Porter Airlines President and CEO Robert Deluce said the first phase of a new C$45 million ($43.4 million) privately financed terminal will open in December at Toronto City Centre. The second phase, which will add 150,000 sq. ft. to the airport, will open before the summer season, he said at last week's Airports Council International-North America meeting in Austin.
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China last week agreed to purchase a 48% stake in Sichuan Airlines subsidiary United Eagle Airlines in order to facilitate the sale of its ARJ21 and C919 aircraft. A COMAC source told ATWOnline that the manufacturer will invest CNY1 billion ($146.3 million) in Chengdu-based United Eagle, which under terms of the agreement will order 30 ARJ21s after the stake sale is concluded.
IATA reported that August premium passenger traffic was down 12% year-over-year, a marked improvement over May's 23.5% year-over-year drop that signified the "low point" of the decline. In was also improved from July's 14.1% fall. In its latest "Premium Travel Monitor" release, IATA said the sharp drop in premium fares also receded in August.
EFIS Morocco won a cargo GSA contract from DHL Aviation to market capacity on 757 freighter flights from Casablanca to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Leipzig.
Airport Council International-North America launched a new database that will give airports access to information on successful programs and sustainability trends. "Airports across the country and around the world have undertaken or are in the process of implementing innovative sustainability programs to improve efficiency in aviation, but until today, there has been no central repository of this important information," ACI-NA President Greg Principato said last week in Austin.
Spanish government will lend domestic airlines up to €600 million ($895.8 million) in 2010-12 in order to "avoid possible restructuring or bankruptcies," it said in a statement cited by Dow Jones.
Assn. of European Airlines expressed disappointment that the EU Council of Transport Ministers did not discuss the prolongation of the slot waiver for the . . .winter season and summer 2010 at its recent meeting.
SITA confirmed that 12 Arab Air Carriers Org. member airlines will be the first to deploy its Aircraft Emissions Manager ( ATWOnline, July 2). Next month's deployment follows the submission, in consultation with SITA, of the airlines' plan to monitor carbon dioxide emissions and capacity to EU authorities in an effort to comply with the new Emission Trading Scheme.
Singapore Airlines flew 6.98 billion RPKs in September, down 7.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 12.5% to 8.63 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4 points to 80.9%.
The US House of Representatives this week overwhelmingly passed legislation to revamp regulations for hiring and training pilots, the result of Congressional concern sparked by the February crash of a Colgan Air Q400 that killed 50 people near Buffalo.
Qatar Airways A340-600 powered by Trent 556 engines flew from London Gatwick to Doha using a 50-50 blend of synthetic GTL kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene Monday, which the carrier said was the world's first commercial passenger flight powered by fuel made from natural gas. The flight was the "latest step" for the consortium comprising QR, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Science & Technology Park, Shell and Qatar Fuel ( ATWOnline, Nov. 15, 2007).
Bmibaby and Germanwings will link their websites and list certain flights of both carriers, sending customers to the corresponding booking page after they select a flight. Bmibaby customers will have access to 37 Germanwings flights from Manchester, London Stansted and Edinburgh while Germanwings customers will be able to book 33 bmibaby services from Cardiff, Nottingham East Midlands, Birmingham and Manchester.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday officially inaugurated Lufthansa Technik Milan at Malpensa. LTMIL will offer component and maintenance services up to A checks, aircraft-on-ground support and troubleshooting. Initially, aircraft from the A320, A330/A340 and 737 families will be maintained, but "in case of an adequate market demand LTMIL will also extend its services to other aircraft types," LHT said. The new facility is an extension of Lufthansa Technik Component Services Milan, which opened in spring 2008.
Goodrich Corp. said it signed a research agreement with Rolls-Royce "to develop the next generation of fuel nozzles for 'lean burn' combustion technology systems." According to Goodrich, which also has been selected to supply the combustion system fuel nozzles for the A350's Trent XWB, lean burn technology allows for a more complete combustion cycle, "which reduces emissions and increases efficiency."
Boeing, Shanghai Airport Authority and Shanghai Airlines yesterday opened a new two-bay hangar at Shanghai Pudong to be used by their Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services MRO joint venture.
Caribbean Airlines promoted Executive VP and COO Ian Brunton to CEO, effective yesterday. He succeeds Philip Saunders, who tendered his resignation six months ago. Brunton formerly was chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority and the Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots' Assn. and was a member of the BWIA board. Global Aviation Holdings, parent of North American Airlines and World Airways, named Polar Air Cargo VP-Sales and Marketing for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India Hendrik Falk as VP-cargo sales.
Chinese airlines posted collective net income of CNY6.13 billion ($896.7 million) for the first nine months of this year, a big turnaround from a CNY5.55 billion deficit in the year-ago period. CAAC credited "economic recovery" and "lower fuel prices" for the positive result. Total operating revenue dipped 2.2% to CNY153 billion while operating expenses fell 3.8% to CNY153.9 billion.
Ireland's three main carriers again called on the government to remove the €10 ($14.80) tourist tax added to airline tickets on April 1. In a joint statement, Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary, Aer Lingus CEO Christoph Mueller and CityJet CEO Geoffrey O'Byrne-White said the tax has had a "devastating impact on traffic and visitor numbers at Ireland's airports" since it was introduced, including a 15% decline in monthly throughput at Dublin. They predict passenger numbers at DUB may fall from 24 million to approximately 21 million this year owing to the tax.
Transaero announced that it has become the first full-service Russian airline to adopt fully the use of e-ticketing for all flights. In 2009, 95% of all its tickets have been electronic.
Airline ticket sales through Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. fell 14.2% in September compared to the year-ago month to $5.61 billion. ARC Director-Strategic Communications Allan Muten described as "marginally positive" the sequential upswing compared to August, when total sales were down 16.8% year-to-year. "That's encouraging if it continues," he told ATWOnline. The volume of total transactions processed by ARC decreased 2.3% versus a 1.7% drop the prior month, but the volume of credit transactions was virtually flat compared to September 2008.
US FAA yesterday proposed $9.2 million in civil penalties against US Airways and United Airlines for violations related to federal airworthiness directives and/or the airlines' own federally approved maintenance programs.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani met yesterday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at UN headquarters in New York, briefing him on aviation industry emissions goals that were presented at last week's ICAO High Level Meeting on Climate Change ( ATWOnline, Oct. 12). "I assured the Secretary General that the aviation industry is serious about its climate change responsibility," Bissignani said in a statement.
