Ecuador's state-owned airline TAME, operated by the country's air force as a commercial carrier, last week suspended until further notice its only international route from Quito to Cali, Colombia, via Tulcan, which it has served for the last 13 years.
American yesterday asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. to get more information from the nine Star Alliance carriers seeking transatlantic antitrust immunity following DOT's recent tentative decision to deny immunity to the smaller SkyTeam alliance.
British Airways this week named Maria da Cunha the new head of government and industry affairs, replacing Andrew Cahn, effective April 1. Cahn will leave the carrier next month to become the CEO of U.K. Trade and Investment, a government organization that helps U.K. companies do business internationally and overseas businesses expand in the U.K. Cunha will combine her new responsibilities with her current role as head of legal, reporting to General Counsel Robert Webb.
WestJet reversed losses posted for the fourth quarter and full year 2004 despite fighting a 23% rise per seat mile in fuel costs last year, but a delay in launching a new reservations system could deter the carrier from launching code-sharing relationships. The Canadian low-fare airline squeezed out a $1 million profit during the fourth quarter after posting a $46 million loss for the last three months of 2004. Profits for 2005 were $24 million, compared with losses of $17 million the previous year.
Thai Airways International will set up a new carrier -- Euarng Luang Airlines -- to operate as a separate entity and fly its domestic routes, a move that will let Thai Airways concentrate on its international operations. Euarng is expected to start operations from the existing Bangkok International Airport in Don Maung after the new Survarnabhumi Airport opens in the second half of the year. The airline will lease several aircraft from Thai, which is 70% owned by the Ministry of Finance.
Trans States plans to exit five markets it flies as AmericanConnection once the carrier retires its six remaining British Aerospace J-41 turboprops this fall.
Natl. Transportation Safety Board said the probable cause of the crash of a Hendrick Motorsports Beech King Air in October 2004 was the flight crew's failure to perform the published instrument approach procedure. The crew was using instrument flight rules on a flight from Concord, N.C, to Martinsville Airport. NTSB said the plane didn't descend to the proper point on its approach to Martinsville, and initiated a straight-ahead climb seven miles beyond the airport.
American Eagle is boosting its Northeast short-haul market by adding five daily direct flights on two new routes. The carrier will introduce four daily roundtrips between New York LaGuardia and Pittsburgh on weekdays, beginning April 3. This route will have three roundtrips on Saturday and Sunday. Eagle will use 37-seat Embraer 135s and 44-seat Embraer 140s.
Pemco won a deal with Futura International Airways to convert a Boeing 737-300 from passenger to freighter configuration. Futura is based in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The airline is teaming with RPK Capital Management Group, based in Chicago, on the conversion.
Spanish construction giant Ferrovial said yesterday it may place a bid for U.K. airport operator BAA. "Ferrovial's considerations are at a preliminary stage, and there is no certainty that any offer will be made," the company said. Ferrovial also said, "No approach has yet been made to BAA's board." BAA shares rose 2% in midday trading, the biggest jump ever. Ferrovial's stock was up more than 6%.
EasyJet's traffic was up 11.2% in January, according to a regulatory filing. Load factor fell from 76.4% to 74.2%, but revenues were "in line" with expectations, said CEO Andrew Harrison. EasyJet also did not change its financial guidance for the year ending in September and expects its pretax profit to rise 10% and capacity 15%.
AeroRepublica's stock, floated on the New York Stock Exchange six weeks ago, jumped from $15 to $24 a share, amounting to $1.05 billion in market capitalization, new President Roberto Junguito-Pombo said. A total of 99% of AeroRepublica's equity is now controlled by COPA Holdings, which owns COPA Airlines. Through COPA, Colombia-based AeroRepublica joined LAN and GOL in December as the only Latin American airlines trading shares in the NYSE.
Mexican airport operator ASUR yesterday reported a sharp drop in January passenger traffic, largely due to the slow recovery of Cancun and Cozumel. Total traffic for the nine ASUR airports was down 23.5%, but six posted growth. Traffic to Cozumel was off 82.2%, followed by a 29.7% drop at Cancun. Tapachula reported a 2.3% decrease for the month. Transit and general aviation passengers are excluded from the data.
Boeing this week began production on the last 717 aircraft to come off its Long Beach assembly line. The aircraft, scheduled to be delivered to AirTran in May, is the 156th 717 manufactured by Boeing. Developed by McDonnell Douglas as the MD-95, the aircraft was renamed the 717 after the company's merger with Boeing in 1997. Low sales helped prompt Boeing's decision early last year to end production of the 717. That decision is also a milestone for Boeing's Long Beach facility because the 717 is the last commercial aircraft to be produced there.
Navitaire continues to build its customer base for its next-generation reservations system New Skies, with several carriers slated to convert from the company's current offering, Open Skies. CanJet was the first Open Skies carrier to convert to New Skies last year, and Mexican carrier Interjet launched services with the new system.
US Airways and Delta today are expected to unveil new international routes from their Philadelphia and Atlanta hubs. US Airways this summer will move some Boeing 757s to its Ireland routes, which will free up several 767s to fly to new European destinations. Delta will likely announce plans for Johannesburg service, sources said, as its partnership with South African Airways could end this year after SAA joins the Star Alliance.
The much-anticipated U.S.-European Union open-skies deal could be torpedoed by congressional efforts to delay for a year a U.S. Transportation Dept. rule regarding foreign ownership of airlines, a senior State Dept. official warned yesterday.
Adventurer Steve Fossett plans to fly the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer across Africa today, following a harrowing takeoff and initial cockpit problems yesterday at the start of the planned longest flight in history. Fossett's takeoff from the Kennedy Space Center required 11,500 feet of runway, at least 1,500 ft. more than predicted, even with a 10-knot headwind and temperatures of 47 Fahrenheit. The Kennedy space shuttle runway is 15,000 ft. long with another 1,000 ft. of paved overrun, and using nearly 12,000 ft. of it left little margin for safety.
Air Canada plans to use Boeing Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag on 18 Boeing 777-300ERs/200LRs /freigh- ters and 14 787s the carrier recently ordered. Class 3 EFBs are fully incorporated into the aircraft's avionics and include charts, maps and calculators. Boeing subsidiary Jeppesen supplies an airplane moving map feature only available in Class 3 systems. Air Canada plans to take delivery of its first EFB-ready 777 in 2007, followed by the first 787 in 2010. -LR
