International scheduled passenger traffic rose 8.2% in January compared to January 2010, while international air cargo traffic lifted 9.1%, according to IATA, which warned that rising fuel prices will likely make 2011 "very challenging" for the airline industry despite the positive growth figures.
With Republicans in control of the House of Representatives holding a mandate to rein in government spending, programs like NextGen will face closer scrutiny.
American Airlines aims to revolutionize ticket distribution with its direct connect platform, but first it has to overcome spirited opposition from GDSs and online travel agencies.
Continental Airlines parent United Continental Holdings announced Friday that CO's 9,300 flight attendants, represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, ratified a new labor contract ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 1, 2010). UCH VP-Inflight Service Sam Risoli said, "Our Continental flight attendants took a big step to keep us moving forward as we integrate Continental and United."
CAAC appears to be softening its tough stance on restricting approval of new entrants, based on recent remarks by CAAC Minister Li Jiaxiang, who noted that three carriers are applying to launch.
GOL operated 3.15 billion RPKs in January, up 5.9% year-over-year, on a 5.6% increase in capacity to 4.16 billion ASKs. Load factor grew 0.2 points to 75.6%. Swiss International Air Lines flew 2.46 billion RPKs in January, an 11.5% leap from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 12.5% to 3.24 billion ASKs as load factor fell 0.7 points to 75.8%.
Jeppesen has been selected by the UAE national carrier Etihad to provide the fast-growing airline with paper and electronic charting and Jeppesen FliteDeck Pro electronic flight bag (EFB) applications
Though the Japanese government has moved toward aviation market liberalization over the past year, evidenced most prominently by the new US/Japan "open skies" air services accord, Tokyo will need to go further if Japan's airports are to remain competitive in attracting international air cargo traffic, several observers of the Japanese air transport market said.
Southwest Airlines on Thursday took two steps toward completing its planned acquisition of Orlando-based AirTran Airways, receiving approval from US FAA on a plan to merge the two carriers' under a Single Operating Certificate and reaching agreement with the Southwest Airline Pilots Assn. on "a procedural framework" for eventually integrating the two pilot workgroups. SWA said the SWAPA board "unanimously agreed" to the accord.
IATA said Wednesday that 2010 had the lowest ever accident rate for Western-built jet aircraft, although the total number of accidents involving Western and Eastern-built transports as well as the number of fatal accidents and fatalities rose compared to 2009.
The European Commission said it opened a formal investigation "under EU state aid rules" into the restructuring plan of Czech Airlines to examine whether it "is suitable to restore the company's long-term viability and whether the proposed reduction in activities will be sufficient to offset the distortive effect of the aid it received."
Iraqi Airways is continuing its bid to restore the airline and today announced that it has agreed a deal with aviation IT specialist SITA for communications, passenger management, flight operations, data link services and baggage tracing technology.
Lufthansa, which this year had planned to launch the world’s first scheduled commercial passenger flights partially powered by biofuel, said it will delay its six-month trial owing to a delay in certification for the new fuel. The trial with an IAE V2500-powered Airbus A321 was supposed to begin in April ( ATW Daily News, Nov. 30, 2010).
Travelport and Air Astana announced the signing of a long-term content agreement under which Galileo and Worldspan-connected users will gain access to all of Air Astana's fares and inventory "with immediate effect." Air Astana said that as a result of the agreement, Air Astana has designated Travelport as a "Competitive Booking Source," whereby agents using the Travelport GDS platforms can earn their commissions in full "without being subject to the Commission Booking Deductible for domestic bookings made in Kazakhstan."
The European Low Fares Airline Assn. said its nine member airlines reported a 6.1% year-over-year increase in passenger numbers for 2010 to 172.4 million and a 0.3% increase in average seat load factor to 82.3%.
The Chinese government on Saturday responded to escalating oil prices by raising domestic jet fuel prices 5.8% to CNY6,340 ($963.56) per ton, putting added cost pressure on the country's airlines.
Is the current distribution war finally cooling down, or have the opponents gone back to their foxholes to regroup? American Airlines reversed its plan to charge travel agents outside the U.S. and the Caribbean a “booking source premium” for booking the carrier through Travelport GDSs. In turn, Travelport dropped the increases in segment fees it imposed on American as part of its response to the carrier’s tussle with Orbitz, Travelport’s largest customer for GDS services.
Amadeus sells Opodo to private equity firms eRevMax acquires Lunar Logic Travelport earns Air Astana’s ‘approved’ designation Travelport adds AA’s Kayak discount to its lawsuit Concur to make TripIt its standard mobile travel solution Conference talk: The first annual MindTree Travel & Transportation Summit World news briefing
