The European Commission appointed the U.K.'s Cranfield University as an adviser in the legal battle over Milan Malpensa Airport, an EC spokesman said yesterday. On April 20, the Italian authorities forced airlines to move their operations from Milan Linate Airport to Malpensa. The move was challenged by 12 airlines and criticized by the EC.
The European Commission will launch an in-depth inquiry into SAirGroup's acquisition of 42% of Portuguese regional carrier Portugalia, the EC said yesterday in Brussels. "The commission has identified serious doubts that the operation could create dominant positions in a number of routes," the EC said. The purchase of Portugalia from private group Espirito Santo, announced in July 1999, would lead to the joint control of the airline by SAirGroup, banking group Banco Comercial Portugues and the Portuguese state.
Mexicana became the first airline to determine the exact location of all of its aircraft in the skies over Mexico in real time with the installation of a state-of-the-art ASD flight tracing system. The system soon will be linked to similar systems in the U.S. and Canada, with the hope of contributing substantially to operational safety and oversight.
U.S. and foreign carriers must comply with additional requirements included in AIR-21 concerning procedures following an aviation accident. Airlines are required to provide DOT with "additional assurances" regarding employee training for dealing with survivors and families of victims. Carriers will have to consult with the State Department and the NTSB when U.S. citizens are involved in a fatal air crash occurring outside the U.S. to "assure that the assistance is sensitive to the families' needs and is carried out according to U.S. law." U.S.
The consortium led by Amsterdam Schiphol and Frankfurt airports have lost the bid for the privatization of 51.2% of Aeroporti di Roma (ADR) to an Italian competitor, the Leonardo consortium, Italian State holding company Istituto per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) said yesterday in Rome. Together with Italian financial partners, Schiphol and Frankfurt had set up the ENEA Alliance, an acronym that stands for "Establishing a Network of European Airports." Schiphol Group, the Dutch airport company, said it was "disappointed" by the Italian authorities' decision.
United, raising the bar for U.S. inflight customer service, will begin today offering free headsets and movies to customers in all classes of service onboard domestic flights equipped with video programming. On video flights over three hours, United also will offer a free feature film and short-subject programming, such as sitcoms and news shows. This fall, United will add a second feature film on longer flights, and will "enhance" its onboard audio and video programming.
DOT is dismissing charges made by Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.) that the department is guilty of "disgraceful and unacceptable behavior," blocking potential competition against American and United at Chicago O'Hare by failing to push for a third airport in nearby Peotone, Ill. FAA initially decided against doing an environmental impact statement on the airport, but recently agreed to a modest EIS covering "land-banking," or acquiring land for the site in the event demand warranted its development. Jackson sees the action as foot-dragging.
Ryanair filed a formal complaint with the European Commission this week against Lufthansa, alleging predatory pricing on routes between London and Germany on which Ryanair competes with Lufthansa. Ryanair claims that following the announcement that it was planning to begin London Stansted-Frankfurt service last year, Lufthansa "immediately announced" it would begin service on the same route. Lufthansa already flies Frankfurt-London, with service to both Heathrow and Gatwick.
FAA plans to require modifications to the cockpit voice recorders on Raytheon Beech 1900s, saying that there have been "instances where the recording quality of the CVR...was so poor that the information was practically unrecoverable." FAA said it has received reports of six instances of poor recording quality. Raytheon has issued a Service Bulletin on the problem.
Air France today will begin code sharing with partner Delta on its Atlanta-Lima service. Air France claims to be the only European carrier to offer daily flights to Lima through the new code-share flight on Delta's Boeing 757 service.
TRAFFIC DATA FOR MAY 2000 RPMs Change ASMs Change In From In From Load Airline Millions 5/99 Millions 5/99 Factor Midway 121.8 53.8% 174.2 38.3% 69.9% Spirit 107.6 23.4% 287.1 25.8% 72.3% WestJet 116.5 72.1% 154.7 61.4% 75.3% Vanguard 84.5 16.0% 143.3 36.0% 59.0%
At this week's summit in Washington, Argentina President Fernando de la Rua and President Clinton spoke only briefly about open skies. As Clinton suggested that open skies would help Argentina create jobs, de la Rua replied, "I'm going to be candid, Mr. President. The trend in my country is to open markets and increase the flow of U.S. tourists. But public opinion is not sufficiently prepared for it, and this is the reason why I'm submitting to Congress the [open skies] agreement made by the government that preceded mine."
One of the reasons used by industry groups to justify the cost of the Wide Area Augmentation System is the need for it at many airports served by the increasingly popular regional jets. However, it turns out that the number of airports served by regional jets that do not have precision guidance is only a small fraction of the estimates. Deborah McElroy, president of the Regional Airline Association, said her members serve about 244 airports in the contiguous U.S. that are not served by the major airlines.
House aviation subcommittee ranking Democrat Rep. William Lipinski (Ill.) warned yesterday that if the proposed United-US Airways merger takes place, then United, American and Delta "are going to split the country up" in providing air service. The planned merger awaits clearance by the Justice Department's antitrust division. Lipinski issued his warning as the House Transportation Committee yesterday held its second day of hearings on the proposed merger.
Northwest Airlink carrier Express I will convert all existing Memphis-Tulsa service to regional jets, effective Aug. 28. The airline operates 33-seat Saab 340 turboprops on each of its four daily nonstop flights, which will be flown with new 50-seat Canadair Regional Jets.
FAA Navigation and Landing Systems Product Team said it is changing its focus "from one centered on hardware to one centered on service." Manuel Vega, product lead, said that "technical uncertainty is slowing down implementation of satellite navigation systems and the aging ground-based navigation and approach light infrastructure is becoming harder to support and maintain." The "shift in orientation" to service is a "major change for us," Vega said.
DOT told Oneida Airlines that is not able to verify, through documents submitted by the start-up carrier or public documents, the $180 million in funding through Internet Creations and other companies outlined in its certificate application. The carrier has not provided adequate "evidence of availability of the funds in question or the ability of Internet Creations to raise these funds." DOT requested third-party verification of funding sources.
Olympic Airways named Dionyssis Kalofonos chairman and CEO. He served as the head of the Greek civil aviation authority. The airline was previously led by Rod Lynch, who headed a team from British Airways' Speedwing management consultancy, hired by the Greek government last year. BA, however, will end its relationship with the struggling airline prematurely and will not purchase a 20% stake in it.
Air Dolomiti is continuing its rapid expansion with an order for three more ATR 42-500s plus four options. The Italian regional carrier has only recently ordered three Canadair CRJ-200s plus three options. The new ATR 42-500s are scheduled for delivery between October and December 2000. Air Dolomiti is slowly becoming one of the biggest European operators of the type. The carrier currently has 15 ATR 42s and five ATR 72s.
The accelerating pace of change is creating a global community where travelers will be able to stay connected virtually all the time and manufacturers will drastically cut transaction costs, Boeing CEO Phil Condit told the Wings Club this week. "I think we're on the threshold of having a very global, mobile world, and the implications for aviation are huge," Condit said. By electronically linking engineering teams in St.
As privatization of airports expands all over Mexico, investments will grow substantially and some unusual facilities are expected to be featured, such as a disco now operated at Palenque Airport and a spa being built at in Chichen Itza. Overall, the airport industry in Mexico is worth $13 billion. In separate but related news, Tribasa runs the risk of losing its participation in the Southeastern Airports Group if two of its Spanish partners, Advent and OHL, assume 70% of ownership, increasing foreign equity above legal levels.
United and Air Canada began linking their electronic ticketing service this week, making it possible for customers to use a single electronic ticket for travel on both carriers. The interline service claims to be the first electronic ticketing initiative that links two different airline computer reservations systems. United and Air Canada passengers will be able to use a single e-ticket when their itinerary includes travel on both airlines or on United-Air Canada code-share flights operated by either carrier.
The Senate yesterday approved by a unanimous vote -- 99-0 -- the fiscal 2001 transportation appropriations bill, which includes $12.4 billion for the FAA for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. The bill now goes to conference with the House, which cleared its 2001 appropriations last month. The Senate bill would provide $6.35 billion for FAA operations, the bulk of which is for air traffic control.
