Xtra Airways is expanding its offering to fly to Cancun, Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, in a bid to "broaden" its focus and become a "profit-generating, commercially driven operation."
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ingrid Lee at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) JAN. 25-27 -- National Business Aviation Association Schedulers & Dispatchers Conference, San Antonio, 202-783-9000 JAN. 28 -- Airline Pilot Job Fair, hosted by AIR, Inc., Sheraton Grand Hotel, DFW Airport, Dallas, 800-538-5627, www.jet-jobs.com
Operations at Valencia's Arturo Michelena Airport in Venezuela increased some 300% to 20,000 daily arrivals and departures in the wake of the bridge collapse that choked transit between Caracas and Venezuela's No. 1 international airport (DAILY, Jan. 10).
Turkish carrier Atlasjet ordered three 90-seat Bombardier CRJ-900s valued at $107 million. The carrier has used two pre-owned CRJ-700s since May on domestic routes, and airline General Manager Tuncay Doganer said Atlasjet's decision to buy the -900s was "based directly on our experience with the CRJ-700."
House lawmakers plan to hold a hearing Feb. 8 to examine the question of foreign control of U.S. airlines. The hearing, scheduled by the Transportation aviation subcommittee, will focus on a controversial NPRM issued by DOT that would enable foreign companies to better protect their investment in U.S. carriers.
US Airways' first of four "heritage" aircraft is now flying after being painted with a special America West livery. The other heritage liveries recognize Allegheny, Piedmont and PSA. Events are being planned for the introduction of all four aircraft, and paint jobs will be completed in the coming months.
The Transportation Security Administration last week released some of the parameters needed for its long-awaited registered traveler (RT) program, which the agency said is a major step toward the program's full introduction later this year.
Embraer CEO Mauricio Botelho plans to relinquish his executive role in April 2007 but will remain at the company's chairman to ensure the airframer successfully revamps its corporate structure.
United's parent UAL Corp. on Friday won court approval of its plan of reorganization (POR), setting the stage for the carrier to emerge from Chapter 11 in as little as two weeks after more than three years reorganizing.
SITA, the Geneva-based supplier of communications services and information technology to airlines worldwide, will combine its three business units into one this year. In addition, a search is underway for a new CEO to lead the consolidated enterprise. SITA currently consists of SITA SC, a consortium owned by more than 600 airlines and airports based in Brussels and SITA INC (INC stands for Information Networking Computing), a closely held private company based in Amsterdam.
Virgin America CEO Fred Reid wants every employee to know his "four federal laws of aviation success" and jokes that staff are not allowed to drift away from those laws. He tells The DAILY that the rules are operating integrity, low sustainable costs, low fares and great customer service. "Any time I see anyone drift from those laws, I pounce."
Chile-based LAN network of airlines reported a 19% increase in international passenger traffic in 2005, compared with 2004. System load factor went up in 2005 to 73.8% from 72.8%, and international cargo volume increased 5.9%.
Three gates at Washington Dulles Airport formerly used by Independence Air have a new tenant -- JetBlue. The carrier moved from gates B-48 and B-49 to gates B-22, B-24 and B-26 vacated by FLYi this month. JetBlue picked up a third gate in the move. FLYi had eight gates in Terminal B and six regional jet gates in Terminal A.
American yesterday moved the last of its Eagle flights out of the satellite terminal at its Dallas/Fort Worth hub, the latest step in the airline's plans to concentrate all Eagle flights in Terminal B. All Eagle turboprop flights and some of its jet flights at DFW had been operated out of the satellite terminal. Airline spokesman Dave Jackson told The DAILY that boarding and deplaning will be cut by about 15 minutes because buses will no longer be needed. Baggage will also reach passengers much more quickly.
With indefinite authority seeming elusive, Varig and ANA now want the U.S. Dept. of Transportation to award them temporary approval for code-share flights between Sao Paulo/Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo that connect in Los Angeles (DAILY, Nov. 17, 2005).
Lufthansa recorded an operating profit of EUR550 million (US$665 million) in 2005, the carrier reported in a regulatory filing. The figure was slightly above the analysts' consensus estimate of EUR530 million and significantly better than previous management guidance. CFO Karl-Ludwig Kley earlier said that Lufthansa's profit would be "significantly better" than EUR400 million for the year. Lufthansa shares rose by more than 3%, the biggest increase in three months. Kley did not give an outlook for 2006.
Unusually strong winds throughout the Northeast U.S. on Wednesday caused more than 1,000 delays out of the nationwide delay total of 1,200. There were also 750 flight cancellations, with the highest number at new York LaGuardia. Newark had 301 delays, LGA had 278 and Boston 243. The New York area saw wind gusts of up to 40 miles per hour, which affected LaGuardia through most of the day, a port authority spokesman said. There was no damage reported at the three New York airports. -AS
US Airways reached a transition deal with the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents the airline's 11,000 flight attendants. The agreement will govern many merger-related parts of the relationship until there is a single collective bargaining agreement covering all flight attendants. The transition agreement includes protection of jobs for current active flight attendants on the airline's "West and East" networks, as well as standards and procedures related to integration of the two flight attendant seniority lists.
Acting on its vow to grow at Denver, Southwest reached a deal with airport authorities to add a third gate, starting in March, coinciding with launch of flights to Baltimore and Salt Lake City from the airport.
