After years of talking about the mobile channel, the airline industry is finally embracing it. A third of airlines that responded to SITA’s Airline IT Trends Survey 2011 are already selling through the mobile channel, and another 52% plan to sell tickets via mobile phones by the end of 2014. But the aviation industry is “very inconsistent” in the ways it has deployed mobile applications, according to Jack Loop, formerly of Mobiata and now a specialist consultant to SITA on mobile technologies.
Canadian Commissioner of Competition Melanie Airken filed an application Monday with the country's Competition Tribunal, an independent law enforcement agency, seeking to "prohibit" Air Canada and United Continental Holdings from launching a planned revenue-sharing joint venture on US/Canada transborder services.
Aero Pneudraulics, an aircraft repair and overhaul services provider, announced it has changed its name to AeroWorx. The company recently expanded into a new 40,000 sq. ft. facility in Torrance, Calif. TAECO opened its sixth maintenance hangar at Xiamen Gaoqi International. The $73.5 million, 45,790 sq.-m. hangar is fully equipped to accommodate two widebody aircraft, enabling capacity expansion by 20%.
Flights to/from and within Greece are expected to be heavily disrupted Tuesday owing to work actions by the country's ATC personnel between 8 a.m. and 12 p.m. and between 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. local time. The planned walk-off is part of a wider general strike called by the main Greek unions for June 28-29 in protest of a vote in parliament on further austerity measures.
Virgin Atlantic Airways founder and Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson warned that a pilots' strike would leave "an indelible scar" on the airline, "impact customers' trust" and "damage the unique and friendly culture at Virgin Atlantic."
Detroit Metro operator Wayne County Airport Authority said it has agreed to partner with Michigan State University Extension to grow, harvest and process bioenergy crops on the property of DTW and another of the authority's airports, Willow Run.
Detroit Metro operator Wayne County Airport Authority said it has agreed to partner with Michigan State University Extension to grow, harvest and process bioenergy crops on the property of DTW and another of the authority's airports, Willow Run.
Cathay Pacific Airways and its subsidiary Dragonair have recorded a 5.1% improvement in CO 2 efficiency in relation to traffic volume carried (revenue tone-kilometer) for 2010 bringing the overall improvement to 23.4% since 1998. One of the big contributors has been the 777-300ER, which is 26% more efficient than the 747-400 it has been replacing. The figures are contained in the airline’s Sustainable Development Report 2010 released this month.
UK-based GKN Aerospace has signed an agreement this week with Recycled Carbon Fibre Ltd. in Birmingham, UK, to recycle the uncured carbon waste from its aero structure manufacturing operation in Cowes, Isle of Wight, UK. Recycling will take place at RCF’s innovative carbon recycling facility in the West Midlands. GKN Aerospace estimates that approaching 100 tonnes of carbon waste from the Cowes site will be recycled in the next 12 months as part of this cost neutral agreement.
Australian and New Zealand could be self sufficient in biomass for the aviation industry by 2050, according to a new study released last month. The wide ranging study was conducted by the Australian CSIRO, that country’s peak scientific organization, on behalf of the Australasian grouping of the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, including Air New Zealand, Boeing, Qantas and Virgin Australia, together with the Defence Science and Technology Organization. The study found that 50% of the region’s biomass requirements could be met by 2020.
The European Commission, Airbus, leading European airlines and European biofuel producers have launched a new industry-wide initiative to try and speed up the commercialization of aviation biofuels in Europe.
A group of 10 airlines—eight based in the US, plus Air Canada and Lufthansa—have signed letters of intent with Washington-based Solena Fuels to acquire a future supply of jet fuel derived exclusively from waste biomass. Under the plan, the fuel—made from post-recycled urban and agricultural waste—will be produced at a plant to be built by Solena in Santa Clara County, Calif., in 2013, and trucked to airports in San Francisco, Oakland and San Jose.
Boeing and American Airlines have announced a partnership to bring an "evolutionary ecoDemonstrator Program" to reality next year. An American 737-800 will be used to flight test and accelerate the market readiness of emerging technologies, the companies said. The 737-800, and a twin-aisle aircraft to be identified later this year, will serve as the flight test component for the FAA Continuous Lower Energy Emissions Noise (CLEEN) program – along with other technologies developed by Boeing and other industry partners.
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged development and production of biofuels to power commercial aircraft, telling a Paris Air Show audience there has been "extraordinary progress in the last 12 months" in understanding how biofuel blends can power flights. "I think we're nearing a tipping point" in terms of building momentum toward use of biofuel on commercial flights, he said. "I think [biofuel powering airline flights is] not long-term. In the short term you'll see the benefits."
The Arab Air Carriers Organization said that international passenger numbers to, from and within the Middle East and North Africa region increased by 6.1% in April compared to April 2010. Arab airlines increased the number of their offered seats to, from and within MENA by 9%, while other airlines slightly decreased the number of seats offered by 0.1%, leading to a 6.2% year-on-year increase in the total number of seats offered.
Florida-based Spirit Airlines, which has led the US airline industry in charging passengers fees for anything other than their low base airfares, has added another to its stable. Beginning Nov. 1, Spirit said it will institute a new $5 charge for passengers asking agents to print their boarding pass at the airport. Passengers who check in on-line or at an airport kiosk will not be charged the $5 fee, although next summer, even those checking in at kiosks will be charged $1.
Spirit Airlines named Tony Lefebvre senior VP and COO, effective immediately. Lefebvre, who previously served as senior VP-Airports, Customer Service and Inflight, replaces Kevin McKenzie, who is joining Airbus North America as senior VP-Customer Services, effective Sept. 1.
US FAA is proposing a $250,000 civil penalty against Orlando-based AirTran Airways for allegedly operating a Boeing 737 on four passenger flights without properly repairing or testing an angle-of-attack sensor on the aircraft, which warns if there is a potential loss of lift, after it was struck by lightning during a flight March 20, 2009. FAA also alleges the airline “misused the Minimum Equipment List when it decided to defer the repair and continued to operate the aircraft.” AirTran, a subsidiary of Southwest Airlines, has 30 days to respond to the agency.
Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance confirmed it will expand its service offering to include the 787, adding the Dreamliner to a Boeing aircraft MRO portfolio that currently includes 737 Classics/737NGs, 747s, 757s, 767s, 777s and MD-11s.
Boeing and American Airlines announced a partnership at the Paris Air Show Wednesday to bring an "evolutionary ecoDemonstrator program" to reality next year.
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged development and production of biofuels to power commercial aircraft, telling a Paris Air Show audience Wednesday there has been "extraordinary progress in the last 12 months" in understanding how biofuel blends can power flights.
US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack encouraged development and production of biofuels to power commercial aircraft, telling a Paris Air Show audience there has been "extraordinary progress in the last 12 months" in understanding how biofuel blends can power flights.
After a brief respite, the ash cloud from Chile's Puyehue-Cordon Caulle Volcano again is playing havoc in Australia with air service to Canberra, Sydney, Adelaide, Hobart and Melbourne impacted ( ATW Daily News, June 17). Virgin Australia and Qantas Airways canceled flights to those cities at various times Monday and cancellations were expected to flow into Tuesday. Tiger Airways, which has it main bases in Melbourne and Adelaide, temporarily grounded its fleet.
