Lufthansa Italia asked for 10 additional slots at Milan Malpensa to enable it to offer more flights to other European destinations as well as more frequencies on domestic services within Italy. LH Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber has said that LH wants to play a central role at MXP in the future. An LH spokesperson told ATWOnline that LH Italia currently operates seven A319s including one wet-leased from BMI.
Emirates will launch daily Dubai-Durban service Oct. 1 aboard a 278-seat A330-200. Separately, it has postponed the launch of thrice-weekly Dubai-Luanda service to Oct. 25. Wataniya Airways will launch daily Kuwait City-Jeddah service Aug. 19. American Eagle on Nov. 19 will launch daily flights to Miami from Knoxville and Charleston, S.C., and increase Dallas/Fort Worth-Santa Fe service to twice-daily.
Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) today announced that Ukraine's leading international carrier, Ukraine International Airlines (UIA), will commence the first direct service from Abu Dhabi to the Ukrainian capital of Kiev.
World airport passenger traffic fell 5% in June compared to June 2008 to 262.3 million, which represented a slowing of the downward trend from May, when traffic was down 8% year-over-year, according to Airports Council International.
The sale of London Gatwick by UK airport operator BAA is up in the air after the last remaining bidder refused to budge from its original £1.4 billion ($2.29 billion) offer. BAA parent Ferrovial reportedly wanted £1.5 billion, but a consortium led by Manchester Airports Group and Canadian infrastructure fund Borealis declined to increase its bid, according to press reports.
In the final years of a $6.3 million airport redevelopment program, Miami International is looking at everything from a diversified shopping and services center to mineral extraction to gambling machines for the additional $500 million a year it will need to cover airport operations and debt service. In the first six months of this year, MIA's passenger traffic was down 1.4% and aircraft movements off 9.3% compared with last year. It has lowered its landing fees 39% for the current fiscal year to help its airline tenants get through the recession.
Changi Airports International, the international development subsidiary of Singapore's Changi Airport Group, took a 26% stake in Bengal Aerotropolis Projects Ltd. to develop an "aerotropolis" in the fast-growing Durgapur-Asansol region of eastern India. According to CAI, this involves the setting up of an industrial park, a logistics hub, an information technology park and a township around the privately owned airport. It is Changi's first investment in an Indian greenfield airport city project. Overall, the project aims to attract about $2.5 billion of investments.
Ryanair will reduce winter schedule capacity at London Stansted by 40%, operating just 24 aircraft from the airport compared to the present 40. CEO Michael O'Leary said the decision "shows just how much [UK Prime Minister] Gordon Brown's £10 ($16.46) tourist tax and the BAA Monopoly's high airport charges are damaging London and UK tourism and the British economy generally," while reiterating that STN is one of Ryanair's two most expensive bases, the other being Dublin. The airline said BAA rejected its call for "deep cuts in these high passenger fees" this winter.
European Commission described the number of mislaid, damaged or lost bags at EU airports as "excessive and unacceptable" and said it is considering ways to improve current legislation if the situation does not improve. "In order to protect passengers' rights adequately, we should provide citizens with the appropriate instruments. For the time being these instruments are not available," EC VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said. The Commission launched an inquiry into the luggage issue in March and said 4.6 million bags were delayed at EU airports in the first 10 months of 2008.
Assn. of European Airlines expressed concern over "the continuing trend on the part of airports across Europe to increase the fees they charge to their airline customers in order to compensate themselves for lower traffic levels during the current recession." It said the practice is particularly evident in Germany, where Frankfurt is proposing an 8.4% boost next January to fund future expansion on top of a 4.6% hike for "central infrastructure." Munich announced a 4% increase in charges.
How is Finland's national flag carrier coping in today's super tough and highly competitive market? In our latest weekly feature Joe Bates investigates.
Ryanair will reduce Dublin winter capacity by 22% year-over-year, or by four aircraft to 14 based aircraft. It did not specify which routes would be affected, but weekly flights will drop below 1,000 from the approximately 1,200 operated to/from DUB in winter 2008-09. Last month it said it would lower the number of aircraft at DUB to 16. It said the newest cuts are the result of "high and rising costs at Dublin Airport, combined with an insanely stupid €10 ($14.12) tourist tax" imposed by the Irish government.
Aria Airlines Il-62 that crashed in Mashhad on July 24, killing 16, was attempting to land too fast, Iranian Civil Aviation Organization Director Mohammad Ali Ilkhani told state television. "This plane should have landed at a maximum speed of 165 miles per hr. but it in fact landed at around 200 miles per hr.," he was quoted as saying by Agence France Presse. Deputy Transport Minister Ahmad Majidi told the ISNA news agency that "instead of landing at the beginning of the tarmac, the plane landed in the middle of the runway.
