Italian air traffic controllers are set to walk off their jobs for 4 hr. today in a strike called to campaign for improved training and more staffing, the Associated Press reported. Alitalia said it expected to cancel 62 domestic and 40 international flights.
Indian LCC Go Air will launch its online booking service Friday with the biggest giveaway of seats the region has witnessed. The airline initially will distribute 10,000 free seats and will give away another 10,000 in November and December. MD Jeh Wadia said he wants the carrier to be India's cheapest and plans to have 36 A320s in service within three years. Leases already have been signed for six, with the first service set for Nov. 12 from Mumbai to Goha. Normal fares start at $42 and range up to $120.
Northern Hawk Aviation, a small carrier connecting communities with Vancouver and Calgary, has suspended operations. The two-year-old airline blamed rising fuel costs in a statement on its website.
Lim Chin Beng, who founded Singapore-based LCC Valuair and then sold it to Qantas ( ATWOnline, July 25), is now chairman of newly formed Changi International Airshow & Events, which plans to take over the biennial Singapore show beginning in February 2008 and rename it Changi International Airshow. The new entity is a joint venture between the Singapore CAA and the Defense Science and Technology Agency.
Emirates will introduce an enhanced economy class on Nov. 1. The upgrade will feature ergonomically designed seats with footrests and a new food presentation using custom matching trays and dishes, and will be implemented gradually across the carrier's network. It also is retrofitting its 777-200s with the inflight entertainment system currently available on its A340-500 and 777-300ER aircraft.
Guggenheim Aviation Partners ordered two 747-400 Boeing Converted Freighters (formerly known as Special Freighters) for delivery in 2008. The aircraft will be Combi-to-freighter conversions. Boeing's Commercial Aviation Services unit will manage the process.
SAS and Cendant Travel Distribution Services agreed to allow Galileo continued full access to SAS's content. The airline said the contract followed months of negotiations and allows it to obtain lower distribution costs. SAS agreed to new terms with Worldspan ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17) and Sabre this month and with Amadeus in August.
Pegasus Aviation Finance Co. named Toby Bright as its chief marketing officer. Bright spent 28 years at Boeing, rising to the position of executive VP-sales. He left the company following a corporate shakeup last December in which he was replaced as Boeing's top airplane salesman by former Connexion by Boeing President Scott Carson ( ATWOnline, Dec. 6). KLM appointed Ben Swagerman deputy chief of KLM Security Services effective Feb. 1. He will succeed Chief of KLM Security Services Teun Platenkamp upon the latter's retirement next autumn.
US Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics directed Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines and Mesa Airlines to begin reporting flight delay numbers in 2006 because the carriers' revenue has exceeded the required threshold for the monthly reports. BTS also removed St. Louis Lambert and Portland, Ore., International from the list of airports for which airlines are required to report flight delays.
Hainan Airlines, China's fourth-largest carrier, will merge with three smaller airlines--Xinhua, Changan and Shanxi--to form Grand China Air. A Hainan spokesperson told Bloomberg News that US financier George Soros agreed over the weekend to invest $25 million for approximately 4% of the new carrier. Hainan is trying to raise $1.06 billion to buy aircraft and add routes ahead of the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.
Alitalia is seeking a medium-/long-term loan of up to $485 million from a major US bank in order to offset the rise in fuel costs, Reuters reported. The carrier said in a statement that it would offer its planes as a guarantee. As part of a new industrial plan approved Friday, Alitalia will speed up some elements of its restructuring, including the renegotiation of procurement contracts and labor cost reduction ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14). The airline said it expects to receive €85 million ($102.6 million) in government aid next year.
General Electric's Aviation Engine Services unit, in one of the largest such deals it has done, signed an eight-year OnPoint Solutions service agreement valued at $1.5 billion covering maintenance, repair and overhaul of the nearly 600 CFM56-7 engines in service or on order powering Southwest Airlines' 737-700s. According to GE, the new deal is a "hybrid" blending traditional OnPoint time-and-materials and cost-per-flight-hour agreements.
News from Travel Technology Update: In what is likely to be a boon to long-distance romances in the U.S., Site59.com has launched "Meet Me In. . .," a tool that assembles discounted last-minute weekend packages from two departure points to a single destination. A traveler departing New York and another departing from Los Angeles can purchase a single package with hotel and flights in Miami, for example.
Virgin Atlantic Chairman Richard Branson implored his EU colleagues to stand fast as open skies negotiations commenced in Brussels yesterday, indicating that an agreement may hinge on London Heathrow. "We don't know what each side is planning [this] week but what we don't want is an unbalanced deal giving the US all it wants with little more than empty promises in return. In simple terms, the EU must not trade access to Heathrow--its most valuable asset--for anything less than a true Open Aviation Agreement," Branson said in a statement.
Air Line Pilots Assn. and its Aloha Airlines unit condemned the carrier's request to have the bankruptcy court impose a new contract on the pilot workforce. The Section 1113 filing was made on Saturday. ALPA claimed yesterday that Aloha signed a Letter of Agreement on May 13 stating it would not seek rejection of the negotiated collective bargaining agreement in bankruptcy court. In exchange, pilots agreed to a 20% pay cut, productivity enhancements and a two-year pension freeze.
Striking members of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. will vote on a contract offer from Northwest Airlines that would allow just 500-539 mechanics to return to the airline, at least initially. More than 4,400 mechanics and aircraft cleaners walked off their jobs Aug. 20. NWA quickly replaced the cleaning positions and used a mix of new hires and third-party shops to handle its MRO needs. Prior to the strike, its final offer envisioned preserving 2,750 union mechanic jobs.
Ratification of an open skies agreement between the US and EU would mean a significant increase in high-tech jobs on both sides of the Atlantic, according to a study released Friday. Kenneth Button and Jonathan Drexler of George Mason University's School of Public Policy presented their findings in Washington at a one-day seminar organized by United States Airports for Better International Air Service, a coalition of smaller international gateways. The GMU study concluded the number of high-tech jobs would increase by an average of 30,000 in each of the 29 EU regions examined.
Aviareps announced Thursday it will handle Munich Airport's marketing and sales rights in North America. Munich is Aviareps' first European airport client.
Customer service workers at America West and US Airways will unite under a new Airline Customer Service Employee Assn., an alliance approved Thursday by large margins in voting conducted by the Communication Workers of America, representing 6,000 passenger agents at US Airways, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing 3,500 workers at AWA. CWA's agreement with US Airways is fixed until 2012 and remains binding at the newly merged carrier. America West CSRs unionized last year and currently are negotiating their first contract.
Binter Canarias, which has added seven new ATR 72s to its fleet over the past 15 months, was honored by ERA as its Airline of the Year in ceremonies in Gothenburg at the group's General Assembly. "The airline has overcome challenges and has developed a firm base for a niche business," the judges declared in awarding the honor to the Canary Islands carrier. "They are not afraid to challenge themselves through reinvention, re-branding and a fresh approach." Binter operates a fleet of 13 ATRs, two 1900s and one 737.
