Brazil's airport regulator Infraero will increase airport departure taxes as much as 26% throughout the nation, starting in February. The current tax structure has been frozen since 1997, and the new adjustments were based on the rate of inflation and added security costs after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
Air France once again will bring its case against Geneva Airport's plan for a low-cost carrier terminal to the Swiss competition authority ComCo, but will try a different tack than state aid allegations. The French carrier claims that the project is "discriminatory," as the new T2 would charge CHF14 (US$12) per passenger instead of CHF19 (US$16) in the main terminal used by Air France. ComCo has already authorized the project, "but after hearing only one of the parties," said Etienne Rachou, Air France's managing director for Europe and North Africa.
Star Alliance named Aman Khan as its new VP of information technology in charge of planning, development and operations of the Star Alliance IT infrastructure. As a member of the IT management board, he will work with the chief information officers of the 15 member carriers to develop, coordinate and implement IT strategies, "which support both the alliance business objectives and create value for the alliance members," the alliance said.
Air Macau, hoping to tap into the growing Chinese cargo market, plans to lease five Airbus A300-600Fs to operate flights to the Mainland. The carrier is looking at an initial network covering Beijing, Nanjing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Hangzhou. The airline has also firmed up plans to wet-lease three MD-11Fs to operate to Los Angeles and New York.
America West is hoping to have a subfleet of Boeing 757s certified for extended-range twin-engine operations (ETOPS) by early 2006 so it can eventually launch service to Hawaii. The airline will soon submit its initial set of documents to FAA in support of its ETOPS application, which should take about 12 months to complete. America West currently has a code-share partnership with Hawaiian.
Named Oliver Martins, formerly managing director of powerplant maintenance, to VP-Engineering, Quality Assurance and Planning for its Maintenance and Engineering (M&E) unit.
Aeromexico early last week started nonstop service between San Diego and Puerto Vallarta with Boeing 737-700 aircraft. The flights will operate on Thursdays and Sundays.
Delta on Feb. 1 plans to start recalling pilots, bringing back about 20 during the month, with an additional 20 recalled in March, the union said in a message to members. The airline expects to grow capacity about 6%-8% this year thanks to better aircraft utilization.
Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) handled a record 21 million passengers last year, up 20.68% year-over-year, and Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) expects KLIA to grow 7.15% this year -- handling 22.5 million passengers -- and to hit its capacity of 25 million next year. Five new airlines started operations at KLIA last year -- Lufthansa, Riau Airlines, Jatayu Airlines, Hainan Airlines and UPS -- bringing the total operating to KLIA to 46.
B/E Aerospace recently signed deals with Qantas, Singapore Airlines and a major European airline to make B/E's MiniPod business class seats as well as a broad range of food and beverage preparation and storage equipment for the carriers' new Airbus A380s. The initial firm order is valued at about $55 million and the contracts ultimately could be worth $80 million.
Lufthansa Technik (LHT) has won a significant order from an unidentified Arab country to completely retrofit a Boeing 747-400 in a custom VIP configuration. The work will start next month and is expected to be completed in mid-2006. LHT will install sleeping quarters, conference and work compartments as well as communication and airborne entertainment systems. Including all engineering, design and installation tasks, the project will require about 300,000 hours of work.
Ryanair and easyJet will compete on more routes starting this month, as the Irish low-fare airline builds its presence at London's Luton airport. Ryanair will start services to Stockholm, Esbjerg, Nimes, Girona, Pisa and Treviso from Luton, which traditionally has been easyJet's strongest base. Both airlines were relatively close last year in passengers carried: Ryanair counted 26.6 million in 2004, while easyJet reached 25.7 million.
Only days after Swiss International Air Lines announced plans to pull almost all its services out of EuroAirport Basel and replace its existing aircraft with a new partner, Easyjet said it will make Basel its next European base. The airline initially will start flying three aircraft out of Basel, but will likely add more in 2006. Currently, the airline is already flying to Berlin, London's Luton and Stansted airports as well as Liverpool and said it is in negotiations with several airports for long-term deals that would make new services possible.
Singapore Changi airport experienced a 23% jump in passenger traffic in 2004, rebounding from the SARS pneumonia epidemic that crippled Asian traffic in 2003. The airport's record of 30.4 million passengers is also almost 5% higher than the 2002 record of 29 million. Tallies at yearend indicate significant gains as well -- passenger traffic in December alone rose 9.4% In addition, cargo tonnage rose more than 10% at the airport last year compared with 2003, and was 8.4% ahead of 2002's pace. -KJ
Bombardier is slashing 60 jobs and reshuffling its corporate office following the creation of the Office of President after Paul Tellier's departure in December. Senior VP of Strategy Michael Denham is leaving the company, and senior VP of strategy and corporate audit services and risk assessment Richard Bradeen will add corporate strategy to his responsibilities. John Paul McDonald is the new senior VP of public affairs, but also retains his communications and government affairs responsibilities at Bombardier Aerospace.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration certified GE Infrastructure Security's X-ray diffraction (XRD) system to detect explosives in passenger bags, approving the first machine not based on existing computed tomography (CT) technology. GE's Yxlon XES 3000R uses XRD "to identify the chemical signature of explosives," the company said. GE designed the XRD system to complement its TSA-certified Invision CT machines. Six European airports and the Israeli Airport Authority have ordered the XRD systems, GE said.
Colombia's civil aviation department, Aerocivil, has added new projects to its long-term agenda to improve the country's air transport and airport safety infrastructure (DAILY, Jan. 13). The aviation agency plans to build new airport terminals at Carepa, Puerto Asis and Mitu and will also repave runways at 18 airports. ILS systems will be upgraded in Pasto and Bucaramanga, and a VOR will be installed for the region of Tolima at Ambalema. Officials will improve lighting in Pasto, Popayan and Ipiales.
Air Asia this week decided to buy Rockwell Collins-built avionics for its firm order of 40 Airbus A320s and options for 40 more. Deliveries are set to begin in December. The WXR-2100 MultiScan Weather Radar is included in the avionics package. Other Rockwell Collins equipment bought by Air Asia includes the GLU-920 Multi-Mode Receiver, ADF-900 Automatic Direction Finder, DME-900 Distance Measuring Equipment, HFS-900 High Frequency System, VOR-900 VHF Omnidirectional Radio and the AOC-900 Aircraft Operational Communications data link.
Swiss International Air Lines plans to install new and lighter seats in its 11 Airbus A320s, which will allow it to boost capacity on the aircraft. The carrier's Technical Services unit in Basel is doing the modifications, the first time the facility has handled this type of Airbus work. By March, all of the A320s will be retrofitted with new seats that have a slimmer back, allowing total capacity per plane to grow from 150 to 168 passengers.
