Spanair said it will appeal last week's Spanish high court ruling that rejected its complaint about the allocation of capacity at Madrid Barajas Airport.
The European Commission last week cleared state aid for Air Caraibes, a regional operator in the French West Indies, in Brussels. The aid will finance the chartering of a 70-seat ATR 72-500 turboprop for services among Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin for a period of at least five years. The support is part of a general investment development program for the French overseas departments, which the EC approved in 2003.
Air New Zealand engineers last week voted to accept a deal that will keep widebody maintenance from being outsourced, just days after they voted to reject the same deal.
Airlines operating in Ecuador last week rejected congressionally approved amendments to the new civil aviation legislation, including a controversial sales commission scheme that will require international carriers to pay 6% and domestic carriers 8% commissions to travel agents. The law reverses previous agreements with the civil aviation department that gave airlines the freedom to negotiate commissions.
Delta this summer is planning a significant retreat from New York's airports, cutting 30% of its Song capacity from JFK to Florida and slashing 20% of its LaGuardia available seats.
Bombardier picked SAS Component to supply its Free2Fly package to operators of the airframer's 70-seat Q400 turboprop. SAS plans to offer repairs of propellers, avionics, APUs, landing gear, wheels and brakes. SAS's offerings also include exchange pool availability and an on-site inventory of critical components crucial for aircraft dispatch. SAS Airlines was the Q400's launch customer. -LR
Alaska Airlines is working with law enforcement due to increased concern about graffiti in aircraft cargo holds with gang references. "Graffiti in aircraft cargo holds isn't new," the airline told staff. "It's been around for years and is an industry-wide problem, but our current situation is different." More recent images had gang references, so the carrier is going to "more closely watch what occurs on our ramp in Seattle and at other major airports."
Austrian Airlines postponed indefinitely the launch of scheduled flights to Erbil in northern Iraq, which were due to start on March 12. AUA's service was to be the first commercial flights between Europe and Iraq since the 2003 war. The airline said the postponement was prompted by "recent flight operations considerations" and "a new appraisal of the situation as a whole." Uncontrolled violence erupted last week after the bombing of the Shiite shrine of Samarra. -MT
JetBlue CEO David Neeleman says despite teething problems, reliability of the airline's Embraer 190 fleet is improving. The head-up display is now certified, and Neeleman notes that deliveries, which have been running two to three weeks behind, should "be back on track by mid-year." The airline is also "quite pleased," he says that the -190's fuel burn per block hour is better than expected.
Air New Zealand last week revealed plans to slash headquarters staff by nearly 25%, the latest in a series of work force cuts reinforcing CEO Rob Fyfe's pledge that no "sacred cows" will be exempt from his campaign to streamline the carrier. Corporate staff will be reduced from 1,890 to 1,420 in the next year, Fyfe said. These cuts are in addition to plans to lay off more than 300 engineering personnel and 114 aircraft cleaners through outsourcing. Together, these layoffs will trim the airline's overall work force by about 8%.
Austrian Airlines sold its Airest catering subsidiary to the Save Group, an Italian investment company, for EUR30 million. The deal is expected to be approved by competition authorities "within the next few weeks," said AUA.
Pinnacle Airlines is seeking partner Northwest to defer a request the major carrier made of the regional last fall for an additional month of security deposits related to Pinnacle's fleet under the two carriers' airline service agreement. The six-month period before the additional deposits are scheduled to take effect ends in March. CFO Peter Hunt says the carrier is still evaluating whether it will make the payment.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) FEB. 28 -March 1 -- 31st Annual FAA Aviation Forecast Conference, Washington Convention Center, Washington, www.faa.gov - /news/conferences/aviation_forecast_2006 MARCH 18 -- Airline Pilot Job Fair hosted by AIR, Inc., Sheraton Gateway Hotel, LAX Airport, Los Angeles, 800-538-5627, www.jet-jobs.com
An Argentine delegation that wants to link the Salta province with major markets met last week in Sao Paulo with Brazilian air carriers GOL and Bra and talked about opening new routes. Specifically, the delegation discussed connecting the deluxe resort area around Brazil's Iguassu Falls with its counterpart in Salta and beyond in Chile. Major tourist traffic is now being handled by land from Atacama in Chile to Salta and beyond to Iguassu, and the delegates believe it could be profitably served by air.
US Airways will increase the maximum gross takeoff weight of the subset of its Boeing 757s used on Hawaii routes by 4%. The extended twin-engine operations 757s now have a 250,000 pounds MGTOW, which "will certainly help with our Hawaii flights when there are high winds," the airline said. The carrier has been forced to bump some passengers on Hawaii flights because of weight limitations.
Air Asia posted strong results during its second fiscal quarter, growing its profits by 20%, but the airline warned competition and its plans to launch new routes will most likely cause yields to drop in the second half of the year. Profits were MYR53 million (US$14 million) for the second quarter of 2006, up from MYR44.3 million (US$11 million). Part of that rise is a result of a 2% gain in average fares to MYR156 and 26% revenue growth to MYR225 million (US$60 million).
Pratt & Whitney Canada won new business from Indian low-fare carrier after the companies signed a deal covering the PW121/127 engines powering the airline's ATR-42/72 turboprops. PW&C plans to invest in infrastructure to support hot section inspection (HCI) in India by year-end, noting more than 500 of its engines should be based there by 2008. -LR
Indonesian carrier Adam Air has committed to modernize its fleet with Airbus A320s, replacing the airline's current fleet of older-generation Boeing 737s. Adam Air will initially lease six A320s, but confirmed its intention to build up its A320 fleet to 30 aircraft in the next five years. The new A320s will be a mix of purchased and leased aircraft.
Named Anne Roosevelt VP-community and education relations and appointed Ross Bogue VP and general manager for 747/767/777 programs and the Everett site, replacing Dan Becker, who will leave the company April 30.
JetBlue's growing US domestic network is becoming highly attractive to foreign airlines serving JFK searching for feed, the carrier's CEO believes, and could produce opportunities for the airline to capture incremental revenue. With additions like Richmond and Austin to complement other destinations, like Burlington, Syracuse and Rochester, CEO David Neeleman told an investor conference last week that "international carriers are knocking down our door."
Pinnacle continued to experience trickle-down effects of the Northwest and Mesaba bankruptcies during the fourth quarter as charges stemming from those reorganizations created a slight drag on earnings. Northwest filed for Chapter 11 in September, followed by regional partner Mesaba in December. Northwest also removed 15 CRJ-200s from Pinnacle's fleet during the quarter and returned the planes to lessors.
