Transbrasil, grounded for more than four months due to financial, labor, legal and political reasons, moved a step closer to bankruptcy this week when two magistrates of the 9th Chamber of the Court of Civil Justice voted in favor of bankruptcy and freezing all assets and revenues to pay creditors. A third, decisive vote by another magistrate has been postponed until April 5, paving the way for immediate bankruptcy proceedings.
New Boeing 767 and 747 cockpit door designs that must be in U.S. planes by next April 9 don't meet rapid decompression requirements, forcing the manufacturer to ask FAA for permission to deliver non-complying doors while it solves the problem.
A historic Boeing 307 Stratoliner owned by the National Air and Space Museum crash-landed yesterday in Puget Sound near Seattle. The aircraft had four people on board who were later rescued from Elliott Bay, the AP reported.
Dragonair this month took delivery of a leased Airbus A320 from Boullioun Aviation Services. The IAE V2527-A5-powered Airbus is the first Boullioun-owned plane operated by the carrier.
Meteorologists and dispatchers this week began using a new web-based ice-forecasting tool that, with the click of a mouse, can give detailed icing-condition reports for specific altitude ranges above the contiguous 48 U.S. states, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. Developed by the National Center of Atmospheric Research (NCAR) with FAA funding, CIP (Current Icing Potential) detects real-time probability for icing in the atmosphere by combining information from various sources, including satellite data, surface observations and pilot reports.
Northwest President Doug Steenland yesterday warned that industry taxes and fees are soaring to a breaking point that will soon discourage leisure passengers from flying. "For every dollar the ticket price goes up, somebody decides to drive or use the phone instead, or just not go at all," he said yesterday in Washington at an American Bar Association conference. If all the expected security costs are passed on to the passenger, Steenland predicted the taxes and fees imposed on an individual ticket this year will be quadruple what they were 10 years ago.
United is considering dropping Arthur Andersen as its independent auditor after a 67-year partnership. United said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week that its 2002 auditor has not been selected as the board continues to "closely monitor recent public disclosures and evaluate any developments regarding Arthur Andersen." The airline first retained Andersen in 1935. A representative from Andersen will be present at United's May 16 annual meeting and will "have the opportunity to make a statement and respond to questions."
US Airways, still facing a serious short-term liquidity crunch, has burned $3 million per day over the past quarter and may apply for a federal loan guarantee. In its annual report filed with Securities and Exchange Commission, the airline reported that it still requires "substantial working capital in order to meet scheduled debt and lease payments and to finance day-to-day operations." Although traffic levels are improving, the company still faces negative cash flow from operations.
Latin American and Caribbean airlines "are facing the worst moment in the history of aviation," said Patricio Sepulveda, IATA's director for the region and former senior executive at LanChile. "Maybe 11 September was the last blow for some of them," he added, "but things were torturous for many, at least since 1999, because our sector is less competitive than in the U.S., Europe and Asia."
Indian Airlines' board approved plans to order 43 Airbus narrowbodies in what is the largest A320 family transaction in Asia so far. Airbus and Boeing have fought to win the order for several years.
Hard-charging strategies paid off for Embraer in a challenging and difficult 2001, boosting net profits nearly a third from year-ago levels to US$468 million, the company said this week. While the bottom line shows solid growth, strong support of customer financing has left the Brazilian company with $23 million in cash, down from $772 million in 2000, and $672 million in accounts receivable, as of the yearend.
Eight New York-based American A300-600 pilots have gathered data that they say supports eight conclusions, including giving "serious consideration" to grounding all A300-600s until more is understood about what happened to AA Flight 587.
Sun Country and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association, have agreed to a new contract that lets the airline emerge from bankruptcy. The deal is subject to approval by the Minnesota U.S. Bankruptcy Court and transfer of the airline's operating certificate to its new owners by DOT, said spokeswoman Tammy Lee. MN Airlines is buying Sun Country assets for $2.9 million and putting up $1.5 million to keep the airline flying.
U.S. and New Zealand, already open-skies partners cooperating on economic matters both bilaterally and as part of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation aviation grouping, reached an agreement on aviation safety that will be concluded as a Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement (BASA). DOT Secretary Norman Mineta and New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark initialed an executive agreement, an FAA spokesman confirmed.
DOT Deputy Secretary Michael Jackson said the government is trying to balance its role to create an ultra-secure airport system with realities of public service. "If we have created a secure environment but have driven passengers away because the hassle factor is too large, then we have failed," he said at the ABA Forum on Air&Space Law yesterday in Washington.
KLM has picked the Boeing 777-200ER, Boeing 747-400 freighter and the Airbus A330-200 for its new long-haul fleet. The decision is a major boost for Airbus, which has finally succeeded in placing aircraft with one of the last Boeing bastions in Europe.
Aviation security continues to underline every aspect of the industry, Sean O'Holleran, DOT assistant secretary for government affairs told the American Bar Association air and space law forum yesterday in Washington. "We are still at war," he said, emphasizing however that capacity problems aren't going away and need to be addressed. DOT faces three major multi-billion dollar issues, he said, including huge startup costs for the Transportation Security Administration, which is seeking more than $4 billion in extra funding as it faces shortfalls.
Continental yesterday signed an "enhanced marketing and financial relationship" with Expedia. Continental is a co-founder of the Orbitz online travel site. "We want to give our customers the ability to book us at the point they choose, and Expedia's tools and resources complement the high quality services we provide on the air itinerary," said Dave Hilfman, VP-international sales and revenues programs.
In the three months since Bolivian entrepreneur Ernesto Asbun took over management of Lloyd Aereo Boliviano (LAB) from Brazil's VASP, the revamped carrier has increased the number of operating aircraft from 40% to 70%. Final equity transfer still is subject to court action against Wagner Canhedo and other VASP officers. LAB's fleet now totals 11 aircraft, of which only two are leased, and includes Boeing 737-200s and -300s and Airbus 300s and 310s.
Former America West and Western Pacific Chairman Ed Beauvais is the new CEO of startup Northern Airlines, which intends to launch from Syracuse, N.Y., using Boeing 717 aircraft. "We're pretty excited about what we see here," Beauvais told affiliate AviationNow.com. He joined Northern as president and CEO last year.
A FedEx A300-600F, the third Airbus to have a special ultrasonic inspection requested by safety officials working the American Flight 587 probe, was deemed airworthy and returned to service over the weekend after a check found no damage to the plane's tail, the DAILY confirmed. The checks, requested by NTSB (DAILY, Feb. 27) and subsequently ordered by FAA (DAILY, March 25) are being done to A300-600s and A310s that have experienced high lateral loads during their service lives.
In a surprise decision, John Weston has resigned as CEO of BAE Systems. "After more than 30 years in the company and 16 years in senior management I have decided to look for fresh challenges in new fields", Weston said in a company statement. "Following the transformation of the company through the MES merger, the series of U.S. acquisitions and the successful integration of these into BAE Systems, the company is well placed for the future," Weston pointed out. He was replaced by Mike Turner with immediate effect. Turner has been chief operating officer.
FAA is finalizing a draft rule that will require "hijack" modes for U.S. airliner transponders that, when activated, will continuously broadcast a distress code and key flight path information. The move, in the works for some time, is in response to the Sept. 11 hijackings and a recommendation by the aircraft security rapid response team convened following the attacks. The notice of proposed rulemaking is expected out "later this year," an FAA spokesman said.
