Quebec's Lawrence Cannon was named Canada's new minister of transport, infrastructure and communities, a job with more responsibility than posts held by some of his predecessors.
The U.S. Transportation Dept.'s Fiscal Year 2007 budget provides inadequate support for airports, air traffic control modernization and rural air service subsidies, the lead Democrat on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said.
Virgin Blue hopes its push to woo corporate travelers "will bear fruit" in 12-18 months, its CEO said, as the airline continues its attempts to garner more higher-yield business. Airline head Brett Godfrey told shareholders yesterday during Virgin Blue's annual meeting that the carrier was pushing forward with a strategy launched last year to appeal to the corporate market, while maintaining a low-cost base. "We're no longer building the airline around backpackers in our markets," he said.
Operations at Paris Orly were severely disrupted yesterday, as air traffic controllers joined a national strike against government plans to introduce a new legal framework for youth jobs. About 200 flights out of a total of 650 were canceled or rerouted to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. "The motivations of the strikers rest essentially on a local problem of relations with the management," the French transport ministry claims. -MT
Mesaba Airlines claims the bid it submitted to Northwest to fly up to 126 planes with 50 to 76 seats still wasn't the lowest the mainline carrier received, even though the regional factored in a 19.4% cut in labor costs it is seeking through the bankruptcy court. Late last week, Mesaba filed a motion with the court to reject collective bargaining agreements with the airline's pilots, flight attendants and mechanics.
Qantas plans to acquire a 20% stake in Indonesian regional carrier AdamAir, which should give a competitive boost to the small carrier. Qantas offered to buy 30% but was offered 20%, because AdamAir plans to offload 20% through an initial public offering (IPO) planned in late 2007 or early 2008.
Madrid Barajas Airport's new Terminal 4 (T4) reported an 80% on-time rate yesterday -- its third day of operations -- claimed Javier Marin, director general of Spanish airport authority Aeropuertos Espanoles.
Royal Air Maroc this summer plans to add four weekly nonstop flights from New York Kennedy to Casablanca thanks to strong demand from tour operators. Three new flights begin the week of May 14 and run through Oct. 22, and another flight will be added the week of June 18, running through Sept. 5. The additional flights make a total of nine nonstop flights per week, with two flights daily on Tuesday and Thursday, operated with Boeing 767-300ERs. -SL
Air France-KLM, Europe's biggest airline, posted a higher systemwide load factor in January thanks to strong traffic throughout its network. Traffic increased by 9.5% on 8.1% higher capacity leading to a one-point load factor improvement to 79%. The number of passengers carried increased 6.9% to more than 5.4 million. The carrier's traffic to the Americas jumped 13.9%, in line with the 13.5% capacity increase. The load factor reached 83.9%, up 0.3 points. Asian routes posted a "strong performance" with load factor increasing 2.5 points to 84.5%.
British Airways is starting to look at its long-term fleet plans after spending years holding off on major investments while reducing its debt. "We are not taking new aircraft before the opening of [London Heathrow's] Terminal 5," Commercial Director Martin George told The DAILY in London; however, he said the company might place an order sooner, rather than later, to secure production slots. Terminal 5 is scheduled to open in March 2008.
Air China yesterday signed a deal with Connexion by Boeing to retrofit as many as 15 long-haul aircraft with the service. The service will be installed on the airline's Boeing 747-400s and other aircraft to be determined later. Financial terms were not disclosed, but the airline said installations are expected to begin in October. Service availability is expected on key routes between China and North America, Europe, the Middle East and throughout the Asia/Pacific region. -SL
By Steve Lott Eclat Consulting: Aaron Taylor With all the business travelers, politicians and celebrities taking shuttle flights among Washington National, New York LaGuardia and Boston, it's easy to assume that traffic has remained strong and posted growth during the past decade, but a new analysis shows quite the opposite.
Gulf Air plans to recapitalize the carrier, as well as buy new aircraft and refurbish its current fleet, as part of a new, three-year strategic plan. CEO James Hogan won board approval of the "Smart Airline, Successful Business" plan this week. Details will be released in the coming weeks, but Hogan already hinted that he plans to drop some of the airline's Boeing 767-300ERs.
IATA has arranged a meeting tomorrow that may lead to an agreement between airlines on changes to London Heathrow Airport's controversial fuel rationing system. The airlines that serve Heathrow and U.K. airport operator BAA will be represented at the IATA meeting in London. BAA earlier said it is waiting for a recommendation from this meeting before deciding whether to change the rationing system (DAILY, Feb. 3).
Bolivia's new government, headed by President Evo Morales, strongly called on pilots, other workers and management at Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) to soften their "intransigent" positions and put an end to the five-day-long strike called last Thursday by the pilots union (DAILY, Feb. 6). The work stoppage placed the population in jeopardy and damaged the country's image, the government said. It also stressed that the strike "dramatically impaired" emergency aid to vast areas of Bolivia affected by recent floods.
Icelandair chose the Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine to power its Boeing 787s. The order is worth up to $650 million, the manufacturer said. Icelandair last year placed two firm orders and five options for the 787, the first of which is due to arrive in 2010.
Spanish carrier Vueling's revenues in 2005 reached EUR135 million (US$161 million) versus the EUR115 million (US$137 million) the airline forecast. The airline carried 2 million passengers in 2005 and plans to double that number this year. Vueling is also subscribing a EUR30 million (US$35 million) capital increase to shareholders and is negotiating a EUR20 million (US$23 million) line of credit to cover its 2006 expansion. The airline is adding seven new Airbus A320s and more than doubling its staff from 402 to 825 employees. -LR
Airline associations want the U.S. Transportation Dept. to issue a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking on the supply and use of medical oxygen and respiratory aids in flight (DAILY, Sept. 9, 2005), arguing it would give DOT more time to fully consider their many recommendations. An SNPRM would be in line with procedures set out in the Administrative Procedure Act. ATA, for its part, said DOT couldn't comply with the public comment requirement of the act unless it gave interested parties another opportunity to comment on an SNPRM.
