British Airways says it will have 77 unencumbered aircraft in its fleet by the end of March, up from 70 on March 31, 2005, and 40 on March 31, 2004. The airline will also have 130 financed aircraft by the end of this month -- compared with 136 a year earlier -- and 82 leased aircraft, for a total fleet size of 289 aircraft.
Northwest is wasting no time in its efforts to establish a new subsidiary to fly smaller planes, emerging as the leading bidder for the operating certificates of now defunct FLYi. If the bankruptcy court approves the sale in a hearing set for March 20, Northwest would pay $2 million for FLYi's U.S., Transportation Dept. and FAA certificates, FCC licenses, manuals and equipment.
Appointed Alexei Fyodorov, head of combat plane maker MiG, to lead the new United Aviation Co. (UAC), a company of merged private and public Russian airframers.
Louis Chenevert was president of Pratt & Whitney until his recent promotion to president and CEO of UTC. A story in The DAILY March 10 gave an incorrect affiliation.
Rapiscan Systems, a division of OSI Systems, recently won a S$7 million contract from Manchester Airport Group (MAG) for several units of the Rapiscan RTT120 CT system for high-speed baggage screening.
30 Years Ago March 16, 1976 -- U.S. airports are not authorized to prevent landings by BA or Air France Concordes, said FAA Administrator John McLucas. There is "some question" about U.S. airports taking the authority into their own hands to keep the aircraft out, McLucas noted, but he believes the airlines would win all resulting court challenges from the bans. 20 Years Ago
Tight reins on cost control pushed GOL's fourth quarter profits up 37% to BRL170 million (US$75.8 million) on a 60% rise in capacity. The airline's aggressive cost control is carrying over into 2006, with management predicting a 5% drop in unit costs.
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 OCT. 24-26 -- MRO Europe, Amsterdam
Etihad is making slight changes to the start of service to the U.S. and now intends to launch its daily Abu Dhabi-New York flight on or around July 1 instead of June 1 (DAILY, Dec. 19, 2005). The airline would also serve New York Kennedy Airport instead of Newark Liberty Airport. Etihad has four Airbus A340-500s on order that it plans to use for U.S. services. The carrier's application for a foreign carrier permit and exemptions for scheduled and charter flights is pending with the U.S. Transportation Dept. [OST-2005- 23344, -23345]. -ARS
The Airbus A380 flight program reached its 1,000th flight hour last week, and Airbus is nearly halfway through the planned flight test hours for the A380. So far, four A380 development aircraft have flown since the first flight on April 27, 2005. Eventually, five aircraft will complete about 2,500 flight hours before the first delivery.
FAA is beginning to tip its hand on its plans to roll out Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) nationwide, with a recent briefing revealing that the agency wants to introduce ADS-B position reporting in the 2007-2010 timeframe.
US Airways CEO Doug Parker last week decided to forego a $770,000 bonus for his 2005 performance, as he didn't feel comfortable defending the payment to employees who have taken large pay cuts and many others who are still furloughed.
Aerolineas Argentinas pilots and flight engineers ended their 24-hour strike (DAILY, March 10) last Friday as scheduled, saying they were ready to go back to work and that they expected operations would be normalized by Saturday evening.
ATA CEO John Dennison says if the airline decides to expand scheduled service next year, management plans to take the carrier's "core competencies" into account, noting there could be potential for ATA to strengthen its presence on over-water routes.
Spirit can slide its slots at Washington National Airport to accommodate seasonal demand but may only do so to serve Detroit and Fort Lauderdale, the U.S. Transportation Dept said.
JetBlue VP-Route Planning Dave Ulmer says the carrier's first airport-to-airport competition with Southwest on the Burbank-Las Vegas route is just a way to garner more utilization from the aircraft. He notes if the plane departs Burbank at 8 a.m. and returns late in the afternoon, JetBlue can send the aircraft to Las Vegas around 6 p.m. that evening. He pegs it as "a little thing" to add profit, and "not anything more."
Lan Peru on March 22 will launch four weekly nonstop flights between Sao Paulo and Los Angeles. Operated with Boeing 767s, the new service boosts options for travel to Brazil from the U.S. West Coast. Besides the new direct flights, Lan Peru also offers connecting flights between Los Angeles and Sao Paulo, via Lima, twice weekly, offering a choice of six weekly flights between the West Coast and Brazil.
The Air Transport Association says its proposed ATC user fee would not be broken out from the main ticket price in fare advertisements. This would represent a change from the current practice, where ticket taxes and fees are listed separately. ATA has proposed a new system for FAA funding based on user fees instead of ticket taxes.
Bombardier says the unit cost of its 86-seat CRJ-900 on a 600 statute mile flight is 9.5 cents versus 10.4 cents for a 135-seat narrowbody flown by a low-cost carrier. The airframer is considering a stretch of its largest CRJ aircraft, the "900X."
Indonesia AirAsia launched its daily flight between Medan and Penang late last week, boasting a registered 80% load factor on its first week in service.
