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.
Germanwings is launching a frequent flyer program called Boomerang. The offering is web-based, and customers must register for a EUR4 fee (US$4.84). Customers will receive one free ticket once they have completed eight roundtrips or 16 one-way journeys. Also participating are car rental companies and hotels. -JF
Singapore Airlines, easyJet and NetJets are the first customers for a new approach to managing information from air to ground with the help of Rockwell Collins' new eFlight products and services.
British Airways Chairman Martin Broughton tells The DAILY the airline can't begin planning major changes to its long-haul fleet until it has resolved its pension deficit problems. BA has a GBP1 billion (US$1.8 million) deficit in one of its pension plans and is discussing the problem with its employees. A new review of the size of the deficit is set to begin in March and likely will take about six months.
USA 3000 will delay the start of its flights to Cozumel from Detroit and St. Louis to Dec. 15 if the U.S. Transportation Dept. approves its temporary dormancy waiver application. The airline cited the "current situation in the Cancun/Cozumel area following the recent hurricane [Hurricane Wilma] and the resulting scarcity of available hotel rooms" as reasons for the delay. The airline also will not operate service from Washington Dulles to Cancun and to Puerto Vallarta from Baltimore and St. Louis, it said in its dormancy notices to DOT. -ARS
Mexican low-cost startup carrier Volaris -- a word play on Polaris or North Star that guided ancient navigators around the world -- is slated to start service on March 13 between Toluca and Tijuana. The carrier's initial investments stand at $100 million. The four equity partners in the airline are Mexico's Protego-Discovery Americas I, Sinca-Inbursa, Televisa and Grupo TACA. Each holds 25%.
Cayman Airways decided to temporarily stop one of its two weekly flights from Grand Cayman to Boston for about a month. The carrier in November reinstated two weekly seasonal flights on the route, but during a recent review of advance bookings, it decided to suspend the Wednesday flight through Jan. 8. "The demand for the Wednesday flight simply did not materialize for the early-winter, five-week period, and there was no real prospect to stimulate enough close-in booking activity to achieve marginal passenger loads," aid CEO Michael Adam.
GOL and COPA Airlines are broadening a code-share deal reached in August with the expansion of daily flights between Brazil and Panama. Previously, the airlines offered only four weekly flights between the two countries. Under terms of the deal, passengers flying on COPA can access GOL's destinations from Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. GOL's passengers can fly to COPA's points from Tocumen Airport in Panama. -LR
Indonesia will continue to ban low-fare airlines from operating at its four main airports -- Jakarta, Medan, Denpasar and Surabaya -- and Air Transport Director Santoso Eddy Wibowo said the government has no plans to review the almost year-old policy (DAILY, March 11, 2005).
Frontier's impressive cuts in its unit costs might not be enough to shield the carrier from Southwest's foray into its Denver base and United's competitive response to Southwest's growing presence at Denver, analysts at Raymond James reason. In a recent research report, the analysts estimated Frontier's cost per available seat mile excluding fuel has fallen from 8 cents for the carrier's second quarter of fiscal 2002 to 5.9 cents in the second fiscal quarter of 2006, a 27% drop.
Virgin America yesterday filed its certification application with FAA, starting an initial 10-day safety review of the carrier, and CEO Fred Reid remains confident the carrier will be able to launch operations later this year despite competitor attempts to poke holes in the ownership structure.
A Saudi Arabian low-fare startup carrier is going on a hiring spree to meet its goal of starting regular domestic service in June. Under the name "Project Nemo," the Riyadh-based operator will initiate service with a single Boeing 737-300. It plans, however, quickly to expand the fleet and has already inked deals to add one aircraft each in October, November and December. Moreover, according to the airline, negotiations are underway for three more aircraft to join the fleet in June and July, although those deals are not yet final.
Jet Airways yesterday inked a highly anticipated acquisition deal to buy Air Sahara for $500 million, which will create India's largest airline with a fleet of nearly 80 aircraft.
