David Mandell, chief of staff to FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, this week announced he will leave the agency, and he will be replaced by a senior policy official from the U.S. Transportation Dept.
Yemenia-Yemen Airways signed a preliminary agreement with Airbus for an order of six Airbus A350-800s, the two companies said yesterday. Once completed, the order will also include options for another four aircraft. Yemenia plans to take delivery of the A350s from 2012 onwards and wants to use them on its existing long-haul network to Africa, Europe and Asia, as well as for more services to Africa.
Delta today plans to announce new regional service from New York Kennedy as part a plan to add feed for international flights and boost unit revenue. Glen Hauenstein, chief of network and revenue management, is taking a page out of the playbook he used while at Continental that successfully grew Newark into a powerful hub. Delta last week said it was cutting 21% of its weekly JFK flights in May, many of which were Song flights to Florida (DAILY, March 3).
Bangkok International Airport (BIA) handled a record 38.88 million passengers and 1.32 million tons cargo last year, an increase of 2.72% and 4.81%, respectively, from the previous year.
North American Launching Service To The Gambia. North American Airlines on June 3 will launch the first direct service between the U.S. and The Gambia with a weekly flight from Baltimore/Washington Airport that will stop over in Banjul on its way to Accra, Ghana. The airline has asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. for authority to operate from Baltimore/Washington to Banjul with or without stopovers, either directly or through third-country points, and beyond to Accra [OST-2006-24107].
Capital Cargo, "out of an abundance of caution," wants a dormancy waiver for two U.S.-Mexico exemptions it won last December (DAILY, Dec. 19, 2005), as it has yet to receive approval from Mexico to operate its scheduled all-cargo flights. Though Capital expects to win Mexican approval by March 13, when the dormancy period on the exemptions is set to expire, it wants the waiver to "ensure that its scheduled authority...will not inadvertently lapse for reasons beyond its control." [OST-2005-22149]. -ARS
Members of the U.S. House Transportation Committee are taking the Administration to task for proposing a budget that cuts Essential Air Service (EAS) program funding 54%. Late last week, the committee's ranking Democrat, Rep. James Oberstar (D-Minn.,) sent a letter to the chairman and ranking member of the Appropriations Committee and the subcommittee on transportation asking them to reject the Administration's proposal and support authorizing the full EAS funding level of $127 million.
Island Air allows passengers to check in through the carrier's web site or through new kiosks at the airport. The airline bought the software and kiosk from NCR subsidiary Kinetics. Island Air plans initially to install Kinetics TouchPort II C kiosks at its Honolulu check-in counter and the curbside, and later at its Kahului and Kona airport terminals. With the TouchPort II C kiosks, passengers can access their itinerary, check in, check baggage and print boarding passes by using a credit card. -SL
Israeli private carrier Israir will launch scheduled flights to New York from Tel Aviv, ending flag carrier El Al's monopoly on the route. If approved by the U.S. Transportation Dept., Israir would use a Boeing 767 seating 18 in first class and 242 in economy for the four-times-weekly service that would grow to six weekly flights in the summer season. El Al operates the service more than 10 times weekly in a given month.
Royal Jordanian (RJ) recently signed a deal with Lufthansa Systems to use the company's Sirax sales-based revenue accounting system. RJ's imminent membership in the oneworld alliance "necessitates a revenue accounting system that is fully compliant with the alliance's requirements." The carrier said it needed to exchange data with both oneworld members and IATA carriers outside the alliance.
Condor will remain a part of the Thomas Cook leisure group, CEO Thomas Holtrop said yesterday. Holtrop reported that the airline last year managed to complete its restructuring and posted a small operating profit again (DAILY, June 23, 2005). In the past, Condor was rumored to be on its way out of Thomas Cook, as the tour operator shifts its focus to leisure business. -JF
Hapag-Lloyd Express (HLX) plans to expand its presence on German domestic routes, said CEO Ralf Keppler. The airline sees further potential for services in the German market, he said in a recent interview. The move would put HLX not only into direct competition with Lufthansa, but also with DBA. DBA owner Hans-Rudolf Wohrl last month acquired a majority stake in LTU International Airways (DAILY, Feb. 21) and plans to combine the two carriers into an integrated alliance but not merge them. -JF
Billionaire investor and Berkshire Hathaway Chairman Warren Buffet admitted to his shareholders last week that he was "dead wrong" last year in his prediction that his subsidiary NetJets would make money in 2005.
President Bush last week named Sean O'Hollaren to be deputy assistant to the President for legislative affairs. O'Hollaren, who will return to public service after going to the private sector, recently was senior director of government relations for Honeywell International. Before that, he was special assistant to the President in the Office of Legislative Affairs at the White House and was the top lobbyist for the U.S. Transportation Dept.
Virgin America yesterday revealed that new Chairman Don Carty will own just shy of 1% of the company or about 65,000 shares, while he and a partner invest about $5 million in the startup.
Republic Airways Holdings reached a deal with the Pennsylvania government to establish ad maintenance and crew base at Pittsburgh Airport to support the Embraer 170 fleet flown by its subsidiary airlines.
Pinnacle Airlines might consider taking legal action to avoid paying additional aircraft security deposits to partner Northwest if a March 15 deadline for the payment is not extended. Part of the Memphis-based regional's sublease agreement with Northwest details that the major airline can request $21.7 million more in security deposits from Pinnacle once the promissory note the regional issued to Northwest has been paid.
Airbus Germany plans to create 1,250 jobs this year, the Airbus subsidiary said yesterday. The additional workers are necessary to boost narrowbody production at the Hamburg plant as well as interior and component work for the entire product range. Airbus employed 21,100 staff in Germany at the end of last year.
Iberia's full-year 2005 profit nearly doubled to EUR396 million partly due to one-time gains from the sale of Iberia's stake in Amadeus and Savia, but the airline's operating profit sank nearly 36% to EUR116 million because of fuel costs.
