BAA's common ownership of seven UK airports comprising London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted along with Southampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow International and Aberdeen may not be serving the interests of either airlines or passengers, the UK Competition Commission said in an interim report.
Ethiopian Airlines will launch a twice-weekly routing from Addis Ababa through Kuwait City and Riyadh on June 2. It currently operates 35 weekly flights to six Middle East destinations. CSA Czech Airlines launched service from Prague to Tbilisi (thrice-weekly) and Rostov-on-Don (weekly) aboard A319s. Next month it will start flying to Damascus, Almaty and Heraklion. Airberlin will launch weekend flights to Sylt from Dortmund and Hanover on May 1 aboard a Do-228.
Airbus last week announced completion of an inflight demonstration involving its own A340 and an SAS A330 during which the former performed several altitude changes in relation to the latter in oceanic airspace using a new ADS-B system that includes an Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems Traffic Computer. Airbus said the A340 pilot was able to receive on his navigation display all flight identification and positioning information relating to surrounding aircraft.
China Eastern Airlines said it will "take the lesson seriously" as it apologized for the March 31-April 1 flight returns that resulted in CAAC sanctions last week ( ATWOnline, April 18). "We would like to express our deep regret for any negative impact and inconvenience caused by this incident," CEA said in a statement. It admitted that the incident, in which 21 flights returned to Kunming shortly after takeoff, exposed management problems at its Yunnan Branch Co.
British Airways will launch daily London Gatwick-New York JFK on Oct. 27 aboard a four-class 777 that will be moved from Heathrow. It will suspend its daily Manchester-JFK and shift the 767 that operates that service to LHR. It will commence daily flights from LGW to Oporto and Valencia and add a second daily service to Alicante and Turin in October. Flights to Warsaw will move from LGW to LHR.
Lufthansa will strengthen the independent hub system it initiated in October 2006 at Frankfurt and Munich, where it installed managers responsible for their own fleet, employees and operations ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16, 2006). "We realized economical and operating synergies [at FRA and MUC]. For example, since we split the fleet at each hub, aircraft efficiency has increased by 5%," Executive VP Karl Ulrich Garnadt told ATWOnline.
Flybaboo announced the launch of flights from Geneva to St. Petersburg (thrice-weekly), Kiev (thrice-weekly), Sofia (thrice-weekly) and Vienna (weekdays), plus a third daily frequency to Nice and a second daily to Venice. All new flights will begin May 26-July 1. It also will add seasonal flights to Biarritz, St. Tropez, Tangiers and Ibiza. The Swiss carrier currently operates two Q400s and is taking delivery of three E-190s in May and June.
Ryanair and easyJet are threatening to withhold a portion of the airport charges imposed by BAA at London Stansted and Gatwick respectively while they challenge the fee increases in court.
Aeroflot will launch four-times-weekly Sochi-Novosibirsk on April 30 and twice-weekly Moscow (airport unidentified)-Bratislava on May 27, both aboard Tu-154Ms.
Chinese mainland carriers are preparing for commercial flights across the Taiwan Strait to be permitted before year end, as the newly elected president of Taiwan, Ma Yingjiu, has promised. Ma will take office on May 20 and said he plans to allow the launch of weekend charter flights across the strait in July, followed by daily scheduled flights before 2009.
British Airways is delaying until June the move of 120 long-haul flights to its troubled new Terminal 5 at London Heathrow in order "to iron out" remaining problems, including the baggage system and other aspects of its operation ( ATWOnline, April 8).
Chicago's attempt to privatize Midway Airport took another step forward with a preliminary application to become the sole large hub in FAA's pilot five-airport privatization program. The agency promised to "undertake a preliminary review. . .within 30 days." Six organizations, including a Spanish group that leases Chicago's Skyway toll bridge and another headed by Vancouver International Airport's operator, have been qualified as bidders.
Jet Airways is considering launching service to Milan Malpensa and Paris Charles de Gaulle this year, Chairman Naresh Goyal confirmed yesterday to ATWOnline. He hopes to commence the routes in the next winter timetable. "Much will depend on the deliveries of our widebodies," he said in Brussels. Service to MXP would be operated in cooperation with Alitalia despite its shaky financial situation. "Alitalia is still flying," Goyal said, noting the ailing flag carrier still has the best network in and out of Italy. "AZ abandoned its routes into India.
Aer Lingus and United Airlines signed a codeshare agreement under which EI will place its code on UA flights departing from all seven of EI's US gateways while UA will add its code to EI's transatlantic flights to/from Dublin and Shannon. Agreement takes effect Nov. 1 pending US government approval.
Bangkok's downtown airport terminal will open by year end, providing remote check-in and high-speed train service to Suvarnabhumi International, according to Bangkok's Daily Xpress. The three-story Makkasan terminal will have 200 parking spaces and a connection to the city's rapid rail system. Commuter trains with intermediate stops will reach the airport in 27 min.
Jet Airways is evaluating the opening of a second European hub for services to South America. The Indian carrier currently maintains a small hub at Brussels from which it operates flights to India and North America in cooperation with Brussels Airlines, which provides European feed. "Jet is considering a hub similar to Brussels, like in Madrid or another airport in southern Europe," a source close to the airline told ATWOnline. No details about a timeframe for the decision were revealed.
The troubles at London Heathrow's Terminal 5 persisted over the weekend, this time owing mainly to poor weather conditions. British Airways cancelled 126 flights at LHR Sunday--114 because of heavy snowfall and 12 owing to computer glitches at T5--and another 34 at T5 yesterday as it battled a scheduling backlog. It also cancelled 32 flights at Gatwick Sunday.
EasyJet opened its Lyon base last Friday ( ATWOnline, Oct. 5, 2007) with two new A319s and launched service to Bordeaux (twice-daily), Lisbon (five-times-weekly) and Venice (daily). Thrice-weekly to Porto began Saturday and it soon will fly to Toulouse (twice-daily from May 2), Casablanca (five-times-weekly from May 2), Marrakech (thrice-weekly from May 3) and Biarritz (daily from June 7, seasonal).
Continental Airlines on Sunday launched flights from Cleveland to Birmingham (twice-daily), Charleston (daily), Green Bay (twice-daily) and Tulsa (twice-daily) aboard 50-seat Continental Express RJs. Mexicana will start four-times-weekly Mexico City-Calgary on June 1 aboard an A319. Cebu Pacific Air will launch a fourth daily Manila-Hong Kong flight on June 30.
Air One will increase its presence from Milan Malpensa this summer, using opportunities available as a result of Alitalia's downscaling at the airport. The Italian carrier will operate 138 weekly flights from MXP on a network featuring domestic, European and long-haul routes. Last month, Network, Marketing and Business Development Director Giorgio de Roni told ATWOnline that AP had applied to the US Dept. of Transportation for authority to launch flights to the US. The new transatlantic open skies agreement eliminates the designation requirements but still requires licensing.
Ryanair will add five new 737-800s at its Girona base by 2012, when it expects to carry 8 million passengers aboard 14 aircraft operating on 75 routes. It started serving the Catalan airport in 2002.
Chinese government named Kong Dong as state-owned Air China's new chairman yesterday. He has been acting chairman since predecessor Li Jiaxiang was appointed CAAC minister in December. Separately, CA launched thrice-weekly Beijing-Pyongyang this week aboard a 737.
