JetBlue will launch a single daily return service between Boston and Seattle Nov. 3. Seattle is the LCC's 10th nonstop destination out of Boston. Delta Air Lines begins service from New York JFK to both Austin and San Antonio Oct. 15. Flights will be operated by Shuttle America using Embraer 170s as Delta Connection. Austin will receive two daily return services and San Antonio one.
United Airlines' low-fare unit Ted will take over mainline service from Chicago O'Hare to West Palm Beach beginning Dec. 15. Ted will start Saturday-only service from O'Hare to Los Cabos Oct. 15, rising to four times per week from Dec. 15.
Overlooking the ramp at Akron-Canton, Airport Director Fred Krum reaches into a desk drawer and pulls out his most prized possession. Like a man handling precious parchment, he reverently places it on his desk and smiles. "This is our Napkin Plan," he says. His aim: Nonstop service to 20 destinations. "We're at 13," he comments.
THe airline industry is looking at Europe's satellite navigation system, dubbed Galileo, with a good deal of caution. This is understandable in view of the industry's day-to-day preoccupation with rising fuel prices, falling fares, escalating user fees, increasing environmental regulation, excess capacity and security issues. Additionally, Galileo will not become operational before 2008, a very long timescale in today's airline business. Yet if it lives up to its promise, it finally could provide the capability to complete the long-anticipated transition from ground-based navaids.
The sixth-busiest AIRPORT in the world wants to get a whole lot busier. With a stunning new 2.1-million-sq.-ft. international terminal and 21 domestic gates left vacant by Delta Air Lines' departure, Dallas/Fort Worth International's air service development staff is courting carriers all over the world, telling them how they can make money deep in the heart of Texas. It is offering an incentive package worth up to $22.2 million to any
A hare has joined the tortoise in the race to bring so-called trusted traveler programs to US airports. At Orlando International, a private company called Verified Identity Pass Inc. is taking a lead role in a program that promises a speedier trip through airport security in return for an $80 fee. Industry observers say the entrance of businesses into a realm where the government has held the reins is sure to speed up the eventual rollout of an interoperable program nationwide, though concerns about privacy and profit- making could pose hurdles.
A big warm California welcome awaits the A380 in San Francisco. Four of the available gates in the 1.8-million-sq.-ft. international terminal, the largest in the US in passenger-processing capacity, are scaled for new aircraft with two-level boarding.
Even before Ryanair Director-New Route Development Bernard Berger could begin his presentation on what an airport has to do in order to attract a low-cost carrier, a delegate from a smaller French regional airport participating in the French Connect seminar in Sheffield earlier this year whispered, "We know which strategy we have to implement to attract them: Give it all for free." Not without some irony, she continued, "I have been too kind here; they expect us to pay them for the honor of operating from our airports."
Its not because it is a terminal that will be used by low-cost carriers that it should be unpleasant or disagreeable for the passengers, Marketing Director Philippe Wilmart tells AE&T. Mp2 will have a hip look with flashy colors while applying the same philosophy of the LCCs, namely exclude some of the frills which are standard in a traditional terminal like carpets and moving walkways while outsourcing as much as possible of the handling process to the passengers.
For more than a year, Paul Barron, CEO of the UK's National Air Traffic Services, has been talking and listening hard-to more than 5,000 staff members, but not to the media. Now he feels ready to talk about the stronger, leaner, more robust organization over which he presides.
The onset of the European winter signals a trying and testing time for aviation. Longer periods of darkness and cold, poor visibility, rain, ice and snow all mean potential trouble for airlines. Recent accidents underline the need for flightcrews to be trained properly in the potential hazards of snow and ice on the performance of the aircraft they are flying. FAA and JAA rules are very clear that no one may take off with frost, snow or ice adhering to any propeller or powerplant or with snow or ice on the wings or control surfaces.
Damage from Hurricane Katrina will affect airline operations in New Orleans and Gulfport-Biloxi at least through the end of this week. According to a statement on FAA's website, Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport is expected to resume commercial operations Friday. A reopening date for Gulfport-Biloxi Regional Airport has not been determined.
Ryanair is to withdraw up to 12 flights per week from Newquay following a decision by the Cornwall County Council to impose a £5 ($8.90) surcharge on passengers departing from the airport. "Ryanair has always made it very clear to Cornwall County Council that their airport and region is part of a competitive price-sensitive market that must compete with 84 other low-fare destinations from London Stansted," Deputy CEO Michael Cawley said.
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport and Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport remained closed yesterday owing to storm damage and flood waters from Hurricane Katrina as US airlines continued to cancel flights into the Gulf Coast region, with many not expecting to resume service before Friday. An even bigger challenge for the carriers is the price of oil, which surged to more than $70 per barrel as refineries in the region shut down in the face of the storm. In Washington, Air Transport Assn.
Etihad Airways will commence twice-weekly service to Johannesburg Dec. 3 using A340-300s configured for 265 passengers in three classes. Kenya Airways will operate a weekly service from London Heathrow Terminal 4 to Mombasa via Nairobi using a 777 beginning Dec. 9. Swiss International Air Lines will start a new cooperation with Darwin Airline from Lugano to Zurich with four daily flights from Oct. 30. Darwin plans to double its Saab 2000 fleet to four aircraft.
Lufthansa and Fraport, which operates its Frankfurt hub, reached an agreement on cutting the cost of ground handling at the airport. According to Reuters, which cited management board member Carsten Spohr, Lufthansa will not achieve its target of reducing its €160 million ($195.9 million) bill by €50 million when a contract expires at year end, "but we will significantly reduce our costs."
Frontier Airlines filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation for authorization to offer service between Indianapolis and Cancun with three flights per week. It already serves six destinations in Mexico and is awaiting DOT approval for service to Acapulco.
Austrian Airlines will launch weekly seasonal 737-600 service from Innsbruck to Moscow Dec 16 and to Warsaw Dec 18. AAG also will operate three weekly services to London from Innsbruck in the winter season. It will transfer its remaining Vienna-Ljubljana services to codeshare partner Adria Airways with the beginning of the winter schedule. Midwest Airlines will launch single daily nonstop service in three markets from Kansas City: San Diego, Orlando and Pittsburgh.
Air Baltic will start a four-times-weekly F50 service from Riga to Liepaja on Sept. 5. This will be its first domestic route and the first in Latvia in 20 years.
Malaysian government ministers are talking openly of the need to restructure Malaysia Airlines' unprofitable domestic services. Yesterday, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Chan Kong Choy told a press conference, "We are mindful of the urgency." Earlier this week, Malaysia Airlines MD Ahmad Fuaad Dahlan announced his retirement after a 32-year career with the carrier as it reported a loss of MYR280.7 million ($74.5 million) for the three months ended June 30. He was named MD in April 2004 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23).
As part of the integration of Swiss International Air Lines into the Lufthansa system, the carriers announced they will operate all services between Switzerland and Germany, a total of 563 weekly flights, as codeshare flights with introduction of the 2005-06 winter schedules from Oct. 30.
Domodedovo International said it maintained the lead among Moscow's airports in terms of passenger traffic, with 7.5 million passengers handled in the first seven months of 2005, a 12.3% increase over the same period of 2004. July's passenger turnover amounted to 1.6 million, up 15.5% over July 2004. The highest growth was recorded on routes to Antalya, Tel Aviv, Tashkent, Sharm el Sheikh, Barcelona, Sochi and Frankfurt, with Domodedovo serving 1.6 million passengers on these routes in January-July, up 150% compared to last year.
American Airlines applied to the US Dept. of Transportation to offer nonstop service from St. Louis to Puerto Vallarta from Feb. 4 to April 1. The winter season flights will operate on Saturdays using a 136-seat MD-80. AA already offers seasonal service from St. Louis to Cancun on both Saturday and Sunday using 188-seat 757s and the Cancun flights will resume Oct. 30. The carrier also offers daily connecting service to both destinations through its DFW hub. Ukraine International Airlines will start a five-times-weekly Kiev-Milan service Oct 31.
The UK's National Air Traffic Services suffered a service interruption Wednesday morning, causing flight delays mainly at UK airports, while the Eurocontrol Upper Area Control Center at Maastricht decided to cut capacity by 50% during a 35-min. period, resulting in extra delays to flights from UK airports to and from Europe. NATS' Flight Data Processing system at West Drayton developed a fault at 9:30 a.m. local time and was restored to full operation by 9:50 a.m. However, it took several hours to clear the backlog and restore schedules.
