The House Transportation aviation subcommittee today will hold a hearing on passenger profiling, chaired by Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.). Witnesses will include Raphael Ron, former security director at Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv, Jonathan Turley of George Washington Law School and Laura Murphy, director of the American Civil Liberties Union. The subcommittee will take up the issue of whether profiling for public safety constitutes racism and is a threat to civil liberties.
Boeing, almost exactly a year after shelving plans to develop a 747X, yesterday announced that it is developing another new version of the long-running widebody, the 747-400X Quiet Longer Range. Boeing officials said at the Asian Aerospace air show in Singapore that its customers have been asking for a longer-range version of the 747 than is currently available and that the company is hoping to announce a launch customer by mid-year and have the aircraft flying by 2004.
Airbus yesterday made public its first technical manual for the A380. "Airplane Characteristics For Airport Planning" is a 177-page overview of data needed by airport operators to support the superjumbo -- everything from pavement loading requirements to projected configurations for ramp-service equipment. A .pdf version of the report can be downloaded from the A380 area on www.airbus.com. The A380 is slated to enter service in 2006.
Emirates tomorrow is expected to chose the Alliance GP7200 engine to power its Airbus A380s. The announcement in Singapore will be a win for the General Electric and Pratt&Whitney joint venture because Emirates has been a loyal Rolls-Royce customer, which has claimed most A380 orders to date with the Trent 900.
Initial Public Offerings filed by Northwest and Continental on Monday could signal the start of a long-expected trend of majors spinning off their regional subsidiaries, industry experts said.
SN Brussels Airlines will start serving African destinations April 26 in response to "customer and market demand," announced the Belgian airline that was created on the remains of Sabena. The airline will compete with Air France, which just announced a spectacular increase of capacity on African routes. The first destinations served by SN Brussels Airlines will be Kinshasa, Entebbe, Kigali, Nairobi, Dakar, Banjul, Conakry and Monrovia.
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) is including assistance for the aviation sector in its lending efforts aimed at ameliorating the economic impact of the weakening regional economy, IDB President Enrique Iglesias affirmed yesterday to The DAILY. The industry, which was dealt an additional blow from the after-effects of Sept. 11, has lines of credit available to it though the IDB, Iglesias said.
InFlight Media Group has developed SkyMedia, a new source of information on seatback tray tables. Tray table messages will vary depending on the airline's promotional goals, from credit card companies to telecommunications, automotive, financial institutions, cruises, car rentals, hotels resorts and others. Only the top tray surface is available for promotions. Ads will be visible in a "serving" tray position only. SkyMedia aims to provide a new revenue stream to airlines.
United Express has added regional jet service from Denver to Edmonton, El Paso and Pasco/Kennewick/Richland, Washington. Service begins May 1 and will be operated by Air Wisconsin using Canadair Regional Jets.
DOT expects, within the next month, to prepare a plan detailing a return to 100% of pre-Sept. 11 operations at Washington National Airport, a DOT spokesman confirmed to The DAILY. The plan would lay out to the decision makers -- the White House, National Security Council, Secret Service, Defense Department and law enforcement agencies -- how operations can be restored within the rigorous safety requirements in place for DCA, including the widely discussed staffing of all DCA flights with federal air marshals (FAMs), which DOT does not discuss.
Vanguard this week selected Revenue Technology Services Corp. to supply the airline's new revenue management system. Installation of the program has started at Vanguard's corporate offices. The RTS implementation marks the last phase of rebuilding Vanguard's distribution system, a phase that started with the transition to Sabre last year, according to CEO Scott Dickson.
Nimbus Group said yesterday it will present its business plan for an on-demand jet taxi service as part of a NASA meeting on the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) program March 1 in Danville, Va. U.S. Rep. Vigil Goode (I-Va.) is inviting other members of Congress, Virginia's DOT and other corporations.
Mitchell Aircraft will no longer deal inventory from beleaguered Italian parts distributor Panaviation, but an executive with the U.S. company said the move is strictly a business decision, not a reflection of concerns about the European company's business practices.
FAA has approved use of VHF Data Link Mode 2 (VDL-2), permitting pilots to receive in the cockpit at no cost text messages, including routine and special weather reports, terminal area forecasts and pilot reports. "This is the first concerted effort to provide nationwide inflight weather data," said Gregory Burke, director of the Office of Air Traffic Systems Development.
Southwest has added EarthLink to its list of preferred partners. Frequent Flyers can use EarthLink to earn credits as part of the airline's 15th anniversary Rapid Rewards Program. Southwest has extended its double credit offer on southwest.com for travel before Dec. 31. Rapid Rewards members can earn a free ticket after four roundtrip purchases at www.southwest.com.
U.S.-Hong Kong negotiations beginning today in Hong Kong are expected to result in significant liberalization of the bilateral -- an outcome strongly endorsed by Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill). Hyde, chairman of the House International Relations Committee, yesterday wrote DOT Secretary Norman Mineta and State Department Secretary Colin Powell, following up on an April 12, 2001, letter in which he prompted them to conclude a deal expanding both passenger alliances -- code-share rights for alliance partners American and Cathay Pacific as well as for other U.S.
Star alliance and Aeroports de Paris signed a memorandum of understanding recently to transform Terminal 1 at Charles de Gaulle Airport into a dedicated Star facility. The move would not occur until 2005 at the earliest because the facility needs extensive upgrades and renovation. The renovation of Terminal 1 has been under discussion for years.
Unlike most of its European competitors, which announced capacity cuts, Air France said it will "maintain the same capacity with an upgraded fleet" this summer. Air France explained that it was holding steady in spite of the current crisis thanks to its domestic market; the Paris Charles de Gaulle hub; its "well-balanced" network and "the strength and dynamism of the SkyTeam alliance."
NTSB investigators seeking clues in the American Flight 587 probe have asked Airbus to take a close look at the tail of another American A300-600 involved in an inflight upset five years ago. Investigators have a renewed interest in the May 12, 1997, incident because, like Flight 587, American Flight 903 may have been exposed to higher-than-normal gust loads. The board is taking a second look at flight data recorder information pulled from Flight 903 to determine how strong the loads were.
American Trans Air reported that online bookings at its web site soared 124% in January 2002, far exceeding the number set in the same month last year. Much of the growth was attributed to several online fare sales the airline had during the month.
Alaska and Horizon Air provide real-time flight information and tracking via their web sites, alaskaair.com and horizonair.com. Users get a pop-up window with a map displaying the selected flight that shows the flight number, aircraft type, actual departure time, estimated arrival time, aircraft speed in knots, and altitude. Data is provided via RLM Software's FlightView radar-based flight tracking system.
The Asian Aerospace Air Show opens in Singapore today with 900 international exhibitors from 37 countries, but attendees will be subject to the tightest security ever seen at an air show. Show organizer Jimmy Lau told journalists yesterday that the event will have a private security force of nearly 700 people, not including the police and military provided by the state government. "We've always had security but never as visible as now," he said.
