Spring is the time of year associated with renewal, but this year it is the holiday season that will herald regeneration for inflight connectivity. By year end, a host of new services for airline passengers are scheduled to be springing to life. Counterbalancing the arrivals will be the departure of the 800-lb. gorilla of connectivity: Connexion by Boeing.
JetBlue Airways is returning to all four GDSs with a new five-year, full-content agreement with Worldspan and participation in Amadeus in the works. Worldspan said its agreement with JetBlue will provide access to the carrier by "business travelers who book trips online using Worldspan Trip Manager XE, as well as travel buyers who purchase opaque flights or travel packages at designated Worldspan-connected travel Web sites," in addition to travel agencies.
Regional Express of Australia will lease 25 Saab 340Bs from Saab Aircraft Leasing as part of its fleet modernization and expansion program. The first aircraft will arrive in January.
ALTA (formerly AITAL), the Latin American Air Transport Assn., announced that three more airlines have joined the organization. Air Jamaica, Icaro and Aerolitoral bring membership to 32 carriers. Brazilian petroleum company Petrobras joined ALTA as an affiliate member.
Sabre Airline Solutions said Toronto-based startup Porter Airlines selected the Sabre Flight Control Suite of operational support solutions including Sabre FliteTrac, CrewTrac and Dispatch Manager. Porter plans to launch service in October from Toronto City Centre Airport.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey has established an Age 60 Aviation Rulemaking Committee composed of airline, labor and medical experts "to recommend whether the US should adopt [ICAO's] new age standard that will allow one of two pilots on the flight deck to be over age 60," the agency announced late Wednesday. The ICAO Council adopted the new standard to increase the upper age limit for airline pilots from 60 to 65 last March and it becomes applicable on Nov. 23 to multicrew operations.
Amadeus said it reached an agreement with Continental Airlines that will extend current access to full content for travel agents in the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
The EU Regulatory Committee on Aviation Security agreed on a range of new security measures to be introduced at all airports of the 25 member states. The measures will limit the individual quantities of liquids allowed to be carried by passengers to 100 ml. per container, require that the number of containers fit in one transparent resealable plastic bag of a maximum size of 1 liter and state that passengers must present the plastic bag at security checkpoints.
A380 wake turbulence is not as serious an issue as ICAO has feared, based on the findings of the Airbus Wake Vortex Steering Group, which the manufacturer released yesterday.
Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson yesterday urged the air transport industry to "accelerate the pace at which we reduce aviation's impact on the environment" and called for the creation of a new system of aircraft departures to help address the problem.
Silverjet, a proposed UK startup that plans to offer transatlantic low-fare, all-business-class service, named Katherine Gershon launch and international development director, George Henderson IT director and Tamarah Khatib UK marketing manager. The airline is planning for a winter 2006 start.
KLM will reduce its fuel surcharge by €5 ($6.36) per segment on all intercontinental flights and by €1 per segment on all intra-European flights in response to falling oil prices on tickets issued as of Sept. 28.
Alitalia unions have called off 24-hr. strikes planned for tomorrow and Oct. 9 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 27) after the government agreed to hold a meeting with workers' representatives on Oct. 10, the Associated Press reported. Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi said the government will present a new business plan for the airline by year end.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday announced a Total Component Support Agreement with Air Deccan covering the Indian LCC's newly arriving fleet of up to 60 A320s for a period of 10 years. Under terms of the $150 million deal, LHT and its Indian subsidiary, One Stop Airline MRO Support, "will independently serve" the Air Deccan fleet with the provision of components at the carrier's Bangalore hub.
The Irish government and Aer Lingus yesterday priced the IPO of the state-owned airline at €2.20 ($2.80) a share, valuing it at €1.1 billion. Earlier this month, the carrier gave an indicative range of €2.10-€2.70 a share for the Dublin and London listing, which is scheduled for Oct. 2 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 13).
Amadeus announced that Finnair deployed Amadeus Ticket Changer, which enables the airline to automate the ticket change and reissue process from any location in any currency.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani called on China to look urgently at the cost of overflying the country, which at the current rate of $1 per mile is "not acceptable." He also urged Beijing to look at the cost of operating into China's airports, which aside from Japan are the world's most expensive.
All Nippon Airways recently took delivery of its fourth 767-300F and plans to use it to launch a six-times-weekly Nagoya-Chicago cargo service via Anchorage.
