The commercialization of air navigation services in Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and the UK has "generally resulted in lower fees for major carriers," while "safety has not eroded," according to a study by the US General Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress. As of March 2005, 38 nations worldwide had commercialized their ANS providers, according to GAO. The US is one of the few remaining holdouts among major westernized nations. FAA remains responsible for operating the air traffic control system as well as for regulatory oversight.
Finnair and Qantas, both oneworld members, began codeshare flights between Helsinki and Brisbane via Singapore. Finnair currently operates four weekly flights to Singapore and will move to daily service on the route from May 30 to Sept. 1. The carriers have an existing codeshare agreement on flights between Helsinki and Sydney via Bangkok.
Ryanair will launch four new European routes from its Frankfurt-Hahn base to bring the number of destinations it serves from the airport to 27. Daily flights to Bratislava, Porto and Gdansk will commence Oct. 30, while four-times-weekly service to Rzeszow will start Nov. 1. The LCC said it expects to carry in excess of 3 million passengers through Frankfurt-Hahn this year.
Swissport International was awarded a contract from Asiana Airlines to provide air cargo handling for the carrier at Amsterdam Schiphol beginning June 1.
Austrian Airlines will boost service from Vienna to Kiev in cooperation with partner Ukraine International. Austrian will add eight more frequencies on the route in phases. It currently operates twice-daily flights between the cities and altogether serves five cities in the Ukraine with 44 flights per week from Vienna.
British Airways announced that it will increase flights to India later this year following the new air services agreement reached between the UK and Indian governments earlier this month that allows more flights between the countries ( ATWOnline, April 14).
Frontier Airlines filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation for authorization to expand its Mexico service with the launch of three weekly nonstop flights to Puerto Vallarta from both Kansas City and Salt Lake City. In addition, it filed for authority to operate thrice-weekly nonstop service from Denver to Cozumel.
Thales was awarded a further three contracts by CAAC to provide six en route secondary radars in China's eastern corridor as part of the ongoing upgrade of civil aviation infrastructure throughout the country. Under the deals, Thales will supply its RSM 970S monopulse secondary surveillance radar at Zhanjiang, Baise, Changqing, Shanghai, Xiangfan and Zhangjiajie. Separately, Thales said it completed site acceptance tests for the Croatian air traffic management system, which took place in Zagreb.
USA3000 Airlines will launch new nonstop service from Orlando McCoy International to Cleveland, Newark, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh May 1. The carrier also will begin two weekly flights between Baltimore/Washington International and Nassau Sept. 1.
Continental Airlines will begin new daily nonstop service between Houston George Bush Intercontinental and Cali July 15 using a 737-700 in a two-class configuration.
Emirates SkyCargo increased its cargo capacity between Hong Kong and Dubai in response to high demand. The new freighter service, in partnership with SAS Cargo, began March 29, taking SkyCargo's 747-400F services between the cities to nine per week.
China Southern Airlines yesterday unveiled its new summer schedule, which includes flight increases on routes from Guangzhou to both Beijing and Shanghai. In addition, the airline is adjusting its schedules to Australia, the US, United Arab Emirates, Vietnam and Japan. The summer schedule will be in effect until Oct. 29.
Malev will begin a new twice-weekly F70 service from Budapest to Constanza. It also will start thrice-weekly seasonal nonstop flights from Dublin and Helsinki to Athens using 737-300s.
India's Jet Airways, which launched service to Singapore last week, will start daily flights to Kuala Lumpur on May 5 and to London on May 23. Also on the international horizon are six weekly flights to New York from early July.
Lufthansa and JAT Airways expanded their codeshare to include both carriers' flights between Belgrade and Frankfurt and between Belgrade and Munich beginning April 18. The airlines began codeshare operations last June when JAT started placing its code on Lufthansa flights on the routes.
Ryanair said it reached agreement with Infratil to base up to four new 737s and deliver up to 2 million passengers per year to Lubeck Airport. The city of Lubeck lies approximately 41 mi. northeast of Hamburg near the Baltic coast. The agreement is subject to successful completion of a conditional purchase deal between the city, which owns the airfield, and Infratil, an international airport and infrastructure investor that owns Wellington International and Glasgow Prestwick.
Airlines plan to operate more than 8,400 flights between North America and the Asia/Pacific region in April, up 11% over April 2004 and only marginally below the level for April 2001, according to OAG's "Global Airline Capacity Bulletin." Although US domestic schedules are up only 3%, OAG VP-Sales and Service John Laughlin noted that this equates to 27,000 additional flights, "more than the entire monthly schedule for all of the Middle East." US airlines "will operate 883,000 domestic flights--over 200,000 more than the total number of flights operating to, from and within Europe," he
Northwest Airlines will begin one daily nonstop flight between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Marquette, Mich., June 8. The new flight will be operated by Northwest Airlink partner Mesaba Airlines using a Saab 340.
America West Airlines and Royal Jordanian expanded their codeshare agreement for the summer season. The new accord includes twice-weekly nonstop service between Amman and Detroit, which will operate from May 23 to Sept. 28; five weekly flights from Amman to New York JFK, which will operate from June 1 to Oct. 26, and four weekly flights between Amman and Chicago O'Hare, which will begin May 24 and run through Sept. 27. All flights will be operated by Royal Jordanian.
Qantas said it will install CCTV surveillance equipment in baggage handling areas at terminals throughout Australia that are either owned or solely leased by the airline. CEO Geoff Dixon said the carrier also will place surveillance equipment in the holds of some of its aircraft and at other airport locations and increase "loss prevention measures," including increased inspections of staff entering and leaving the workplace. He said the decision to upgrade security measures was a result of "heightened public concern around security of baggage."
Phoenix Sky Harbor received an explosives detection trace portal to screen passengers at its new Terminal 4A security checkpoint, the US Transportation Security Administration announced. The equipment is part of a pilot program to test and evaluate the trace portal. Several other US airports are participating in the program.
Continental Airlines will begin daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Queretaro June 9 and will launch four weekly nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Durango June 9, increasing to daily July 2. Continental Express will operate both routes with ERJ-145s.
