Northwest's pilots yesterday approved by a wide margin the freezing of the company's defined benefit pension plan. Nearly 82% of those Air Line Pilots Association members who voted approved the plan. As a result of the ratification, the defined benefit plan will be frozen Jan. 31, and the interim 5% defined contribution will begin Feb. 1.
Estonian Air will launch service between Tallinn and Barcelona May 14 with four weekly flights. Airline VP Mart Relve said the four-hour trip will be the carrier's longest regular flight.
AirTran's entry into the Richmond market hasn't spooked many of its rivals; the carrier's main competitor, Delta, even notched up its capacity slightly during the time AirTran launched its flights from Richmond.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta and 13 of his colleagues from other countries vowed to work harder to prevent terrorism against aircraft. Mineta was in Tokyo for the Ministerial Conference on International Transport Security, where the group stated, "Terrorists are refining and adapting their tactics to perpetrate further acts of unlawful interference against aviation."
Eurocontrol last week met with eight national air traffic control organizations to ensure they are on track to meet a European Commission deadline for safety certification.
Wizz Air is continuing its rapid expansion with the launch of flights from Kaunas to Malmo and Copenhagen March 27, the same day the airline starts four weekly flights from the Croatian capital of Zagreb to London. The latest flight is Wizz Air's third route to Copenhagen and its seventh to Scandinavia.
Air Berlin carried 13.5 million passengers in 2005, a 12% jump from the 2004 number. The carrier highlighted airports in its network that had strong year-over-year growth last year, including Hannover 36%, Hamburg 30%, Duesseldorf 18%, Vienna 22% and Palma de Mallorca 23%.
Finnair this week named Henrik Arle deputy CEO and appointed him to the group management board. Kaisa Vakkula was named senior VP-leisure and travel services, while Kimmo Soini will head the technical services division.
United moved one step closer to its planned emergence from bankruptcy next month when the unsecured creditors reached a deal to resolve all of the issues between the company and the committee, including objections to reorganization plan.
Because of observance of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, Aviation DAILY will not publish an issue dated Jan. 16. The next issue will be dated Jan. 17.
The U.S. Transportation Dept.'s efforts to change foreign ownership rules so that only citizens from open-skies countries that give U.S. citizens similar investment access can take advantage of the relaxed restrictions generated excitement and concern on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Transportation Security Administration is setting up a new unit to coordinate risk management across all modes of transportation. The Transportation Sector Network Management unit will cut across traditional sectors to coordinate policy, programs, industry stakeholders and the assessment of threats, vulnerabilities and consequences in areas such as airports, general aviation and cargo, Mike Restovich, the TSA assistant administrator who heads TSNM, said this week.
Five Alitalia pilot unions acting under the single banner of "Piloti Italiani Uniti" called for an eight-hour strike on March 4 in protest of management's alleged violation of the agreement signed in November 2004 to rescue the airline.
Madrid Barajas Airport's new Terminal 4 will open Feb. 5 instead of Jan. 29, confirmed Aeropuertos Espanoles y Navegacion Aerea, the Spanish airports and air traffic authority. AENA declined to justify the delay. Airport sources quoted by the Spanish press said some work remains to be done on the new equipment, which will double the airport's capacity. The delay could also be related to a warning issued by six minority Iberia unions for a 24-hour stoppage on Jan. 28 to protest the carrier's 2006-2008 business plan.
Qantas yesterday said it will boost capacity on its Qantaslink regional subsidiary by 18% as it takes delivery of seven new Bombardier Q400s. The first of the Q400s arrived this week and will enter service Feb. 26. All the aircraft are scheduled to be delivered by July, and Qantas also has purchase rights and options for another 10. The firm orders are worth A$200 million (US$150.2 million).
Connexion by Boeing unveiled a new pricing scheme for its inflight Internet and entertainment service that changes the cost and the various packages. The timing of the price changes is related to an upgraded service that includes four channels of live television and the implementation of Yahoo as the exclusive search engine on the service's portal. Effective Jan. 31, Connexion will drop the unlimited Internet access from $29.95 to $26.95. The new price also includes connecting flights within 24 hours of when a passenger first logs into the system.
Opponents of FAA's final rule outlining drug and alcohol testing highlight said that while the agency acknowledged the unpopularity of the rule, it largely ignored their concerns that the rule won't necessarily garner additional safety benefits. Effective April 10, any person involved in safety-sensitive work for a regulated employer, which includes subcontracting at any level, is subject to testing.
The Florida airspace redesign that FAA completed last year succeeded in cutting holiday season delays dramatically at the South Florida airports that caused major headaches for airlines last winter, FAA officials said.
America West took the Air Carrier Association of America to task for failing to recognize the grammatical constructs of the AIR-21 statutes, as it urged the U.S. Transportation Dept. to dismiss ACAA's petition to revoke America West's beyond-perimeter slots at Washington National Airport. ACAA, in its previous petition, argued that America West, through the merger with US Airways, failed to meet some the criteria governing the award of beyond-perimeter slot exemptions because it was no longer a "limited incumbent carrier" (DAILY, Nov. 28, 2005).
EasyJet's pilots rejected a pay offer made by management, and a poll from the British Air Line Pilots Association made clear that flight crews are willing to go on strike ultimately if no agreement is reached. Both sides said, however, that a deal is still possible and that negotiations are expected to take another few weeks.
Spanish carrier Vueling plans to add three new destinations from Madrid -- Amsterdam, Lisbon and Milan -- Feb. 20 after launching operations from that destination in November. Vueling serves Barcelona, Paris, Rome and Brussels from its base in Madrid. The airline plans to add more points to its Madrid base this year.
