Air Astana President Peter Foster told ATW that the carrier's dispute with GDS provider Amadeus is not over and could escalate. Amadeus was obliged to restore distribution services to KC after a Madrid court granted the Kazakh carrier injunctive relief on Feb. 3. Amadeus canceled KC’s agreement, which expired on Dec, 31, on Jan. 21 after 15 days’ notice, alleging a breach of the terms of the agreement ( ATW Daily News, Feb. 9).
Alitalia and Meridiana Fly are in talks about a possible partnership, Meridiana said, although it did not confirm reports in Il Messaggero that the airlines’ respective management teams are reviewing the details of a possible acquisition.
IATA projected that worldwide annual airline passengers will rise to 3.3 billion by 2014, up 32% over the 2.5 billion passengers that flew commercially in 2009.
Debate over FAA funding heated up in Washington, with a House of Representatives panel last Friday introducing a new FAA reauthorization bill and President Barack Obama on Monday issuing his budget proposal for the federal government's fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
Eurocontrol released its latest 20-year forecast that shows the number of flights increasing 1.8 times to 16.9 million IFR movements from a 2009 base in the most likely scenario.The range of the forecast scenarios is between 13.1 and 20.9 million flights in 2030 with growth at an average of 1.6% to 3.9% annually, with 2.8% the most likely.
BioJet Corp. received a three-year, $1.2 billion funding facility from Cayman-based Equity Partners Fund SPC to allow the company to move its feedstock and refining projects forward. BioJet Chairman Mitch Hawkins said in a statement that the funding agreement will form the cornerstone of capital projects over the next five years.
Airbus said more than 2,600 students have registered for the second biennial Fly Your Ideas contest that challenges university students from around the world to develop new ideas for a greener aviation industry. Students of 75 nationalities made up the 315 teams that entered the first round, a 40% increase compared to the first year of the competition in 2009.
New fuel-efficiency mandates could force the re-engining of today's aircraft, one senior airline executive reportedly told Airbus. Speaking with ATW's Eco-Aviation Today about the promised 15% fuel saving of the A320neo
London Mayor Boris Johnson continues to lobby for a new airport for the southeast region of England with a report warning that London will lose jobs to European competitors unless Prime Minister David Cameron backs one. “The capital’s airports are full, our runways are crammed and we risk losing jobs to Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Madrid or other European cities should we fail to act,” Johnson cautioned, according to a report in the Financial Times.
EADS claims that nanotechnology may pave the way for new hydrogen storage tanks that could enable use of the fuel on aircraft. According to the European aerospace giant, its scientists are working with Scottish counterparts to develop the storage tanks.
Air New Zealand last week announced it will enable its new Airbus A320, outfitted with an all-black livery in homage to the country's famous All Blacks rugby team, with voice and data capability. It will be the first commercial aircraft in the country that will allow passengers to use their mobile phones during domestic flights. ANZ earlier this month took delivery of the first of 14 A320s it is expected to receive through 2016, with three more coming this year. The aircraft will progressively replace the airline's Boeing 737-300s on domestic flying.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani last week charged that the UK government’s “policy pillars of excessive taxes, inefficient airport regulation and limiting growth will destroy the UK’s proud aviation legacy.”
The European Commission announced Friday that it has launched formal antitrust investigations into the free-flow codeshare agreements between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines on the Munich-Istanbul Ataturk and Frankfurt-IST routes and between Brussels Airlines and TAP Portugal on the Brussels-Lisbon route.
Chinese carriers reported CNY2.82 billion ($428 million) in collective net income for the month of January, reversing a collective net loss of CNY50 million in the year-ago month, according to CAAC.
Emirates Airline ordered an additional 84 eXPhone systems from Panasonic Avionics for installation on its Boeing 777-300ER and 777-200LR aircraft, with the first newly equipped aircraft slated to enter service later this year. The eXPhone operates with AeroMobile’s inflight mobile phone service and allows passengers to use mobile phones and smartphones to make and receive voice calls, SMS text messages, and data services in flight.
Jordan Aircraft Maintenancewas selected by Air Arabia to perform heavy maintenance services, including heavy C checks, engine swaps, modifications and upgrades, on seven of the carrier’s Airbus A320s. Work has commenced on the first A320 at the jorAMCo facilities. AJW Aviationreached a five-year power-by-the-hour contract with Senegal Airlines, covering the carrier’s first two A319s. Senegalhas purchased six Airbus aircraft and will take delivery of two more this year.
OAG reported that worldwide scheduled airline capacity for the month of February increased 5% compared to February 2010, to 285.7 million seats, on a 4% increase in number of flights, to 2.3 million departures. In terms of frequency of service, the two fastest growing markets are to and from the Middle Eastand to and from Asia/Pacific, each growing 13%.
Strike action looms as Qantas and its international pilots faceoff over job security and pay rates. The airline dismissed claims by the Australian and International Pilots Assn. that QF flight deck crew job security is imperiled as “completely unfounded” while warning that the pilots’ wage requests are not viable. Qantas said in a statement Thursday that it has “not made a pilot redundant in almost 40 years and there is no threat to the job security of our pilots.”
Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker responded strongly to remarks made last month by Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus in which the secretary general of the Assn. of European Airlines called for an ICAO mechanism to regulate "capacity dumping" by Qatar Airways, Emirates Airline and Etihad Airways, describing the comments as "factually incorrect and unfounded."
Emirates Airline received the 2011 Airline of the Year Award at the ATW Airline Industry Achievement Awards gala dinner event in Washington Tuesday evening.
Japan Airlines and American Airlines announced they have begun joint sales for Japan-to-North America flights. The two carriers will commence their previously announced transpacific joint business on April 1 ( ATW Daily News, Jan. 12).
IER, a leading player in check-in and RFID solutions, announced a partnership with AirIT to distribute the IER Common Use Self-Service solution to US airports. The two companies will also collaborate to allow AirIT to distribute a Common Use Passenger Processing solution in the US.
Norwegian Air Shuttle launched Row 44 onboard high-speed broadband on Tuesday. “This is a product that no other airline in Europe is currently offering, which gives us a huge competitive advantage,” Norwegian Director of IT and Business Development Hans-Petter Aanby said.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt told the House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Tuesday that "the failure to enact long-term, comprehensive" FAA reauthorization legislation, stalled in Congress since 2007, "has had troubling impacts."
