JetBlue CEO David Neeleman says the carrier would eventually like to offer passengers onboard use of hand-held wireless communication devices like the BlackBerry. JetBlue has had discussions with FAA and its subsidiary, LiveTV. "We think we have the technology to do it," Neeleman says.
America West this week will roll out its new "Get on Board" brand campaign, designed to differentiate the airline as a low-cost carrier that edges out other LCCs by giving value on top of low fares. AWA claims to be the only carrier to let passengers "upgrade their low-fare experience." The Get on Board tagline encourages consumers to join other "savvy" travelers by flying AWA.
MAIR Holdings strengthened its commitment to subsidiary Big Sky Airlines last week, launching a "fleet modernization" program to replace Big Sky's older 19-seat Fairchild Metro turboprops with Beech 1900Ds. MAIR, which also owns Northwest Airlink carrier Mesaba Airlines, bought Big Sky in 2002, and late last year MAIR CEO Paul Foley said his company didn't buy Big Sky to fly Essential Air Service routes (DAILY, Nov. 1, 2004). At that time, Foley said MAIR was considering all options for Big Sky.
ATA's regional subsidiary Chicago Express will be shut down or sold in the fallout from ATA's decision to drastically reduce the size of its network. ATA is eliminating all three Chicago Express routes from Chicago, as well as five Indianapolis routes, as part of wider cuts that will leave ATA with only four flights from its Indianapolis hub ((DAILY, Jan. 27).
The Aeropuertos Argentina 2000 airport management and development consortium will invest US$10 million to enlarge the terminal at Mendoza Airport from 10,000 square meters to 12,000 square meters. The capacity increase will let the airport handle 1 million passengers annually, as well as five simultaneous flights. The project, which is expected to create 500 new direct jobs, also calls for upgraded arrival and departure areas and telescopic boarding docks. AA2000 develops and manages 33 airports throughout the country. -LZ
JetBlue yesterday squeezed out a $2.4 million fourth-quarter profit, thanks to strong results in the last two months of the period after a dismal October, and executives predicted profits throughout 2005.
China today plans to order as many as 60 Boeing 7E7s that will go to the country's six largest airlines, according to a Washington source familiar with the deal. A signing event will be hosted by the U.S. Commerce Dept. and will be attended by Boeing Commercial CEO Alan Mulally and China Aviation Supply Co. President Li Hai. The deal will give a tremendous boost to the 7E7 orderbook to more than 200 planes.
American Eagle plans to start a daily nonstop round-trip flight May 1 between Dallas and Chihuahua, Mexico, using 50-seat Embraer ERJ-145s. Chihuahua is American Eagle's seventh Mexican destination, and Eagle parent American Airlines plans to offer more than 280 flights a week from the U.S. to 13 cities in Mexico.
America West and Royal Jordanian won antitrust immunity (ATI) from the U.S. Transportation Dept. yesterday, allowing the two carriers to cooperate in areas ranging from code sharing to joint sales and marketing. The two carriers proposed to take advantage of ATI, which is analogous to an operational merger, with agreements covering frequent flyer participation, airport lounge access, TCN code share and an interline reduced rate. The ATI approval, valid for five years, expands on a reciprocal code-share partnership that DOT green-lighted last year (DAILY, Sept. 9).
Guatemalan regional Tikal Jets Airlines launched four weekly services from its Guatemala City base to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, and Managua, Nicaragua, using 123-passenger DC-9s. Tikal in April plans to expand to Panama, Costa Rica and El Salvador, targeting mainly inter-Central American tourism, which generated to some 615,000 passengers last year.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. approved an amended code-share proposal from Spanair and US Airways to expand their agreement to a variety of new routes between Spain and the U.S. DOT granted permission for Spanair to offer service between Barcelona and Madrid to Philadelphia through a code-sharing arrangement with US Air. US Air also will carry Spanair's code for flights beyond Philadelphia to 21 U.S. cities. In turn, Spanair will display US Air's code on its beyond flights from Barcelona to Malaga and Palma de Mallorca. [OST-2003-16219].
Nearly a week after introducing reduced vertical separation minima (RVSM) across North America, U.S. and Canadian ATC officials say the transition to the new procedure has gone very smoothly. FAA reports no operational errors in the en route airspace affected by RVSM since Jan. 20, when the procedure was introduced. Nav Canada said it also has had no operational irregularities -- roughly equivalent to operational errors -- caused by RVSM.
Brazil's civil aviation department, DAC, Wednesday night revoked struggling VASP's authority to operate eight of its daily scheduled routes -- the same routes on which the airline abruptly canceled flights last Saturday. Meanwhile, both DAC and consumer protection agency Procon plan to audit VASP in the wake of the cancellations, and DAC has promised fines.
The European Commission has cleared the creation of OnAir, a joint venture of Airbus and SITA that will develop and provide onboard communication services for commercial aircraft. OnAir offers in-seat telephones, in-seat short-messaging service and e-mail and instant messaging from passengers' laptops. In 2005, the company plans to add access to corporate Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and web- browsing capabilities. Onboard mobile telephone services, allowing passengers to use their cell phones safely in flight, are scheduled in 2006.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was on hand earlier this week to inaugurate a new radar system for Leticia Airport, on the southeastern tip of the country. The new radar system, part of regulator Aerocivil's air surveillance network, has a primary range of 80 miles and a secondary range of 240 miles. Other Amazon improvements include a $8 million for landing strips at Tarapaca and La Pedrera to handle heavy aircraft, such as Colombian air force C-130s. -LZ
US Airways unveiled plans to consolidate its reservation call and service centers -- now split between the Pittsburgh and Winston/Salem, N.C. areas -- into one site in Winston/Salem.
Indonesia's 22 commercial airlines and 35 charter carriers carried 23 million passengers last year, a jump of 31% compared with the previous year. The load factor on domestic routes averaged 85%. Tengku Burhanuddin, secretary of the Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA), says cheaper air travel, an increase in the number of commercial airlines operating and a fast-growing economy have enabled more people across the country to fly.
British Airways will make "drastic changes" to its European flight operations within the next 18 months to two years, Commercial Director Martin George told reporters this week. "There are a lot of people who still pay to travel at the front of the plane, and we have to make sure we're looking after that market," he said. The changes also could involve further cost cuts to make the European flying program more profitable. -MT
Saipan-based Pacific Island Aviation (PIA), which operates as a Northwest code-share partner between Saipan, Rota and Guam, plans to suspend all flight operations on Feb. 9 after 16 years of service. PIA provided scheduled and charter service between the Northern Mariana Islands and Guam and was named the essential air service carrier to Rota shortly after starting operations in 1988. The decision to shut the doors "comes at a time when we believe our mission to bring acceptable air service to the market has come to an end," said CEO Robert Christian.
United parent UAL Corp. reported a deep $664 million fourth quarter net loss and a full-year deficit of $1.6 billion, including special items, as the carrier's hope to emerge from bankruptcy protection this summer quickly fades in light of high fuel costs and intense domestic competition.
The U.K.'s National Air Traffic Services (NATS) has selected Laing O'Rourke Scotland for the main construction contract on its new Prestwick ATC center. The new center is scheduled for handover to NATS in fall 2006 for fitting-out and systems testing, and is due to be operational by 2009.
