Members of Congress are preparing to take the battle over Airbus subsidies to the World Trade Organization, and 242 members of the House last week sent the U.S. Trade Ambassador Bob Zoellick a letter supporting the country's stand against subsidies. The dispute is headed for a Dec. 6 deadline for consultation and requesting a panel to litigate before the WTO.
The chief executives of 20 Latin American airlines last week called on local governments to cut the tax burden on their national carriers because it puts them at a significant disadvantage to their international competition.
Taipei's Civil Aeronautics Administration (CAA) has rejected applications from four Taiwanese airlines to raise fares on domestic flights to offset high fuel prices. Far Eastern Air Transport (FEAT), Mandarin Airlines, Uni Airways and TransAsia Airways argued that fares must be in line with high fuel prices. Since CAA doesn't let airlines levy fuel surcharges on domestic routes, the carriers had requested fare adjustments to cover rising operating costs.
The Air Transport Association predicts there will be a record 16.3 million passengers over the Thanksgiving holiday period, up from 15.9 million last year. The airline industry is also on pace to carry 685 million passengers this year, 3% more than the record set in 2000.
Harbin Embraer, Embraer's joint venture with Hafei Aviation Industry Co. controlled by China's AVIC II, is close to winning an order for more ERJ-145s, airframer officials said this week. Brazil's government signed a letter of intent with Chinese government officials for the potential sale of 10 ERJ-145s to China Eastern Airlines, but Embraer and the carrier haven't finalized a contract.
A new air cargo container developed by Aerobox subsidiary Aerospace Composite Structures and Kelvin Technologies can protect its contents from extremes of heat or cold for up to seven days, and it's being marketed to food and pharmaceutical companies. The container, called the KelvinBox, actively controls product temperature by either cooling or heating. The inside of the container will never experience temperature variations of more than two degrees Celsius, even when outside temperatures range from minus 30 degrees Celsius to 55 degrees.
Less than three weeks after announcing 16 new flights at Chicago Midway, Southwest unveiled a second wave of expansion at the city by adding another five nonstop daily flights, including two new destinations.
Goodrich's nacelle and thrust reverser maintenance, repair and overhaul center based in Singapore -- Rohr Aero Services Asia (RASA) -- is partnering with Boeing to offer a supply chain management program that aims to cut turnaround time for Asian customers. Boeing said it would give Goodrich technical support and certification to service the airframer's nacelle systems, as well as greater access to inventory deployed in Singapore to reduce those times. RASA is a 230,000-square-foot facility near the Singapore International Airport. -LR
Finnair wants to stress its Asian growth strategy in the next few years to take advantage of a profitable market niche it has developed. Finnair CEO Keijo Suila told The DAILY that the airline will start three weekly services from Helsinki to Guangzhou, China, operated by Boeing MD-11s. The airline also wants to increase frequencies on its existing routes to Tokyo and Bangkok. "Demand from and to Asia grows faster than the rest of our network," Suila noted.
The Austrian Airlines Group traffic was up 15.4% in October, the company said this week. Demand for its long-haul services increased by 17.7%. The airline added 19.8% in capacity and the load factor was down 2.8 percentage points at 73.6%.
British low-fare regional carrier FlyBE managed to make a GBP14 million (US$25.9 million) profit in the first six months, up from a GBP3.1 million loss last year, despite a steep rise in fuel costs. FlyBE is the relaunched version of former regional carrier British European.
DHL will invest $150 million over the next five years to strengthen its presence in Mexico, says the CEO of DHL's Mexican unit, Leticia Navarro. At a recent press conference marking DHL's 25th anniversary in Mexico, Navarro said the company's cargo volume has been growing at an annual average of 4% to 5%, on par with the nation's GNP. DHL's market share for local courier and parcel services now stands at 25%, and the company leads in international market share.
Brazil's Gol plans to expand its shuttle service between Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro on Nov. 22 by offering 10 new daily flights to meet higher demand. The airline's 75% load factor on the route was a key factor in obtaining Civil Aviation Dept. approval for the additional flights. The carrier expects the new capacity to translate into 30,000 extra passengers per month, primarily business travelers, which today represent about 60% of the company's passenger mix. With these new flights, GOL will offer 36 daily flights on the route.
ExpressJet pilots officially ended two years of negotiations yesterday with their vote in favor of a tentative agreement reached with management last month. About 94% of the pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), at ExpressJet cast votes, and 61% of those pilots approved the deal. At times, negotiations between pilots and management were tense. The National Mediation Board took control of the talks in February, and union leaders were close to sending out strike ballots in August.
Trade groups representing smaller cargo carriers say the Transportation Security Administration has avoided serious disruption to their industry by leaving small cargo aircraft out of its new cargo-screening proposals. The new rules will apply only to aircraft weighing more than 100,309 pounds, meaning that aircraft weighing less than this but more than 12,500 pounds will still be covered by an existing regulation known as the Twelve-Five rule.
Croatia Airlines and Adria Airways will join the Star Alliance as new regional members on Dec. 15. Adria Airways CEO Branko Lucovnik and Croatia Airlines CEO Ivan Misetic yesterday signed the joining agreements at a Star Alliance event in Frankfurt. The two airlines will be the second and third regional members after Finnish SAS subsidiary Blue 1, which joined last week. Both carriers have strong links with Star's biggest European member, Lufthansa, and code share on several routes with the carrier.
The Bush Administration, in its second term starting in January, may try for a second time in as many years to get Congress to raise the foreign ownership limit from 25% to 49%, as it remains a key issue for the aviation industry.
Goodrich won its sixth supplier contract for Boeing's 7E7 after Rolls-Royce tapped the company to provide the integrator sensor suite for the Trent 1000 engine.
The first German air traffic controller strike in decades may happen soon, as German ATC provider Deutsche Flugsicherung (DFS) and the controllers' union GDF were close to breaking off talks over a new wage agreement yesterday. GDF said it will pull out of talks if DFS does not agree to its demands by midnight. The two sides were in disagreement over performance incentives, among other issues. -JF
China Airlines inked a deal with Boeing to install its Connexion high-speed connectivity service on the carrier's long-haul fleet of 747-400s in the second quarter of 2005, with service following shortly after installation.
AAR won FAA repair station certification for its new airframe maintenance center at the Indianapolis Airport site that was formerly occupied by United.
