CAAC and the National Development and Reform Commission announced an increase in fuel surcharges on domestic routes of less than 800 km. to CNY30 ($3.74) from CNY20 and on routes greater than 800 km. to CNY60 from CNY40. Increases went into effect April 10 and will last until Oct. 10.
Starman Bros. Auctions was awarded the exclusive right to liquidate all of Independence Air's inventory. The auction is set for April 21-22 and 27-28 at Washington Dulles.
United Airlines appointed Sean Donohue to the new position of VP-customer experience. Donohue most recently was VP-operational services for United Express and Ted. US National Transportation Safety Board Member Ellen Engleman Conners announced this week that she intends to leave NTSB on May 31, 19 months before her term expires. She joined the board in March 2003 and served a two-year term as chairman. She was renominated to the post in 2005 but Congress did not act and the nomination lapsed.
British Airways is increasing its fuel surcharge on tickets sold and issued in the UK to £35 ($61.65) per sector from £30 on its long-haul flights. The short-haul surcharge remains unchanged at £8 per sector. "Our annual fuel bill for 2005/2006 is expected to be some £1.6 billion. We estimated previously that this would rise by £400million in 2006/2007 but at these prices [above $70 a barrel], we would now expect this year's fuel bill to be £600 million higher at £2.2 billion," Commercial Director Martin George said.
Embraer Aircraft Maintenance Services opened a 78,000-sq.-ft. hangar last week in Nashville. The facility will provide full-service MRO and create 165 new jobs. It consists of production shops, support offices and a three-bay hangar large enough to accommodate three Embraer 195s. Operations will begin next month.
Air Canada flew 3.75 billion RPMs in March, a 3.8% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.7% to 4.61 billion ASMs and load factor went up 1.6 points to 81.4%. Air Canada Jazz traffic grew 88.8% to 304 million RPMs against a 84.5% hike in ASMs to 417 million, raising load factor 1.7 points to 72.9%. Gol flew 1.04 billion RPKs in March, a 49.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 57.3% to 1.51 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 3.6 points to 68.8%.
Indian government announced yesterday the signing of a memorandum of agreement with the US providing for FAA assistance "in developing and modernizing civil aviation information in managerial, operation and technical areas."
The Delta Master Executive Council of the Air Line Pilots Assn. will meet today to receive a "comprehensive briefing" on the tentative agreement reached by airline and union negotiators last Friday. The MEC must approve the deal before it is submitted to members for a ratification vote. To date, the union has declined to provide terms of the accord even to members, but it did say yesterday that the $280-$290 million concession figure reported by The Wall Street Journal ( ATWOnline, April 18) is "not accurate."
Midwest Airlines signed a deal with Empire Aero Center of New York for scheduled heavy maintenance on its 11 MD-80s. Work begins this month and will last for five months.
Delta Air Lines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., agreed to $280-$290 million in annual concessions, including a 14% pay cut, in the tentative labor agreement reached on Friday ( ATWOnline, April 17), according to The Wall Street Journal. Delta was seeking approximately $315 million in givebacks. The pilots' Master Executive Council said it would review the deal this week and decide whether or not to submit it to union members for a vote.
News from Travel Technology Update: A couple of years ago, a spate of new travel search engines hit the scene, ending SideStep's unchallenged reign over the travel search field. Is there room for another? Eric Christensen thinks so, and he believes his company, Mountain View, Calif.-based Search Party, brings something new to the table. Christensen, one of the founders of WorldRes, said that what was missing was a true apples-to-apples comparison of not only the nightly rate, but of room types, taxes and fees and cancellation policies as well.
Santos Dumont Aircraft Management of Dublin purchased 10 Aviation Partners Boeing 737-300 Blended Winglet shipsets. SD currently is remarketing five dash 300s on behalf of Oak Hill Capital and will install the winglets between November 2006 and May 2007.
Monarch Airlines placed a complete fleet order with CTT Systems for 27 Zonal Drying Systems to be installed on its A300s, A320s, A321s, A330s, 757s and 767s.
JetBlue Airways yesterday named former US Airways MD-Pricing and Revenue Management Development Richard Zeni its new VP-revenue management. The appointment was effective from March 29. Zeni had worked in revenue management at US since 1996. "The area of revenue management is vital to JetBlue as we face industry challenges and opportunities ahead.
Bombardier Regional Aircraft President Steven Ridolfi announced a new management lineup that he said is designed to "better serve the needs or our expanding customer base." James Dailly was appointed senior VP-sales. Reporting to Dailly will be Ric Allison, VP-Americas sales; Steve Crowley, VP-Asia/Pacific sales, and Kevin Smith, VP-international sales. Rod Williams was appointed VP-commercial operations.
Cathay Pacific flew 5.78 billion RPKs in March, an 8.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 10.5% to 7.5 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.4 points to 77.1%. US Airways Group flew 5.6 billion consolidated RPMs in March, down 10.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 11.3% to 6.92 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.6 point to 81%. Domestic traffic dropped 11.3% to 4.68 billion RPMs against a 12.8% decrease in capacity to 5.76 billion ASMs. International RPMs declined 7.4% to 923.2 million and capacity slipped 2.7% to 1.15 billion ASMs.
Gulf Air signed an MOU with SR Technics establishing terms of a five-year, $750 million contract covering MRO of the carrier's fleet of 10 A320s, six A330s, nine A340s and nine 767-300s. SR Technics will establish a $50 million, three-bay hangar and maintenance facility and training center in Oman. Gulf Air moved its MRO work from Abu Dhabi following that government's withdrawal as an investor in the carrier ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8).
Crane Aerospace & Electronics was selected to supply the onboard tire and brake monitoring system for the 777. First deliveries of aircraft with the new system are scheduled for next year.
US FAA named Wilson Felder as the new director of the William J. Hughes Technical Center. He succeeds the retired Ronald Esposito. Felder most recently served as the transition executive and director for technology development in FAA's Air Traffic Organization.
