Three Democrat lawmakers yesterday introduced a bill -- backed by the National Air Traffic Controllers Association -- that would make it harder for FAA to impose a wage settlement on labor groups in a negotiations impasse. The legislation would still allow FAA to send a contract dispute to Congress in an impasse, but it introduces two extra steps that would alter the process considerably. The FAA Fair Labor Management Dispute Resolution bill was introduced by Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.).
Delta yesterday finalized a deal with Merrill Lynch, allowing the airline to use up to $300 million in cash that would normally be held in reserve by Delta's Visa/MasterCard processor. In September, Delta amended its contract with its credit card processor to extend the agreement through October 2007. Under that agreement, the processor can keep a cash reserve between $450 million to $850 million. Also as part of the agreement, Delta obtained the right to substitute a letter of credit for a portion of the cash reserve.
AirTran promoted two finance and maintenance executives to VP and expanded their respective roles and responsibilities. Arne Haak was named VP-finance and treasurer, in which he will oversee financial planning, financial analysis, treasury, purchasing and investor relations. Based in Orlando, Haak has held a variety of posts at Air Tran, from financial planning and analysis to investor relations, since 1999. Previously, he worked for US Airways.
Cessna yesterday named Doug Oliver director-communications, effective Feb. 6. He will report to VP-Communications Bob Stangarone. Oliver will have responsibility for internal communications and media relations and will be based at Cessna's headquarters in Wichita, Kan. Most recently, he was at Embraer, where he was communications director-North America. Before that, he was director-media relations and director-customer relations at Fairchild Dornier and Lockheed Martin, respectively.
Air Madrid plans to set up an Argentine subsidiary, Air Buenos Aires, to operate scheduled domestic and international flights, Spanish wire service EFE reported Air Madrid President Jose Luis Carrillo as saying. Other plans for the Spanish low-cost carrier will see the airline linking Spain with Nicaragua and building a maintenance and overhaul center in Managua to service its own and other airlines' aircraft.
The U.S. Dept. of Transportation fined Canadian charter company Execaire for operating a flight that picked up and dropped off passengers in the U.S., which is tantamount to cabotage and prohibited by the U.S. code. DOT reviewed an October incident in which Execaire picked up and dropped off passengers during stopovers in Columbus, Ohio; Rogers, Ark., and Amarillo, Texas.
Malaysia Airlines this week qualified for IATA's Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) accreditation. The airline is the 43rd carrier of the 275 IATA member airlines to enter the IOSA registry
Midwest Air Group cut its fourth-quarter net loss to $13.8 million and boosted its Milwaukee hometown market share but still suffered from high fuel costs, executives reported.
Indian startup Indigo yesterday named former North American Airlines executive Steven Harfst as its new chief operating officer, in preparation for its planned launch this summer. Harfst will be responsible for all operational functions of the airline, which has ordered 100 Airbus A320 family aircraft. It is planning to take the first plane in July and will have a fleet of about 15 aircraft by the end of 2007. The carrier will start flights from Delhi but is expected to expand its network throughout India.
Roger Fones, former chief of the transportation, energy & agriculture section of the antitrust division of the U.S. Justice Dept., joined the Morrison & Foerster law firm. Fones will practice in the firm's antitrust and competition law practice group in the Washington office. He was with the antitrust division for nearly 30 years and was chief of the transportation, energy and agriculture department for 10 years. He supervised the DOJ's lawsuits against American for monopolizing its Dallas/Fort Worth hub and Northwest for buying control of Continental.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport expects to see a 15%-20% improvement in runway and airspace capacity from the use of very precise approach and departure tracks known as RNAV procedures, introduced last year. American said it is saving $15 million a year in fuel costs due to 16 RNAV standard instrument departures at DFW. About 87% of aircraft operating at DFW are equipped to fly the RNAV procedures.
US Airways will gain a new rival for the New York LaGuardia-Bermuda market, as Spirit Airlines plans to introduce new service on May 15. The carrier will use Airbus A319s seating 138 and like US Airways will offer the service daily. Spirit wants the U.S. Transportation Dept. to expedite its exemption application so that it can start marketing the flights as soon as possible [OST-2006-237- 28]. -ARS
FAA says it has seen dramatic reductions in overtime spending and sick leave at its New York terminal radar approach control (TRACON) since the agency investigated alleged abuses of the system by controllers and introduced a new scheduling system.
El Al this week unveiled plans to introduce a new passenger calling service that will provide worldwide telephone connections in flight through the Iridium satellite network. The service will use prepaid calling cards with rates of US$1.60 per minute. El Al will offer the service in all classes on its fleet of Boeing 767s. Passengers will be able to buy the calling cards duty-free on the aircraft. The cards will be valid for 12 months and will be usable on future flights. El Al expects to complete the installations on all 767s during the next few months.
Air New Zealand will suspend its twice-weekly nonstop Christchurch-Los Angeles flight from April 3 to Oct. 28. During the suspension, passengers from Christchurch will be able to connect to Los Angeles via ANZ's offerings from Auckland. Cargo will also be carried via Auckland. The airline plans to reinstate the three weekly Christchurch-Los Angeles flights on Oct. 29. Explaining the decision, ANZ official Norm Thompson said passenger numbers during the April-October period were insufficient to sustain a nonstop service.
Most of GOL's capacity growth this year should come from the Brazilian market as the country's traffic levels continue to soar. Analysts at Raymond James estimate that in 2004 about 7.5 million passengers traveled by air, compared with 135 million interstate bus travelers in 2003. They also predict Brazil's air passenger numbers could grow to 20 million annually.
American and United are opposing Flyglobespan's application for permits and exemptions to operate to the U.S. (DAILY, Jan. 9) because of BAA's fuel rationing plan at London Heathrow Airport. BAA instituted the fuel rationing after oil fires at Buncefield depot, which supplies about one-third of Heathrow's fuel, damaged pipelines (DAILY, Dec. 12, 2005).
Ryanair will impose a charge for checked baggage, starting March 16, in addition to lowering fares by 9%. An increase in baggage allowance accompanies the charge. Each passenger's allowance will rise from 25kg to 30kg. Ryanair plans to charge EUR3.50 for checked bags per flight for passengers who book on the carrier's web site and EUR7.00 for those who do not.
US Airways finally won a handful of exemptions to serve some open-skies countries, after one and one-half years of waiting. The carrier in August 2004 applied to the U.S. Transportation Dept. for exemptions for Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Romania, the Slovak Republic, and Sweden to "develop its presence in Europe further and to offer consumers and shippers expanded, competitive service options to/from that region."
Japan Airlines Group and Lawson, a Japanese convenience store chain, signed a deal to issue a joint credit card to "improve customer service and create new demand."
The European Parliament is expected to back new rules creating a single license for all European Union air traffic controllers, as Parliament's transport committee this week nodded through the draft legislation. The new rules aim "to ensure high safety standards and make it easier for air traffic controllers to work outside their home country," a Parliament source said. There is a shortage of about 1,800 air traffic controllers in Europe, the Parliament estimates, and job mobility is expected to help alleviate the problem.
