The Middle East Business Aviation Association (MEBAA) is today celebrating a decision by the Iraqi Civil Aviation Authority (ICAA) to terminate an exclusive flight permit contract which penalised business aviation.
Silver Airways will relocate its maintenance department from Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., to a new 61,000 sq. ft. facility at Gainesville Regional Airport. The airline was launched in May 2011 following the acquisition of select assets from former Gulfstream International Airlines. It operates more than 100 daily scheduled flights to/from 29 gateways in Florida, The Bahamas, Montana, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
The Chinese government has raised domestic jet fuel prices to CNY7,465 ($1,186) per ton, up 1.43% from CNY7,360 per ton in January, dealing another blow to Chinese carriers that have already suffered from a decline in domestic market demand and air fares following the Chinese Spring Festival.
Flight attendants from Southwest Airlines (SWA), represented by the Transport Workers Union (TWU), and AirTran Airways, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA) voted to ratify their seniority integration agreement. The tentative agreement, reached late last year, integrates the two groups' seniority lists ( ATW Daily News, Dec. 27, 2011).
US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood expressed optimism that a "long-term" FAA reauthorization bill is finally nearing completion and passage in Congress after years of stops and starts in legislative talks.
IATA reported that international premium traffic for November grew 1.7% compared to the year-ago month, but increased only 0.6% compared to October. The level of premium travel has “trended downwards from the high point reached earlier in 2011,” IATA said in its latest premium traffic monitor. IATA predicted there will be little growth in premium travel over the next few months because “world trade growth has slowed to a virtual halt in recent months and business confidence in the major industrial economies has fallen sharply.”
All Nippon Airways (ANA) pilot unions have threatened a 24-hr. strike Wednesday but the airline said it is continuing negotiations to try stave off the planned industrial action and disruption to passenger services.
With six months of preparation, an intensive 10 day logistics program and a three-day onsite operation, BAS - the Bahrain Airport Services business - has successfully concluded the management of the ground handling services for the Bahrain International Airshow 2012 (BIAS).
ServiceTec won an installation and support contract to install and maintain ARINC vMUSE systems at Berlin Brandenburg International. Hardware installation is slated for completion by February. Turkish Technic has been named a member of the worldwide Airbus maintenance, repair and overhaul network.
US Airways (US) has reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement with the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA) to unite US and former America West flight attendants. AFA represents the airline's 6,700 mainline flight attendants. The tentative agreement, which must be approved by the AFA master executive council, will be sent to its members in the coming weeks. AFA did not announce details of the agreement.
The Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) has released preliminary figures for 2011 showing steady growth in international air passenger demand but weak international freight markets. The 16 member airlines carried 190 million international passengers in 2011, 3.5% more than the previous year, while RPKs grew by 3.7%. Capacity growth for the year was 6.3%, resulting in an international passenger load factor of 76.4%, down two percentage points.
The new chairman of the Assn. of European Airlines (AEA) has warned that tensions arising from the controversial EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) tax will be extremely damaging for European air travel. Bernard Gustin, AEA chair and co-chief executive of Brussels Airlines, said that Europe was bracing itself for a “turbulent 2012” and it was therefore “more critical than ever to have a competitive and thriving European airline industry.”
The European Commission (EC) has opened an investigation to assess whether the transatlantic joint venture (JV) between Air France-KLM (AF-KL), Alitalia (AZ) and Delta Air Lines (DL) breaches EU antitrust rules.
It’s sometimes easy to forget that this industry, with its constant exposure to the impact of the economy, political upheavals, wars and other events outside of its control, has much to celebrate.
Iberia (IB) and unions representing flight attendants reached an accord, averting a strike to protest the possible impact on their jobs due to Iberia Express. The 4,000 cabin crew had planned to walk out Feb. 3, 6, 10 and 13. However, the airline’s pilots are still moving ahead with their industrial action Friday and Monday ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 25).
The management shakeup at Airbus and its parent EADS that was announced Thursday, which promotes Airbus CEO Tom Enders to chief executive at EADS, marks a follow-through on the Franco-German compromise hammered out in the 2007 summer.
AFI KLM E&M has completed maintenance checks, repainting and modifications on two Boeing 737-800s under a contract from Air Lease Corp. The aircraft have been delivered to new lessees, Caribbean Airlines and Transaero Airlines. Ameco Beijing completed business-class modifications of 16 Air China Airbus A330-200s. It will begin cabin upgrades on the carrier's Boeing 777 fleet this summer.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has granted interim approval for a proposed corporate alliance between Virgin Australia (DJ) and Perth-based Skywest Airlines (XR).
Boeing posted 2011 net income of $4.02 billion, up 21.5% over a net profit of $3.31 billion in 2010, as the company's Boeing Commercial Airplanes (BCA) unit increased revenue 13.6% year-over-year to $36.17 billion.
Internet Travel Brands acquires The Frugal Travel Guy blog SITA claims a milestone in near-field communications Amadeus report envisions new era of collaboration in travel A closer look at the Travelport Smartpoint App Atmosphere Research Group says ‘daily deals’ attract leisure travelers In Focus: A David-and-Goliath tale in airline revenue integrity World news briefing
David Harms is in a bit of a David-and Goliath situation. His relatively small company, Airlogica, competes with some of the largest and most successful companies in the travel industry — the GDS companies — in the field of billing information data tape audits, the mechanism by which airlines can identify problem areas in GDS bookings. Yet, he said, “we are very successful at what we do,” serving about 60 airlines around the world. He attributes that success in large part to Airlogica’s independence.
