House Appropriations Chair Bill Young (R-Fla.) yesterday said he wants to shift leadership roles and subcommittee responsibility for overseeing homeland security appropriations. The subcommittee will incorporate Transportation Security Administration and aviation security, he noted.
The Association of European Airlines will postpone its Feb. 3-4 Congress on the Future of Transatlantic Transport until this summer. "The prospect of conflict in the Middle East means that industry and regulators on both sides of the Atlantic need to face other priorities at this time in order to cope with a possible emergency situation," wrote AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus in a letter to participants. -MT
State-owned Vietnam Airlines plans to start a new domestic airline, which will also double as a regional carrier. Called Express Airlines, the subsidiary would assume all of Vietnam's short-haul domestic and regional routes throughout Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, allowing Vietnam to concentrate on expanding its international network. Though the agreement is close to being completed, Myanmar will be included in the regional network later. ATRs would be deployed on the routes. Vietnam is aiming for a late second quarter launch date. -WD
Continental will recall all its furloughed pilots to fly regional jets (RJs) for Continental Express, the carrier told its pilots union this week. The recall will begin in April with 48 pilots, followed by further recalls every month thereafter into 2004 until the recall is complete. Air Line Pilots Association Continental spokesman Chuck Bullard said all 383 Continental Express pilots and 96 Continental mainline pilots currently on furlough will eventually be recalled.
NTSB member George Black has resigned from the board to start a new job as the senior civil engineer/national resource specialist for highway investigations at the agency. Black joined the board in 1996 and participated in several accident investigations, including the 1997 crash of a Korean Airlines 747 in Guam and American Flight 587 in 2001.
Following the lead of Mexicana, its sister carrier under the Cintra holding company (DAILY, Jan. 16), AeroMexico reduced agency commissions to 1%. Both carriers have agreed to meet with affected agents to clear up any questions and explain the reasons leading to this new policy, which they "intend to uphold." -LZ
Air Wisconsin plans to install emergency medical kits and automatic external defibrillators (AEDs) built by MedAire, Inc. based in Tempe, Ariz. Air Wisconsin flies a mix of BAE 146 100s/200s/300s and Bombardier CRJs.
AT&T Wireless this week signed an agreement with service provider Wayport to give subscribers high-speed, wireless access at airports in Austin, Dallas/Fort Worth, San Jose, Calif., and Seattle, as well as in 475 U.S. hotels, using Wi-Fi technology.
Egypt Air this week started nonstop service between Cairo and Beijing, operating the nine-hour flight twice a week. The Xinhua News Agency reports that effective May 1, 2002, Chinese travel agencies were permitted to organize tourist groups to visit Egypt. The direct route is expected to lower the cost of travel between the two capitals. Last year, 15,000 Chinese citizens visited Egypt at their own expense.
Boeing yesterday unveiled a working name for the mid-market aircraft now in development -- the 7E7. Features engineers are considering in the aircraft's design are lower cabin altitude and increased cabin humidity, plus simpler designs for the leading and trailing edge flaps on the wings. A spokeswoman said the airframer also is studying using a structural health monitoring system that alerts the crew when the airplane is stressed, rather than relying only on visual inspections.
Malev Hungarian Airlines began flying the first Next-Generation Boeing 737-700 using a new Boeing-developed position awareness system that originated in a technology demonstration program. Boeing's Navigation Performance Scales (NPS) use vertical and horizontal indicators to provide position awareness on primary flight displays. NPS is part of a group of flight-deck technologies Boeing installed last year on its 737-900 Technology Demonstrator aircraft.
United this spring plans to launch new nonstop flights between its Denver hub and US Airways' Charlotte hub. Starting April 6, United will operate two daily round-trip flights in the market using Boeing 737s. "With United's broad schedule offering at Denver and our code-share partner US Airways' presence at Charlotte, we will now be able to offer connections to 48 markets beyond Denver and to 97 markets beyond Charlotte," said Greg Taylor, United senior VP-planning. The two airlines launched their code-share partnership earlier this year. -SL
Midwest Express plans to cut its nonstop seasonal service from Milwaukee and San Francisco but will replace it with two daily one-stop flights that will operate year-round. Starting May 1, the airline will start the new same-plane flights from Milwaukee to San Francisco with a stop in Kansas City. The twice-daily flights will operate each weekday and Sundays, and one roundtrip on Saturdays. When the new service starts, it will offer nonstop flights between Kansas City and 11 destinations. -SL
House Democrats plan to oppose an across-the board cut to the appropriations bill that will seriously hurt FAA operations and other agencies, including the FBI, Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) told The DAILY yesterday.
The Aero Club of Washington yesterday elected as president Spencer Dickerson of the American Association of Airport Executives. Henry Ogrodzinski, National Association of State Aviation Officials, will be VP.
Alaska Airlines last week operated the first passenger flight in the contiguous U.S. using an approach system based on required navigation performance (RNP) that will eventually be introduced throughout the nation. The flight was from Seattle to San Francisco, the first airport outside Alaska to have an RNP approach. Alaska Airlines has been using RNP approaches at several Alaskan airports, most notably Juneau, since 1996 in an FAA pilot program. In an RNP approach, an aircraft uses satellite navigation data to fly a very precise path even in bad weather.
Martinair has signed a leasing contract with Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise (SALE) for two new Airbus A320s powered by International Aero Engines (IAE) V2500s. Martinair plans to take delivery of the aircraft in March 2003. SALE said it's the first time it has worked with the Amsterdam-based carrier. The A320s are also the first Airbus aircraft used by the carrier. Martinair plans to use the single-class 180-seat aircraft on routes to Southern Europe.
Air Canada reached a deal this week to sell a 35% stake in its Aeroplan frequent flyer program to private equity investor Onex Corp. for C$245 million (US$162 million), boosting the airline's liquidity. Onex, which attempted a hostile takeover of Air Canada three years ago, began talks with Air Canada last fall to explore buying a stake in the frequent flyer program. Aeroplan last January became a wholly owned Air Canada subsidiary, and there has a great deal of speculation that the airline would sell a stake in the program relatively quickly.
Northwest this spring plans to start seasonal service from Detroit to Myrtle Beach, S.C., setting up another battle with low-fare carrier Spirit Airlines. Northwest plans to operate the service through Sept. 30 with DC-9-30s. Northwest said the increased gate capacity of its new 97-gate terminal in Detroit "helped make it possible for the airline to offer the new route." Northwest and Spirit have competed for years on many routes from Detroit to the East and West coasts. -SL
WestJet is launching new service from Windsor International Airport in Ontario -- eight miles from downtown Detroit, Mich. -- to 12 destinations in Western Canada. The airline plans to offer connecting service five days a week, and nonstop weekend service between Windsor and Calgary, Alberta. The airline said Detroit passengers could take advantage of the new network of flights from Windsor.
Lufthansa Systems recently won a contract from New York Kennedy Terminal One Management to install the latest version of BagScan, the company's advanced baggage reconciliation system. Lufthansa Systems won a competitive bid after its original BagScan contract, awarded in May 1998 when the Terminal first opened, was up for renewal. The new contract is for the next five years. "Basically, Lufthansa Systems was the only IT provider who could fully meet our broader application needs," said Felix Fan, manager of information technology, Terminal One.
Aggressive low-cost carrier Ryanair will soon tread on SAS's turf, setting up its ninth European base at Stockholm Skavsta Airport. Starting April 4, the Irish airline said it would allocate four Boeing 737-800s to its new base and operate services on six new routes from Stockholm to Aarhus (Denmark), Glasgow Prestwick Airport, Luebeck near Hamburg, Beauvais near Paris, Oslo and Tampere (Finland), on top of Ryanair's existing routes to London Stansted and Frankfurt Hahn.
Star Alliance yesterday rolled out the first new promotional Star "flying billboard" aircraft, a Boeing 767-300, in a ceremony at Seoul Incheon Airport. The Star name is painted in bold letters across a white fuselage with the logo covering the full vertical stabilizer. The operating carrier is identified by its logo located on the forward part of the aircraft fuselage below the Star Alliance name. In November, each of Star's existing and new carriers committed to paint at least one aircraft with the new livery (DAILY, Nov. 25). -SL
