IATA and Flight Safety Foundation yesterday jointly issued a "Runway Excursion Risk Reduction" toolkit. The organizations said the package includes "an in-depth analysis of runway excursion accident data, a compilation of significant risk factors and. . . recommendations for operators, pilots, airports, air traffic management, air traffic controllers and regulators to assist in addressing this challenge.
ARINC was selected by Japan's Tokyo International Air Terminal to deploy more than 200 check-in and departure workstations equipped with its vMUSE common-use technology at Haneda's new international terminal. ARINC also will provide 20 SelfServ common-use self service kiosks. New terminal is scheduled for completion in July 2010, the same year in which HND's fourth runway is expected to become operational.
Jet Airways sought court relief yesterday from a continued sickout by nearly half its pilot workforce that has caused about half its flight schedule to be canceled since Monday night. Jet wants the National Aviators Guild, the union representing its 760 pilots, to be held in contempt of court for engaging in what it deems an "illegal action." The union has demanded that two recently fired pilots be reinstated and said it will continue the unofficial work action until the airline agrees to bring the pilots back.
Naverus said that Air China, with support from CAAC, successfully completed an RNP validation flight to Tibet's Linzhi Airport on Sept. 2 using an A319. Naverus called the 95-mi. RNP approach into the Himalayan airport at 9,760 ft. elevation "one of the longest and most challenging commercial jetliner landing paths." Without RNP, the airport "is accessible by air only 100 days a year, in daylight only, due to weather and terrain challenges."
ICAO and IATA will develop two online services that they said will improve and streamline tracking of dangerous goods shipped by air. A website called iShip will be "targeted especially at the shipping community" and aims to integrate information on "dangerous goods shipping tools" with IATA's dangerous goods regulations content. It will be available in the first half of next year.
The UK government has to defend a cap on aviation emissions at "no higher, and possibly lower, than 2005 levels in the period to 2050" as part of a wider global agreement to tackle climate change at December's UN summit in Copenhagen, the UK's Committee on Climate Change argued in a letter to Secretary of State for Transport Andrew Adonis and Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change Ed Miliband.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 15.42 billion RPKs in August, up 9% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 7.2% to 18.48 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 83.5%.
AeroMexico 737 hijacking ended without further incident yesterday afternoon in Mexico City after the suspect were taken into custody. The Bolivian suspect claimed he was carrying a bomb onboard the flight originating in Cancun and reportedly demanded to speak with Mexican President Felipe Calderon. The 104 passengers and seven crew were freed without injury. There were no explosives onboard and the suspect never entered the cockpit, according to reports.
Airbus executives remain adamant that reported findings by the World Trade Organization challenging the legality of government loans and launch aid for the A380 program will not affect plans for the A350 ( ATWOnline, May 21).
Delta TechOps signed a three-year contract with EVA Air and its UNI Air subsidiary under which it will provide component services for EVA's 747s and UNI's MD-90s in partnership with Evergreen Aviation Technologies.
Boeing is forecasting that the Asia/Pacific region will be the world's largest aviation market over the next 20 years, with a need for 8,960 aircraft seating more than 100 passengers worth $1.1 trillion. The manufacturer said that 40% of the world's airline traffic will begin, end or take place within the region. Over the two decades, Asia/Pacific air travel will grow from 32% of the global market to 41%. The area currently accounts for more than 8,300 flights and 1.2 million passengers daily and travel is expected to grow 6.5% per year over the next 20 years.
Air France will introduce its Premium Voyageur premium economy product on flights to Singapore and Beirut beginning Dec. 28 and flights to Hong Kong and Beijing from Jan. 18, 2010. Second daily PV-equipped flights to New York JFK and Tokyo Narita will launch in early December. AF expects the product to be available on all its 777s, A330s and A340s by the end of 2010 ( ATWOnline, March 23).
El Al CEO Haim Romano will leave the carrier within the next 18 months, according to a statement from the airline. No replacement was announced. El Al suffered a $19.7 million loss in the second quarter ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20).
Air France KLM flew 19.34 billion RPKs in August, down 2.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.2% to 22.81 billion ASKS and load factor rose 1.1 points to 84.8%. Delta Air Lines flew 18.73 billion RPMs in August, a 2.2% drop year-over-year. Capacity was down 3.2% to 21.64 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.9 point to 86.6%. Air Canada and Jazz flew a combined 5.13 billion RPMs in August, down 0.9% year-over-year. Capacity fell 3.6% to 5.92 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.4 points to 86.8%.
Aer Lingus announced the purchase of 5.6 million of its ordinary shares from the Employee Benefit Trust for just over €280,000 ($401,300). The shares were cancelled.
News from Travel Technology Update: American Airlines' decision to work with HP to build a new passenger services system -- dubbed a "bold move" by Monte Ford, the carrier's chief information officer -- took many observers by surprise. Amadeus has been courting the carrier for several years. Its Altea platform is up and running, serving several of American's Oneworld alliance partners, including British Airways and Qantas. The announcement that American would end the most significant element of its relationship with Sabre also signaled the end of an era.
EasyJet appointed former AOL Europe CEO Dana Dunne as chief commercial officer, replacing Saad Hammad, who is leaving the LCC to join private equity firm Gores Group as MD. EgyptAir announced that GM-Network Planning Alaa Ashour has been named chairman and CEO of the airline and Vice Chairman Hussein Massoud has been named chairman and CEO of EgyptAir Holding Co.
Jet Airways said yesterday that about 40% of its pilot workforce "reported sick" starting Monday night, "disrupting the flight schedule and causing inconvenience." It said in a statement that 186 flights had been cancelled. The National Aviators Guild, the union representing the carrier's 760 pilots, said it wants two pilots who were fired to be reinstated.
SITA won a $4.6 million, five-year contract from Oman Air to implement and maintain a voice and data hybrid network solution for the airline connecting 50 offices worldwide.
Finnair announced the withdrawal of three 757s currently used on leisure routes effective next spring. It plans to reduce leisure capacity next summer and said it intends to "use our long-haul fleet more flexibly on scheduled and leisure flights according to seasonal fluctuations in demand structure." It will continue to operate four 757s, with newer A330s operating certain leisure flights this winter. Finnair flew 1.74 billion RPKs in August, down 10.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 10.1% to 2.17 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 0.1 point to 80.2%.
Bordeaux-Merignac will construct a low-cost terminal scheduled to open in May 2010. Dubbed Billi, short for "Bordeaux illico" or "Bordeaux straight away," the facility will cost €5.5 million and is promising turnaround times of less than 25 min. "Our research highlighted a real need for a product tailored to accommodate the low-cost airlines, a product that would sit alongside our existing regional and international airport products," BOD CEO Pascal Personne said.
Oman Air has signed a contract with SITA to implement and maintain a hybrid network solution for Oman Air as it migrates from legacy connections for all its business operations. The contract is worth $4.6million and covers a five year agreement.
Frontier Airlines will raise the fee on the first checked bag to $20 from $15 and on the second bag to $30 from $25 on tickets purchased from Tuesday and on travel from Oct. 1. In conjunction, it is reducing the change fee on economy tickets to $100 from $150. It will allow passengers to confirm a seat on a different flight the same day for $100.
AVIC subsidiary Commercial Engine Co. plans to obtain secure airworthiness certification for a domestically produced engine in 2016 so it is ready to power the large commercial jet planned to enter the market by 2020. CEC GM Zhang Jian said the company, along with CFM and Pratt & Whitney, is a candidate to furnish a powerplant for the trunk liner ( ATWOnline, March 12). "As far as I know, we will become one of the providers but won't be the only one," he said.
