The EC's third update of its airline blacklist, released yesterday, features the first removal of airlines that successfully raised their safety standards and new restrictions on Pakistan International Airlines.
Comair pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. ratified a four-year contract after months of wrangling with management over pay and benefit concessions ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14). The new contract is expected to save the airline $40 million and will cut pilot salaries 7.75%-13%. Some 68% voted in favor of the deal, which also included an $82.5 million bankruptcy claim the pilots recently sold. J.C.
Gryphyn Works of Utah said Horizon Air has become the first airline in the world to conduct paperless ground support equipment maintenance operations by using Gryphyn's Web-based GSE Maintenance application.
American Airlines announced the recall of 60 employees to full aviation maintenance technician positions at its Tulsa MRO base. Plans to backfill those workers' vacated positions will raise the number of employees receiving recalls or reassignments to more than 100. AA said the additional work required to operate more 757 winglet modification lines prompted the recalls.
IATA reported a 6.1% year-over-year rise in industry RPKs in January and a 5.6% increase in capacity. Load factor was 74.9%. All regions posted traffic growth save Latin America, with the Middle East the highest at 18.9% and Africa next at 7.9%. Load factor was highest in North America at 77.3%.
Boeing named Integrated Defense Systems VP-Europe Ian Thomas as VP-Boeing International and president of Boeing India succeeding Anil Shrikhande, who is moving to IDS.
Oneworld is discussing membership with China Eastern Airlines, alliance Managing Partner John McCulloch announced in a briefing with reporters cited by Reuters. Oneworld has yet to recruit a member from mainline China, while SkyTeam is preparing to welcome China Southern Airlines and Star Alliance will admit Air China and Shanghai Airlines.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) introduced passenger rights legislation in the US House of Representatives last week that would require airlines to allow passengers to leave aircraft if a ground delay lasts longer than 3 hr. "We must find a way for airlines to conduct business without holding passengers on planes for hours on end," he said. His bill makes exceptions only when pilots "reasonably determine" the flight is within 30 min. of taking off, but after two such determinations without departing the passengers must be allowed to leave.
Pinnacle Airlines, a Northwest Airlink partner, reached a four-year labor agreement with its flight attendants represented by United Steel Workers Local 772.
Prospects for the creation of an Open Aviation Area between the EU and US improved late Friday when negotiators from both sides announced a tentative agreement had been reached in Brussels. Terms were not released, but the deal does allow the EU to tighten foreign investment limits on EU carriers to match the 25% limit in place in the US. At the same time, the US will ease nationality clauses to make it easier for EU carriers to invest in third-country airlines without those airlines losing US traffic rights.
Indian government, at a cabinet meeting last week chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave final approval for the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). The two state-owned carriers will become a single entity when all legal formalities are completed, a process that is expected to take no longer than 16 weeks. Full operational integration is expected to take about two years. The combined airline will operate a fleet of about 120 aircraft and employ some 30,000 workers.
Bmi is taking a partial U-turn on the paid-for inflight catering service concept introduced in August 2005 on short-haul mainline operations at London Heathrow, announcing reintroduction of complimentary food and drink for certain loyalty program members. Diamond Club members also will benefit from priority seating. The change will apply from April 2. "The airline industry has been through a period of massive change in the past five years, a process that continues today," bmi CEO Nigel Turner said. "By developing and evolving our products and services we can ensure we continue to. .
AirTran Airways yesterday responded to Midwest Airlines' accusation that "AirTran's business is deteriorating" ( ATWOnline, March 1), saying that its "record speaks for itself." AirTran told this website that "Midwest's comments are out of line and inconsistent with the reality of the market.
Air Deccan obtained certification for a Full Flight Trainer manufactured by Mechtronix Systems. Unit originally was acquired by ATR Training Center and used by DN pilots. The FFT can be configured for either the ATR 42-500 or 72-500.
Years of heavy losses taught US airlines that given the up-and-down nature of the business and the number of factors (such as energy prices) beyond their control, they simply had to manage what could be managed. That meant rigorous cost-cutting and adopting a strict discipline concerning capacity growth and nonfuel expenses. While the post-9/11 restructuring of the US industry may have been "brutal," as recently characterized by Senate aviation subcommittee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.), it appears to be paying off.
IT ALL BECAME A BIT TOO MUCH FOR United Airlines to handle. On average, each passenger began checking 10% more baggage following last August's London terror scare and ensuing security rule changes related to carry-on items. The amount of checked luggage grew even larger during the holiday season.
Despite the advent of color displays, weather radar interpretation remains among the blackest of airborne arts. "It still requires significant interpretation and work by the pilot to dig out the information," says Roy Robertson, a principal engineer for Rockwell Collins.
MOST AIRLINES THAT finish the year with nearly a 20% increase in net income, not to mention completing an IPO that nets more than $94 million, would enjoy nothing more than sharing the good news with anyone willing to listen. Not so with Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air. "We don't seek the spotlight," Chairman, President and CEO Maurice Gallagher told ATW a month ago on the sidelines of the Raymond James Growth Airlines Conference in New York, where he outlined the carrier's successful business model and talked about plans for growth.
TWENTY-THREE YEARS OF OPERATIONAL experience at airports as diverse as New York JFK, Wichita Mid-Continent and Las Vegas McCarran had taught Tony Grantham to anticipate what he calls the "known unknowns." Then the original America West employee was transferred to Philadelphia International Airport, a facility infamous for frustrating passengers, bewildering executives and springing all kinds of surprises.
BOY, WERE WE WRONG! AFTER Airbus and Boeing booked more than 2,000 orders in 2005, the consensus view was that the industry would experience a significant falloff in ordering activity in 2006. This was an opinion shared not only by aerospace analysts but among senior managers at both airframe OEMs. "We probably won't get as many orders this year as last year," Boeing Chairman President and CEO Jim McNerney said in January 2006 and similar words were spoken in Toulouse (ATW, 3/06, p. 22).
The merging of the US Airways and America West reservations systems got a lot of attention because of the check-in problems that resulted in long lines at Philadelphia and Charlotte, but the "larger issue was the processing for closing a flight," US Airways president Scott Kirby said. Kirby told analysts at the JPMorgan Aviation and Transportation Conference that "we had made it needlessly complex to close a flight," a process that involves tallying passengers and bags and collecting other data before an aircraft can push back from the gate.
