There's no way to prettify it: 2008 has been an annus horribilis, probably the worst economic mess since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a year dominated by the three Fs: fuel, fees and fear. The mortgage crisis morphed into the credit crisis. Once-venerable financial institutions like Lehman Brothers hit the skids. A jaw-dropping 1.9 million jobs were lost.
In the next 24 hr., deforestation, mainly in the tropics, will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 12.5 million people flying from London to New York. That is the stark reality of the effect of deforestation outlined in a new report from Oxford-based Global Canopy Program, an alliance of 38 leading scientific institutions in 19 countries that forms a collaborative program of research, education and conservation addressing biodiversity, climate change and poverty alleviation.
London Heathrow's third runway moved a step closer with a qualified endorsement from the independent UK Climate Change Committee last month. Lord Turner, chairman of the CCC, told the Guardian newspaper that it was possible for aviation to be expanded while still meeting the target of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by the middle of this century, especially if airlines were able to use biofuels or other low-carbon power sources.
In October, Leading Edge Aviation Services, a major provider of aviation painting and related services, reached the 600 mark on its Continental Airlines account. That's about how many planes it's painted for the legacy carrier since 1994.
Emirates will use the launch of nonstop service between Dubai and San Francisco on Dec.15 to demonstrate its green credentials with what is claimed to be the world's longest green flight. Group Chairman and CEO Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoum will be on the flight.
THE WORLD IS A RICH, YEASTY stew of about 6,900 living languages. As one might assume, Mandarin and English are spoken by the largest numbers of people, but assumptions fall apart as you go down the list. Far more people speak Portuguese or Indonesian than French. More than 2.5 times as many people speak Yoruba as Swedish. Fortunately for most airlines, the world in which they operate is linguistically narrower. But as they set up shop on new websites in markets far from home, carriers must navigate a minefield of bad translations, cultural gaffes and technical oversights.
WENCOR CLAIMS TO BE one of the largest PMA holders in the world and currently has US FAA authority to manufacture more than 2000 PMA parts. Based in Utah, the company boasts more than 3,500 customers worldwide, including more than 250 airlines. A major aerospace engineering, distribution and manufacturing enterprise, it offers aftermarket parts and services to commercial and military aerospace industries worldwide. The Wencor Group is made up of three entities that have long-established roots in the aviation parts supply industry: Wencor, Dixie Aerospace and Kitco Defense.
New Zealand's new Prime Minister, John Key, criticized the UK's expanded Air Passenger Duty on passengers. He told Radio NZ that he had raised the matter of the tax with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and had pointed out to Brown that "it's not necessarily rational."
Titanium, named after the Titan deities of Greek mythology, works well for aircraft production because of its high strength to low weight ratio as well as its resistance to corrosion. About half of its global demand is driven by the aerospace industry. The metal is the ninth-most-abundant element in the Earth's crust, so there's plenty of it to go around, but the processes of extraction, reduction, melting and fabrication are not easy. The tools and technologies required to fashion titanium into high-performance aircraft parts are sophisticated, proprietary and expensive.
Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.9 billion combined RPMs in October, down 3.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.9% to 4.86 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.6 points to 80.2%.
Thales signed a contract with Aviation Training Centre of Tunisia for a second A320 full flight simulator to be combined with a Thales Formation System Trainer.
UK's revised Air Passenger Duty, under which passengers will be charged ascending fees based on distance traveled, continued to be criticized heavily around the world following its Nov. 24 unveiling. The scheme, effective Nov. 1, 2009, is designed to hold passengers accountable for the "environmental impact" of their travel ( ATWOnline, Nov. 25). "This is another cash grab by the [UK] Treasury, thinly disguised as an environmental measure," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said.
KLM appointed Air France KLM GM-Singapore Vincent Knoops as senior VP-corporate communications effective Dec. 1. American Airlines named Southwest Division MD-Line Maintenance Ken Durst as the carrier's new VP-line maintenance, succeeding the retiring Danny Martinez.
Virgin Blue announced an upgrade of its premium economy product designed to lure more passengers from Qantas. Launched in March, premium economy now will feature free meals, drinks (including alcohol) and seatback IFE ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25, 2007).
Virgin Atlantic Airways asked the European Commission to reject what the carrier called the "virtual merger between two of the world's biggest airlines" and yesterday submitted a document to competition authorities outlining its objection to the antitrust alliance between American Airlines and British Airways. The Commission opened its investigation into the tie-up, which also includes Iberia, in August ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1).
Siem Reap Airways International, the Cambodian carrier blacklisted by the EU this month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 17), suspended domestic services on Nov. 22 and will suspend international flying on Dec. 1 as it works to "clarify" the EU ban. Siem Reap GM Lao Santi said the airline was forbidden to fly aircraft registered in Cambodia into the EU but that its flights "are entirely operated on a wet-lease basis, at and to international standards."
Air New Zealand last week announced that up to 200 long-haul cabin staff, recruitment, airline operations and technical operations planning and management employees will be laid off. "We have been working hard on a series of initiatives to minimize the need for redundancies," CEO Rob Fyfe said, mentioning pilot leave without pay, introducing part-time hours for cabin crew, leaving empty positions unfilled and freezing executive salaries, among others.
TAM flew 1.96 billion RPKs in October, up 7.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 15.8% to 3.02 billion ASKs and load factor fell 5.2 points to 64.7%. International RPKs grew 35.2% to 1.41 billion against a 26.3% lift in ASKs to 1.82 billion, sending load factor up 5.1 points to 77.8%. Gol flew 1.79 billion RPKs in October, down 17.5% year-over-year. Capacity was level at 3.14 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 12 points to 56.8%.
Virgin America launched Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on Nov. 22 via an air-to-ground video during a YouTube Live user event in San Francisco. A segment of the show was streamed to audiences on the ground and online from an altitude of 10,688 m. VS is on course to become the first US airline to offer fleetwide inflight Internet. Target is set for the second quarter of 2009.
SAS Group said a Norwegian court has ruled in favor of the NKF union representing Scandinavian Airlines Norge cabin staff, restating pension payouts to 70% from 66% retroactive to Dec. 1, 2004. SAS said it will take a one-time SEK130 million ($15.9 million) charge and a SEK30 million annual charge.
ExpressJet Holdings' board authorized an additional $10 million for the company's previously announced securities repurchase program. It said purchases of stock and/or notes will be "made from time to time in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions."
Mobiqa reached a deal with Qatar Airways to provide its mobi-pass delivery system allowing passengers to receive boarding passes via mobile phones. Technology incorporates travel details on a barcode sent to mobile devices as an MMS, e-mail or WAP Push/Link message.
Etihad Airways said it secured $210 million in financing covering the purchase of two new A340-600s. A 12-year, $102 million facility provided by Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Standard Chartered Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. Europe will cover one aircraft while a 12-year, $110 million facility from Al Hilal Bank in Abu Dhabi will cover the other. EY took delivery of one -600 last month and will take the second in December.
