The African Airlines Assn. criticized the “uncontrolled” opening of market access to foreign airlines and called on the continent’s governments to support their local airlines. It also called on African carriers to forge closer cooperation to address some of the major challenges to ensuring growth and sustainability.
One year after the Eyjafjallajokull eruption, ICAO—in cooperation with the European Commission, Eurocontrol and EASA—is organizing a volcanic ash simulation exercise on April 13-14 to test the effectiveness of changes to its volcanic ash procedures and contingency plan for Europe.
European Commission VP-Transport Siim Kallas said that Asia/Pacific and Middle East airlines are regularly outperforming European and US rivals, driving the need for EU and US regulators to focus more intently on improving their airlines' long-term ability to compete globally.
US National Transportation Safety Board is leading the investigation of a wingtip clipping incident that occurred between an Air France Airbus A380 carrying 510 people and a Bombardier CRJ700 operated by Comair as a Delta Connection flight Monday night while both aircraft were taxiing at New York JFK.
An Air France Airbus A380 carrying 520 people collided with a Bombardier CRJ701ER operated by Comair as a Delta Connection flight Monday night while both aircraft were taxiing at New York JFK.
Lufthansa took delivery of its sixth Airbus A380 on April 4. SkyWork Airlines announced it replaced the 31-seat Dornier 328 aircraft serving its daily London City-Bern service with 70-seat Bombardier Q400s, April 4. It said forward bookings for the route have been “very strong.”
Jordan Airline Training & Simulation was selected by Air Arabia's aviation training arm, Alpha Aviation UAE, to provide pilot and ground school aviation training, to launch its Multi-crew Pilot License program. The JATS simulator portfolio includes Boeing 767-300ER FFS, Airbus A310-300, A320-200, A320-200 FFS, 737-800NG and Embraer E-170/190.
Iberia's MRO division converted an Airbus A330-200 passenger aircraft into a Multi Role Tanker Transport equipped for mid-air refueling. The conversion is part of a contract between Iberia Maintenance and Airbus Military to convert civilian aircraft into MRTTs, and reflects IB's strategy of reorienting its maintenance business toward technologically challenging, high value-added activities, said Iberia EVP-Maintenance and Engineering Jose Luis Ruiz de Castaneda.
Austrian oil company OMV stopped refueling Iran Air aircraft at Vienna International last month. Its contract with the carrier expired March 23 and was not renewed.
British Airways and Iberia will combine their cargo business and network into a single business unit reporting to International Airlines Group although both cargo operations will retain their current brands, the carriers and IAG announced last week. There will be a small cargo management team within IAG, while all other cargo employees will continue to work for their current airline. The combined business will be led by MD Steve Gunning and Deputy MD Ignacio Diez Barturen. They were previously managing directors of BA World Cargo and Iberia Cargo, respectively.
Lufthansa said that "too many problems remain unresolved" regarding implementation of airlines' inclusion in the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, leaving open the prospect that the initiative will become a "fiasco" when it goes into effect at the beginning of next year.
The European Commission on Monday confirmed it intends to review its controversial Regulation 261/2004 on air passenger rights and look at “key issues” such as limitation of liability in cases of exceptional circumstances, compensation thresholds, effective rerouting of passengers, and shared risk between operators in the supply chain.
Etihad Airways has signed up local cultural ambassador Ali Al Saloom as the host and producer for its new in-flight television programme about life in the airline's home-base of Abu Dhabi.
Dubai-based flight support services provider Aviation Services Management (ASM} has denied it is in talks to sell the company and instead has outlined a growth strategy that has seen it launch a new branch in Mumbai.
Global Collect signed a service agreement with Royal Jordanian to process online credit card payments for the carrier. The agreement will soon be expanded to allow RJ customers to purchase tickets via credit cards through call centers. Amadeus signed an agreement with Singapore Airlines to provide its subscribers with access to the carrier's flight schedules and fares for up to five years.
US FAA proposed a $350,000 civil penalty against Republic Airways Holdings subsidiary Lynx Aviation for allegedly operating a Q400 "when it was not in compliance with federal aviation regulations."
US-China open skies and antitrust immunized joint ventures between US and Chinese carriers cannot occur until Washington loosens its visa restrictions on Chinese citizens traveling to the US, Air China VP and GM North America Zhihang Chi said Thursday. "We don't need open skies. Without visa liberalization we don't have enough passengers to fill the planes," Chi told the Phoenix International Aviation Symposium, adding that airlines have many unused frequencies to US destinations owing to the difficulties Chinese visitors face in obtaining visas.
ITA Software said it “will begin work immediately” to close its acquisition by Google following US Dept. of Justice approval of the transaction on Friday. Google announced its intention to acquire ITA for $700 million in cash in July ( ATW Daily News, October 1, 2010). “We … are committed to making the integration process as seamless as possible for our employees and customers,” ITA said. Google stated that it would “honor ITA’s existing contracts.”
US National Transportation Safety Board said the United Airlines Airbus A320 that exited a New Orleans runway when making an emergency landing on April 4 did not experience smoke in the cockpit but rather an apparently false automated smoke warning followed by system disruptions.
US National Transportation Safety Board said the United Airlines Airbus A320 that exited a New Orleans runway when making an emergency landing on April 4 did not experience smoke in the cockpit but rather an apparently false automated smoke warning followed by system disruptions.
Lufthansa Technik received German Federal Office of Civil Aviation certification to offer MRO services on Hamilton Sundstrand APS2300 APUs. Fokker Aircraft Services announced it has added re-skinning to its MRO services. It last year installed a new vacuum applicator at its interior shop that enables it to re-skin aircraft interior side panels, luggage bins and ceiling panels "no matter the size or aircraft type," it said.
SITA is building a community cloud computing infrastructure dedicated to the air transport industry and will launch the first cloud applications and services in June, CEO Francesco Violante revealed at a briefing on Tuesday in London. He refrained from naming the first customers for the ATI Cloud but noted that the interest from airlines and airports “is clear and diverse, cannot be geographically characterized” and that several airlines are already involved in pilot programs.
US Airways has not made a decision on whether to install Aircell's Gogo onboard Wi-Fi across its domestic fleet. At present, only the carrier's Airbus A321s are equipped and usage is very low, according to President Scott Kirby, who told reporters at the US Airways media day Wednesday that it averages "below 5%" while "breakeven is north of 20%." However, he also expects that onboard connectivity eventually will become prevalent among US carriers for competitive reasons.
UPS Airlines aircraft mechanics, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, voted to ratify a new labor agreement that will run through Nov. 1, 2013.
