Qantas will take delivery of its fourth A380 in late May and announced the following increases in A380 services: Thrice-weekly Sydney-London Heathrow will become five-times-weekly on June 7 and a fourth weekly Sydney-Los Angeles flight will launch on June 9. QF expects to take delivery of four A380s this year.
Qantas Group will restructure its New Zealand and China networks as it strives to remain profitable, and CEO Alan Joyce denied speculation that the moves are a portent of things to come on its Australian operations.
BA CityFlyer BAe 146 skidded on landing late Friday at London City following collapse of the nose gear. Flight from Amsterdam was carrying 67 passengers and five crew and "one passenger sustained a minor injury" and was hospitalized, according to a British Airways statement cited by the BBC. Passengers were evacuated via emergency slides.
Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato last week announced adoption of "ambitious airport environmental goals" to be achieved by members over the next 10 years. Among the goals agreed to by the ACI-NA board are that every member airport "will strive to have an environmental policy statement by 2010" and an Environmental Management System in place by 2014 at large airports, 2016 at medium airports and 2019 at small airports.
Scheduled flights across the Taiwan Strait are expected to more than treble to 357 per week from 108 in July following third-round negotiations between Beijing's Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and its Taiwanese counterpart, the Strait Exchange Foundation, according to Taiwan Aviation Bureau Director Li Longwen. China State Council-Taiwan Office spokesperson Fan Liqing said that both sides are preparing for the negotiations scheduled to start next month. Fan confirmed that increasing cross-strait flights will be discussed.
Ryanair continued its campaign against uncooperative authorities yesterday, announcing a summer capacity cut at Dublin that the LCC is blaming on "high and rising charges" at the airport and the Irish government's €10 ($12.91) "tourist tax" scheduled to be imposed from March 30. Last week, Ryanair said it would reduce the number of based aircraft and routes at Shannon owing to the tax, which it said will "decimate traffic and tourism" ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6).
Australian air traffic controllers represented by Civil Air are expected to take industrial action to press salary, sick leave and rostering claims following last month's breakdown in negotiations with Airservices Australia. The result of the strike vote is expected today and is on a "knife's edge," according to an Airservices spokesperson. In a worst-case scenario, Airservices said the nation's airline system would be cut to "just 25%" of its capacity, with international flights given priority due to treaty obligations. The domestic network would be virtually shut down.
AirTran Airways will increase its Milwaukee operation and expand the number of flights by 43% in the summer schedule. It will launch service to Minneapolis-St. Paul (twice-daily from May 5), Branson (daily on May 11), St. Louis (twice-daily on May 21). Formerly seasonal flights to Los Angeles (twice-daily), Boston (twice-daily) and Tampa (daily) will become year-round and it will operate daily flights to Denver May 21-Sept. 8.
FedEx launched operations at its new Asia/Pacific air hub at Guangzhou Baiyun late last week. The $150 million, 82,000-sq.-ft. facility replaces the express operator's Subic Bay hub and is capable of processing 24,000 packages per hr. FedEx will operate 136 weekly flights into Guangzhou, which the company said is particularly well positioned to serve the high-tech electronics industry. The complex features its own ramp control tower, enabling FedEx to have direct control over aircraft movements. It also is equipped with a customs clearance facility dedicated to FedEx.
Russia's Federal Anti-monopoly Service is intent on abolishing overflight fees charged to foreign airlines, which traditionally benefit Aeroflot. FAS Director Igor Artemyev told reporters last week that his agency has prepared a relevant draft decree to be submitted for government approval shortly. Since the late 1970s, foreign operators have been paying pro-rate charges for transiting airspace over Siberia on routes between Europe or North America and Asia.
El Al will launch thrice-weekly Tel Aviv-Sao Paulo Guarulhos service on May 2 aboard a 777-200ER. Jetstar Airways launched flights from Perth to Adelaide (daily) and Cairns (thrice-weekly) and thrice-weekly Gold Coast-Cairns service aboard A320s.
