Qantas (QF) pilot Captain Richard de Crespigny, who nursed the airline’s crippled A380 back to Singapore last November ( ATW Daily News, Nov. 3, 2010), has broken ranks with his colleagues by calling for an end to "legacy practices" and declaring the airline's future lies in Asia, according to a report in The Australian.
The Unite union has called for the conciliation service ACAS to intervene in the dispute between Thomas Cook Airlines (UK) and its cabin crew. Management and Unite held a second round of talks Wednesday over the terms of planned cabin redundancies. The leisure carrier intends to cut 498 cabin crew jobs ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 26).
Low-cost carrier Jetstar on Wednesday became the first airline to hand out iPads to its passengers for inflight entertainment. The iPads were launched on selected Jetstar flights last week and will be rolled out across the Australian domestic, transtasman and short-haul international services from Australia and New Zealand, in the coming weeks.
The Chinese government reduced domestic jet fuel prices to CNY7,279 ($1,148) per ton, down 2.98% from CNY7,503 in September, owing to the decline of international fuel prices.
Emirates SkyCargo completed its first paperless flight, operating a Singapore-Dubai 777-300ER service with 100% of its shipments processed electronically. It said it is “on track” to meet the 2014 target of removing all paper Air Waybills, documents and certificates by the end of 2014, under IATA’s E-freight cargo industry initiative. Swissport was selected by Finnair (AY)to handle AY baggage and apron services at Helsinki Vantaa. The five-year contract takes effect Dec 1.
United Continental Holdings (UCH) selected Panasonic Avionics to provide Ku-band satellite Wi-Fi connectivity on more than 300 United Airlines (UA) and Continental (CO) aircraft, beginning in mid-2012, enabling onboard connectivity for both domestic and international flights. The service, which will be installed on Airbus A319, A320 and Boeing 747, 757, 767, 777 and 787 aircraft, is slated to be implemented in the entire UCH mainline fleet by 2015.
Rosaviatsia—Russia’s Dept. of Aviation/Ministry of Transport has prohibited VIM Avia (NN), the ninth biggest carrier in Russia, from flying to EU countries. NN spokeswoman Elena Fedorova confirmed to ATW that the airline received a wire from authorities stating the carrier’s AOC restriction forbids it to fly to Europe with Boeing 757-200s. But Fedorova said the carrier has not received the official document from Rosaviatsia yet. The Moscow-based carrier’s fleet consists of 11 757-200s.
Etihad Airways (EY) will begin to roll out onboard Internet on flights between Abu Dhabi and select European cities from December, with a total of five aircraft slated to be fitted out by March 2012. It has not yet announced the provider. Three of the five aircraft will be Airbus A330-300s, operating to London, Frankfurt, Geneva, Munich and Paris.
The world’s governments should stop their international spat over the European Union’s proposed Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and focus their energy on finding a common solution through ICAO, the head of IATA said Wednesday.
Southwest Airlines (SWA) on Monday announced its pilots, represented by the Southwest Airlines Pilots’ Assn. (SWAPA) and Air Tran pilots, represented by the Air Line pilots Assn. (ALPA), have ratified a seniority integration agreement. The agreement combines the merging airlines' pilot seniority lists.
News from Travel Technology Update: The Russian online travel industry, if not in its infancy, is barely into toddlerhood. Until the mid-2000s, travel e-commerce didn’t exist.
Embraer earned third-quarter net income of $1.9 million, significantly reduced from a $126.1 million net profit posted in the year-ago period. The Brazilian aircraft manufacturer said the drop was "primarily as a result of deferred income taxes generated by the appreciation of the US dollar during the period."
Boeing confirmed to ATW Monday morning that an All Nippon Airways (ANA) 787 aircraft has “returned to service” following a landing gear problem Sunday, less than two weeks after the aircraft’s inaugural flight ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 26).
United Continental Holdings (UCH) said Monday its subsidiary Continental Airlines (CO) operated a Boeing 737-800 on a scheduled flight from Houston Intercontinental to Chicago O'Hare using a fuel blend partially comprised of algae-derived biofuel.
The European Commission will send a package of proposed new aviation regulations covering ground handling, airport slots and noise to the European Parliament later this month.
Calling the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) “costly” and “illegal,” the US House of Representatives on Monday voted overwhelmingly for the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme Prohibition Act of 2011, which effectively forbids its carriers from participating in the EU ETS. The bill also instructs US officials to negotiate or “take any action necessary” to ensure US aviation operators are not penalized by “any unilaterally imposed” EU scheme.
The Carbon Disclosure Project, operator of the world’s only global climate change reporting system, has commended Finnair for its efforts to substantially reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
