Accident investigators are looking at whether heavy fog played a role in Saturday's crash of a UTair Tu-134 that killed six passengers at Samara Airport. Reports from the city in southwest Russia and data supplied by the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network said the aircraft landed 400 m. short of the runway and flipped over after the left wing touched the ground. There were 50 passengers and seven crew onboard.
Etihad Airways will launch thrice-weekly service to Toronto (aboard an A340-500 from June 2) and Brussels (aboard an A330-200 from June 1) from Abu Dhabi. Air Berlin will begin a six-times-weekly Berlin Tegel-Gothenburg service on May 2. Malaysia Airlines and Transaero Airlines have launched a partnership to develop Moscow Domodedovo-Kuala Lumpur service. Initial phase lasts through this month during which Transaero will operate the route with a 767-300 with MAS as a codeshare partner.
Thai Airways, Nok Air, One-Two-Go Airlines and Orient Thai Airlines will resume domestic operations at Bangkok's old Don Muang Airport on March 25. Last Sunday Thai moved 29 truckloads of passenger and ground handling equipment back to Don Muang from the new Suvarnabhumi International, where a few gates at a time are being taken out of service to facilitate airfield pavement repairs ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8). Don Muang was closed to scheduled commercial traffic when Suvarnabhumi opened Sept.
Vietnam Airlines unveiled a redesigned and upgraded website enabling it to launch e-ticketing this quarter. Domestic fares are available online with the rest of the schedule slated for release next month. Separately, VN started four-times-weekly Hanoi-Luang Prabang service aboard 65-seat ATR 72s. It is the carrier's second destination in Laos.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Executive Director Anthony Shorris blasted airlines for poor treatment of passengers at New York JFK and other New York airports during recent winter storms. Noting "uniquely powerful ice storms" that hit New York over the weekend and earlier this winter, he told media gathered at the airport yesterday for the A380 proving flight landing that bad decisions were made and resulted in too many passengers stranded on delayed aircraft. He did not single out specific carriers.
Aerolineas Argentinas and Avianca signed a codeshare agreement last week under which AR passengers on the carrier's thrice-weekly flights to Bogota will be able to connect to AV's domestic services while AV passengers flying to Argentina will have access to domestic flights operated by AR or Austral Lineas Aereas. Singapore Airlines and US Airways announced a codeshare deal under which SIA passengers to Los Angeles or San Francisco can connect to US flights to Las Vegas, Phoenix and New York JFK via Charlotte.
The tentative EU-US open skies agreement continued to elicit a variety of responses last week, including unexpectedly strong support from Airports Council International-Europe and ACI-North America, which issued a statement jointly urging the signing of the accord at the forthcoming EU/US Summit on April 30.
Qatar Airways won Australian government approval for daily service to Melbourne, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport Mark Vaile told reporters last week. QR also can introduce a second daily service to an additional Australian city next year. In response, Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said his airline "will have no option but to achieve further cost savings if it is to remain competitive" now that more carriers are gaining access to the country.
US FAA estimates it will need $15-$22 billion through 2025 to fund transformation of "grossly inefficient" radar-based ATC into the "NextGen" satellite-based system, including $4.3 billion over the next five years, and is pushing Congress to reform the agency's funding mechanism and allow it to borrow money when necessary.
British Airways announced an expansion of its operation at London City, which it retained as part of its deal to sell BA Connect to Flybe ( ATWOnline, March 6). BA's new CityFlyer subsidiary will operate 250 weekly flights from LCY, a more than 73.6% increase from its current program of 144, to six UK and European destinations beginning March 26 aboard 10 RJ100s. It will launch new four-times-daily service to Glasgow International and Zurich and also will fly to Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Madrid and Milan Malpensa.
The UK reportedly is taking another crack at excluding London Heathrow from a liberalized transatlantic aviation environment, a move it attempted during an early round of open skies negotiations between the EU and US several years ago. "Britain is talking bilaterally to the Americans and to the German [EU] presidency. It wants a year's delay in opening Heathrow," an EU source told Reuters. A UK Dept. of Transport spokesperson confirmed that "negotiations are ongoing. We wouldn't say anything that would prejudice them."
Malaysia Airlines will launch a new subsidiary next month called Firefly that will operate two F50s out of Penang, according to press reports. Firefly will serve Kota Bahru, Langkawi, Kuantan, Kuala Terengganu (all twice-daily) and the Thai cities of Phuket and Koh Samui (daily). MAS CEO Idris Jala told reporters that Firefly will break even in its first year, "should be able to make money" in its second and is not subsidized by the government.
United Airlines and United Express will start service from Denver to Dayton (daily from April 24 aboard GoJet Airlines CRJ700s), Raleigh/Durham (from April 24) and Kalispell, Mont. (twice-daily from June 7) aboard SkyWest Airlines 50-seat CRJs. SpiceJet launched daily Bangalore-Hyderabad-Kolkata and daily Bangalore-Mumbai flights aboard 737-800s.
Vueling Airlines selected Paris Charles de Gaulle as its first base outside Spain ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27). The carrier will base three new A320s at CDG and operate services to Spain, Italy and the Netherlands from May 16.
Dubai International Airport was closed for 8 hr. yesterday following the aborted takeoff of a Biman Bangladesh Airlines A310, which reportedly skidded on the runway and lost its nosewheel. The airport said 27 of 229 people aboard "sustained minor injuries" and that 71 flights were affected by the closure. Incoming flights were diverted to other airports in the United Arab Emirates as well as Muscat, Kuwait and Shiraz.
Cathay Pacific Airways increased freighter service to Europe to 36 weekly flights from 25. Flights to Frankfurt via Dubai operate 11-times-weekly, up from six. The remaining six additions will operate on the Hong Kong-Dubai-Manchester-Amsterdam-Dubai-Hong Kong route. Amsterdam is a new CX freighter destination. SAS Scandinavian Airlines will discontinue its Copenhagen-Shanghai Pudong service from April 8 and focus its Chinese service on Beijing, which it will serve with 10 flights per week by September.
Record levels of passenger and cargo traffic are straining airport capacity, a problem that must be addressed in US FAA's reauthorization program, Airports Council International-North America President Gregory Principato testified before the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation last week. US airports need to be able to provide the appropriate facilities, including new runways, to accommodate demand, he said. FAA's current fee structure expires Sept. 30 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 15).
Southwest Airlines is expecting 7%-8% capacity growth this year as it takes delivery of "at least" 37 737s, CEO Gary Kelly said yesterday as the LCC unveiled a series of new routes and frequency increases. New services include daily Fort Lauderdale-Providence and Houston Hobby-San Diego starting June 4, five-times-daily Denver-Oakland from June 17 and daily Baltimore/Washington-Oklahoma City beginning Aug. 4.
Continental Airlines will launch daily Newark-Mumbai flights Oct. 30 aboard two-class 777-200s. BOM will be CO's second Indian destination following Delhi. CO will launch daily Newark-Athens flights June 7 aboard 174-seat, two-class 767-200ERs. Service will be five-times-weekly in April, May, September and October and thrice-weekly from November through March. Finnair will launch daily Helsinki-Osaka service at the end of May on MD-11s and add a fourth weekly A340 flight to Nagoya from mid-June.
Low-cost airlines operate one of every five flights in Germany, according to a report issued this week by German air traffic authority Deutsche Flugsicherung. LCC market share rose to 19.1% in 2006 from 15.5% in 2005.
Sterling Airlines will operate twice-weekly flights from Copenhagen to Edinburgh May 15-Sept. 7 aboard a 737-500, to Biarritz May 14-Oct. 25 aboard a -500 and to Oslo Gardermoen May 15-Aug. 31 aboard a 737-700.
Nok Air confirmed its relocation from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi back to Don Muang effective March 25 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8). It will have eight check-in counters and three ticketing counters at DMK.
The US Dept. of Transportation told ATWOnline yesterday that the proposed EU-US open skies agreement reached last week does not contain a clause exposing US carriers to inclusion in the European emissions trading scheme, refuting information supplied to this website.
