American Airlines suspended its Aviation Safety Action Program, which allowed pilots to report safety issues confidentially without fear of punishment from the carrier or US FAA. AA said its pilots union, the Allied Pilots Assn., declined to extend the program. According to the Associated Press, APA believed AA was using the program to discipline pilots.
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit yesterday granted the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey's motion requesting a stay of the slot auctions at New York JFK, LaGuardia and Newark airports that FAA scheduled to start next month. "Petitioners have satisfied the stringent standards required for a stay pending court review," said the order issued by Judges Karen Henderson, Janice Rogers Brown and Brett Kavanaugh. "The FAA's planned slot auctions. . .are hereby stayed pending further order of the court".
Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air parent Alaska Air Group promoted Executive VP-Finance and Planning and CFO Brad Tilden to president. Executive VP-Customer Service Glenn Johnson will succeed Tilden in his current position. Also, VP-Seattle Operations Ben Minicucci was named executive VP-operations and COO, MD-Planning Andrew Harrison was named VP-planning and revenue management and Executive VP-Flight and Marketing Gregg Saretsky will leave the company.
Aviapartner Cargo will provide AirBridgeCargo Airlines with cargo and ramp handling services under a deal announced yesterday. Contract takes effect Jan. 1.
Continental Airlines yesterday announced plans for a biofuel demonstration flight on Jan. 7 in conjunction with Boeing, CFM International and Honeywell, the first of its kind by a US airline. A 737-800 carrying no passengers "will be powered by a special fuel blend including components derived from algae and jatropha plants," CO said, calling the fuel sources "sustainable, second-generation. . .that don't impact food crops or water resources, and don't contribute to deforestation." Sapphire Energy will provide the algae-based fuel and Terrasol will supply the jatropha-derived fuel.
Ryanair was forced to cancel 52 flights in and out of London Stansted early yesterday morning after a group protesting the airport's potential expansion ( ATWOnline, Oct. 13) cut through perimeter fences and chained themselves together near the runway. Police reportedly arrested more than 50 demonstrators and the runway reopened "just after" 8 a.m., airports operator BAA said. The LCC was furious, claiming STN "is not fit for purpose." It took authorities nearly 5 hr.
GE Aviation yesterday announced a $40 million deal with Azerbaijan Airlines to provide CF6-80C2s to power two forthcoming 767-300ERs. Deliveries are slated for 2010. Azerbaijan operates CFM56-5s on its A320 fleet and has four CFM56-7B-powered 737-900s and two GEnx-powered 787s on order.
Okay Airways began its one-month passenger service suspension on Saturday rather than the originally scheduled Dec. 15 after airports began demanding cash for fueling services, the Xinhua news agency reported ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8).
Lufthansa will purchase LCC Germanwings from Eurowings, in which LH already holds a 49% stake, according to a statement cited by the Associated Press. "Eurowings can now concentrate more on its core business," CEO Friedrich-Wilhelm Weitholz said. Transfer is expected to occur Jan. 1. Germanwings posted revenue of €630 million ($801 million) last year.
British Airways will reduce the number of aircraft based at London Gatwick to 37 from 41 next summer and cut more than 100 ground operations positions. "We have briefed our staff and their trade unions that the number of departures at Gatwick will reduce by 15% next summer compared to this summer. We aim to have a voluntary severance program in place by the end of the year," BA said in a statement cited by Bloomberg News.
Boliviana de Aviacion, a state-owned startup designed to replace Lloyd Aereo Boliviano, will take delivery of its first two aircraft by year end, GM Ronald Casso told Reuters. Three more will be leased soon, he added, and BdA will begin flying domestic services next year.
Virgin America will add Boston Logan to its network and has canceled plans to serve Chicago O'Hare. It will launch A320 flights to BOS, its eighth destination, from San Francisco (twice-daily) and Los Angeles (thrice-daily) on Feb. 12. ORD service ( ATW, Nov. 10) was tabled after VX failed to secure gate leases. "Chicago remains at the top of our list and we look forward to launching our service when a gate solution has been found at O'Hare," it said in a statement.
EADS said Friday that it will "simplify" Airbus's corporate structure by merging the Airbus France unit into the Airbus SAS entity next year, but denied European news reports that it would be forced to inject as much as €2 billion ($2.54 billion) collectively into Airbus's French, German, British and Spanish units to cover cost overruns. "We are simply going to move the Airbus France capital into the Airbus SAS holding company," an EADS spokesperson told Agence France Presse. "There is no EADS money involved in this process.
China Eastern Airlines appealed to China's Ministry of Finance for a reduction in its tax liabilities as it reported a CNY1.83 billion ($265.5 million) fuel hedging loss as of Oct. 31. CEA CFO Luo Weide said the carrier's tax burden includes a business tax, import tax, value-added tax and civil aviation fees. It paid approximately CNY20.6 billion to the Beijing government from 2002 through the first half of this year.
Southwest Airlines reached a tentative four-year labor agreement with mechanics represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. that it said is "cost neutral" and offers raises in exchange for work rule improvements and contract flexibility.
Aer Lingus said Friday that a "sufficient" number of SIPTU employees accepted voluntary leave at Dublin, Cork and Shannon to deliver the carrier's targeted savings of €25 million ($31.7 million), which also will include work rule and pay changes accepted by the union last week ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5). EI CEO Dermot Mannion said the restructuring "will provide an excellent platform for growth at each base in the future."
Ryanair transported 4.3 million passengers in November, up 11% year-over-year. Load factor rose 1 point to 79%. EasyJet transported 3 million passengers in November, up 3.4% year-over-year. Load factor rose 3.1 points to 83.9%.
Dallas-Fort Worth International Thursday opened the first quadrant of a new perimeter taxiway system it said will eliminate hundreds of the up-to-1,500 daily runway crossings. Testing and research on the concept in conjunction with US FAA and NASA began in 2003. FAA paid for 75% of the $67 million cost of the first section on DFW's southeast side. Data from use of this quadrant on the airport's busiest side will be collected and analyzed before planning for the other three sections is completed.
Austrian state holding company OIAG's supervisory board approved the sale of its 41.56% stake in Austrian Airlines Group to Lufthansa for €366,268.75 ($464,865) on Friday, continuing the German airline's aggressive European shopping spree.
AirAsia said Friday that majority shareholder Tune Air is "unable to secure financing" for its bid to acquire the remaining shares of the carrier and take it private owing to "tight credit market conditions." Tune Air, which holds a 30.9% stake in AirAsia, said in October it was "considering" the step ( ATWOnline, Oct. 10). But the global credit crunch means that it "is unable to form a firm intention to proceed," AirAsia said in an announcement to the Bursa Malaysia.
European Commission is expected to announce on Dec. 16 its decision on the proposed merger of Vueling Airlines and Clickair. Competition authorities were notified of the merger on Nov. 11 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 1).
Kartika Airlines of Jakarta signed a deal with Sukhoi Civil Aircraft for 15 firm Superjet 100s worth $448 million plus 15 options, the manufacturer announced Friday, according to press reports from Moscow. Deliveries of the 95-seat aircraft are scheduled to begin in 2011. Kartika operates 737-200s.
Deutsche Post's DHL Exel Supply Chain unit won a 10-year, multimillion-dollar deal with British Airways to provide inflight catering services for domestic and short-haul flights from London Heathrow. Contract takes effect in April 2010 and calls for up to 13 million meals annually, inflight retail, media and comfort items as well as waste management and wash-up responsibilities. Northern Foods will prepare the meals under a subcontract with DHL.
Continental Airlines completed installation of Panasonic eFX on-demand inflight entertainment systems in the economy cabins of its 39 757-200s. All aircraft will be in service by Dec. 23. In-seat power ports also were installed. IFE installations continue on CO's 777s, with 14 of 20 aircraft outfitted and the remainder scheduled to be complete by May. CO also announced an agreement with LiveTV allowing it to offer 80 channels of DirectTV programming throughout its 737NG and 757-300 fleets.
Bmibaby announced the following route suspensions: Service from Birmingham to Rome Fiumicino, Milan Orio al Serio, Lisbon, Madrid and Birmingham from March 29 to Oct. 24; Manchester-Madrid from March 29 to Oct. 22; Nottingham East Midlands-Prague from March 29 to Oct. 23. Changes are "in response to a weakening of demand, which is being impacted upon by the current economic climate," it said. It will operate a new thrice-weekly EMA-Menorca service May 22-Oct. 24.
