Air New Zealand said Friday that an attempted hijacking that morning aboard an Eagle Air Jetstream 32 operated by Air National was a "one-off" but "has naturally given us cause to conduct a thorough review of our safety and security systems and processes on regional domestic flights." According to widespread reports, a 33-year-old Somali woman who was a passenger on the Blenheim-Christchurch flight rushed the cockpit (the flight deck reportedly is separated from the cabin by a curtain) with a knife, threatening to blow up the aircraft. She cut the two pilots before being subdued.
SITA will help Chhatrapati Shivaji International transition to Common Use Self Service kiosks and Common Use Terminal Equipment check-in systems under a five-year deal announced Friday with Mumbai International. Features include standardized self-service, systems management and targeted gate and check-in counter allocations.
Transaero added seven aircraft (one 747-400, one 747-300, four 737-500s and one Tu-214), opened 12 new routes and reported a 51.7% growth in passengers to 3.2 million in what the Russian airline called a "record" 2007. Traffic rose 50.9% year-over-year to 11.76 billion RPKs and load factor was 79.4%. A year-ago comparison was not provided. Transaero, which claims to be Russia's second-largest international carrier, now operates eight 747s, seven 767s, 14 737s and the Tu-214. It employs 3,600.
JetBlue Airways announced the appointment of Swiss International Air Lines CEO Christoph Franz to the LCC's board, effective immediately. Franz will represent Lufthansa, which completed its 19% stake purchase in JetBlue last month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23).
Spirit Airlines announced an increase in checked-bag fees to $20 from $10 per piece if checked at the airport and to $10 from $5 if reserved on its website, effective Feb. 20. One carryon item is permitted free of charge.
Dutch government is facing parallel lawsuits challenging its plan to levy a new environmental ticket tax on all passengers departing from domestic airports ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2, 2007). The tax, which comes into effect July 1, amounts to €11.25 ($16.59) per passenger for EU destinations (with some exceptions) inside 2,500 km. and €45 for other flights.
CAE reached agreement with the Indian government to become the managing partner of its flight school, Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi. It also entered into a JV with the Airport Authority of India to develop the Rajiv Gandhi National Flying Training Institute. IGRUA management activities include aircraft and runway maintenance, flying operations and air traffic control practices. JV calls for RGNFTI ownership to be shared between CAE and AAI and includes flying and maintenance activities. CAE will provide training curriculum, courseware and training methodologies.
Air France KLM flew 16.43 billion RPKs in January, a 2% increase on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.4% to 21.3 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.8 points to 77.1%. Continental Airlines reported an estimated 9%-10% year-over-year increase in consolidated RASM in January. It flew 7.22 billion consolidated RPMs, up 2.9% on the year-ago month, against a 2.1% rise in ASMs to 9.4 billion. Load factor lifted 0.5 point to 76.8%.
Lufthansa Systems said Silverjet selected its Lido Operations Center flight planning application. Contract comprises Lido eFlightBag, Lido RouteManual, Lido FMS and Lido Takeoff Performance Analysis. Resource management requirements will be met by NetLine/Ops for operations control processes and NetLine/Crew for aspects of crew management.
Lufthansa Technik AG is investing €50 million ($73.2 million) to extend its engine maintenance business in Hamburg. The new 15,000-sq.-m. facility will start operations early next year and should increase annual engine maintenance from 320 units to 400.
US FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell's nomination to a five-year term to lead the agency is in doubt following yesterday's contentious confirmation hearing before the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee and a procedural tactic initiated by two senators that prevents the chamber from voting on the matter. Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Bob Menendez, both New Jersey Democrats, announced following the hearing that they are placing a "hold" on the nomination. Under Senate rules, each senator has the right to block voting on a nomination or legislation.
Ethiopian Airlines this week inaugurated a new 737NG full flight simulator from Flight Safety International. It is ET's second FFS; it has been operating a 767/757 simulator for 15 years. CEO Girma Wake said the carrier will save at least $800,000 a year by training its pilots in Addis Ababa.
Starling Advanced Communication of Israel signed an MOA with EMS Defense & Space Systems to produce and market a satellite-based Ku-band airborne antenna system for the US commercial airline IFC market. The two-way, low-profile broadband antenna system will offer full global coverage.
UK Dept. for Transport said the number of safety checks scheduled on foreign aircraft will more than double in the year April 1, 2008-March 31, 2009, to 600 from 250 in 2007-08 and rise to 1,000 in 2009-10. CAA ramp inspections of passenger and freighter aircraft are unannounced and cover licenses and documents, flight planning, safety equipment, cargo loading and airframe/landing gear/engines.
United Airlines flew 8.73 billion system RPMs in January, a 5.3% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity declined 3.4% to 11.41 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 1.5 points to 76.5%. British Airways flew 8.61 billion RPKs in January, down 1.6% from the year-ago month, as capacity fell 0.6% to 12.45 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 0.7 point to 69.2%. Southwest Airlines flew 5.49 billion RPMs in January, up 5.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.3% to 8.55 billion ASMs and load factor improved 0.4 point to 64.2%.
Qantas's long-running dispute with its engineers has been resolved with a four-year "in principle" Enterprise Bargaining Agreement between the carrier and the Australian Licensed Aircraft Engineers Assn. The pact, which will be the subject of a formal vote, covers nearly 1,600 engineering employees. They had been lobbying for a 5% annual pay increase but the new agreement settles at 3%, a figure that all other QF unions have accepted.
US Dept. of Transportation submitted a $68 billion FY09 budget request to Congress including $14.6 billion to fund FAA, down from $14.9 billion enacted for FY08.
EDS reached agreement with Continental Airlines to provide its fare quote solution Electronic Fares Services aimed at streamlining access to accurate and dependable airfares. The agreement is a supplement to an IT contract announced in October.
Indonesian authorities brought manslaughter charges against Marwoto Komar, 45, the pilot in command of the Garuda Indonesia 737-400 that crashed on landing at Adisucipto International in Yogyakarta last March, killing 21.
Deucalion Aviation Funds signed an LOI with Air France to acquire six 747-400 passenger aircraft for conversion and subsequent delivery in 2009 and 2010. Deucalion will convert the aircraft to full freighters at the IAI/Bedek conversion facility with the first expected to be available in September 2009. Marketing of the freighters is being undertaken by DVB Bank, which manages Deucalion.
Italian Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa, who remains at his post despite the resignation of Prime Minister Romano Prodi, told Il Sole 24 Ore he is "firmly confident" that Alitalia's acquisition by Air France KLM "will conclude positively despite all these tensions," which include Air One's effort to submit its own binding offer through the courts ( ATWOnline, Feb. 4) despite AZ's decision to negotiate exclusively with AF KLM. Air One was scheduled to have its hearing yesterday.
