FAA holds its 27th Annual FAA Commercial Aviation Forecast Conference March 12-13 at the Washington Convention Center. FAA on March 12 will release its latest aviation demand and activity forecasts, covering the period 2002-2013. The forecast incorporates the impacts of the events of Sept. 11 into its findings. It "predicts airline passenger traffic will continue to decline this year, followed by a strong recovery in 2003," according to FAA.
Financially troubled Air New Zealand (ANZ) posted a loss of NZ$75.6 million (US$31.43 million) for the first half of the year ended Dec. 31, 2001, compared with the NZ$40.1 million profit for the same period last year.
Construction of a new domestic airport in the province of Guizhou in China has started. To cost US$73 million, the airport when completed in 2004, will open up new air routes to Guizhou's capital, Guiyang, and to Kunming and Naning. It will have a handling capacity of 860,000 passengers and 556 tons of cargo. This is one of the 100 new airports the Civil Aviation Administration of China, the country's regulatory body has proposed to build over the next five years.
SAS is relocating its departure control centers from Helsinki, London and New York to a new Global Central Departure Control Center (GCDCC) in Bangkok as a cost-cutting measure. The airline has four other such facilities in Scandinavia. To be operational on Monday, the state-of-the-art computerized Bangkok facility will handle the first flight SK 2727 from Tampere in Finland to Stockholm. Initially, the center will be staffed by an SAS transition team and later managed by 25 Thai staff.
French carrier Air Lib will launch a low-cost service, called Air Lib Express, March 31. The company plans to market daily flights from Paris Orly Airport to six cities in the South of France -- Marseilles, Nice, Toulon, Lourdes, Toulouse and Perpignan -- for a minimum fare of EUR29 one way. The company is unable to balance its accounts on its domestic network, where it must compete with Air France and high-speed trains.
United's International Association of Machinists unit announced this week that that Randy Canale will replace John Peterpaul as the union's representative on the UAL Corp. board. The change in the IAM director will happen at the company's May annual meeting. Peterpaul will retire from the board after eight years in the position. Canale joined United as a ramp serviceman in 1963.
LastMinuteTravel.com named Jane Butler president. Butler will report to CEO Alan Greenberg and will lead the global sales and marketing efforts of the recently reorganized company. Butler, along with Greenberg and Chris Meystrik, the newly appointed chief technology officer, will head "the development and implementation of a new strategic direction" for the company.
Delta, a long-time Arthur Andersen client, yesterday dropped the firm as its independent accountants as the fallout from the Enron debacle finally reached the airline industry. Delta's board has appointed Deloitte&Touche as its new accountants for 2002. The decision is subject to ratification by Delta stockholders at the company's annual meeting April 26. "We value greatly the professional services provided by Arthur Andersen over the years and appreciate the excellent work provided by their Delta team," said CEO Leo Mullin.
House members from the Chicago region differed sharply this week on a proposal by Rep. William Lipinski (D-Ill.) on where authority for addressing capacity, safety and efficiency concerns for the area's airports should rest. The House Transportation aviation subcommittee on Wednesday heard from proponents and opponents of ranking member Lipinski's bill to codify as federal legislation a compromise plan crafted by Illinois Gov.
Airbus yesterday secured a major order from South African Airways to supply the airline with $3.5 billion worth of long-haul and short-range aircraft over the next 10 years. SAA's announcement was a significant blow to Boeing, which has supplied most of the aircraft to the airline throughout its history and was hoping to land a large 777-200ER order.
The trend of major airlines spinning off their regional subsidiaries will continue and should help ease some of the current regional pilot pay and scope demands, Jerrold Glass, president of J Glass&Associates, told attendees of the U.S. Regional Airline Conference last week. Glass said that in negotiations he has seen a stark difference between the demands among pilots working for independent regionals and those employed by wholly owned carriers.
The airline industry faces a possible regional jet glut based on RJ delivery forecasts, predicts Global Aviation Associates Senior VP George Hamlin. Based on numbers from the Teal Group, Hamlin said there will be 2,989 RJ deliveries over the next 20 years, producing a possible production glut. The popularity of 70 to 90-seaters is "only a matter of time," but it remains to be seen who will fly them, he said.
While Pakistan air space remains shut to India-registered aircraft, Air-India is exploring the option of operating its Europe-bound flights on a fresh route over China, saving flying time and money, civil aviation sources said.
Seoul-based Asiana has signed a contract with Beijing-based Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. (Ameco) to carry out a "C" check on one of the airline's Boeing 767-300ER. Ameco to date has completed stripping and painting work on 11 Asiana aircraft. Ameco General Manager Walter Heerdt said the latest contract would enhance the business relationship between the companies.
A new coalition of small high-tech firms that could help produce bomb-detection equipment says the Dec. 31 deadline for deployment of machines in 429 airports is too short and should be extended by six months. The group, calling itself the Aviation Security Manufacturing Coalition (ASMC), comprises primarily small, high-tech manufacturing and services firms in New Mexico, clustered around the Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories.
FAA officials are pleased with results of air-to-ground tests of the agency's controller pilot data link communications (CPDLC) system performed this week and say that plans to begin trials with CPDLC-equipped American planes at the Miami center in June remain on schedule.
DOT yesterday endorsed recommendations outlined in a long-delayed Volpe Center report for using the Global Positioning System (GPS) while ensuring backup systems that would address concerns for adequate redundancies in the case of GPS disruptions. Any claim that the modes within DOT see no need for backup (DAILY, March 1) "cannot be further from the truth," according to Michael Shaw, DOT director of radionavigation and positioning.
Schiphol Group posted a net profit of EUR183 million (US$158 million) last year, up from EUR 144 million in 2000. The Dutch airport said the Sept. 11 tragedy reduced profits EUR23 million ($20 million), but net profits were higher than expected. Schiphol's financial performance is partly tied to its status as a state-owned company. Its privatization was slated for last year but was delayed.
U.S. carriers in 2001 bumped the fewest passengers in any year since the largest U.S. airlines were required to report the information to DOT, according to the Air Travel Consumer Report. The 11 largest carriers in posted a denied boarding rate of 0.86 per 10,000 passengers in 2001, besting 1988's 0.87. For 2000, the carriers had a rate of 1.05. Reduced traffic following the Sept. 11 attacks as well as carrier efforts throughout the year to limit the number of passengers involuntarily denied boarding are factors in lowering the rate.
European Commission has confirmed its authorization last week of a EUR102 million (US$88 million) "repayable advance" from the French government to Snecma. The funds are meant to finance Snecma's participation in the development of GE90-115 and GP7000 engines, which will power Airbus A380 aircraft. The news was first released last December and withdrawn immediately without explanation.
Cathay Pacific managed to report a small HK$657 million (US$84 million) net profit for 2001, while sharply lower business- and first-class revenue led to annual sales of HK$30.4 billion ($3.9 billion), down 11.8%. The net profit was down significantly from 2000's record year, when the airline posted a HK$5 billion ($642 million) profit. It was a tale of two halves for Cathay, which realized a first-half 2001 profit of HK$1.3 billion ($169 million), followed by a Sept. 11-effected second half, when it lost HK$662 million ($85 million).
United's mechanics and utility workers, represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, late Tuesday ratified a new five-year agreement with the airline. The deal is retroactive to July 12, 2000, and makes the airline's 13,000 mechanics the highest paid in the airline industry.
Boeing Air Traffic Management has completed Phase One of its ambitious mission to create a single air traffic blueprint for the aviation system as it released last week its System Performance Requirements (SPRs) that is to form the core of its global effort. The SPR release caps a six-month project by 40 parties, mostly North American, and this month Boeing ATM moves into Phase Two in Europe, where it hopes to unite a similar number of ATM stakeholders.
American is summer plans to add six roundtrip flights from Boston Logan due to an expected growth in demand. The flights, which are either increased frequencies to existing markets or reinstatements of seasonal service, include daily roundtrips between Boston and San Diego, as well as Boston and Seattle, beginning April 7. A roundtrip to Bermuda begins May 1, and on June 15, the company reinstates its Boston-Santo Domingo service. By June 15, American and American Eagle will operate 161 daily departures from Boston.
