Swissport renewed its agreement with United Airlines to provide cargo handling service at Los Angles, San Francisco and Chicago O'Hare until 2012. It has handled the airline in these locations since 2003.
Japan yesterday joined US FAA, Airservices Australia and Airways New Zealand as a partner in the ASPIRE (Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) program. ASPIRE flights use a host of optimized operational procedures and ATC routings, including tailored arrivals, to save time and fuel. "This is an important milestone in our collective effort to lessen aviation's environmental footprint," said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, who signed the agreement along with Japanese Civil Aviation Bureau DG Ryuhei Maeda.
Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said yesterday that while the airline industry has seen slight economic improvement this year as fuel costs have lowered and credit markets have loosened, "we're still bouncing along the bottom."
The largest airline in Northern Europe and the national carrier of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, SAS Scandinavian Airlines, is offering two very attractive tax inclusive fare offers on the Dubai – Copenhagen route for the UAE market to kick off its 3rd season.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt reported that "serious runway incursions were down 50% for the most recent 12-month period compared to the previous year." FAA said there were 12 "serious incursions" at US airports during the US government's fiscal year ended Sept. 30 and only two involved commercial carriers. In the previous fiscal year, the agency recorded 25 serious incursions including nine involving airlines. Those numbers were largely unchanged from FY07 during which there were 24 serious incursions including eight involving airlines.
CSA Czech Airlines plans to codeshare on China Eastern Airlines' Frankfurt-Shanghai Pudong flights from March 28. Air Arabia will launch twice-weekly Sharjah-Samara service from Oct. 26.
Hainan Airlines received US Dept. of Transportation approval to operate flights between Beijing and Hawaii, Honolulu's Star Bulletin reported, adding that Hawaiian tourism officials believe service could begin before year end. Hainan reportedly will use A340s to operate once-weekly flights, with the service eventually upped to thrice-weekly.
Alitalia will commence four routes from Turin in December: Four-times-weekly to Amsterdam and twice-weekly to Berlin Tegel, Moscow Sheremetyevo and Istanbul Ataturk. It will add another weekly frequency to each route in mid-January.
AirAsia said it has been granted landing rights in Paris by the French government and is awaiting further details from authorities. "The French government's approval places AirAsia in a significant position, in line with the plans by AirAsia X to expand our operations in Europe," AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said.
