Singapore and Japan Friday announced an expanded air services agreement that will nearly double the number of passenger flights Singaporean airlines can operate to Tokyo and also allow carriers from both nations to operate unlimited passenger and cargo flights between Singapore and all cities in Japan other than Tokyo. Under the agreement, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, Singaporean carriers will be allowed to operate four daily flights between Singapore and Tokyo Haneda from October 2010.
Sensis Corp. said its Multistatic Dependent Surveillance multilateration system is approved and operational at London Gatwick. Expected to enhance safety and efficiency, the system provides location and identification of aircraft operating on runways, taxiways and stand areas.
Detroit Metropolitan's new $431 million North Terminal had its official opening Sept. 17. The 850,000-sq.-ft., 26-gate terminal sits on the site of the former Davey Terminal that was demolished in 2005 and replaces the Smith and Berry Terminals. It is expected to handle 8-14 million passengers per year and will be occupied by Air Canada, American Airlines, AirTran Airways, Frontier Airlines, Lufthansa, Royal Jordanian Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, United Airlines, US Airways, USA 3000 and charter carriers. Gensler served as the terminal's architect.
British Airways moved another chunk of its international flights into London Heathrow's new Terminal 5 this week and expressed confidence that it has overcome the problems that beset T5's March opening. Since then, the terminal has handled 8.5 million passengers. The carrier yesterday started operating flights to the US, Latin America and Canada from T5.
Worldwide Flight Services won contracts from Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and US Airways for cargo handling at Baltimore/Washington International.
Air France and Aeroports de Paris last week inaugurated Terminal 2G at Paris Charles de Gaulle, the carrier's first dedicated terminal at its main hub. T2G is CDG's first "regional" terminal and is the result of "an exemplary cooperation between Aeroports de Paris and Air France," ADP Chairman and CEO Pierre Graff said, admitting that the relationship between the two parties has not always been amicable in the past.
Houston Intercontinental and Hobby reopened yesterday following two-day closures owing to Hurricane Ike. Continental Airlines said it "resumed a comprehensive flight schedule" at its IAH hub and Southwest Airlines said it was restarting operations at HOU.
An Aeroflot Nord 737-500 en route from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Perm lost radio contact at 3,600 ft. on approach and crashed yesterday, killing all 82 passengers and six crew. Russian officials cited engine failure as the most likely cause. Crash debris was scattered over 10,000 sq. m. Aeroflot, which owns a 51% stake in the regional carrier that operates domestic services, said, "Wreckage of the plane has been found within the boundaries of the city of Perm. The plane was totally destroyed and had caught fire."
Lufthansa will base six A319s at Milan Malpensa next year to be operated by subsidiary Air Dolomiti and from February 2009 will offer direct flights from MXP to Barcelona, Brussels, Budapest, Bucharest, Madrid and Paris Charles de Gaulle. It will add London Heathrow and Lisbon in the 2009 summer. The carrier originally planned to operate E-195s but said "demand is high" and the upgrade is warranted. LH added that its expansion at MXP will create 150 new jobs.
IATA, Eurocontrol and the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization announced a three-way deal to "expedite efficiency improvements in European air traffic management" that will achieve annual savings of 470,000 tonnes of fuel, $550 million and 1.5 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. The plan calls for an airspace redesign to accommodate a 0.1% reduction in routes equivalent to 4 million nm. per year and $28 million, another 0.7% to come from enhanced civil/military cooperation and improved flight planning (worth 30 million nm.
Advent International, a private equity firm, said it acquired 100% of Aeropuertos Dominicanos Siglo XXI (Aerodom), which it called the "leading airport group in the Dominican Republic and one of the largest airport operators in Central America and the Caribbean." Price was not disclosed.
Continental Airlines will launch a third daily Newark-London Heathrow flight on Oct. 25 and discontinue service to Gatwick from both EWR and Houston Intercontinental. It will operate IAH-LHR twice-daily. "Our customers have shown a clear preference for Heathrow, and our main competitors have focused their operations there," Executive VP-Marketing Jim Compton said.
Grupo Ferrovial, parent of BAA, said it will sell 100% of its shares in Belfast City Airport to ABN Global Infrastructure Fund for £132.5 million ($234 million). It expects the deal to close by the end of this month.
China Airlines yesterday operated the first "mid-autumn" charter flight between Taipei and Shanghai. According to CAAC, eight airlines have been chosen to operate 16 roundtrip flights across the Taiwan Strait to Sept. 21. Mainland carriers China Eastern Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Shanghai Airlines will have access to Taipei and CI, EVA Air, Mandarin Airlines, Uni Air and TransAsia Airways will have access to Shanghai and Xiamen. Mainland carriers are reporting brisk sales with an average load factor of 74% as of Sept. 3. CEA said 90% of it seats had been sold as of Sept.
Cebu Pacific Air will start operating international flights out of Diosdado Macapagal (Clark) from Nov. 8. It will base an A319 at the airport and operate daily to Hong Kong and Singapore, four-times-weekly to Macau and three-times-weekly to Bangkok.
US Airways will launch daily Philadelphia-Tel Aviv on July 2, 2009. EasyJet will launch daily London Gatwick-Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen on Dec. 12. Ryanair will launch twice-weekly London Stansted-Agadir on Oct. 28. Bmi will double its London Heathrow-Moscow Domodedovo service to twice-daily on Oct. 26 aboard an A320. SkyWest Airlines will launch twice-daily United Express service from Portland, Ore., to Klamath Falls and North Bend on Oct. 12 aboard a Brasilia.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is considering joining a consortium that may submit a bid for ownership of London Gatwick if airports operator BAA divests LGW, the carrier confirmed ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21). "Virgin Atlantic would be interested in possibly bidding to run it, as part of a consortium. We would be able to bring our expertise in customer service into any ownership group," it said.
Aer Arann selected Paul Schutz to succeed Garry Cullen as CEO on Jan. 1. AerCap Holdings promoted Michael King to CEO of its AeroTurbine subsidiary and Aengus Kelly to CEO of AerCap Inc. and announced that Ray Valeika has joined AerCap Inc.'s board. Air Canada elevated Claude Morin to VP-global sales, Lise-Marie Turpin to GM-Air Canada Cargo and Bill Bredt to executive VP & COO-Jazz. AirNet Systems tapped Fred L. DeLeeuw as CFO. BAA Cleveland appointed Tina LaForte VP-concessions redevelopment.
Bratislava's M.R. Stefanik Airport saw its traffic soar 46% in 2007 to 2 million passengers and is one of the fastest-growing privately owned airports in the world, according to an analysis by Arthur D. Little. Passenger traffic grew at a compound annual rate of 38% between 2000 and 2007, and in the first six months of 2008 nearly 1 million passengers used BTS. "The enormous boom was conditioned by substantial growth of air transport in the Slovak Republic, where individual air carriers have subsequently settled.
THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY, PARTICULARLY in the deregulated US market, is defined by fierce competition among carriers. Airline executives plotting strategy must be fully aware of competitors' latest fares, route choices and service offerings in order best to determine the direction their own carrier should take. But a serious competitor has emerged in recent years that may be far more difficult to counter than a rival airline: Business aviation.
UPBEAT WAS THE BEST WAY TO DESCRIBE EMIRATES Airline President Tim Clark, cabin crew and passengers alike onboard the carrier's inaugural A380 flight from Dubai to New York on Aug. 1. Clark was all smiles that the first A380 was a tonne lighter than expected, onboard staff were beaming with pride in their new product offering--much of which they had helped design or implement--and passengers were lyrical about the host of new features including showers in first class and a bar area for business and first class customers.
