The EC yesterday announced that it has opened investigations into possible state aid at several EU airports. It is looking into whether Finnish authorities illegally aided airports operator Finavia and subsidiary Airpro--two state-owned companies--and Ryanair in relation to their operations at Tampere-Pirkkala. It also is investigating several arrangements at Lubeck, including its 10-year contract with the Irish LCC. The Commission said its investigation into Lubeck follows complaints from a competing carrier and a nongovernmental organization.
Virgin Blue filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation to operate 10 weekly Australia-US flights beginning in November 2008, which would put it in direct competition with rival Qantas on lucrative transpacific routes. The Australian carrier applied for the traffic rights under the name "Virgin Blue International Airlines," a subsidiary of the Virgin Blue group of companies, but said it will choose a new name for its future transpacific operations prior to launch. It also is seeking an Australian operating certificate for VBIA, which is expected to be granted.
Bmi Group is buying five A330s and five A321s to support its "strategy of developing new mid-haul and long-haul routes from London Heathrow," the carrier announced yesterday. The five A330s are worth approximately $500 million, bmi said, and will join three already in service with the carrier. First delivery is scheduled for next spring. The A321s, valued at $250 million, will feature on a short-/medium-haul network boosted by the February acquisition of British Mediterranean. No engine choice was announced.
Vueling Airlines will establish its fourth European base in Seville at the end of October. The LCC will base three A320s at SVQ and launch new services to Venice, Lisbon, Amsterdam, Brussels, Milan Malpensa and Bilbao. Vueling, which is celebrating its third birthday this month, currently operates from Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Charles de Gaulle ( ATWOnline, March 13).
Aeromexico increased its Austin-Mexico City service to daily from four-times-weekly. Flights are operated by Aerolitoral ERJ-145s. AirTran Airways yesterday increased its Milwaukee-Las Vegas frequency to daily.
US Transportation Security Administration announced plans to begin testing advanced technology x-ray machines, including multiview and high definition x-rays, at airports "in the coming weeks." L3 Communications, Smiths Detection and Rapiscan Systems each will lease seven AT x-ray machines to TSA. Total value of the three contracts is $1.4 million, with options to purchase additional units.
Austrian Airlines Group sees even more possibilities for its Focus East strategy of operating to secondary destinations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia ( ATWOnline, June 13). "In the next 10-15 years, there still will be many opportunities for us," CCO Josef Burger told this website, adding that all areas within range of medium-haul aircraft, or around 5 hr. flying time from its Vienna hub, are in play. It already is looking for new destinations in countries like Kyrgyzstan or Tajikistan.
Chongqing Airlines operated its inaugural flight, an A320 service to Shanghai, last weekend ( ATWOnline, June 19). It will fly the route five-times-weekly but eventually expects to increase service to daily.
London Luton said Friday that it will "focus on making the most of the existing airport site," withdrawing its October 2005 proposal for a full-length replacement runway 950 m. south of the existing runway along with adjacent tournament facilities. The airport will publish development proposals for the period up to 2015 later this year.
China Southern Airlines will launch A319 service from Guangzhou to Yangon (thrice-weekly from July 2), Phuket (four-times-weekly from July 10), Siem Reap (thrice-weekly from July 11) and Vientiane (thrice-weekly from July 12). Austrian Airlines will resume service to Kazakhstan with a Vienna-Astana service scheduled to launch before year end. Separately, OS reached agreement with future Star Alliance partner Air China to place its code on daily CA flights from Beijing to Shanghai, Wuhan and Guangzhou. OS operates a daily VIE-PEK service.
US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week cleared its version of FAA reauthorization legislation, which calls for more than $65 billion to fund aviation operations in the US in 2008-11. The bill provides $15.8 billion for the Airport Improvement Program and nearly $13 billion for FAA facilities and equipment, as well as $37.2 billion for FAA operations over the next four years.
Delta Air Lines will launch new flights from New York JFK to the following destinations: Panama City (Dec. 13); Guatemala City (Dec. 14); Port of Spain (Dec. 20); San Jose, Costa Rica (Feb. 15); Liberia, Costa Rica (Feb. 16). Frequencies were not announced. AirTran Airways announced an upgrade to its Portland, Maine, service. Seasonal weekly flights to Orlando International will become a year-round daily service beginning Nov. 7. Twice-daily flights to Baltimore, originally scheduled to end Nov. 6, will continue until Jan. 7 and be resumed at a later date.
London Heathrow's Terminal 4, which is used by British Airways, Qantas, KLM, Kenya Airways, Iberia and TAM, was partially evacuated yesterday following discovery of a suspicious package. "As an extra precaution, it was decided to perform secondary searches on all departing passengers at the aircraft gate," airports operator BAA said.
Eurocontrol inaugurated its new Central Flow Management Unit operations room, which it said is the "cornerstone of a Single Sky in Europe." The facility consolidates and synergizes the three essential functions of the CFMU, which first became operational in 1995. Those are complete and real-time information on airspace and infrastructure across the continent; the Integrated Flight Plan System, which centralizes all European flight plans, and flow and capacity management.
Frontier Airlines said that Wichita, Rapid City and Sioux City will be among the first cities served by its Lynx Aviation subsidiary, which will begin operating this fall with 74-seat Q400s. Thrice-daily Denver-Wichita flights will begin Oct. 1, while service to Rapid City (twice-daily) and Sioux City (twice-daily) will start Oct. 5. Frontier placed an order for 10 Q400s last fall and said Lynx eventually may serve up to 18 destinations ( ATWOnline, Sept. 7, 2006).
Delta Air Lines will launch weekly seasonal Atlanta-Curacao service on Dec. 22. JetBlue Airways will start daily flights from Fort Lauderdale to Buffalo and Syracuse Nov. 1 aboard E-190s. Its weekly Boston-Aruba service, launched last weekend, will increase to thrice-weekly from Nov. 5 aboard A320s. Estonian Air plans to reduce its weekly Tallinn-Paris Charles de Gaulle flights from four to three from Aug. 31 and its weekly Tallinn-Barcelona service from three to two from Sept. 26. It will suspend Tallinn-Barcelona flights Oct. 28-Feb. 16.
Airports in the UK returned to normal yesterday following Saturday's attack at Glasgow's Terminal 1, although London Stansted reportedly faced temporary closure last night while part of Heathrow was evacuated briefly Sunday owing to suspicious packages and the country's security alert level remained on "critical." BAA said earlier yesterday that its seven UK airports were operating as normal with a full schedule of flights, while Glasgow said it was "back in business and the majority of flights are now operating normally," adding that "some delays and cancellations may arise."
A war of words erupted between Air New Zealand and Auckland International Airport Ltd. over the airport's new pricing policy announced yesterday. AIAL said it will increase landing charges for airlines by 2.5% per year for the next five years from Sept. 1. At issue is the airport's decision to change the valuation methodology.
Air Berlin is expecting 12% passenger growth to 6 million this year at its Spanish hub in Palma de Mallorca. "Fifty percent of our passengers in PMI are transferring between our flights and Austrian partner Niki," an AB spokesperson told ATWOnline in Mallorca. AB's market share at PMI currently is 27%, while it holds 7% of the entire Spanish market. It established its PMI hub during the 1997-98 winter schedule. "We are the biggest non-Spanish carrier [in Spain] and the fifth-biggest carrier in Spain in terms of passengers," the spokesperson added.
United Airlines announced last week that it refinanced approximately $1 billion in existing leases and mortgages through the issuance of $694 million in Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates and $270 million in Special Facility Revenue Refunding Bonds at Denver International Airport. It said the proceeds from the debt offerings will refinance existing aircraft lease and mortgage debt associated with 13 widebody aircraft and the existing SFRBs at DEN.
Lufthansa will launch five-times-weekly Frankfurt-Orlando International service Oct. 30 aboard a new 221-seat A330-300. MCO will be its 20th North American destination.
Austrian Airlines Group plans to announce an order for 10 long-haul aircraft, with additional options possible, by autumn. "Now we have the latest technical details about the A350. The race will be between the A350 and the 787," CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline last week in Chicago. The new long-haul aircraft will replace the current fleet of six 767-300ERs and four 777-200ERs in the 2013-2015 timeframe. Oetsch said the carrier is not in a hurry.
WestJet, which launched its first scheduled Caribbean service with Toronto-Nassau flights last November, announced additional international operations yesterday, with new seasonal flights planned from YYZ to Montego Bay, Puerto Plata and Punta Cana. The destinations are part of an expanded schedule that includes increased winter service to Hawaii and the launch of a number of routes, including daily YYZ-Los Angeles service from Dec. 15.
