Valentine's Day is big business for fresh-cut flower growers and exporters and the airlines that carry them. In the week before the holiday, 40 daily DC-10 flights, each carrying 4,000 boxes of fresh flowers, took off from Bogota Eldorado and Medellin Jose Maria Cordova airports with total cargo worth $800 million. Estimates say the seasonal business has grown 15% from last year. -LZ
Mary Baker Engen, widow of former FAA Administrator Donald Engen, died last week after a brief illness. A long-time resident of Alexandria, Va., Engen, 80, was probably better known in Washington aviation circles than the spouse of any other FAA administrator in the agency's history. The Engens were especially prominent socially during the Reagan and Bush administrations during the 1980s and 1990s while Mr. Engen served as director of the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum in 1996.
The Latin American Airline Association (AITAL) last week added two new members to the group -- Cielos Airlines and Cayman Airways. Cielos Airlines is the first all-cargo airline from Latin America to join AITAL, and Cayman is the third Caribbean carrier to join. Cayman Airways flies five Boeing 737s with destinations within the Cayman Islands, U.S. and the Caribbean. Cielos Airlines was founded in 1997 as a non-scheduled international airline carrier, and operates a fleet of seven DC-10-30Fs and one DC10-10Fs. -SL
Europe is home to 15 of the most expensive airports in the world, says IATA CEO Giovanni Bisignani, adding that all European airports account for half of the global airport bill. He met with EC Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot in Brussels yesterday to warn him that "Europe's competitiveness is at stake," adding that the previous commission "left a legacy of mistakes on the air transport agenda."
The strongest snowstorm of the U.S. winter season slammed the East Coast over the weekend, closing some of the busiest airports on Sunday and leading to 2,500 canceled flights at New York-area airports alone.
Mesaba executives are warning that the carrier needs cost reductions to ensure that it keeps its core business of flying 49 Saab turboprops for partner Northwest, which already cut Mesaba's fleet by more than 50%. Both airlines are in Chapter 11, and last month Northwest gave Mesaba its projected fleet plan, which reflected the parking of 35 Avro RJs that Mesaba flew for Northwest as of September 2005 and the elimination of two CRJ-200s.
US Airways plans to recall furloughed pilots for the first time since Sept. 11, 2001, thanks to the recent acquisition of three new Boeing 757s that it will use on transatlantic routes.
Brazilian carrier Webjet will renew its domestic operations on Feb. 24, this time as a charter airline. After suspending scheduled services last December, Webjet will now operate seasonal charters from Rio to Fortaleza, Natal, Salvador, Florianopolis, Sierras Gauchos and Porto Seguro. Using its only 148-seat Boeing 737-300, Webjet expects to carry enough passengers to acquire a second 737-300 before the end of the year.
Spirit wants the U.S. Transportation Dept. to amend an order for its Washington National slots, which if granted, would give the carrier the flexibility to accommodate seasonal demand.
The Chilean Air Federation (Fedach) plans to appeal the shuttering of the old but still serviceable Los Cerrillos Airport in Santiago, alleging that the government pre-empted a decision by the comptroller general because of a potentially profitable real estate deal.
Iceland-based Avion Group last week closed a deal to acquire French charter airline Star Airlines, as part of Avion's goal to become the top charter airline in Europe.
Delta won from the U.S. Transportation Dept. seven weekly U.S.-Ecuador frequencies that it will use to launch service from Atlanta to Quito and Guayaquil (DAILY, Jan. 6) on or around June 1. DOT awarded the frequencies to Delta for an indefinite period, as long as the carrier uses them to serve the markets. Delta simultaneously won exemptions to serve the two cities [OST-2006-23526].
An agreement between American and the Transport Workers Union aims to boost revenues by $150 million at the airline's Kansas City maintenance and engineering base. Another goal of the deal is to make the base a profitable operation by the end of 2007 by increasing productivity and luring more third-party work. A similar agreement was reached last year for American's Tulsa MRO base.
Freddie Laker, the British founder of one the industry's original low-fare airlines, died in Hollywood, Fla., last week, leaving a lasting legacy that paved the way for the launch of Virgin Atlantic, Ryanair, EasyJet and others.
Hawaiian Airlines last week joined the list of carriers supporting the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s proposed rule change that would liberalize airline foreign ownership restrictions.
Rose Aircraft Services last week won approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency for its existing repair station certificate. EASA authorized the company to maintain and repair airframes and on-wing powerplants on a range of aircraft, including single-engine Cessnas, Embraer EMB-120s and Beech 1900s. Mena, Ark.-based Rose Aircraft is also authorized to perform hot-section inspections on Pratt & Whitney PT-6 Series powerplants and is an authorized Dallas Airmotive Service Center for all PT-6 and JT-15D engines. -SL
Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings on Friday reported a wider C$103 million fourth-quarter net loss as the carrier battled high fuel costs and weak results from its maintenance division.
The eight-day pilots strike at Lloyd Aereo Boliviano ended Feb. 9 after Bolivian President Evo Morales issued an executive decree calling for 90-day preventive government intervention and ordering pilots to get back to work.
