THE DEVELOPMENT OF AFTERMARKET parts specialist AirLiance Materials could be compared to that of a child. For the first years, parents watch the child carefully. But as it grows, the more-confident offspring seeks out others to broaden its horizons.
CARGO TRAFFIC IS GROWING AT A steady clip and airlines are eager to acquire aging passenger aircraft for conversion to freighters. Demand is high. Slots for modifications have been reserved well in advance and are sold out at several conversion providers for the next couple of years. But there's one slight problem: A paucity of available, affordable used passenger planes to convert, placing conversion providers in something of a holding pattern.
"WE'RE GLAD WE WAITED FOR THE DC-8." THAT WAS how legendary United Airlines President William (Pat) Patterson dismissed the carrier's agonizing and costly nine-month delay in entering the jet age when he accepted its first DC-8 in September 1959 from longtime friend Donald Douglas Sr. Indeed, Patterson was all smiles when he was able to order the far more capable Super 60 series DC-8 just a few years later, and United was able to re-engine those DC-8s and sell them for a handsome price for conversion to freighters with most still flying today40 years on.
REGIONAL CARRIERS LONG HAVE been the entry point for a career as an airline pilot in the US. But there have been some noticeable, and perhaps unexpected, changes over the past year. There are fewer pilot applicants, attrition rates are up and carriers now are recruiting experienced flight instructors aggressively to staff their cockpitsa step that could have serious repercussions down the road.
After going ballistic around the spring of 2004, the make-or-break materials market has regained a semblance of balance of late, giving purchasing managersand OEMsa chance to catch their collective breaths. Better take a deep gulp, however; this could be merely the pause that refreshes. According to the AeroStrategy consultancy, spot prices for titanium sponge "increased by a factor of four in the first half of 2005, but started to weaken in late 2006 and early 2007."
AAR named Don Wetekam president-AAR Aircraft Services-Oklahoma. Alaska Airlines promoted Ben Minicucci to staff VP-customer service-airports/operational support and Sandy Stelling to MD-product development. American Airlines elevated Mark Mitchell to MD-customer experience. Boeing appointed Daniel Gillian dir.-enterprise sourcing-India. Caribbean Airlines welcomed Philip Saunders as CEO. Delta Air Lines tapped Richard Anderson as CEO, Edward Bastian as president and Mike Medeiros as VP-airport customer service-JFK Airport.
SITA plans to develop a new passenger reservations system based on service-oriented architecture that will offer a complete suite of reservations, inventory, ticketing and departure control systems. The new, as-yet unnamed system will be the "final installment" of SITA's Horizon portfolio of passenger management solutions. SITA said it will result in "the retirement of today's mainframe technology following a well-managed migration to new applications."
There was a time, in the not-so-distant past, when airlines were very intentionally in complete control of almost every aspect of their processes and products. Aircraft were customized and manufacturers, followed by outfitters, made certain that models of a similar type were actually quite nonstandard. Similarly, computer systems, each doing essentially the same tasks, were unique to each major carrier and enabling them to interact was an undertaking involving considerable complexity and expense.
In a perfect world, Clickair would procure its ground handling services from less than a handful of providers. In this imperfect world, however, the Spanish LCC deals with some 25 different companies for a network that spans 45 stations. "I believe that the nirvana solution would be to have two major network ground handlers," CEO Alex Cruz tells Airline Procurement.
SAS said the grounding of its fleet of 27 Q400s will begin to be lifted on Oct. 4 when its first aircraft of the type returns to service, with the remaining Q400s returning to operations during the following days.
Continental Airlines today will launch Newark-Mumbai flights. It initially will operate the service four-times-weekly with frequency increasing to daily from Oct. 28.
Finnair selected GE CF6-80E1s to power seven A330-300s. The engines will be the first to incorporate the new HPT upgrade that is part of the Tech CF6 program. Engine delivery will begin in March 2009. GE valued the deal at more than $140 million.
Messier Services Asia completed a S$10 million ($6.7 million) expansion of its facility in Singapore that provides additional capacity for overhauling landing gears on 777, 737NG, A330, A340 and A320 aircraft and also "establishes the infrastructure" for future MRO of A380, 787 and A350 landing gears.
Clickair, the startup Spanish LCC, has carried 3.5 million passengers since it started operations one year ago today and is on target to carry 4.5 million by year end on 50 routes. Former Iberia routes make up 24 of the 50 and 26 are its own. Iberia holds a 20% stake in Clickair. The LCC operates 39 routes from its home base at Barcelona El Prat, where last month it was the second-largest operator in passengers carried after Iberia. It currently is operating 22 A320s, up from an initial three at launch.
ICAO delegates supported a resolution at the organization's 36th Assembly last week stating that "emissions trading schemes should not be applied [by states and governing bodies such as the European Union] to aircraft of foreign countries without mutual consent," effectively rejecting non-EU airlines' participation in the EU's emissions trading scheme.
Air New Zealand, Boeing and Rolls-Royce signed an MOU to conduct jointly what they claimed will be the first trial of a commercial 747 operated with biofuel. The test flight will take place in late 2008 or early 2009 using an ANZ 747-400. The aircraft will not carry passengers and only one engine will run on the blended biofuel/kerosene mix. While the flight may use biofuel sourced from around the globe, ANZ CEO Rob Fyfe told media that the airline is "keen to encourage research into alternative fuels in New Zealand."
US air traffic congestion was given considerable attention last week in Washington, where lawmakers and Bush Administration officials are under increasing pressure to alleviate what Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May called "an increasingly serious national crisis of flight delays."
Munich and Frankfurt airports will introduce a charge of €3 ($4.24) per kg. of nitrous oxide emissions for all airlines landing there effective Jan. 1. The airports noted that the fee will not generate additional airport revenue as it will be offset by "an equivalent reduction in the weight-based component of the airport charge." Munich Airport CEO Michael Kerkloh said the program "will achieve two effects.
Mesa Air Group was dealt a setback Friday by a US federal judge who ruled that it had misused confidential information obtained from Hawaiian Airlines when it was considering investing in the financially ailing carrier. The pre-trial ruling affirms the basic thrust of Hawaiian's lawsuit against Mesa and pushes the sides to a trial slated to begin in a US Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu tomorrow. Hawaiian is seeking $173 million in damages and wants the court to ban Mesa subsidiary go! from operating for a full year.
Moscow Domodedovo announced that Air Berlin is the first non-Russian airline to join the Domodedovo Transfer Service Project to offer special interline fares for passengers transiting the airport.
Making one of the most anticipated long-haul aircraft order announcements in recent years, British Airways yesterday said it will purchase 12 A380s and 24 787s and place options for a further seven A380s and 18 787s.
Reykjavik-based FL Group, which owns a stake of about 9% in American Airlines parent AMR Corp., wrote a strongly worded letter to AMR's board of directors this week urging immediate action to halt the rapid descent of the company's stock price.
Ryanair said it reached agreement with its Dublin-based pilots on a new four-year contract that "will significantly improve" pay and work conditions and bring them into line with the pay and conditions to which it previously agreed with pilots in Shannon and Cork. "This new agreement. . .means that all Ryanair pilots at its three Irish bases are now covered by long-term pay, benefits and roster agreements," the airline said.
BAA is investing £20 million ($40.3 million) in Smiths Group's Advanced Threat Identification aTiX explosive detection machines, The Times of London reported. It already has installed 11 of the machines at London Heathrow, where the airport operator has come under fire from airlines for slow-moving security lines. BAA said the new equipment, which it plans to install at all seven of its UK airports, will speed passengers' passage through checkpoints.
Montenegro Transport Minister Andrija Lompar said the nation plans to sell stakes in state-owned Montenegro Airlines next year, with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and airlines and private consortiums all potential buyers, Reuters reported. "Capital increase is the privatization model that will make it possible to restructure the Montenegro Airlines fleet by buying new Embraer aircraft so we can open new [routes]," he said. The carrier currently operates a fleet of four F100s.
