The Delhi High Court has ordered India's federal government not to enter any purchase deals for new aircraft with Airbus at least until the latter provides adequate and satisfactory information on a 1986 deal mired in a kickback controversy. The court order does not stop the government from ordering spares for aircraft already purchased from Airbus.
Datalex and Atraxis finalized a partnership to boost their e-commerce standing, offering new products and services. The partnership enables Atraxis to resell the Datalex Suite of booking products and integrate them with its own. The two companies also will share human resources. Atraxis recently invested in Datalex, taking a "substantial" minority stake in the firm. Atraxis CEO Armin Meier was appointed as a non-executive director to the Datalex board.
Qantas plans to introduce nonstop flights between Sydney and Johannesburg in January, reducing travel time by more than two hours. The Boeing 747-400 flights, operating five days a week, will take an average of 14 hours 20 minutes, down from 16 hours 30 minutes, due to a stop in Perth. The nonstop services will start as part of a new code-share agreement between Qantas and South African Airways. SAA will place its code on the new Qantas flights between Sydney and Johannesburg and will discontinue serving the cities with its own aircraft.
The Dutch Transport Ministry this week put teeth into its threat to enforce noise rules at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport and fined the airport 500,000 Dutch guilders (US$190,000) for the breach of noise limitation rules. Earlier this month, the ministry warned the airport that it would be fined up to NLG5 million for infringements. Schiphol would have to take measures within six days to prevent further violations of regulations. At the beginning of October, the Dutch authorities said Schiphol was about to exceed the maximum noise limits set for the period until Nov.
A German court has supported a Lufthansa ruling that its domestic competitor Deutsche BA may not repeat allegations concerning Lufthansa's proposed investment in Eurowings. The carrier announced in September that it planned to take over 24.9% of regional airline Eurowings. Deutsche BA reacted with fierce statements about the deal. Among others, the airline's CEO, Adrian Hunt, said the only purpose of the move was to delete competition. Passengers consequently would have to pay monopoly prices. Lufthansa and Eurowings directly compete on four routes.
Benchmarking optimal capacity during various times of day at the 30 busiest airports would provide reasonable, credible basis for determining short-, intermediate- and long-term solutions to the delays that hobbled the U.S. aviation system this summer, the DOT Inspector General said yesterday. Kenneth Mead told the International Aviation Club that benchmarks would help determine the impact of air traffic control air traffic control procedures and modernization and ground infrastructure developments.
Japan Airlines yesterday introduced its first tour packages for Internet sales. For the winter season, JAL unveiled nine packages centered on a visit to a hot spring.
U.S. officials put forth several proposals to expand U.S.-China service, including a plan to gain access for new-entrant hopefuls Delta and American. Chinese officials were receptive to U.S. ideas "and none were rejected," said DOT Assistant Secretary Francisco Sanchez. He told The DAILY the U.S. wants to schedule formal negotiations in the first quarter of 2001 to discuss phasing in expansion between 2002-2004. The U.S. proposed doubling frequencies to 108 and adding two frequencies, sourcaes said.
Air Aruba suspended all operations yesterday after it was forced to return half its fleet to a lessor following a cash shortage. The carrier previously operated a fleet of six aircraft, but its three MD-90s were returned to Hwa-Hsia Leasing Ltd. as "certain payments were not made," said Ignacio Martinez-Ybor, general manager of North America. Compounding its troubles, the airline has one MD-88 in the middle of C maintenance check and a second undergoing engine repairs. Both MD-88s are on lease from GE Capital Aviation Services.
A FAA-sponsored study projects that runway collisions at towered airports in the U.S. could kill 700 to 800 people and injure 200 more over the next two decades (DAILY, Oct. 23). The study, by Arnold Barnett, of MIT and Gary Paull of MCR Federal in Burlington, Ma., was presented at a convention of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Sciences in San Antonio.
United is testing self-checkin kiosks at San Diego and Chicago, giving customers holding electronic tickets the option of performing a variety of transactions without going to the ticket counter or gates. E-ticket holders can check in for a United, Shuttle or Express flight in North America; check baggage; select or change seat assignments; add their frequent flyer number and receive their United First or United Business class upgrade.
The House yesterday gave voice vote approval to a compromise airport security screeners bill that would expand the list of crimes that would disqualify screeners and tighten their training requirements. The bill now goes to the Senate for final congressional approval this week. With Congress likely to quit for the year this week, there was no time for a formal House-Senate conference to work out a compromise measure.
TWA plans to install 42-inch, flat-screen, gas plasma televisions at 12 Ambassadors Club locations by yearend. The televisions will broadcast DIRECTV programming, featuring CNNfn business news and other programs. TeamGroup has begun installation of monitors in the carrier's lounges, including those at hubs and focus cities. TWA will have two televisions in each facility, dedicating one to CNNfn.
Lauda Air, despite protests by main shareholder Austrian Airlines, is proceeding with the sale and leaseback of five aircraft to free 1.1 billion Austrian schillings in cash. The financially struggling carrier is expected to lose at least AUS650 million (US$40 million) and is in danger of bankruptcy, according to Austrian. Lauda's financial year ends Oct. 31. Austrian, which owns 36% of Lauda and has an option for another 30%, has initiated an independent audit of Lauda's finances.
Members of Continental's Independent Association of Continental Pilots this week are considering whether they want to pursue merging with the Air Line Pilots Association. ALPA President Duane Woerth this summer spoke with IACP's board about membership, and last week ALPA's board overwhelmingly approved a resolution to work toward bringing together all pilot groups in the U.S. and Canada (DAILY, Oct. 20).
Dragonair plans to acquire two passenger-version Boeing 747-300s or - 200s and convert them to freighters. The airline currently operates with one wet-leased 100-ton capacity -200F model with three-times-weekly services to Manchester via Dubai and Amsterdam, launched in July. Because of difficulty in securing rights at London Heathrow, Dragonair settled for Manchester, which is cheaper for the airline's operations. CEO Stanley Hui said the airline will have five freighters by early 2002, noting that cargo operations will be a major focus.
Starting Oct. 29, KLM will add three more weekly flights on the Amsterdam-Kuala Lumpur route, making it a daily service. Together with Malaysia Airlines' daily flight, the 14 weekly flights, using Boeing 747-400 would be a code-share service between the two carriers. In an expanded agreement, MAS will operate code-share services with KLM beyond Amsterdam to Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo, Sweden; Oslo and Sandefjord, Norway, and Copenhagen and Helsinki.
A team of Russian consultants, whose work is proving crucial to freeing up more air space for civil use, is visiting the U.S. for the first time with assurances from the Russian government that it is ready to cooperate in the effort. Double Eagle Consulting, of Moscow, also is working closely with Dennis Cooper, FAA's senior representative for Russia and the CIS.
Rep. Bud Shuster (R-Pa.), who called 1999 "the year of aviation" and this year succeeded in enacting legislation committing all revenues and interest from the Airport and Airways Trust Fund to aviation, could become the next chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, congressional sources said last week. At first glance, the change seems a step down for Shuster, who heads the parent Transportation Committee. But it could be his best option in the next Congress, assuming Republicans retain their majority in the coming elections.
Swiss regional Crossair is considering cutting 200-300 jobs and retiring aircraft to cut costs and capacity by early next year. The move is prompted by the decision of the carrier's pilots to reject an agreement its own union recently reached. Crossair has lost SF6 million (US$3.4 million) in the first six months of the year and as been among the airlines hit hardest by higher jet fuel prices and the unfavorable dollar exchange rate. Crossair made clear that it is not willing to agree to any more demands its pilots have.
China Airlines posted revenues of NT$20.24 billion (US$671 million) for the first nine months of its fiscal year ended Sept. 30. This represented an increase of 22.5% from the same period last year. The month of September also brought a jump in revenue of 34.9% to an all-time high of NT$6.55 billion. For the first nine months, CAL generated a pre-tax profit of NT$2.74 billion, exceeding the original annual forecast of NT$2.25 billion. According to a CAL spokesman, the carrier will revise its financial forecast this year if international oil prices stabilize.
