Malaysia is going ahead with a plan to pay cash incentives for new airline operators into Kuala Lumpur International Airport, together with waived landing fees for five years. The Treasury agreed to set aside M$10 million (US$2.7 million) for the program as part of the government's efforts to turn KLIA into a regional hub attracting major European and U.S. carriers.
To list an event, fax information to Donna Thomas at 202-383-2438. (Blue, Bold-faced type indicates new calendar listing.) JUNE 25-26 -- Northwestern University, Managing Fatigue in Transportation, Owen L. Coon Forum, Leverone Hall, Northwestern Univ., Evanston, Ill., 847-491-7245, fax 847-491-5270, www.nutc.northwestern.edu/fatigue JULY 7-11 -- Air Traffic Control Association International Technical Conference and Exhibits, Hotel Inter-Continental, Berlin, 703-522-5717, fax 703-527-7251, e-mail carol.newmaster@ atca.org
Connexion by Boeing chose Mitsubishi Electric to design and produce the next-generation antenna for the Boeing business unit's high-speed data and Internet service.
TAME, operated as a commercial airline by Ecuador's air force, will temporarily suspend its three weekly flights from Ecuador to Chile while it renews its fleet (DAILY, May 21). The decision was prompted by increased demand on the carrier's domestic routes.
House lawmakers last week passed a bill that will allow small airports to use their Airport Improvement Program (AIP) funds to construct air traffic control towers. The bill, H.R. 1979, was authored by Rep. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), and supported by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee leadership. It was approved by a 284-143 margin. As well as making new tower construction eligible for AIP funding, the bill allows airports to be reimbursed for previous tower construction. This clause drew objections from Democrats on the House aviation subcommittee.
NTSB, responding to concerns expressed in a report by eight American pilots, reiterated in a letter to them that no evidence has been discovered that supports grounding the Airbus A300-600.
Association of Latin American Airlines (AITAL) called on the region's governments to support ICAO's war-risk insurance initiative unveiled during the recent 58th General Assembly in Shanghai. From AITAL's headquarters in Bogota, Director General Ernesto Vasquez Rocha said, "The governments' support for this plan is essential for the survival and development of our airline industry." ICAO is putting the finishing touches on the plan, which soon will be submitted to its member states.
Brazilian domestic demand for airline tickets rose 15.6% in May from year-earlier levels, and international demand -- severely reduced in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks -- missed reaching 2001 levels by less than 1%. Industry analysts interpreting Brazilian government and industry association figures credited a domestic fare war for sparking demand, which climaxed in May when majors Varig and Tam slashed fares as much as 50%.
United pilot union leadership voted late Wednesday to approve a tentative concession deal worked out with the airline. The deal, which includes $520-560 million in cost savings for the airline over three years, was also approved by United's board.
Goodrich this week reached a deal to acquire TRW Aeronautical Systems -- formerly Lucas Aerospace -- for $1.5 billion in cash. The deal, which has been approved by the boards of Goodrich and TRW, will be financed with $1.1 billion of debt and $400 million of convertible equity-linked securities. The deal is subject to regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
As negotiations for US Airways labor concessions continue, the Association of Flight Attendants said it would wait for the airline to strike a concession deal with pilots before it finalizes a deal for its own members.
Alitalia has ordered six Embraer 170 regional jets, giving the program a much-needed boost among European airlines. The company will start taking delivery of the aircraft next year. Alitalia was one of the carriers that Fairchild Dornier has hoped to attract as a customer for its 728 program, but with the uncertainty surrounding the project, Embraer had a big advantage.
U.S. airlines' systemwide unit revenues dropped 5.8% in May from the same month last year, which to many observers looks like an improvement from April's 9.9% decline. But one analyst said yesterday that there was actually little hope in the newly released Air Transport Association data if one takes a close look at the 2001 figures and trends at the time. "On a forgiving day, the market might submissively accept this explanation," said UBS Warburg analyst Sam Buttrick. "It's wrong, of course."
Frontier yesterday added an eighth Airbus A319 aircraft to its operating certificate after signing a lease agreement with GE Capital Aviation Services. The aircraft will enter service within a week. Including the new aircraft, Frontier's fleet comprises 17 Boeing 737-300s, seven 737-200s and eight A319s, for a total of 32 aircraft.
The Air Line Pilots Association has criticized a new Transport Canada regulation covering emergency services at medium-sized airports, arguing that the response time mandated by the rule is too high. The Aircraft Emergency Intervention Services (AEIS) regulation, announced by Transport Canada last week, calls for airports with more than 2,800 passenger flights a year to establish a five-minute response time for emergency services in the event of an accident. An earlier rule was issued covering larger airports.
Airlines, airports and industry groups made their cases yesterday for whether demand management should be imposed at LaGuardia to solve the airport's congestion problem, but as expected, the comments revealed no consensus. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey wants the current slot lottery system extended while a solution is developed.
Congressional appropriators will be watching closely as the Transportation Security Administration works toward meeting its legislatively required mandates, members of the House Appropriations transportation subcommittee yesterday made clear to TSA head John Magaw.
Lufthansa expects to achieve an operating profit of EUR400 million in its fiscal year 2003, according to Chairman and CEO Juergen Weber. He said at the company's annual shareholders meeting that load factors are improving and that the airline will also pay a dividend, if the positive development continues for the remainder of the year. Lufthansa will reactivate 18 of 43 aircraft that have been grounded since after the Sept.11 events over the course of the summer season. The airline made an operating profit of EUR28 million last year.
Midwest Express yesterday decided not to apply for a federal loan guarantee after it raised more than $20 million through a private stock offering. The carrier placed 1.68 million shares of the company's common stock to institutional investors at $13.09 per share. Net proceeds, after commissions and expenses, of about $20.4 million are "expected to be used to reduce indebtedness and provide general working capital," including capital required to support the startup of the new Boeing 717 program.
As the deadline looms for having federal security directors in place to cover the U.S.'s 429 commercial airports, the Transportation Security Administration continues to pare back its estimate of how many FSDs it needs to do the job. TSA head John Magaw told House appropriators yesterday the agency now plans to hire 156 FSDs -- another 44 fewer than the dramatically reduced 200 TSA reported to Congress on May 18. Original plans had called for nearly one FSD for every airport.
Brazil dashed the hopes of grounded Transbrasil's majority shareholders to solve its US$400 million debt problem this week, denying their request (DAILY, June 11) to transfer the airline's control and management to the Transbrasil Foundation. The federal justice agency responsible for foundations made the decision. Edson Rafael, one of the government's trustees in charge of foundations, said a May 29 agreement outlining the transfer was invalid because "foundations may not inherit debts, especially those that have been called 'unpayable.'"
Copa Airlines got loan guarantees from the U.S. Export-Import Bank this week to support the purchase of Boeing 737-700s, eight winglet shipsets and a spare engine.
