Airbus bookended the New Year's weekend with two new orders for its A350 aircraft, but the manufacturer was still well short of its stated goal of 200 A350 orders by the end of 2005. Yesterday, Airbus announced three firm orders and three options for A350-800s from Italian carrier Eurofly. Four days earlier, Bangkok Airways committed to buy six A350s. Airbus said the Eurofly order takes A350 orders and commitments to 172 aircraft from 13 customers.
AAR surpassed its own sales growth estimates for the first fiscal quarter of 2006, raising profits 64% to $7.9 million from $4.8 million a year ago. CEO David Storch said the 24% year-over-year increase in sales to $218 million was beyond the 12%-15% sales boost the company predicted for the quarter.
Virgin America on Friday was hit with the first delay in its U.S. Transportation Dept. certification review after the department decided to extend the deadline for answers into mid-January.
Air Berlin continues to add routes from its London Stansted hub with the launch of flights to Helsinki Feb. 3 and connecting flights in Duesseldorf. The carrier starts flights from Stansted to Alicante in May. Air Berlin first used Stansted this month as a transfer hub to connect flights from Manchester and Glasgow to Germany. -LR
Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.) says he will not support a bill by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-N.J.) requiring FBI background checks for outsourced maintenance workers because DHS needs to adopt a biometrics standard instead. "Anything else is a waste of time until they do that," Mica told The DAILY.
FAA last week outlined four options it will consider for a massive airspace redesign project that it hopes will improve traffic flow in the New York and Philadelphia metropolitan areas. The redesign will cover a 31,000-square-mile area that comprises five states. The four options were included in FAA's draft environmental impact statement (DEIS), although the agency did not say which alternative it prefers. The public comment period ends June 1, and FAA will make a recommendation after the comments have been considered.
Republic Airways Holdings' expanding fleet of 70-seat jets and low costs places the carrier in a better position than some of its peers, but obstacles remain, according to an analysis by JP Morgan, including a yet-to-be confirmed contract from partner Delta. Based on firm orders, Republic's 70-seat flying should grow from 25% to 60% of total operations, analyst Jamie Baker said, noting, "Unlike, others [regional airlines] all of Republic's legacy partners allow for some level of large RJ flying."
SN Airholding named Virgin Express Managing Director Neil Burrows to CEO of its holdings Virgin Express and SN Brussels Airlines for a yearlong term. Company shareholders and pilots expressed concern over the vacancy of power following the resignation of top man Rob Kuijpers last September, and SN Airholding said it was worried about "the risks that could arise for the Group in the event that some urgent decisions regarding the cooperation between SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express are not taken."
FAA is beginning preliminary tests aimed at reducing aircraft separation on transpacific routes. Aircraft separation standards range from 50 to 120 nautical miles, but FAA hopes to reduce separation to 30 nm. The reduced separation is made possible by a new oceanic ATC system that FAA installed in Oakland.
Promoted Joseph Lacik, VP-information services for Aviall Services, to senior VP-information services and promoted Human Resources Director Louis Koch to VP-human resources.
Executive VP William Silva, also president and chief operating officer of the Maytag Aircraft Corp. subsidiary, retired, effective Dec. 1, after 23 years with the company.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ron Brown at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) JAN. 7-8, 2006 -- 2006 Midwest Aviation Conference & Trade Show, Busch Student Center, St. Louis University, 636-532-5638, fax 636-532-0656, www.macts.org JAN. 8-12 -- American Association of Airport Executives Aviation Issues Conference, Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel, Kona, Hawaii, 703-824-0504, www.airportnet.org
Note To Readers: We wish all our readers and friends around the world a happy, joyous and peaceful holiday season. This is our last issue of 2005, and our next issue will be dated Jan. 4, 2006. In between, we will take our traditional break, not publishing until the new year. In this tumultuous year, we thank you for your continued readership, support, loyalty and friendship -- all of which have made the past 66 years of Aviation Daily excellence possible. We look forward to your continued success in 2006 and stand ready to do our part for another 66 years! -Ed.
The Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation last week signed a deal with SREI Capital Markets Limited to provide advisory services to the Indian aviation sector. The memorandum of understanding is the first of its kind in India and was forged between the Sydney-based aviation consulting practice and SCML, an Indian merchant banker. CAPA will provide advisory services in airline startup planning and management, airline restructuring, airport marketing and development strategy, passenger and freight traffic forecasting, route analysis and development.
Delta and Air France-KLM expressed disappointment with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation's decision last week to tentatively deny the SkyTeam Alliance antitrust immunity (DAILY, Dec. 23), which Delta says seems to contradict steps by the department to liberalize the air transport market. Delta VP-International and Alliances Jorge Fernandez said that a finalized decision denying ATI "would be a step backwards," given U.S. efforts to open the market and that the ruling "undermines the Administration's effort to expand open skies with Europe."
UPS pilots last week asked for a release from mediated contract talks after the latest round of negotiations produced no tentative agreement, but the carrier opposes a release. The Independent Pilots Association said that it has been negotiating for 38 months and that the two sides' proposals are still $40 million a year apart, about 6% of the carrier's pilot labor cost. The union said this is the first time it has asked to be released from mediated talks with UPS.
The "frenetic growth" in low-cost carrier operations in India is likely to "continue unabated" next year, the Center for Asia Pacific Aviation says. The partial float of up to 20% of India's two government-owned carriers -- Indian Airlines and Air-India -- "will release much-needed capital for the airlines," which are planning to order 111 new aircraft between them.
Correction: JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker predicts American is "in sight of a breakeven result" for the first quarter 2006. A story in The DAILY Dec. 23 implied the forecast was for the fourth quarter 2005.
Air Jamaica next year plans to launch nonstop weekly service from New York Kennedy to St. Lucia to take advantage of growing traffic to the island. The flight will launch Feb. 23 with an Airbus A320 and operate on Sunday, Monday and Thursday. "For some time, the St. Lucia Ministry of Tourism and Air Jamaica have had discussions on the introduction of nonstop flights between New York and St. Lucia in light of a boom in the construction of new hotel rooms and the need for additional airlift to the island," the airline said.
