Orbitz for Business said it will provide an offline method of booking American Airlines flights if the carrier makes good on its threat to inhibit Orbitz Worldwide websites from issuing its tickets. Orbitz told its corporate customers that it will provide a dedicated 800 number for a call center staffed with customer service personnel trained to handle reservations and questions about American and to accommodate their corporate policies.
US Dept. of Transportation said there were no tarmac delays longer than 3 hr. in October, down from 11 flights in the year-ago month, according to a report released Tuesday. The report noted that this is the first month there were no tarmac delays of more than 3 hr. since October 2008. The 3 hr. tarmac delay rule went into effect in April ( ATW Daily News, Nov. 12).
US Dept. of Transportation announced Monday that the US and Brazil have agreed to enter into a phased-in open skies aviation agreement, which will “significantly liberalize” US-Brazil air services for airlines of both countries over a transition period. The agreement will take full effect in October 2015.
Airbus announced Tuesday it has started making the first carbon fiber barrel for the A350 XWB fuselage at the company’s production plant in Illescas, Spain.
News from Travel Technology Update: Orbitz for Business said it will provide an offline method of booking American Airlines flights if the carrier makes good on its threat to inhibit Orbitz Worldwide websites from issuing its tickets. Orbitz told its corporate customers that it will provide a dedicated 800 number for a call center staffed with customer service personnel trained to handle reservations and questions about American and to accommodate their corporate policies.
Dubai's premier FBO is celebrating its fifth anniversary at MEBA this week on a high. Jet Aviation has just broken its performance records as it saw 468 movements in the past month, beating the previous best in March 2008.
Delta Air Lines will outfit 223 Delta Connection regional jet aircraft with onboard Gogo Inflight Wi-Fi, beginning in January and slated to be complete by the end of 2011. It completed outfitting all mainline domestic aircraft in early November. Once fully installed, more than 80% of Delta's domestic fleet, 772 aircraft, will feature Gogo Inflight Internet access. SITA and Royal Jordanian signed a five-year deal under which RJ will migrate to the SITA Airfare Insight fares pricing platform.
Tagsys announced that Qantas has deployed an RFID reusable bag tag using Tagsys technology. According to the company, the bag tags can store details for up to four flights and be reprogrammed for future flights. The bag tags are being used at Sydney and Perth domestic terminals by premium frequent flyers. This will be followed by deployments in Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Canberra in 2011.
Lufthansa said its Electronic Flight Bag, with the addition of FlyNet connectivity will "enable us to make decisions in a better way," including constant updates to weather forecasts and live satellite pictures, for which pilots currently rely on paper documents, which can be up to 10 hr. old on long-haul flights. It will also allow LH to replace handwritten logs with the electronic TechLog system.
A Dagestan Airlines Tu-154M crashed while attempting to land at Moscow Domodedovo on Dec. 4 at 2:49 p.m. local time after losing power in all three engines. At least two people were killed in the landing attempt and 78 were injured—including one passenger who reportedly died of his injuries after being transported to a hospital.
The Spanish government said it may extend for up to two months its first “state of alarm” measure ordering controllers back to work for 15 days. The controllers launched a wildcat strike on Friday afternoon that resulted in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, with approximately 600,000 travelers stranded.
The US Transportation Security Administration, in the midst of a rapid rollout of Advanced Imaging Technology body-scanning machines at checkpoints, needs to be more cognizant of airports' concerns, Airports Council International-North America President Greg Principato told Congress.
Alaska Airlines announced on Friday it has nearly deployed Gogo Wi-Fi statewide in Alaska with recent availability on flights from southeast Alaska to Anchorage and Fairbanks. Since May it has installed the service from Aircell on more than 70% of its Boeing 737s and aims for complete fleet-wide installation in early 2011.
Bombardier reported net income of $143 million for its third fiscal quarter ended Oct. 31, down 14.8% from a $168 million profit in the year-ago period, citing a “difficult” environment in its Aerospace unit with “leading indicators sending mixed signals as to the timing of a full recovery,” according to Bombardier President and CEO Pierre Beaudoin.
Single European Sky Committee on Friday agreed on the performance targets for the EU’s air navigation service providers for the period 2012 to 2014 as proposed by the European Commission, which it claims will result in over €1 billion ($1.32 billion) in savings over the three-year period and a reduction of about 500,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions and 150,000 tonnes of fuel annually.
In a step that highlights Asia's rapidly growing role in commercial aviation, IATA's Board of Governors on Friday announced it will recommend that Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler succeed Giovanni Bisignani as leader of the organization when Bisignani retires following the 2011 AGM next June.
In a step that highlights Asia's rapidly growing role in commercial aviation, IATA's Board of Governors on Friday announced it will recommend that Cathay Pacific Airways CEO Tony Tyler succeed Giovanni Bisignani as leader of the organization when Bisignani retires following the 2011 AGM next June.
AFI KLM E&M signed a strategic partnership agreement with Max Aerospace, aimed at developing a global MRO network. The two parties plan to open a jointly developed Indian facility.
The Czech government plans to merge 92% of state-owned CSA Czech Airlines and Prague Airport into one entity. According to several Czech press reports, the ministry of finance said last week that the consolidation, to be named Cesky Aeroholding AS, will bring stability to the companies. CSA has been managed by Prague Airport since last year. The state-owned airport handles about 11.6 million passengers. Last year, CSA transported approximately 5.6 million passengers and had an operating loss of €150 million ($195.8 million).
Blue 1 cabin staff reached an agreement ending a work action that began Nov. 30, but Finnair said a solution has not yet been reached with its striking flight attendants ( ATW Daily News, Dec. 1). Both carriers' cabin crew are represented by the Finnish Cabin Crew Union.
Six European countries—Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Switzerland—on Thursday signed the agreement to create the “Functional Airspace Block—Europe Central.” FABEC is the third functional airspace block, after the UK–Ireland FAB and the Denmark–Sweden FAB. The other EU member states are expected to sign similar agreements in the next two years. FABs are an integral part to create the Single European Sky and reduce the current fragmentation of European airspace.
[Corrected Version] The EU’s 27 Transport Ministers were “encouraged” yesterday at their meeting in Brussels to support the EC's new proposals on the 2010-2014 performance targets for air navigation service providers, EC VP-Transport Siim Kallas said following the Transport Council meeting in Brussels.
The Russian government is “ready” to accept the EU designation clause in its air services agreements with EU member states, but it still needs to analyze what the consequences will be for its carriers, Counsellor-Permanent Mission of the Russian Federation to the EU Evgeny Mokeev told ATW on the sidelines of the EU-Russia Air Transport New Horizons conference in Brussels this week.
