Hawaiian Airlines last week joined the list of carriers supporting the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s proposed rule change that would liberalize airline foreign ownership restrictions.
Rose Aircraft Services last week won approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency for its existing repair station certificate. EASA authorized the company to maintain and repair airframes and on-wing powerplants on a range of aircraft, including single-engine Cessnas, Embraer EMB-120s and Beech 1900s. Mena, Ark.-based Rose Aircraft is also authorized to perform hot-section inspections on Pratt & Whitney PT-6 Series powerplants and is an authorized Dallas Airmotive Service Center for all PT-6 and JT-15D engines. -SL
Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings on Friday reported a wider C$103 million fourth-quarter net loss as the carrier battled high fuel costs and weak results from its maintenance division.
The eight-day pilots strike at Lloyd Aereo Boliviano ended Feb. 9 after Bolivian President Evo Morales issued an executive decree calling for 90-day preventive government intervention and ordering pilots to get back to work.
Another low-fare carrier will precede Virgin America's debut at San Francisco Airport -- Spirit Airlines plans to start flights from the Bay area to Detroit May 25. Spirit plans to offer daily nonstop flights using Airbus A319s to Detroit, with connecting service to Atlantic City, Cancun, Fort Myers, New York LaGuardia, Orlando and Myrtle Beach, S.C.
AVIATION WEEK Conferences & Exhibitions 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 5-6 -- U.S. Defense Budgets and Programs Conference, Arlington, Va. 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
WestJet's pilots are scheduled to vote on a new contract at the end of the month, says CEO Clive Beddoe. He notes the new deal won't increase the airline's costs due to efficiency gains that offset rises in pay.
Sabre last week signed a long-term Global Distribution System subscriber agreement with Priceline.com as part Sabre's strategy to add partnerships with online travel agencies. With Priceline, Sabre now has relationships with three of the four top online agencies in the U.S., the company said. In addition, Travelocity's recently acquired lastminute.com, one of the leading online sites in Europe, announced plans to begin moving its bookings to the Sabre GDS. The company also recently renewed contracts with US Airways and Northwest.
More recommendations have stemmed from the U.K government's investigation into a February 2005 Virgin Atlantic flight that diverted to Amsterdam Schiphol Airport due to problems with fuel level indicators. The plane was on a scheduled flight from Hong Kong to London. During pre-flight inspections, a single failure appeared on each fuel control monitoring computer (FCMC 2, FCMC 1), but the crew reset the computers successfully. On the previous sector, both computers were reset at separate times.
The $765 million cut in FAA's Airport Improvement Program funding is the second-largest reduction for any program in the White House's Fiscal Year 2007 budget, the Airport Legislative Alliance says. The budget proposes funding reductions totaling more than $7.4 billion in 50 non-defense programs, and the elimination of 91 programs would save another $7.3 billion.
The General Aviation Manufacturers Association today is expected to announce that general aviation and business aircraft manufacturers had a record-setting year in 2005 in terms of billings, and they shipped more aircraft than they have in two decades. "It's been a fantastic year," said CEO Pete Bunce.
Boeing will close its Melbourne, Ark., MRO facility during the second quarter of this year, the airframer announced last week. "We have made a difficult decision to close the Boeing facility in Melbourne, which has seen its [workload] steadily decline...This decision reflects the unfortunate business realities facing the Melbourne operations," said Joy Romero, director of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Salt Lake City facility which oversees the Melbourne operation.
U.S. airport delays in December were not isolated to the Northeast, as they normally are, with San Francisco reporting the worst on-time arrival rate of 57%. Newark and New York LaGuardia closely followed with 58.2% and 62.2%, respectively. South Florida also was hit hard as Miami saw only 64.7% of its flight arrive on schedule and Fort Lauderdale 65.7%.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary estimates his carrier will need about 300 pilots in the next 12 months. The airline also plans to outline the number of simulators it will own and operate "in the not-too-distant future."
Continental is stepping up the pressure on Virgin Nigeria's application for an exemption and permit for U.S.-bound operations (DAILY, Jan. 9), using the same tactics and asking for the same documents it is requesting of Virgin America to prove the Nigerian carrier's ownership.
