US FAA yesterday issued its expected Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to require that airlines equip all aircraft operating in controlled airspace with ADS-B compatible avionics by 2020. "The proposal would require all aircraft flying in the nation's busiest airspace to have satellite-based avionics by 2020, enabling air traffic controllers to track aircraft by satellites using [ADS-B], which is 10 times more accurate than current radar technology," the agency said. The proposal is open to public comment for 90 days.
Turkish Airlines CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline in Istanbul that THY's heavy investment in new routes and aircraft finally is paying off with figures he called "nice and amazing." Revenue for the first semester rose 29% year-over-year to TRY2.2 billion ($1.81 billion), boosting the carrier's net profit to TRY125.4 million and its net margin to 9%, Kotil said. Load factor for the first nine months climbed 4 points to 73%.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. yesterday said it will prepay $545 million in aircraft debt in the fourth quarter as part of an effort to "buttress its financial foundation," but the company continued to contend with criticism over its declining stock price. AMR has achieved six straight quarters in the black after years of losses, but its share price has decreased by about 50% since the beginning of the year. Citigroup yesterday downgraded it from "buy" to "hold" and lowered its per-share price target to $24 from $34.
US FAA yesterday revised its definition of a "runway incursion," adopting ICAO's characterization of "any unauthorized intrusion onto a runway" as what it will label an incursion going forward. The primary difference is that FAA's prior definition required that an aircraft present "a potential conflict" with another aircraft or moving vehicle in order to be classified as an incursion. The agency, for example, previously would have described an unauthorized aircraft crossing an empty runway as a "surface incident" and not a runway incursion.
MyAir of Italy will launch twice-weekly Bari-Brussels service on Dec. 20. Bmi regional will add an eighth weekday Manchester-Edinburgh service beginning Oct. 28.
China Eastern Airlines is making preparations for the sale of a 24% stake to Singapore Airlines to be approved at a shareholders meeting to be held before the end of the year, Board Secretary Luo Zhuping said.
Lufthansa Technik Tulsa signed a five-year agreement with US Airways to provide technical support for thrust reversers on the airline's narrowbody Airbus aircraft.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines announced enhancements to its long-haul business class product including a last-minute fare, new comfort kit including a see-through 1 liter bag, upgraded audio/video-on-demand and a "breakfast on the go" for deplaning passengers. The late fare is available up until departure, guarantees a business class seat and is available on flights between Copenhagen/Stockholm and Bangkok, Beijing, Chicago O'Hare, Dubai, New York JFK, Seattle, Tokyo Narita and Washington Dulles.
American Eagle Airlines will invest $10 million in its maintenance facility at Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport in Highfill. The carrier has operated an MRO facility at the airport since 2004 and said the investment will facilitate a move to a larger hangar and add 100 employees to a workforce that currently numbers 120. The expansion "will enable the airline to maintain more aircraft every night and to take on additional maintenance responsibilities," it said.
Spain's stock market regulator CNMV yesterday suspended trading in Vueling Airlines following reports that the Barcelona-based LCC might issue another profit warning in the coming days. The airline said in early August that it would not meet its 2007 targets after cutting its average second-quarter fare by 23% in response to aggressive pricing by competitors.
Sensis Corp. said its Airport Surface Detection Equipment, Model X system at Charlotte Douglas International is operational. ASDE-X uses a combination of surface movement radar, transponder multilateration and ADS-B sensors to provide controllers with an accurate picture of the location and identity of aircraft and vehicles on the airport surface.
Assn. of European Airlines once again condemned the Dutch government's decision to impose a travel tax on passengers departing from the country's airports from July 1, 2008. The new duty is, according to the Finance Ministry, "part of a 'greening' of taxation" with a shift from taxes on labor and profits to environmental pollution. But revenue from what AEA called a "money-raising measure masquerading as an environmental tax" will not be used for environmental purposes or for infrastructure that could reduce aviation's environmental impact, the organization claimed.
Unisys said Hahn Air Systems of Germany successfully implemented the initial phase of its eTops "next-generation" airline booking system based on the Unisys Airline Core Systems Solutions.
Airbus yesterday announced that Vietnam Airlines signed an MOU for acquisition of 10 A350-900 XWBs and 20 A321s, while Boeing acknowledged that the carrier "has indicated its plan to move forward with additional [787] procurements."
Megadata announced that Kansas City International purchased a subscription to PASSUR Pulse, which will help increase its capture of landing fee revenue.
IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES AS CHINA'S FAST-GROWING ECONOMY generated strong market demand for her airlines in recent years. It was the worst of times as the airline industry at large was hit hard by a succession of external shocks after 9/11 such as SARS, Avian flu and the dramatic run-up in fuel costs since 2004. China's air transport industry also has struggled with the rise of new entrants and domestic competition and the aftereffects of the government-mandated consolidation that saw the big three carriers absorb many of the smaller regional lines.
THE NUMBER OF NEW COMPANIES vying to supply airlines with inflight broadband connectivity would suggest that the specter of Connexion by Boeing has been laid to rest (ATW, 10/06, p. 24). But one of the critics of the Boeing experiment cautions that carriers are better off when they look at connectivity as a differentiator rather than a profit center.
THOUGH OPERATING IN ONE OF the fastest-growing airline markets in the world, Air India and Indian have for some years now been in terminal decline. The former is a classic example of a flag carrier plagued by the ills of a bloated workforce and an aging fleet, the latter a largely domestic operation that has ceded market steadily to nimbler privately owned rivals for the past decade.
Whether by coincidence or divine providence, the fact that Boeing has acknowledged it faces significant challenges to delivering the 787 on schedule just weeks before the first A380 delivers to Singapore Airlines helps to put some perspective on the 18-month delay that Airbus faced with the A380. With first flight of the 787 now set for late November or December, Boeing may have fewer than six months to complete the flight test and certification program in time for the planned May 2008 delivery to ANA.
The founder of Hotwire is back with a new venture: an application that will create a sort of "super PNR" for consumers, dramatically simplifying the management of a trip. "The simple description is that we replace the old-fashioned manila folder," Gregg Brockway, chief executive officer of TripIt, said. "Consumers are increasingly booking with suppliers, and they end up with 20 pages of printouts," he said. "We've made it easy to bring it all together in one place. We are going to drag the itinerary into the 21st century."
COORDINATING THE PURCHASING activities of seven airlines within a group is no simple task, but it is one that David Rowell, head of purchasing-Aviation Flight & Ground Operations with TUI Travel PLC, believes is crucial for any large airline assemblage dealing with a complex supply chain.
THE ICE HAS LONG SINCE MELTED, the late-night comedians have found new targets and the scrutiny from both the 24-hr. news channels and the traveling public has proven to be ephemeral. But the beneficiary of those developments, JetBlue Airways, remains reluctant to let go of the past.
