American last week said it is canceling its last four daily flights at Houston Hobby Airport, ending its mainline presence at the airport. Two daily Austin-Houston flights and two daily Houston-New York LaGuardia flights will end in April. American will still have regional service at Hobby, with nine American Eagle flights to Dallas Fort Worth and twice-daily American Connection service to St. Louis.
Alaska Airlines' safety department will lose its leader next month, which could not come at a worse time for the carrier, considering several aircraft were damaged on the ramp in recent weeks.
The General Administration of Civil Aviation of China is expected to approve applications for two new private carriers -- Northeast Airlines and Datang Qili Airlines. Northeast will be jointly owned by the Shenyang Aircraft Corp, Assets Supervision, the Shenyang Municipal government, Liaoning Huanjing Co. and Chinese businessman Wu Di. With startup capital of 150 million yuan (US$18.75 million) it will operate domestic passenger and cargo flights using Shenyang as its base.
United last week announced plans to become the latest airline to test a dual boarding bridge, a device other airlines, including Southwest, have tried but decided not to roll out systemwide.
World Airways last week signed a contract with an unnamed freight forwarder to provide DC-10-30F cargo service for nine months, through Sept. 30. World will operate five international roundtrips a week under the contract, which is worth about $11 million.
30 Years Ago Jan. 20, 1976 -- Commuter Airline Association of America fears the Aviation Act of 1975 will "seriously damage the profitability" of commuter carriers, with the free entry and exit of certified carriers leading to drastic overcapacity in some markets and loss of service in others. 20 Years Ago
Air Canada in the coming weeks will upgrade its airport kiosks at London Heathrow and Vancouver's transborder check-in with a passport swipe reader that lets passengers enter their own passport information. The carrier also wants to install the readers at Montreal's transborder check-in area and in Toronto's Terminal 2. The passport-reading kiosks are already active in Calgary, Edmonton, Kelowna, Victoria and Paris.
Roadshows for Comair pilots to view and discuss management's concession proposal wind down this week as ALPA makes arrangements for a final vote on the deal. Union negotiators said the company's "last, best and final" offer was unacceptable, but the unusual circumstances surrounding the proposal led to ALPA's decision to take the proposal directly to the pilot membership (DAILY, Dec. 27).
Peru's Tans could see its permit renewed or revoked on the recommendation of the civil aviation department (DGAC), which temporarily suspended the carrier (DAILY, Jan. 10) while government inspectors audited the airline's maintenance and operations. Some 1,200 Tans passengers were inconvenienced by the suspension. Four hundred passengers at Lima angrily protested before being transferred to Lan Peru, while nearly 500 passengers remained stranded for hours at Cusco, Piura, Tumbes, Chiclayo and Pucallpa.
Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein tells employees the airline sees potential opportunities at Northwest in the major carrier's recent request for proposals to fly planes with up to 76 seats. He notes Mesa is looking at new opportunities with carriers to help diversify its business. "That's why the situation at Northwest is of great interest to us."
Transportation Security Administration named Paul Armes federal security director for Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, Douglas Hofsass as FSD for new York LaGuardia Airport, and Louis Traverzo as FSD for Milwaukee General Mitchell Airport.
A visit by a representative of the new European Commission president with U.S. Transportation and State departments staff last week ushers in a new relationship. The presidency transitioned from the U.K. to Austria at the turn of the new year. DOT called the meetings a "courtesy visit," which likely included a briefing on the recent council of ministers' meeting. All eyes remain on DOT and the highly anticipated final rule on foreign ownership.
Forecast International predicts that more than 20,000 auxiliary power units and ground power units will be sold globally in the next 10 years, although growth will be slow during that period. The Forecast analysis said the APU/GPU market will be worth $4.6 billion between 2005 and 2014, with 2,100-2,400 units sold a year. APU sales will remain flat through 2012, and will dip slightly in 2013 and 2014 as the production life cycles of several aircraft come to an end, the analysis says.
Flybe is adding another short-haul route to France with the launch of flights between Southampton and Cherbourg this summer. The carrier said it has started selling seats due to high demand. The summer schedule from Southampton also includes flights to Avignon, Angers, Faro and Palma de Mallorca.
Olympic Airlines suggests the U.S. Dept. of Transportation may be overstepping its boundaries in regard to foreign carriers with its proposed rule requiring airlines to provide medical oxygen to passengers who need it during flight (DAILY, Oct. 25, 2005).
Bombardier was dealt a blow yesterday after the U.S. Army canceled Lockheed Martin's $879 million Aerial Common Sensor spy plane development contract, rather than move forward with any of the options for salvaging the effort proposed by the company. The Army decided to bring "all the players back to the drawing board to make sure we all have a firm understanding of what the requirements are and the various challenges we need to overcome to make this program succeed," said Assistant Secretary of the Army Claude Bolton.
