Lufthansa Chairman Juergen Weber on Friday pounced on Kartellamt, the German antitrust authority, which he accused of "putting a spike in [Lufthansa's] wheels," in an interview published by Bild, Germany's most popular tabloid newspaper.
Tokyo Narita Airport has proposed an 8.3% increase in landing fees, prompting IATA to say that there is no justification for the move and it wants the airport to drop the hike. Narita's landing charges already are seen as the world's highest and IATA wants the facility to lower them, not raise them. According to Anthony Concil, IATA assistant director-corporate communications for Asia/Pacific, "This is also in line with the current economic situation in Japan.
United will begin recalling the first of 1,200 flight attendants furloughed after Sept. 11 as it adds 127 more flights to its schedule starting in April. The carrier, citing an increase in demand, will bring back 1,200 who were involuntarily furloughed five months ago. This is in addition to United's previous announcement to recall 300 furloughed flight attendants who will return March 18.
Lufthansa, boosting growth on long-haul routes out of Munich, will start six-times-weekly service to Boston on May 1. Additionally, the carrier will introduce three weekly flights to Shanghai and six to Tokyo. Services to Hong Kong will be reduced from six to three, while the Singapore route will no longer be served from Munich. Lufthansa also will reintroduce flights to New York and San Francisco.
Midwest Express and Skyway Airlines have added capacity and service, including renewal of some service that was cut after Sept. 11. Midwest Express will resume Omaha-Washington National ser-vice on March 2 and service between DCA and Des Moines, and Des Moines-Kansas City in April. It will add a third daily roundtrip Kansas City-New York LaGuardia flight on April 7. In May, it will add a fourth daily roundtrip between Milwaukee and Dallas/Fort Worth, along with a fourth daily Milwaukee-Boston and Milwaukee-Atlanta roundtrip.
Pilot scope provisions that jeopardize the growth of regional jet operations may be headed for a change, according to industry analysts and consultants.
Passenger traffic at Baltimore/Washington International Airport rose for the ninth straight year in 2001, climbing 3.9% to a record 20.4 million from 19.6 million in 2000, Maryland state officials said. The gain was due in part to a huge jump in business for Southwest Airlines. The Dallas-based carrier moved more than 7.8 million people in and out of BWI in 2001, an 18% gain from 2000. US Airways was the second-busiest airline at the airport, carrying nearly 5.1 million passengers.
Southern Winds Argentina's fastest-growing airline, in March will introduce its own frequent flyer program, called SW Value Miles, to be implemented on its domestic system and the international routes it will soon inaugurate to the U.S. and Europe.
A year and a half after completing special audits of the largest U.S. carriers, FAA officials are satisfied with progress made -- both at the airlines and within the agency -- based on their results. "The audits served us well," FAA Associate Administrator Nick Sabatini said Friday. "Carriers today have stronger safety programs because of them, and we have better tools to monitor those programs."
FAA has proposed three options for changing flight paths in the Baltimore-Washington area, which its says will "enhance safety and increase efficiency" while having a minimum noise impact. The agency seeks public comment on its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS), which details the effect of each of the proposed changes, comparing it with the current situation, with noise being the primary criterion among 18 considered in the assessment.
SkyWest would face losses if it were paid US Airways market rates by partners Delta and United. Trading high-margin United flying for low-margin US Airways flying isn't a great idea, analyst Jamie Baker of UBS Warburg contends. On a comparable basis, there is a $400 per-departure differential between United and US Airways, he said. SkyWest has been in talks with US Airways.
Aviation Week's MRO Business Innovation Award has been renamed the Charles B. Ryan MRO Award for Business Innovation, honoring the memory of the former Nordam Group president.
JetBlue will "stay with the plan" it launched with two years ago, according to President Dave Barger. Speaking to the Aero Club in Washington last week, Barger cited JetBlue's current profitability as well as the down side when an airline makes major changes soon after it starts. "Too many carriers are not here because they deviated from their history," he said.
January's U.S. domestic passenger unit revenue fell 14.3% year over year, but it marks the fourth straight month of softening declines. September's RASM plunged 30.7%, and each month afterward the declines were less. The industry's load factor rose in January for the first time in 13 months
A steep drop in passenger traffic between Barranquilla, Colombia, and Miami as a result of Sept. 11, has forced American to suspend five-times-a week service between the two cities. The flights, started nearly 10 years ago, will end in April. Rodolfo Amaya, American's general manager for Colombia, said this is a temporary measure and he hopes conditions will get back to normal within a year or so. American had been carrying a monthly average of 2,500 passengers, but the number dropped in recent months to a 43% load factor, well below the 64% breakeven point.
Out of 212 deliveries slated for the nine major U.S. passenger airlines by 2004, 60 (28%) will be Airbus A319s, Deutsche Bank Alex. Brown forecasts. Next biggest totals are 37 A320s (17%), 34 Boeing 737-700s (16%) and 21 737-800s (10%).
Angus Kinnear, former CEO of the defunct Canada 3000, has dropped plans to launch a no-frills airline in Canada, Canadian media reported last week. Kinnear was reportedly planning to spend C$75 million (US$45 million) to launch a no-frills carrier but told Reuters "at this juncture it just isn't a doable situation..." Air Canada last week announced expansion of its low-fare Tango service and new routes to Florida.
40 years ago Feb. 26, 1962: Britain's ministry of aviation is having little success in getting airlines serving London to switch their operations to Gatwick -- a next step may be to lower landing charges at Gatwick. 20 years ago Feb. 25, 1982: FAA Administrator Lynn Helms outlined a 20-year plan for modernizing ATC on an evolutionary basis, funded by user taxes, with an "independent audit function" to evaluate program performance, schedules and costs. Five years ago
BACK Aviation's February JetMart issue lists 1,036 planes for sale or lease -- the first time the 1,000-aircraft mark has been passed. The number of aircraft available has increased in each of the last six months, climbing 40% from 740 in August.
Delta Connection is adding a seventh daily nonstop between Toronto and Canada April 17. Atlantic Southeast Airlines will operate the service. ASA will also expand its Delta Connection schedule between Atlanta and Monterrey by adding a fourth flight with an early-morning departure from Atlanta and a mid-morning departure from Monterrey. SkyTeam partner AeroMexico will place its code on the new flight pending government approval.
Revamped Aerolineas Argentinas will resume Buenos Aires-New York Kennedy service March 5 with three weekly widebody frequencies, offering an introductory fare of $799 roundtrip. Julio Scaramelle, Aerolineas spokesman, said the carrier is gradually resuming other long-haul flights -- to Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, Lima, London, Paris, Lisbon, Frankfurt, Rome, Milan and Miami, also at promotional fares.
