FAA’s limited resources and cumbersome approval processes are costing small businesses thousands and hamstringing growth of the general aviation industry, general aviation business leaders tell lawmakers.
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, already one of the more expensive airports in its class for airlines, will see passenger enplanement costs skyrocket if planned cutbacks by United Airlines aren’t mitigated with new service or other non-airline revenue. United has announced plans to cut nearly 60% of its Cleveland departures by mid-year (DAILY, Feb. 4), and one immediate result will be higher costs for all operators.
South African Airways (SAA) will improve its access to the Australian market thanks to a new code share with Virgin Australia, although the deal is not reciprocal and Virgin will still link to South Africa via Singapore Airlines. SAA operates a flight from Johannesburg to Perth, and under the new agreement it will place its code on Virgin Australia domestic flights from Perth to eastern cities Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Lawmakers are heading toward the next significant budget debate as the Feb. 7 deadline for addressing the debt ceiling passed, forcing the Treasury Department to implement “extraordinary measures” to avoid a federal default. But, unlike most of the budget battles that have occurred over the past two years, it appears that discussions about raising taxes on business aircraft have been set aside, at least for now.
The Kuwait National Assembly said Feb. 5 it has asked its legislative and legal affairs committee to investigate a Kuwait Airways Company (KAC) plan to purchase 25 Airbus aircraft. The inquiry, approved 36-21, would see the committee probe all transactions being undertaken by state-owned KAC, including a plan by recently ousted chairman Sami al-Nasef to purchase five used Airbus aircraft from Jet Airways of India, according to a transcript of the parliamentary session.
Epic Aircraft has begun production of its first conforming Epic E1000 six-place single turboprop aircraft and hopes to begin certification flight trials this summer, keeping it on pace for certification by mid-2015.
FAA plans to divvy up to 1,721 flight “allocations” among Grand Canyon air tour operators that incorporate quiet aircraft technologies. In a Feb. 3 notice in the Federal Register, FAA outlines a plan to use the first six months of 2014 to establish a baseline for dividing the allocations among qualified operators that fly in the restricted Grand Canyon airspace.
In a move that comes as Airbus puts a sharper focus on gaining market share in its Airbus Corporate Jets unit, the manufacturer has appointed Benoit Defforge as the unit’s new managing director. Defforge, who has headed the Airbus Corporate Jet Centre (ACJC), succeeds Habib Fekih, who helped establish the corporate jets unit and has led it as president since 2011. Airbus credited Fekih with consolidating ACJ activities in recent years. He is moving on to new responsibilities within Airbus, the company says.
Virgin Australia has signaled that it will record a substantial loss for the six months through Dec. 31, confirming that upcoming earnings reports for this period will make grim reading for both of Australia’s major carriers.
FAA is calling “implausible, if not simply preposterous,” the city of Santa Monica, Calif.’s arguments on why its lawsuit over control of Santa Monica Airport (SMO) should continue. The city on Oct. 31 filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking to control the fate of SMO, saying it has “unencumbered title to the airport property and its availability ... to use the airport property as it chooses.” If successful, the city would have the option to close the airport after July 2015.
FAA, which has faced substantial criticism over its lengthy certification processes, released guidance to simplify approvals for a key safety instrument for general aviation aircraft. The new streamlined procedures for angle of attack (AOA) indicators are part of a multi-faceted effort by FAA and the general aviation community to improve general aviation safety. The units, which are not required equipment on general aviation aircraft, measure the angle between the wing and oncoming air, providing a warning of low airspeed and potential for stall.
DUBAI — Saudi Aerospace Engineering Industries (SAEI) is constructing a 12-bay hangar scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2016 that will provide the capacity the MRO needs to grow its third-party maintenance business. By 2017 or 2018, the MRO in Jeddah is hoping to achieve revenue increases of 40% as it sells its services to Middle East and North Africa civil operators, says Ribhi Al-Husseini, director of technical sales and marketing.
BRUSSELS — Cyprus Airways and the Baltic regional carrier Estonian Air are facing an additional hurdle in their struggle to keep flying following the European Commission’s decision to open a new in-depth investigation to verify whether financial support measures by the carriers’ respective governments comply with EU state aid rules.
BRUSSELS — Europe’s 2013 air traffic was marked by strong growth in Turkey and a steep contraction of traffic volumes in four of the European Union’s key markets.
LONDON — The U.K. National Air Traffic Services (NATS) will introduce a time-based separation system for aircraft arriving at London’s Heathrow Airport. NATS says introduction of the system, set for spring 2015, will help cut delays and reduce cancellations at the city’s busiest airport, particularly during strong headwind conditions, considered the biggest cause of flight delays.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering (MAEL) has completed the retrofit installation of a set of Sharklet wingtip devices on one of the Airbus A321s operated by the group’s airline, Monarch Airlines. A second A321 will be retrofitted at the end of this month.
SINGAPORE—Singapore-based SilkAir will use its new all-Boeing fleet as a springboard to expand its route network across Asia as part of its strategy to tap into strong growth in the top end of the intra-Asia market, says Ryan Pua, commercial vice president at the airline. “We see an increasing number of travelers in Asia [who] prefer to fly in comfort and with peace of mind even on short-haul flights,” he tells Aviation Week.
Click here to view the pdf Fuel Watch: Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint) As of February 5, 2014, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev.
Pins critical to the correct operation of Boeing 777 escape slides are turning up corroded or broken, leading FAA to propose giving operators three years to replace them. Boeing has received reports of at least 23 “corroded, migrated, or broken” girt bar floor fitting spring pins, FAA says in a draft airworthiness directive (AD) set for publication Feb. 6. In at least one case, discovered during a maintenance test, a failed pin prevented a door escape slide from deploying.
At least a few Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) slot pairs destined for new ownership as part of the American Airlines/US Airways merger may still be up for grabs, and if so, WestJet—shut out of the bid process so far—is interested. Ten slots remain unaccounted for from a set of 104 at DCA and 34 more at New York LaGuardia Airport (LGA) that American is being forced to sell as part of its merger. Some of them may already be sold to unannounced winners, but indications are that at least a pair are still available.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carrier: Istanbul - Izmir, January 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carrier: Istanbul - Izmir, January 15-21, 2014, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept.
