Singapore Airlines once again applied pressure on the Australian government for access to the Sydney-Los Angeles/San Francisco route after Virgin Blue announced it will not launch transpacific services until 2008 at the earliest. In a statement, SIA said, "Consumers will now be waiting at least another two full years before there's any new competition on that route.
EU yesterday reached an expanded aviation services agreement with Morocco, announced new negotiations with Ukraine and referred Greece to the European Court of Justice. The deal with Morocco, signed by EU VP-Transport Jacques Barrot and Moroccan Minister of Transport Karim Ghellab, is a "new type of aviation agreement" that replaces all bilaterals between the North African nation and EU members and includes open skies as well as initiatives to enhance security and safety and the harmonization of competition, state-aid, environmental and consumer protection rules.
The UK Office of Fair Trading yesterday issued a preliminary recommendation that airports operator BAA be investigated by the country's Competition Commission, a move prompted in part by the fact "that the current market structure does not deliver best value for air travelers in the UK and that greater competition within the industry could bring significant benefits for passengers," according to OFT CEO John Fingleton.
Transwede Airways signed a long-term deal to operate three RJ70s on behalf of Air One at London City. Transwede will fly the aircraft an average of eight-times-daily to Milan Linate, Rome Fiumicino, Turin and Genoa. Service to LIN has launched and all routes will be fully operational in January.
Delta Air Lines, which has been shifting its primary focus to international services as part of its bankruptcy restructuring, yesterday launched weekly New York JFK-Accra flights aboard a 767-300ER, the 14th international route added at JFK this year by DL, which now operates flights to 34 international destinations from the airport. It pointed out that the new flight makes it the only US major to operate a direct JFK-Africa service.
Singapore Airlines CEO Chew Choon Seng told ATWOnline in Istanbul that the recently announced bid for Qantas might be a wakeup call for Australian officials who favor protecting the flag carrier to the detriment of SIA's wish to operate a transpacific service from Australia.
Qantas is focusing its Japanese service on Tokyo Narita following Jetstar's approval to operate long-haul flights from Australia. "We intend to grow both Qantas and Jetstar in international markets but we must match the appropriate cost structure and style of service to individual markets," Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon said.
Doha International Airport opened its $90 million first and business class-only terminal to the public this week. The terminal extends to 10,000 sq. m. with five gates and features dedicated first and business class check-in desks as well as passenger facilities such as a sauna and massage rooms. Doha's new facility is part of a $200 million upgrade of the airport.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair entered into a comprehensive codeshare agreement resulting from the recent integration of the two carriers. It applies to seven cities and took effect from Dec. 1 on all flights from Hong Kong to Shanghai, Beijing, Xiamen, Tokyo and Kota Kinabalu. It also will apply to two new Dragonair destinations: Phuket from Dec. 15 and Busan from Jan. 19. Dragonair became a wholly owned subsidiary of Cathay Pacific on Sept. 28. Air Baltic will operate a weekly 737 Riga-Dubai flight from Dec. 26 to Mar. 24, its first long-haul route.
Bowing to domestic political pressure exacerbated by the Democrats' rise to power in last month's midterm elections, the US Dept. of Transportation yesterday abandoned its 13-month effort to ease restrictions on foreign control of domestic airlines, delivering a setback to a potential open skies agreement with the EU.
British Airways yesterday said it was "extremely disappointed" at the UK CAA's proposed price caps at BAA's London airports that will take effect in 2008. The framework for the new pricing scheme, to be implemented in April 2008 and continue for five years, also includes a recommendation that the government remove price controls at London Stansted. But it was the proposal for LHR and LGW that drew BA's ire.
Virgin Atlantic Airways will launch a daily London Heathrow-Chicago O'Hare service on April 23 and a second daily LHR-Washington Dulles flight from April 24. ORD will become Virgin's 28th destination and 10th in the US. Both new flights will be operated with 240-seat A340-300s. Royal Jordanian launched a weekly A310 freighter service to London Stansted that will supplement its weekly flight to Heathrow.
China Airlines will launch a twice-weekly Taipei-Stockholm cargo service on Dec. 6 aboard a 747-400F. Outbound flight will stop in Abu Dhabi and Luxembourg, return flight will stop in Abu Dhabi and Bangkok.
Lufthansa inaugurated its thrice-weekly Frankfurt-Kolkata service Friday, making the West Bengal capital its sixth destination in India. Lufthansa Passenger Airlines Executive VP-Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori spoke to ATWOnline at the launch event about the carrier's strategy for the subcontinent. LH generates 20% of its €2.5 billion ($3.33 billion) annual passenger turnover in the Asia/Pacific market and operates 45 weekly flights to India (38 from FRA and seven from Munich) with 20,000 total seats. "In 2003 we had 23 weekly frequencies.
Declaring that the "monopolistic practices among airport authorities in Latin America have to stop now," ALTA Executive Director Alex de Gunten harshly criticized rising airport charges across the region Friday, singling out airports in Argentina, Ecuador, Costa Rico and Mexico.
SOMEDAY IN THE NOT-TOO-distant future, perhaps within the next 5-6 years, unmanned aerial vehicle systems will begin to share the airways with passenger aircraft. Although some have voiced concern about the pace at which this is occurring, a consensus is growing that nothing will stop the march of this new dimension of aviation.
AN ANNUAL "AIRCRAFT crash" emergency drill is winding down on a bright autumn morning at Edmonton International Airport and firefighters who had been simulating a search for debris and victims are beginning to relax. They toss a blue rubber ball in the expansive grass field where the drill has taken placeadjacent to the airport's two 10,500-ft.-plus runwaysand watch as Badge the fire dog chases after it. The canine gallops at full speed, snares the ball and returns it to the firemen, who toss it again. Badge races after it, stretching his legs on the wide-open field.
AirTran Airways will launch service from Newburgh, N.Y.--its 51st destination--on Jan. 11 with 717-200 flights to Atlanta (twice-daily), Fort Lauderdale (five-times-weekly becoming daily from Feb. 15), Orlando (daily) and Tampa (five-times-weekly becoming daily from Feb. 15). Tampa Cargo launched operations to Los Angeles (twice-weekly from Bogota) and Manaus (twice-weekly from LAX via Colombia). Tampa Cargo now serves 17 destinations in North and South America and the Caribbean.
American Airlines will abandon its services from Boston to Baltimore/Washington International and Orlando International on Dec. 13, according to The Boston Globe. AirTran Airways will begin operating the MCO service Dec. 21. AA still will serve 23 destinations from Logan and is working with local authorities on an upgrade of its facilities at the airport, the paper said. Frontier Airlines will launch daily San Francisco-Las Vegas service on Dec. 14.
Air Canada and WestJet responded to the Canadian government's new Blue Sky policy with guarded optimism this week, saying they looked forward to the opportunities that would accompany new bilateral agreements, open skies and liberalized access and pricing but that "a level playing field" is critical to ensuring Canadian carriers can compete. "Air Canada has been supportive of a liberalization of Canada's international aviation agreements provided it is done on an equitable and reciprocal basis," Executive VP and CCO Sean Menke said.
Lufthansa will continue to strengthen its second hub at Munich International Airport and plans to base approximately 120 aircraft there for the summer 2007 schedule. "For 2006, LH expects more than 20 million passengers in Terminal 2 in MUC," Group Representative and Head of Hub Management Munich Karl Ulrich Garnadt told ATWOnline in the Bavarian capital.
DHL relocated its office and warehouse facilities in Charlotte to a 52,000-sq.-ft. site near Charlotte International Airport that is twice the size of its previous location. The facility will include 38,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space and is aimed at expediting air and ocean shipping by taking advantage of proximity to the airport and its customs facilities.
