IF YOU'RE GOING TO TAKE ON AN industry leader, you had better have deep financial pockets and a defendable niche. Toronto-based Porter Airlines appears to have both and the result is that the regional startup has managed to stay aloft for the past two years despite operating out of Air Canada's primary hub city. But Porter isn't flying out of Toronto Pearson International, where it would be just a tiny fish in a big pond filled with hungry predators like AC and its regional affiliate AC Jazz.
Travelport GDS and Microsoft Inc. are collaborating on the development of a new set of integrated services for travelers, suppliers and travel agents, slated for introduction in the first quarter. Beckie Watson, vice president of new business development for Travelport GDS, said the services will provide travelers with a "personalized journey" via an end-to-end application that spans all channels and devices and is "always with them."
a 757 leaves Boston Logan for Los Angeles International, about 3,000 gal. of fuel is sucked up from an underground piping system and injected into its tanks. The system is pressurized and linked to hydrants established at gates. Hydrant carts with hoses and pressure controls connect to aircraft fuel tank intakes. For transcontinental flights, the process usually takes about 15 min.
Hamilton Sundstrand 787 Program VP Geoff Hunt spoke recently with Airline Procurement about the company's $15 billion deal with Boeing to provide the electrical, auxiliary power, air-thermal management, hydraulic, fire protection and engine systems for the Dreamliner. (Edited for clarity and length.) AP: Can you please provide an overview of Hamilton Sundstrand's 787 systems program?
IT'S EASY TO UNDERSTAND WHY procurement at one of Latin America's premier carriers is so dispersed. Grupo TACA is an airborne amalgam of six airlines: Guatemala's Aviateca, Costa Rica's Lacsa, Nicaragua's NICA, El Salvador's TACA International, Honduras's TACA de Honduras and newcomer TACA Peru.
IN THE CURRENT ENVIRONMENT OF mass globalization, multinational conglomerates and globe-spanning airline alliances, it is heartening to find in the midst of it all a family-owned niche carrier that is effectively managing to compete against legacy airlines and LCC newcomers alike.
LET'S TAKE A TRIP BACK to the future for a glimpse at the MRO market in 2018. The purchasing professional in 2018 will be part of a much different environment. Certainly the fleet is bigger and more is spent on MRO than in 2008. The fleet is 28,000 aircraft, an increase of 9,000 since 2008, and the A320 family and 737NGs make up nearly half of it. Airlines are spending $61 billion on MRO, up from $45 billion in 2008. Engine MRO alone exceeds $22 billion.
THE GREAT ANTI-MANPADS DEBATE is in abeyance just now. Perhaps it is the US's success in helping destroy some 26,000 of the shoulder-fired devices since 2003. Maybe it is the US State Dept.'s efforts to keep those that remain out of the hands of bad guys. Then, just maybe, there's pure, undiluted luck. In any event, no passengers on a regularly scheduled flight have died from a Man-Portable Air Defense System attack since Oct. 10, 1998, when Tutsi rebels downed a Lignes Aerinnes Congolaises 727-100, killing 41. Since the mid-1970s, State Dept.
Amadeus plans to introduce Crazy Shopping, an application that will free searches from the tyranny of origin, destination and time frame, in the second quarter of next year. The new search functionality enable users to query airlines in new ways: "I live between Frankfurt and Munich and can fly from either airport. I would like to go to either Thailand or Indonesia. Show me my options." Or, "I have €600. Where can I go?"
Parts management, as opposed to merely transactional parts sales, began with engine OEMs several decades ago. Component manufacturers and third-party firms became active in this market. Now, airframe OEMs have entered it aggressively.
ALTHOUGH IT MAY SEEM counterintuitive in today's troubled economic environment, demand for aircraft maintenance technicians is expected to more than double over the next two decades. The numbers are daunting. Alteon, for example, estimates that on average 24,000 mechanics need to be hired annually through 2027 to support fleet growth and replace retiring technicians, or 480,000 in total. By comparison, the Boeing subsidiary estimates that over the same period 360,000 new pilots will be required, or 18,000 per year.
IN FEBRUARY, A NEW umbrella brand was launched in the aviation services industry to integrate various competencies now encompassed by airline catering giant Gate Gourmet and other brands it has acquired since 2007. Representing 11 brands, gategroup is the result of a process begun in 2005 to first restructure and then expand Gate Gourmet to turn it into a one-stop provider with a full range of cabin-related services.
Greek government yesterday called for expressions of interest from potential purchasers of Olympic Airlines and holding company Pantheon. "The buyer of Pantheon will be selected through a multistage process. It is envisioned that a number of qualifying interested parties will be allowed to participate in the net stages of the process," the government said in a statement cited by Reuters.
SAS Group yesterday signed an MOU with Gate Gourmet Switzerland for a five-year catering contract scheduled to be finalized in two weeks. Agreement, which includes a two-year extension option, applies to catering supplies for SAS departures from Copenhagen, Stockholm Arlanda, Gothenburg, Malmo, Oslo and Bergen.
US Government Accountability Office General Counsel Gary Kepplinger told Congress yesterday that he has concluded "that FAA may not auction [airport] slots under its property disposition authority, user fee authority, or any other authority, and thus also may not retain or use proceeds of any such auctions."
TACA last week unveiled a new logo, livery and uniforms that the Central American company claimed "implies a transformation of our products and our service culture." Logo includes a stylized red bird next to the company name. "We're undergoing a complete transformation to gain customer preference," Chairman and CEO Roberto Kriete said. TACA said it will "offer passengers a new experience that includes improvements to onboard services, fleet upgrades and an overhaul of the airline's customer service philosophy," without elaborating.
Mechtronix World Corp. announced that Richardson Capital, the private equity arm of Richardson Financial Group, has invested C$39 million ($37.8 million) in the Montreal-based simulator maker for a minority stake. The company said the funds will be used for "widening of turnkey services for new-generation training centers, expanded market development efforts" and expansion of manufacturing and R&D. "We're multiplying our manufacturing capacity by three," Mechtronix President Xavier Herve told ATWOnline.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP-Marketing Randy Tinseth told reporters in Tokyo that "frankly we do not know when the [machinists] strike will end" and that the manufacturer will have to "reassess our production, deliveries and program schedule for the 787 at that time." Launch customer ANA said last week that it had "reached an agreement with Boeing" on a new 787 delivery schedule that would see its first Dreamliner arrive next August ( ATWOnline, Sept. 26).
NIIT Technologies inked a three-year, multimillion-dollar deal with British Airways to support and test business-critical applications across various business areas.
Italian Civil Aviation Authority issued a provisional operating license to Alitalia valid until March 1, both ENAC and AZ confirmed ( ATWOnline, Sept. 30). The license is conditional on a monthly check of The carrier's economic and financial situation.
Jat Airways, which the Serbian government put up for sale over the summer ( ATWOnline, Sept. 22), has not found an investor willing to purchase the state's 51% stake and now must depend on the government for a rescue, CEO Sasa Vlaisavljevic told the daily Blic. He said the state will have to assume Jat's €250 million debt.
IATA reported that global international RPK growth in August slowed to 1.3% year-over-year from 1.9% in July and 5.4% in the first half of 2008. August load factor fell 1.8 points to 81%. "The slowdown has been so sudden that airlines can't adjust capacity quickly enough. While the drop in the oil price is welcome relief on the cost side, fuel remains 30% higher than a year ago," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said, reiterating IATA's forecast of a $5.2 billion industry loss for the full year ( ATWOnline, Sept.
Alitalia's rescue by Italian investment group CAI appears fully on track after the last of AZ's nine labor unions yesterday backed the €1 billion ($1.46 billion) plan to re-launch the troubled airline that is estimated to be losing €3 million daily.
Welcome Air of Innsbruck, one of Europe's few small independent regional carriers, recently took delivery of its fourth Do-328, a 328JET version. Aircraft originally was for Hainan Airlines. Welcome will launch a weekly Innsbruck-Weeze service for the upcoming winter schedule but will stop operating to Rotterdam and Antwerp because of "massive pressure" from Dutch LCC Transavia.com, Welcome owner Jakob Ringler told ATWOnline.
Frontier Airlines reported a $5.6 million net loss in August but posted its second consecutive monthly operating profit ($3.3 million). Net result included a $4.7 million loss on a sale-leaseback transaction, $1.8 million in professional fees, a $500,000 mark-to-market noncash loss on fuel hedging contracts and a $300,000 loss on early extinguishment of debt. It reported a $500,000 gain on a reversal of severance accrual. Net income excluding those items was $1.2 million.
