South African CAA appointed Zakes Myeza as its new CEO effective March 16. The body has been without a permanent CEO for the past three years. Myeza currently serves as executive director-finance and support services at the Johannesburg Development Authority. Nordam Group named Brian Beair director-aircraft asset management. Beair, reporting to Meredith Siegfried, VP-global sales and marketing, will oversee the procurement, placement and sale of rotables to support Nordam's worldwide repair divisions.
Bawag Leasing of Austria sold an ex-Augsburg Airways Dash 8-314Q to Austrian LCC InterSky. Meridian Jet Prop was the seller's exclusive worldwide agent.
Pilots for GoJet Airlines, a St. Louis-based Regional operating as United Express, chose to be represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The IBT said it also is seeking to represent the carrier's cabin staff.
German Regional Cirrus Airlines will implement e-tickets on domestic flights starting March 26. It also will add a second ex-Swiss International Air Lines Embraer 145 to its fleet.
Mesa Air Group signed Hendrix Miyasaki Shin Advertising and Bright Light Marketing Group of Hawaii to market its Hawaiian interisland services scheduled to launch in the second quarter.
Star Navigation Systems Group signed an MOU with TAP Maintenance and Engineering under which, subject to a final agreement, TAP will market Star's In-Flight Safety Monitoring System to the airline's existing client base and provide installation. ISMS collects aircraft data inflight, analyses it for anomalies and transmits it to Star's ground station. An alert is sent to the airline if a problem is anticipated or an incident has occurred, according to Star. Separately, Star signed an MOU with Kharkov State Aircraft Manufacturing Co.
Egyptian government announced its intention to sell 20% of EgyptAir to the public after an ongoing commercial study is finalized. According to the Arab Air Carrier Organization, the government will maintain 80% control of the airline. Also, the government announced that EgyptAir's fleet will increase from 32 to 52 aircraft next year. It has ordered 12 737-800s with deliveries starting this year.
Sabena Flight Academy will purchase a 737NG full-flight simulator, raising its FFSs to six. SFA offers training on A319s/A320s/A321s, A330s/340s, 737-200s, 737-300s/-400s/-500s and RJ85s/100s.
The Cape Town Convention and its Aircraft Protocol will take effect tomorrow, March 1, following ratification of the treaty by Malaysia, the eighth nation to do so. Countries that ratify the Cape Town Convention agree to abide by an international legal framework for enforcement of financial rights in mobile assets, such as aircraft.
Aloha Airlines, which emerged from a 13-month bankruptcy Feb. 17, reportedly is under investigation by US authorities for allegedly using employee pension funds to pay bank loans. US Labor Dept. has subpoenaed four banks for data on the defined benefit pension plan of Aloha's machinists union, the Associated Press reported. The airline's emergence from bankruptcy was delayed by negotiations with its unions and the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. regarding pension termination.
Northwest Airlines and the unions representing its pilots and flight attendants were granted a second extension, this time through March 1, by a US Bankruptcy Court judge Friday afternoon. The parties originally had until Feb. 17 to reach an accord before the court ruled on Northwest's request to cancel its labor agreements but were given an extension through yesterday ( ATWOnline, Feb. 17). Negotiations continued last week, prompting Judge Allan Gropper to give the parties still more time.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Airbus announced a three-year renewable agreement Friday enabling the airframer to place any aircraft for MRO work at any of STA's maintenance and modification sites around the world. Separately, STA announced a five-year, $5.9 million agreement with Pacific Airlines of Vietnam for complete component support and technical services for up to three 737s.
Venezuela's Instituto Nacional de Aeronautica Civil said in a statement on its website Friday that it is reducing dramatically the number of flights US carriers American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and FedEx will be allowed to operate into the country beginning March 30.
Jagson Airlines of India revealed details of the fleet upgrade first unveiled in January ( ATWOnline, Jan. 6). CEO Uttam Kumar Bose told reporters in India that the carrier has agreed to purchase up to 20 A321s in a deal worth $1.3 billion. The contract covers 14 firm orders and six options and will be finalized once delivery dates can be negotiated. Jagson is making the transition from a regional turboprop operator to a national carrier.
Assn. of European Airlines said 21% of members' departures were delayed by more than 15 min. in 2005, an increase over the three prior years when the rate hovered at around 19%. London Heathrow was the most affected airport, with 27.9% of departures delayed. AEA said the problems causing many delays would be solved through a Single European Sky and "coherent European policy on airport capacity."
Ukraine International Airlines took delivery of a 737-400 leased from GECAS. It also is planning to take delivery of two dash 500s leased from Boeing Capital Corp. within the next six weeks.
EasyJet introduced Internet check-in for UK passengers following a trial period earlier this month. It implemented the service at London Gatwick, Stansted and Edinburgh. It will be available to 90% of easyJet's UK passengers by April and eventually to customers across Europe. The carrier said passengers with preprinted boarding passes can arrive at the gate 15 min. prior to departure time.
United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, granted their "last concession" and ratified a pension replacement plan Friday with an approval rating of 79%. The new defined contribution plan, effective from Jan. 1, 2006, is "significantly better than what United Airlines was originally willing to provide as a replacement to our terminated defined benefit pension plan," according to the union. It includes company direct and matching contributions starting at 5% and escalating to 6% of employee earnings within two years.
JetBlue Airways promoted Assistant Treasurer Gerald Lee to VP-business development and VP-Operational Planning Rob Maruster to senior VP-airports and operational planning.
Boeing named Messier Services-Asia as a new Component Repair Network Service Center. It will perform MRO work on landing gear on MD-11s, 777s and 737NGs.
California-based Ramco Systems announced that Virgin America selected its Web-based M&E software solution to automate its MRO business processes and integrate with IT systems at partner organizations.
Aegean Airlines said its 2005 sales are expected to exceed €330 million ($392.8 million), representing an 18% increase over 2004. The carrier flew 4 million passengers last year, a rise of 12.3%.
VLM Airlines will introduce business class service on its six daily flights between Brussels and London City from March 1. The carrier said more than 80% of its passengers travel for business purposes.
