China Eastern Airlines is expected to hold 65% of its new Kunming-based joint venture with the Yunnan provincial government, with which it signed an agreement Sunday. The government will hold the remainder and is investing both real estate and cash. The new carrier will not fly with CEA's logo or code but will use the green logo of Yunnan Airlines, the predecessor of CEA's local branch company that merged with the larger airline in 2002. It will adopt its own name and flight code.
Gate Gourmet announced the purchase of United Airlines' Tokyo Narita flight kitchen and will provide catering and provisioning services to UA under a new long-term deal. The company said the acquisition will more than double its production capacity at NRT.
Flydubai's inaugural flight departed from Dubai International's Terminal 2 yesterday morning on its way to Beirut, marking "an opening of the skies for low-cost travel to and from the Emirate," the startup said. The 737-800, operating as FZ157, carried 189 passengers and arrived in Lebanon a little more than 3.5 hr. later.
Emirates yesterday began serving Toronto (thrice-weekly) and Bangkok (daily) with the A380. EK's next new A380 destination will be Incheon on Dec. 1. It also announced the addition of 22 weekly flights to India, bringing the number to 185 in the coming months. It serves 10 Indian cities. Royal Jordanian yesterday launched twice-weekly Amman-Benghazi service. It also added a fourth daily flight to Beirut. AirAsia yesterday launched daily service from Singapore to Penang and Langkawi.
AIR NOSTRUM CHIEF EXECUTIVE CARLOS BERTOMEU TAKES A deep, long draw from his Montecristo cigar before responding to the inevitable question about the kind of year the airline is having: "2009 will be point of inflection in our history of steady growth and profitability," he says with noticeable regret in his voice.
After defeating an environmental challenge to building its main runway, the only new air carrier airport under construction in the US is aiming for a late May or early June opening next year. Panama City-Bay County International is being built along the northern Gulf Coast of Florida on 1,300 of the 4,000 acres donated for the project by the St. Joe Co., which will develop nearby commercial and industrial districts. A 41,000-acre conservation area adjoining the airport will protect the state's West Bay shoreline.
Passengers flying long-haul from UK airports may opt for other European airports if the government fails to act on the Air Passenger Duty, according to a poll commissioned by the British Airline Pilots Assn. The government plans to more than double this tax on British airports over the next 18 months. The APD could add up to £85 to the price of a ticket at Heathrow, BALPA contends.
The US House of Representatives passed an FAA reauthorization bill in May containing several controversial provisions championed by Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), setting the stage for debate in the Senate on the long-stalled effort to renew FAA's legislative mandate and provide long-term funding for the agency.
The US Dept. of Transportation cancelled proposed slot auctions at New York's three main area airports, reversing a controversial rule put in place by DOT in the waning days of the Bush administration. The plan to requisition slots from airlines at JFK, LaGuardia and Newark and auction them to reduce delays had been tied up in court since it was proposed last fall following legal challenges by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airports, as well as the Air Transport Assn. and IATA.
PHOTO CREDIT: Werner Kruger, Lufthansa Lufthansa Cargo AG launched an "information offensive" to retain nighttime cargo flights at Frankfurt Airport after local officials said they were considering a ban against them.
Vancouver International will open C$100 million ($91.9 million) worth of new C-Pier gates in July and a C$50 million apron and taxiway are being built for these gates, part of the airport's $1.4 billion, 10-year capital improvement plan that includes many projects designed to ease travel for the tens of thousands of visitors expected for the 2010 Winter Olympics.
A ruling from the European Parliament that allows airlines to hang onto their unused airport slots could affect passenger service adversely with last-minute flight cancellations and may serve as an artificial barrier to market access for LCCs, warned Airports Council International Europe.
Lufthansa Cargo will begin transferring its Asian hub operation from Astana to Krasnoyarsk on June 1 with the first flight from Tokyo Narita to Frankfurt via Krasnoyark. From August, LHC will operate 22 weekly flights to and from Europe out of KJA. It said the new routing cuts flying time by an average of 12 min., saving up to 2,000 tons of fuel annually ( ATWOnline, March 24, 2008).
China Eastern Airlines has partnered with the Yunnan provincial government to launch a joint venture based on CEA's Yunnan branch subsidiary that will endeavor to build Kunming into a regional hub, a source close to the matter told ATWOnline. CEA is expected to sell a stake in the branch company to the government, although it is widely speculated that the airline will remain the controlling shareholder.
JetAmerica, a low-fare startup, said it will launch services from Newark to Lansing (thrice-weekly), Melbourne, Fla. (thrice-weekly), South Bend (twice-weekly) and Toledo (six-times-weekly), as well as flights from Melbourne to Toledo (twice-weekly) and Lansing (once-weekly) on July 13. A thrice-weekly flight between Toledo and Minneapolis-St. Paul is scheduled to begin Aug. 14. All services to be operated aboard a wet-leased 737-800.
British Airways will abandon its daily London Gatwick-New York JFK service on Oct. 25 owing to poor performance. The three-class 777 will be used on new thrice-weekly flights from LGW to Male and Sharm El Sheikh. Air India will launch daily Ahmedabad-Frankfurt service aboard a 747-400. Norwegian will launch new routes from Copenhagen to Vienna (thrice-weekly), Dublin (thrice-weekly), Rome Fiumicino (thrice-weekly), and Warsaw (six-times-weekly) and new thrice-weekly services from Oslo Gardermeon to Dublin and Vienna on Aug. 17.
Airlines are not sitting idly waiting for major new ATM programs such as US FAA's NextGen and are investing in and employing new technology to reduce fuel burn and emissions, industry leaders Air New Zealand and Southwest Airlines said this week. ANZ GM-Operations and Chief Pilot David Morgan offered a report at the Eco-Aviation conference sponsored by ATW and Leeham Co.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh said the airline would consider purchasing bmi's slots at London Heathrow if they became available, the Financial Times reported. "In the current environment, it is difficult to argue we should go out and acquire those slots. Having said that, it may be the only opportunity we ever get," Walsh told the paper. Bmi is the second-largest slot holder at LHR after BA with about 12%.
American Airlines will operate a cashless cabin on US and Canadian mainline flights beginning June 1. Separately, American Eagle will launch twice-daily Dallas/Fort Worth-Manhattan, Kan., service on Aug. 25 aboard an ERJ-145.
Air India started construction of an MRO and engineering center at Hyderabad Shamshabad. Facility will include a 9,000-sq.-m. hangar, component overhaul shops and offices and will cost approximately INR800 million ($16.8 million), the carrier said. AI is targeting completion in 18 months.
US Airways will launch daily Charlotte-Rio de Janeiro Galeao service on Dec. 2. Route will be US's first to South America and will be operated by a 204-seat, two-class 767. Felix Airways launched flights from Sana'a to Sharjah and Djibouti.
