Australia's regional airline industry, faced with widely disparate airport fees, high startup costs and the dominant Qantas/Ansett duopoly, is struggling to gain new entrants and bring lower fares into popular markets. Anticipation ran high that deregulating New South Whales would entice new players into the market, but not one regional has launched or applied for certification in the five months since deregulation kicked in, said Alan Terrell, head of the Regional Airline Association of Australia.
Boeing said its commercial airplane unit is consolidating some Puget Sound and Wichita operations, in an effort, along with other steps, to reduce its facilities "footprint" by more than 1.5 million square feet. Boeing will move work from four subassembly shops to other suppliers inside and outside the company. The move will take about two years to complete and will affect about 900 employees. The company also will consolidate its new tool fabrication work in Wichita, which will become its center for new tool production.
SAirGroup is expected to announce today a deal it has reached with German retail giant Rewe to take over the majority of the financially struggling LTU group. Rewe's supervisory board was scheduled to meet yesterday in order to approve an agreement between the two companies as well as LTU's other shareholders. While details of the deal have not been revealed, sources close to the negotiations say that Rewe will hold a majority stake in the group, including its various tour operators, while SAirGroup will retain the operational lead in the charter airline itself.
Although air rage is on the rise and airport officials say they need more help than ever in detaining suspects, the FBI eliminated a program of deputizing law enforcement officers as Deputy U.S. Marshals at Detroit Metro Wayne Airport, enabling airport police to hold suspects until an FBI liaison officer arrived. Some industry leaders who consider the program a success are asking U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno's help to keep it going and to get tougher on offenders by encouraging U.S. Attorneys to prosecute offenders.
Sixty-five to 85-seat regional jets will capture the largest segment of the regional passenger opportunities over the next decade, according to a report by Fairchild Dornier prepared for the Regional Airline Association. The company predicts a need of about 800 65- to 85-seat aircraft, noting that the new RJs will hit the market over the next two to four years.
The Airport Authority of Thailand (AAT) proposes to turn the existing Bangkok Don Muang Airport into an engineering maintenance center for civil aircraft once the new Bangkok International Airport (NBIA) opens in 2004. Bancha Patanaporn, AAT deputy managing director for planning and finance, said several proposals had been considered but found to be inappropriate. "A maintenance center sounds most viable as it is turning out to be a big business in Asia with so many foreign companies setting up shop," Bancha indicated.
Air Canada regional affiliate Air Alliance yesterday began daily nonstop Toronto-Manchester, N.H., service. Air Alliance will offer three nonstop flights every business day using Beech 1900D aircraft with reclining leather seats.
United's problems continue to run deep throughout the carrier's network. In the Aug. 10-16 period, it had 913 flights canceled and 12,007 delayed, according to company figures. The airline averaged 1,700 delays each day in that period out of 2,400 total flights. Only 21.4% of all flights that week left exactly on time -- the "on-time zero" rate. United averaged 7.8 bags lost per 1,000 passengers, but it was a good week by comparison. United is averaging more than nine bags lost this month per 1,000 passengers.
AIRCRAFT TRANSACTIONS SELLER/ NEW TYPE / PREVIOUS OPERATOR OWNER ENGINE OPERATOR Transavia Royal Airlines Babcock&Brown Boeing 757-200 RB211-535E4 Boeing All Nippon All Nippon Boeing 777-200ER Airways Airways PW4084A
TWA and United filed objections to DOT's tentative award of U.S.-Ukraine rights to American, with TWA seeking to regain its rights in the market and United using TWA's intentions to argue for reconsideration of its proposal to serve Odessa, Ukraine. TWA filed separately to code share with Ukraine International Airlines to Kiev via London and Paris, bolstering United's argument that there is sufficient competition to Kiev and that DOT should favor entry of a U.S. carrier into the Odessa market, which United would serve via Frankfurt with Lufthansa.
Air France will halt its direct flights between Geneva and Nice on Sept. 4, the French carrier confirmed yesterday in Paris. The route is operated twice daily by Air France subsidiary Regional Airlines with Saab 2000 aircraft. French air transport sources said it is "quite obvious" that Air France is stopping the route because it is facing fierce competition from low-cost carrier EasyJet, which sells roundtrip flights for 100 Swiss francs (US$58).
FAA and NASA last week released a jointly produced CD-ROM, Gate-to-Gate, which provides "an amazing virtual flight," said FAA Administrator Jane Garvey. "From pre-flight planning to arrival, you will see how the air traffic control system handles your flight...You can even see a few of the new technologies being deployed to handle the projected growth in the future." Gate to Gate includes separate learning modules on the pre-flight, takeoff, departure, en route, descent, approach and landing phases of a flight.
Air Canada and its Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) over the weekend broke off 12 days of intense contract negotiations, but both sides agreed to an extension of an earlier deadline for job action, pushing a possible pilots strike or company lock-out into Labor Day. Talks became deadlocked Friday evening at around 11:15 p.m. after federal mediator Bruce Outhouse said he could not foresee a resolution to the dispute. Outhouse will write his recommendation and forward the report to Air Canada, ACPA and Labor Minister Claudette Bradshaw.
SAirGroup of Switzerland, owners of Swissair and other commercial aviation companies, plans a stronger presence in Latin America through its subsidiary Swissport -- now operating in 118 airports in 23 countries -- in services related to ramp, baggage handling, freight logistics and aircraft maintenance.
Ansett Australia and Air New Zealand Engineering Services (ANNZES) opened two new Logistic Support Centers (LSC) in Auckland and Melbourne in partnership with GE Engine Services. The LSCs are located within each ANNZES engine overhaul facility, allowing faster access to inventories of roughly 50,000 unique aircraft parts. The initiative aims to provide the centers with an online link between ANNZES' inventory management system and live tracking data from freight forwarder BAX Global and GE Engine Services.
South Korea and North Korean aviation officials are working toward opening the Seoul-Pyongyang route next year. An official at the Ministry of Transport and Construction in Seoul said talks would start in the fourth quarter of the year to decide on the airways, frequency and aircraft type to be used. The official pointed out that both countries are eager for the two national carriers Korean Air and Air Koryo to start services. Other carriers from the two Koreas will be allowed to operate flights at a later date. On Aug.
U.S. Postal Service (USPS) and Emery Worldwide are joining to provide a "Parcel@Home" logistics program that will provide businesses with dock-to-residence delivery service. The service is targeted at shippers of high-value computers and home electronic products and specializes in home delivery of multiple-piece shipments weighing up to 70 pounds per piece. "We anticipate substantial growth as more consumers order goods thorough e-commerce, telemarketing and mail order sources," they said.
Parker Hannifin elected Bob Bond president-Automation Group; Marwan Kashkoush president-Hydraulics Group and Tom Mackie president-Instrumentation Group.
American and Qantas filed for additional reciprocal code-share rights, seeking to expand their U.S.-Australia service to Canada and beyond American's U.S. gateways. Qantas wants "as broad a code-share authorization as is possible," requesting an exemption to display American's code on flights from specified points in Australia to points in Canada, via Honolulu. Qantas plans to carry American's code on Sydney-Honolulu-Vancouver flights.
Air France has seen no noticeable drop in forward bookings or an increase in cancellations following the Concorde crash. "The impact on earnings is limited," said Schroder Salomon Smith Barney analyst Andrew Light. He expects that lost revenue will be 1 million euros (US$917,000) per week, assuming that some Concorde customers fly mainline Air France and some defect to other airlines. The bigger earnings impact could be costs required to get the Concorde flying again.
