Air Transport Assn. of Canada announced that Air Canada, WestJet, Air Canada Jazz and Air Transat have withdrawn from the organization effective immediately. The four carriers represented just under half its membership revenue, ATAC said, adding that it will work to develop a revised business plan. "Today's announcement is an unfortunate development. . .but does not change our commitment to our members to improve Canada's commercial aviation sector," Chairman Mike Doiron said. ATAC still boasts approximately 230 operator and associate members.
Air Europa pilots represented by SEPLA have called a series of strikes in May and June to protest the carrier's plan to set up a low-cost subsidiary. SEPLA claims the Palma-based airline will violate its 2001 labor agreement if it hires non-Air Europa pilots for the new LCC, Universal Airlines ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8). Talks between Globalia, which controls Air Europa, and SEPLA, broke down this week after five months.
Expedia will provide Air Berlin Group with its global points of sale under a multiyear agreement announced Monday. Contract extends the carrier's fares, schedules and inventory to Expedia and hotels.com branded POS as well as to Expedia Corporate Travel.
ARINC said it completed installation of 64 new SelfServ check-in kiosks for Flybe at 13 UK regional airports. It already supports Flybe at Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle and Belfast City.
Air Line Pilots Assn. released a statement saying that the chairmen of the Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines pilot groups have "jointly discussed. . .the importance of commencing negotiations with Delta management in the very near future" on a single labor agreement "that will include immediate parity in rates of pay" upon the closing of the announced merger. The union said, however, that such a negotiation does not "constitute an endorsement" of the merger by the Northwest Master Executive Council.
Iberia and Consorci Zona Franca of Barcelona launched construction of a 12,100 sq.-m. widebody hangar at El Prat. The facility will accommodate two A340s or four A320s and is expected to increase airport capacity for dispatching and receiving long-haul flights. Specializing in C checks, it will offer MRO to nearly 80 airlines using BCN. Investment is put at €24 million ($38.2 million), with IB positioned to control 75% of the new company.
Leaders from 13 commercial aviation organizations representing airlines, airports, air navigation services providers and aerospace manufacturers yesterday signed a "declaration on climate change" intended "to lead towards carbon neutral growth and a totally sustainable future." The declaration states: "We agree on the need to accelerate action to mitigate our environmental impact, especially in respect to climate change, while preserving our driving role in the sustainable development of our global society."
Boeing and Airbus, on the sidelines of the Aviation & Environment Summit in Geneva, signed off on an agreement to work together "to ensure global interoperability in air traffic management in an effort to reduce the impact of aviation on the environment." They will seek to speed up improvements to air traffic management systems to "increase efficiency and eliminate traffic congestion."
In a rare development, Airbus and Pratt & Whitney yesterday announced an agreement to flight test Pratt's Geared Turbofan engine on Airbus's A340 testbed, although the engine does not have an application on an Airbus airframe.
Lufthansa Technik won a significant contract from Qantas for technical support of GE and CFM56-7 engines powering the carrier's 737, 767, 747 and A330 aircraft.
Reno-based AeroTech Services announced the availability of its wing modification for the 737 Classic family, which it claims "reduces fuel consumption by up to 4%" by increasing lift-to-drag ratio. The modification "relocates the aft segments of the trailing edge flaps aft and below their standard locations when the flaps are retracted [resulting] in increased wing area, increased airfoil camber and a lengthened wing chord." The device also has multiple flat droop settings "to optimize results for each carrier's individual operating needs." It takes approximately 300 man hr.
FlightSafety International announced construction of an 80,000-sq.-ft. learning center for regional carriers in St. Louis that is expected to open in December. It will accommodate up to nine full flight simulators and offer classrooms, customer service and support areas. FSI already maintains a 40,000-sq.-ft. facility in St. Louis and together the pair will offer up to 18 simulators for BAe, Bombardier, Embraer, Fairchild, Saab and Sabreliner aircraft. It also announced that its sixth Q400 FFS and its fourth E-170 FFS have been qualified to Level D by US FAA.
Amadeus said TAP Portugal selected its Star Alliance Common IT Platform featuring reservations, inventory, ticketing and check-in capabilities. Migration is expected to be completed by 2010.
AirBridgeCargo will be represented in Vietnam by Indo-Trans Logistics Aviation Services and in South Korea by Eurussia Air Cargo under a GSA agreement announced yesterday.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 7.94 billion RPKs in March, up 17.2% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 13.7% to 9.67 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 2.4 points to 82.1%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 679.1 million RPMs in March, down 1.6% from the year-ago month, against a 2.1% capacity increase to 774.6 million ASMs. Load factor fell 3.3 points to 87.7%. Midwest Air Group flew 435.7 million RPMs in March, up 7.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 11.8% to 552.3 million ASMs, dropping load factor 2.8 points to 78.9%.
SIA Engineering signed a five-year fleet management program agreement with V Australia for maintenance of seven 777-300ERs. Contract is valued at S$90 million ($66.4 million) and calls for transit and light maintenance checks, defect rectification, cabin maintenance, spares support, component repair and overhaul and logistics management. Work will take place in Brisbane, Sydney and Los Angeles.
TUI said that Monteray Enterprises, which is wholly owned by shipping magnate John Fredriksen, acquired an 11.7% stake in the company with the purchase of 29.5 million shares. Fredriksen now is the largest shareholder in the travel company.
US FAA named Air Force Reserve Brig. Gen. Robert Tarter VP-safety services for the Air Traffic Organization. He also was a pilot for Delta Air Lines. Swiss International Air Lines elevated Bernd Bauer to head of sales and marketing-Europe. He succeeds Alexander Arafa, who become head of cabin crew last week.
Pratt & Whitney Canada will open a 49,987-sq.-m. flight test operations center at Montreal Mirabel. Facility will feature two bays for test aircraft and development engines and is expected to employ more than 75, including test engineers and specialized technicians. "Establishing this single, state-of-the-art facility will improve our competitiveness and support flight testing for the complete range of Pratt & Whitney engines, from turboprops to turbofans up to 90,000 lb. of thrust," Senior VP-Service Centers & Operations Benoit Brossoit said.
Aeroflot signed a cooperation agreement with MIAT Mongolian Airlines that will begin with an interline agreement and by October include codeshare flights between Moscow Sheremetyevo and Ulan Bator, a special prorate agreement, luggage check-through and interline e-ticketing. Loyalty program linkup and cooperation on freight and promotion will come later. SU flew 2.13 billion RPKs in March, up 14.4% on the year-ago month, as passenger numbers rose 19.7% to 723,700. Load factor was 68.8%.
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said Friday that she will move quickly to determine why it was necessary for American Airlines to cancel 3,300 flights two weeks ago to conduct safety inspections and announced a series of steps she said will improve FAA's safety oversight system.
Sabre Travel Network reached a multiyear distribution deal with V Australia extending the carrier's fares and inventory to Sabre-connected travel agents worldwide.
Bombardier Aerospace named former automotive executive Guy Hachey president and COO succeeding Pierre Beaudoin, who will become president and CEO of Bombardier Inc. on June 4. Beaudoin's promotion was announced last fall ( ATWOnline, Nov. 29, 2007). Hachey will take over on May 12. In addition, President-New Commercial Aircraft Program Aircraft Services Gary Scott, who led the CSeries program, will become president of the new Bombardier Commercial Aircraft unit that will combine its Regional and NCA programs.
Boeing Commercial Aviation Services reached a deal with launch customer LAN Cargo for landing gear MRO services on 767 freighters. Contract includes international access to landing gear repair and replacement.
CAAC yesterday announced it will transfer rights to routes operated by China Eastern Airlines in Yunnan Province to other carriers and impose a fine of CNY1.5 million in response to a March 31-April 1 incident in which pilots returned outbound flights to Kunming ( ATWOnline, April 8). CAAC's investigation concluded that the "disgraceful incident" involving 21 flights largely was the fault of disgruntled CEA pilots.
