Continental Airlines will launch twice-weekly Houston Intercontinental-Loreto flights on June 7 aboard ERJ-145s. Air China will increase Beijing-San Francisco service to daily from five-times-weekly on April 1.
Airways New Zealand, the country's navigation services provider, said last week it will trial a glide descent approach procedure for Air New Zealand and Qantas 747s landing at Auckland International beginning the middle of this month. Engines will be set at idle from the top of the descent point in order to "significantly" reduce fuel burn and emissions. Similar trials have been run at Melbourne and Amsterdam, with a third currently operating in San Francisco.
TAAG Angola Airlines launched twice-weekly Luanda-Sao Tome-Lisbon service aboard a 737-700. Frontier Airlines will launch flights from Memphis to Denver (twice-daily), Las Vegas (daily) and Orlando International (daily) from May 12. Separately, it signed a four-year distribution agreement with Expedia. Spanair and Air One reached a codeshare agreement under which Spanair will put its code on Air One's flights from Barcelona to Turin and on to Rome Fiumicino and Naples while Air One will place its code on Spanair services from BCN to Madrid and Oviedo.
The UK Office of Fair Trading officially referred BAA, operator of seven UK airports including London's Heathrow, Gatwick and Stansted, to the country's Competition Commission for a formal antitrust investigation that could lead to the forced sell-off of one or more airports.
THAILAND'S CAPITAL CITY HAS A big beautiful new airport with a big ugly problem. Suvarnabhumi International is enormous and has the potential to rival Singapore Changi for Southeast Asian hub traffic. More than 40 years in the planning, it opened to full operations last Sept. 28 with the usual new-airport glitches: Confusing signage, unbalanced lighting and cooling, not enough toilets, balky new systems and the like. These have, for the most part, been corrected. Then in late January, cracks began appearing in airfield pavement, first in taxiways and later in runways.
Short on capacity and financial clout, China's airlines are feeling the pressure as talks have resumed with the US about an expanded air services agreement.
Flyforbeans is the name of a low-fare startup scheduled to operate out of Cardiff with three 737-300s by year end. "We know there is a lot of leakage from South Wales to other airports like Bristol--passengers who would fly from Cardiff if there are flights from there," flyforbeans MD Tim Lee told the BBC, which said the budget carrier intends to start with 12 daily roundtrips. It has not yet received its AOC.
Bmi has not decided whether it will expand its transatlantic service from London Heathrow when open skies takes effect next year. "Much will depend on aircraft availability, on market possibilities and on partnerships," Commercial Director Adrian Parkes told ATWOnline while in Brussels to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the carrier's Belgian service. "Of course we have the desire to go for it as soon as we are ready." Bmi will be looking to add new long-haul aircraft if it opts to enhance its US operation. It currently has no orders or options for such aircraft.
LA/Palmdale Regional Airport will get its first scheduled service June 7 when United Airlines begins RJ flights to San Francisco. The Los Angeles airports department is refurbishing the civilian terminal on the joint-use field and will provide $1.2 million worth of free rent, marketing and other support for the service, which also is partly funded by a $900,000 federal grant. Los Angeles owns 17,000 acres at the airport, located about 50 mi. northeast of the city.
United Airlines yesterday launched its daily Washington Dulles-Beijing service aboard a 347-seat 747-400 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 10). Air Midwest launched a six-times-weekly Las Vegas-Cedar City-Farmington service operated as US Airways Express. The Las Vegas-Cedar City segment doubles the frequency on that route. Spirit Airlines will operate daily Las Vegas-Atlantic City flights from May 3.
Aviation Communication & Surveillance Systems told ATWOnline it will push US FAA to include "other aircraft" on GPS moving map displays of runways and taxiways that the agency said likely will be available for cockpit retrofits following a fast-track certification later this year.
Talk of a possible bid for Iberia continued to soar in the wake of last week's approval of the EU-US open skies agreement, with Texas Pacific Group--a member of Airline Partners Australia and among those shortlisted to bid for Alitalia--added to the list of potential suitors that already includes British Airways, Lufthansa and an unnamed Spanish investment fund.
US airline industry representatives voiced support yesterday for FAA's planned streamlining of the certification process for technology allowing pilots to view their aircraft's "own ship" position on runways and taxiways via moving map displays but warned that the technology does not offer a complete cure for runway incursions.
AirTran Airways will launch daily flights from Orlando International to Memphis and Kansas City and a second daily MCO-Milwaukee flight on May 8. It also added a third daily Atlanta-Phoenix service. Ethiopian Airlines plans to launch four-times-weekly Addis Ababa-Bahrain flights from May 14, the first nonstop offering on the route, and will operate thrice-weekly Addis Ababa-Sanaa service from June 3. Horizon Air will launch daily CRJ700 service from Spokane to Sacramento and Los Angeles on July 1.
DHL is inaugurating a new US West Coast international gateway at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif., today, promoting the facility as a hub at which transpacific airfreight can be sorted quickly for delivery in the western US. The site has been used as a domestic West Coast distribution complex since DHL invested $70 million in 2005 in the lease and development of the dual-use facility that is shared with the US Air Force Reserve. A $3 million upgrade and today's planned arrival of a freighter from Hong Kong will mark Riverside's launch as an international site.
Cebu Pacific Air will operate additional daily frequencies from Manila to Legaspi, Davao, Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod and Iloilo through June 12. All services are on A319s or A320s. American Airlines announced an upgrade to its Raleigh/Durham service comprising new twice-daily American Eagle flights to Louisville, Jacksonville and Kansas City starting May 1, a daily mainline MD-80 flight to New York LaGuardia from April 10 and an upgrade in service to Austin from American Eagle to mainline MD-80s.
KLM launched six-times-weekly nonstop Amsterdam-Lima service Sunday aboard 777-200ERs, becoming daily Dec. 1. Through Saturday, Lima service was via Bonaire aboard MD-11s.
As part of an effort to reduce the risk of runway incursions, US FAA said Friday it is streamlining the certification process for technology that will allow pilots to view their aircraft's "own ship" position on runways and taxiways via a moving map display using GPS technology similar to GPS devices commonly used in automobiles.
US and European airlines largely hailed EU transport ministers' approval of the open skies agreement yesterday, though British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways led a chorus on the European side cautioning that the deal is just a "first step" toward creation of a truly open transatlantic air market by 2010.
Canada's airports and government, already under fire for high fees, yesterday were forced to defend against charges from a senior Canadian legislator that airport security is lax and little more than a "PR show."
Although unable to slow the momentum toward unanimous passage of the recently negotiated open skies agreement between the EU and US, UK Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander nevertheless salvaged a couple of concessions during yesterday's vote by the EU's Transport, Telecommunications and Energy Council that established open skies and opened London Heathrow to competition.
Norwegian will operate four-times-weekly Stockholm Arlanda-Paris Orly flights beginning May 4. CSA Czech Airlines will place its code on Delta Air Lines' four-times-weekly Atlanta-Prague service from May. Flights operate five-times-weekly June 4-Sept. 1.
US FAA said it plans to hire nearly 1,400 air traffic controllers this year for a net increase of 189 over 2006 hiring levels. It plans to hire and train more than 15,000 controllers over the next decade. It currently employs 14,618.
Lufthansa is exploring transferring its Moscow airport operation from Sheremeteyvo to Domodedovo. "We are discussing such a move," LH Executive VP-Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori told ATWOnline, adding that an announcement may come this year. DME is making an effort to woo the carrier and a source close to the airport told this website that the move could happen in time for the summer 2008 schedule. Star Alliance member Austrian Airlines switched to DME last month ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Ryanair will launch thrice-weekly London Stansted-Maribor service on June 5. It expects to carry 40,000 passengers in the first year of operation. Iberia is increasing its New York JFK-Madrid service to 14-times-weekly from 10 beginning March 25. It also will begin using A340-600s on the route, raising overall capacity 68% compared to the winter season.
