The French government is scheduled to announce today whether it is launching the construction of a third airport in the Paris area. Earlier this month, Air France Chairman Jean Cyril Spinetta spoke out in favor of a third airport, which has been under discussion for six years. "Parisian airports will be saturated one day," he said. Charles de Gaulle "will function with four runways for a few dozen years and Orly is limited."
Aer Lingus may have to cut 20% of its flights tomorrow, as its clerical staff are planning to hold a four-hour strike over pay and conditions. Thirty-five flights will be canceled and 17 will be rescheduled. The strike, its second this month after a one-day shutdown Oct. 17, will involve check-in and boarding staff, reservations staff, travel shops and workers at the company's headquarters. "Disrupting customers in this fashion at a bank holiday weekend is senseless," said an Aer Lingus spokesman.
Enginemakers General Electric and Pratt&Whitney recently took aim at third-party parts suppliers by recommending that FAA tighten the rules governing agency-granted parts manufacturer approvals (PMAs). GE and P&W cited growing safety concerns as the foundation for their call to beef up regulations.
The planned Airbus A3XX will be launched early next year, Philippe Camus, Co-CEO of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) told The DAILY yesterday in Amsterdam. Airbus has received 32 firm orders for the aircraft, and Camus expects additional orders to come in very soon. Airbus also plans to increase the production rate of widebodied aircraft to eight per month in 2004. In 2002, the manufacturer plans to build more than 400 aircraft.
BFGoodrich Aerospace yesterday signed a life-of-aircraft customer and product support agreement with Pratt&Whitney. BFG will provide customer and product support for PW4000 and JT9D-7R4 nacelles and lower aft pylon fairings for Airbus A310s, A300-600s and MD-11s, including direct spare part sales. BFG currently supports nacelle systems directly to Pratt&Whitney customers, and the new agreement "increases the scope" of those services. Spare nacelle components will be supplied directly to airlines by BFG's Aerostructures Group in Chula Vista, Calif.
Northwest yesterday succeeded in delaying the trial about its proposed acquisition of a controlling stake in Continental while Northwest prepares to present a settlement offer to the U.S. government. The trial was planned to begin today in a Detroit district court, but the Department of Justice confirmed that it has been postponed until Nov. 1. Northwest, which waited for two years to propose a settlement, is expected to make the offer to DOJ and Continental.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS FOR AUGUST 14, 2000 Seller/ New Type / Previous Operator Owner Engine Operator America West Westjet Aircraft Boeing Airlines 21955 Inc. 737-200Adv/ JT8D-15 Boeing Xiamen Xiamen Boeing
CIT Aerospace signed a US$114 million deal with Korean Air to finance the lease of three Boeing 737-800s. Korean will take delivery of the aircraft next year.
United parent UAL Corp. yesterday released the organizational structure for its separate e-commerce division after 10 months of planning and revealed that the new group will now manage its frequent flyer partnerships. United unveiled plans to create a wholly owned subsidiary in January, and this summer it physically moved the department into another facility (DAILY, Jan. 14, July 5). The subsidiary, now named United NewVentures, will be headed by Chief Financial Officer Doug Hacker and will oversee two business units, United NetWorks and United NetVentures.
ANNZES, the Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand joint maintenance, repair and overhaul effort, welcomes its first third-party customer this week when Sichuan Airlines flies one of its Airbus A320s to Melbourne for heavy maintenance work on Friday. The Sichuan deal, a $1.3 million pact that covers modifications and heavy maintenance on three Sichuan A320s, is the first "major" work the unit will do for a carrier other than its parent carriers.
Delta CEO Leo Mullin told shareholders yesterday that Delta's most dangerous competition is Southwest's invasion of key U.S. East Coast markets. He noted that the airline's stock value has shown little growth due the increased competition on top of high fuel prices, labor negotiations, industry restructuring and the threat of government re-regulation.
With sales of US$20 million to show in its first year of operation, Air Gulf Falcon (AGF) is confident that it has started on a correct note targeting low-cost markets. AGF started operation last year at Sharjah International Airport Zone (SIAZ) in the Middle East by Sheikh Hamad Al-Thani, the founder of Qatar Airways. AGF has two Boeing 747-200s, one 747-100 and two 747-SPs in passenger configuration. It has two freighters -- a 707 and a 727 -- plus a 707 passenger/freighter combi. Two 747-200Fs acquired earlier will be delivered shortly.
The French Bureau Enquetes Accident confirmed that the metal strip that was found on the Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport runway just after the Air France Concorde crashed on July 25 came from a Continental DC-10. The aircraft -- bound for Newark -- took off minutes before Concorde started its takeoff roll. "The technical investigators -- my team -- are now certain, yes, that the strip did indeed fall from that plane," BEA Chief Paul-Louis Arslanian told French radio France-Inter.
In order to gain quick control of Lauda Air, Austrian Airlines is proposing to buy Lufthansa's 20% stake in the financially struggling carrier. Austrian is seeking approval for the move at a meeting of the supervisory board Dec. 11. The decision, which Austrian's co-CEO Herbert Bammer announced in Vienna, does not come as a surprise in the midst of a difficult fight for control of Lauda. Lufthansa declined comment. Currently, Austrian owns 36% of Lauda, Lufthansa holds 20%, founder Niki Lauda has almost 30% and 14% is publicly owned.
Qantas plans to offer a total of 19 services a week from Vancouver to Australia, effective Oct. 29 when it begins code sharing on Alaska Airlines between Los Angeles and Vancouver. The twice-daily Alaska service to Los Angeles will connect with Qantas flights to Sydney and Melbourne. Alaska operates Boeing 737-400s and MD-80s on the route, and Qantas offers its own 767 flights, five days a week between Vancouver and Sydney via Honolulu.
Star Alliance partners United and Singapore (SIA) gained blanket DOT authority for reciprocal U.S.-Singapore code sharing. Initially, United will place its code on SIA's Singapore-Madras flights and SIA will display its code on United's Singapore-Tokyo-San Francisco, San Francisco-Denver/Houston/Seattle and Los Angeles-Seattle flights, with services beginning Nov. 6, the carriers told DOT in their request. (Docket OST-00-7626)
India's leading airfreight company, Blue Dart Express, has inked a deal with China Airlines allowing for an interline arrangement that will facilitate the domestic distribution of import loads for the Chinese carrier, Blue Dart officials said this week. Blue Dart, with dedicated bonded warehousing facilities in major Indian cities, expects to offer overnight delivery to these cities for China Airlines imports, comprising essentially Taiwan-made computer parts and peripherals, as well as other machinery spares.
Britannia Airways applied at DOT for a foreign air carrier permit and an exemption for charter passenger service between Sweden, Denmark and Norway and the U.S., and beyond. The Swedish carrier is wholly owned through two Swedish holding companies by a Swedish tour organizer, which is wholly owned by Thomson Travel Group, all of whose shares were acquired in August by Preussag.
Air France is considering halting its frequencies between Paris and Brussels and replacing them with railway services, the French carrier confirmed. Air France and Thalys, the state-owned high-speed train operator, said a new agreement could occur on March 25, 2001. Air France would halt Brussels service while Thalys would add a fifth daily train frequency between Brussels and Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The French carrier would purchase and resell seat capacity on Thalys trains.
Ecuadorian officials held informal talks with DOT and State Department representatives yesterday to discuss moving forward on U.S.-Ecuador open skies, DOT Assistant Secretary Francisco Sanchez told The DAILY. Ecuador is "prepared to go ahead" with discussions on full liberalization of the aviation bilateral "even before they achieve IASA FAA's International Aviation Safety Assessment] Cat 1" status, according to a senior U.S. official, who called Ecuador's openness an "encouraging sign." Open skies with the U.S.
Congressional Quarterly has called the Washington Senate race between aviation subcommittee chairman Sen. Slade Gorton (R-Wash.) and former Washington congresswoman Maria Cantwell (D) as having "no clear favorite." Cantwell has spent $5 million on her race, and outside groups -- Indian tribes, Sierra Club, American Medical Association and the prescription drug industry -- are running ads attacking Gorton.
SAirGroup's French subsidiary AOM will launch a new flight Oct. 29 between Paris' Orly and Geneva using Fokker 100 aircraft from the fleet of Air LibertE, another SAirGroup French subsidiary. The frequencies, seven daily during the week and five on weekends, will replace the services between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Geneva that previously were operated by Swissair.
TNT launched iConnections, which it called the first integrated e-commerce solution giving business the ability to provide worldwide delivery solutions. "For the first time, Web companies are able to offer full access via their own Web sites," TNT said.
