launch service across the border (DAILY, Jan. 26).
EasyJet is finalizing details of a trial "speedy boarding" program targeted to customers willing to pay extra to be the first passengers to board the carrier's planes. The carrier wants to iron out online check-in being introduced throughout March and April, a carrier spokeswoman said, and then focus on offering trial priority boarding for about GBP5. CEO Andrew Harrison was quoted in U.K. press reports indicating EasyJet would begin the trial on its Luton-Edinburgh route. -LR
