Officials from Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport said yesterday that American Airlines' proposed DFW-Beijing service would generate $180 million annually for the state economy and plans to submit its own economic impact study to the US Dept. of Transportation in support of AA's application to win the new route authority. The DFW salvo is the latest volley in an all-out campaign by four US carriers competing for a new route to China made available in the most recent air services agreement between China and the US.
Etihad Airways took delivery of an A340-500, its 20th aircraft. It will operate the plane on its new daily Abu Dhabi-New York JFK service from Oct. 26.
Denver-based Frontier Airlines, which earlier this month announced orders for 10 Q400s as part of a plan to launch its own Regional airline subsidiary ( ATWOnline, Sept. 7), is ending its codeshare agreement with Horizon Air, an Alaska Air Group subsidiary. Horizon has been operating nine CRJ700s as Frontier Jet Express since January 2004. Officials from both carriers are continuing negotiations on a timeline for winding down the partnership.
Boeing yesterday concluded its purchase of aviation parts and aftermarket services provider Aviall for $1.7 billion and the assumption of $448 million in debt. Aviall will report to Boeing Commercial Aviation Services and operate as a wholly owned subsidiary. It employs around 1,000 and maintains customer service centers in North America, Europe and Asia. It is considered the largest independent provider of new aviation parts and related aftermarket services, distributing products for approximately 220 manufacturers.
Skyway Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of Midwest Airlines that operates as Midwest Connect, yesterday named David Reeve president and CEO, giving him responsibility for all aspects of the Regional's business performance. Reeve, already chairman of Skyway's board, originally joined the airline (then Astral Aviation) in 1997 as president and CEO, serving in that capacity until late 1998 when he moved to Midwest Airlines as senior VP-operations. In 1999 he was named Skyway chairman in addition to his Midwest Airlines responsibilities.
SITA yesterday noted that it is successfully providing transatlantic PNR data interchange on behalf of EU airlines and other carriers flying into Canada even as the US-EU agreement on transfer of PNR data is set to expire in only nine days. The service, which is carried out under a contract with the Canadian government, was tested in April and is in use by Alitalia, CSA, KLM, Martinair, Olympic, Swiss and an unidentified US carrier.
Except for one cancelled Emirates Hong Kong-Bangkok flight Tuesday, airline operations into and out of Thailand appear to be operating normally and without disruption despite this week's bloodless military coup. Coup leader and apparent interim head of state Army Chief Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin said yesterday that Bangkok's long-delayed $4 billion Suvarnabhumi Airport will open next week as planned and a similar statement was offered by Airports of Thailand.
Lufthansa's Supervisory Board yesterday gave approval for the airline to order 35 Airbus aircraft valued at more than $3 billion, including five new A330s that will "compensate for the delayed entry into service of the A380," the German carrier said in a statement.
All Nippon Airways, which launched the 787 program with an order for 50, has chosen the industry's first commercial electric braking system, Goodrich announced yesterday. "We anticipated demand for an alternative to traditional, hydraulically actuated braking and began the pursuit of electronically actuated braking more than a decade ago," Goodrich Airframe Systems Segment President Jack Carmola said.
Embraer 175 received US FAA type certification, paving the way for deliveries and service in the US. It previously was certified by aviation authorities in Brazil, Canada and Europe. The first US customer, Republic Airways, has firm orders for 30 of the 86-seat 175s, which will be operated on behalf of US Airways. Twenty will replace existing 50-seat aircraft currently operated for US Airways while the remaining 10 will replace other retiring aircraft or be used for growth in 2008.
Air Adriatic of Croatia plans to add a 757-200 to its fleet. The carrier operates five MD-82s and one MD-83 for charter services and plans to launch scheduled flights in the future.
SAS will launch a four-times-weekly nonstop route between Stockholm and Beijing in April using A340-300s. With the direct route to China from Stockholm, SAS intends to counter the growing success of Finnair's Helsinki-Far East services as well as secure its position in the Swedish market. "Sweden accounts for about 60% of the Scandinavian long-haul market," Swedish airports operator LVF Group Director-Aviation Marketing Mats Sigurdson told ATWOnline at the Routes conference in Dubai.
Frankfurt Airport and Lufthansa Cargo agreed to a strategic airfreight partnership that will entail joint investments, modernizing cargo facilities and development of common strategies aimed at speeding up air cargo handling while also meeting higher security standards. Lufthansa holds a 10% stake in Frankfurt airport operator Fraport.
Emirates will launch eight-times-weekly service to Bangalore on Oct. 29, using both A330-200s and 777-200s. It currently serves southern India with 31 weekly flights to Chennai, Hyderabad, Cochin and Thiruvananthapuram. It also launched daily Dubai-Beijing service aboard an A340-300. Bulgaria Air will start a twice-weekly Sofia-Dublin service from October aboard 737s. AirBaltic will place its code on Uzbekistan Airways' twice-weekly Riga-Tashkent service beginning Oct. 29.
Boeing's Composite Manufacturing Center last week began fabrication of the first composite stringers for the 787 vertical fin, the largest Dreamliner assembly slated to be built by an internal Boeing division. CMC plans to deliver its first fully functional vertical fin to 787 final assembly in Everett, Wash., in spring 2007.
Russia's National Reserve Corp., a major stakeholder in Aeroflot, signed a preliminary agreement for 22 787s, according to Russian daily Kommersant, which reported that the airline has transferred rights on the 787s to the shareholder because Russian authorities have not yet approved the deal for Aeroflot.
Royal Jordanian transported 223,000 passengers in August, up 15% over the year-ago month and the highest total for any one month in its history. Its fleet of 24 aircraft averaged 67 flights per day. President and CEO Samer Majali said RJ will achieve "satisfying" full-year results despite rising fuel prices.
Air Mauritius suffered a 59% decline in net profit in its 2005-06 fiscal year to €7.3 million ($9.3 million), according to its annual report cited by Reuters. Rising fuel costs, the government's decision to liberalize the country's airspace in order to attract more tourism and a decline in visitors from France were the key culprits in the slowdown, the carrier said, adding the impact will continue into the current fiscal year.
Ryanair yesterday announced the establishment of what will be its 17th base with the placement of two 737-800s in the German city of Bremen from April 2007 with a third dash 800 to be added the following September.
UK Dept. for Transport officials met this week with representatives from London airports operator BAA and UK airlines to discuss easing carry-on baggage restrictions imposed following last month's disclosure of a plot to blow up US passenger aircraft flights originating in London ( ATWOnline, Aug. 10). No resolution was reached despite previous hints from DfT that revised rules would be announced this week. Aviation officials from all 25 EU states are preparing to meet Sept.
BAE Systems, which earlier this month decided to sell its 20% holding in Airbus to EADS for €2.75 billion ($3.52 billion) ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8), is suggesting that A380 customers may want to brace for further production backups.
All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines Group announced changes to near-term corporate plans to place a higher emphasis on their China networks, with JAL stating that changes including "route suspensions, flight frequency adjustments and a review of aircraft scheduling" will result in a ¥13.5 billion ($112.5 million) income improvement in the current fiscal year ending March 31, 2007. In its revised plan for 2006-07, ANA said it will nearly double its flights from Tokyo to Xiamen and Qingdao to a daily service using 767-300ERs and commence daily flights to Tianjing from Nagoya Cen
ATR delivered its 700th aircraft to Air Deccan at a ceremony in Toulouse. The ATR 42-500 was the sixth delivered to the Indian LCC, which signed a contract last year for 30 aircraft.
