US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) officially introduced the Air Travel Delay Awareness Act of 2006 last week ( ATW, September 2006). The bill, an amendment to existing code, says the Secretary of Transportation shall require all airlines, foreign and domestic, "to make available to the public information regarding the delay of a scheduled passenger flight not later than 10 minutes after such information is available." It allows carriers to transmit that information on the Web, through automated recordings, airport announcements or information screens.
Mexicana de Aviacion struck a deal with ground workers to cut labor costs by 26%, according to a release cited by Dow Jones. The carrier is attempting to cut its overall expenses by 25% and also is negotiating with its pilots and flight attendants. The union representing the latter reportedly threatened to strike if there is no agreement by Sept. 15.
Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport began reconstruction of Runway 8R-26L, the north departure runway, on Friday. Work on the 10,000-ft. runway will continue for 60 days during which time departure capacity will drop. Flight delays are "possible," the airport said. The project will cost around $90 million and is being funded by passenger facility charges.
French slot coordinator COHOR said it reallocated a pool of 2,460 slots at Paris Orly to Air Berlin, Elysair and Karthago Airlines on an annual basis. The pool includes slots reserved for Public Service Obligations, especially the route to Epinal, that were returned by French authorities. It also includes slots made available for reallocation by other carriers, including Corsairfly. AB benefited from its new-entrant status and received 1,248 slots for 12-times-weekly flights to Dusseldorf.
Air Canada is adding capacity to Eastern Canada following the demise of Halifax-based CanJet Airlines' scheduled service. ( ATWOnline, Sept. 6). From October, AC and Air Canada Jazz will add weekday flights from Halifax to Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa and Deer Lake. "For November and beyond, Air Canada will analyze market conditions and look for opportunities to increase Air Canada and Jazz service to meet customer demand," the company said.
An order for six Dreamliners from Monarch Airlines highlighted an August during which Boeing sold 30 aircraft, a steep drop from the 90 ordered in August 2005 but higher than the 22 orders posted by competitor Airbus during the month. In addition to the Monarch order, Boeing sold eight 737NGs to Shanghai Airlines and 10 to SpiceJet, including five dash 900ERs. Unidentified customers placed orders for two 737-800s and two 787-8s and Boeing Business Jet took one 787-8 and one 737-900BBJ.
Smokers International Airways, or Smintair, plans to operate its first commercial flight on March 26 from Dusseldorf to Tokyo Narita aboard one of two 138-seat 747-400s. The carrier catering to smokers said it will offer 30 first class and 108 business class seats. It also set a deadline of Sept. 30 for investors to purchase shares in the company at €500,000 ($639,000) each. It said it has "a very conservative business plan" and forecasts a yearly profit margin in excess €50 million per aircraft if fully booked.
SkyEurope Holding AG announced the launch of its €17.5 million rights issue Friday via the sale of 10 million shares arranged by UBS Investment Bank and CA IB. The flotation was announced late last month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 30). The subscription period will close Sept. 22.
US Airways Group said its consolidated passenger RASM in August rose 15% over the year-ago month, an increase 3-4 points lower than forecast due to the terrorist alert. The company is revising its third-quarter unit revenue guidance to an increase in the "mid teens" from one in the "high teens." The group flew a combined 5.73 billion RPMs in August, down 5.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 7.6% to 7.2 billion ASMs and load factor gained 1.9 points to 79.5%. Domestic RPMs dropped 6.1% to 4.6 billion against a 9.6% decline in ASMs to 5.77 billion.
Skymark Airlines is set to join the 787 club, according to sources at the Japanese carrier. Skymark, which operates five 767-300ERs, has advised Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that it will add four 787s between 2010 and 2012. It operates a 10-times-daily shuttle service from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo and Fukuoka in addition to four-times-daily flights to Kobe and twice-daily service to Naha. It is expected to be granted additional slots at HND when the fourth runway is opened in 2009.
While EU and US officials will continue negotiating this week as the Sept. 30 deadline to reach a new agreement on sharing of PNR data nears, tension between the European Parliament and European Commission appears to be rising once again.
AirTran Holdings reported record traffic in August, but it was not strong enough to counter the "softening demand" that the carrier expects to continue this month and that prompted a revision to its third-quarter guidance and future growth plans.
Airbus operated its fourth A380 passenger test flight Friday, completing a week in which a total of 1,900 company employees acting as passengers tested cabin features and systems ( ATWOnline, Sept. 6). The final flight lasted 15 hr. "The flights have gone very well," Senior VP-Flight Division Claude Lelaie said. "Despite the cabins being almost totally full, what was most striking was the impression of spaciousness." The test aircraft were configured for three classes.
American Airlines reached agreement with the Transport Workers Union to work toward a "breakthrough goal" of achieving $95 million in "annual value creation" at its 10 line maintenance bases by the end of 2008. AA said the target will be reached "through cost reductions, additional third-party work, improved dependability by reducing delays and reducing the amount of spare aircraft for maintenance needs."
Honeywell was selected by Singapore Airlines to provide next-generation weather radar for the carrier's 19 new 777-300ERs, with deliveries of its RDR-4000 windshear/weather radar system beginning this month.
Gol announced the withdrawal of the May registration statement filed in Brazil and the US for a secondary and primary preferred share offering totaling 14.4 million nonvoting shares ( ATWOnline, May 18). The carrier did not give a reason for the move, but Bloomberg News reported that prospects for the sale, worth approximately BRL1 billion ($463.5 million), were hurt by a 13% drop in the Bovespa index since May. Separately, Gol launched daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-Ilheus flights.
WestJet Executive VP-Guest Services and EVP-IT Russ Hall resigned on Sept. 8. Hall's departure came a day after the company promoted Executive VP-Sales and Marketing and Airports Sean Durfy to president, succeeding airline co-founder Clive Beddoe ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8).
Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport failed critical luggage handling tests Thursday, flagging problems for the scheduled opening on Sept. 28. Twenty-two airlines participated in tests involving all 460 check-in counters handling 4,000 bags. Breakdowns related to integration of "passenger" data with the airport authority, resulting in problems with the luggage system, while some carriers did not give the authority relevant information.
Bmibaby pilots, represented by the British Airline Pilots Assn., reached a deal with the company last week and will not strike, the union announced. The company has signed the agreement, which has been sent to membership for ratification. The pilots, along with those at bmi and bmi regional, voted to strike late last month over a variety of compensation and work rule issues ( ATWOnline, Aug. 25).
WestJet announced the promotion of Executive VP-Sales and Marketing and Airports Sean Durfy to president succeeding airline co-founder Clive Beddoe, 60, who will remain chairman and CEO of the Calgary-based LCC. Durfy, 40, joined WestJet in late 2004 from Enmax Energy Corp., where he was president and COO of the Calgary power utility. "Over the past two years I have progressively passed many of my duties over to our executive team as a natural progression of the growth of our company," Beddoe said in a statement.
United Airlines has begun using one dual-end, over-the-wing boarding bridge at Denver International Airport. "Our customers, especially those in the rear of the plane, are already telling us they love the convenience of the new bridges. Also, because we can board customers faster, we are able to eventually add more flights without adding new aircraft," VP-Operational Services, United Express and Ted Alex Marren said. The bridge was developed by Debridge Airport Systems. UA said it will expand its use to "additional gates and other airports" soon.
A consortium of United Arab Emirates-based investors is to acquire 90% of SR Technics from its current owners in a transaction valued at CHF1.6 billion ($1.3 billion). The consortium is led by Mubadala Development, the investment vehicle of the Abu Dhabi government, which will own 40% of the Zurich-based maintenance, repair and overhaul company after the purchase is completed in about two months.
UK NATS reported a 3.1% year-over-year increase in the number of flights handled in August despite the uncovering of a terrorist plot Aug. 10 and subsequent security alert. The ATM provider handled 220,408 flights. Overflights showed the greatest increases, with transatlantic flights up 7.1% and nontransatlantic up 18.3% with routes between Ireland and Italy, France, Spain and Germany showing the largest increases. The domestic market improved 0.3%. Traffic at the 15 airports where NATS operates grew 1.2%. The picture was mixed owing to the security alert.
Air France ordered Boeing Class 3 electronic flight bags for its fleet of 777s, comprising 42 in-service aircraft and 13 to be delivered. It is the eighth carrier this year to order the Class 3 EFB, Boeing said, adding the order was the "most significant" to date from a European airline. AF partner KLM was the launch customer for the 777 EFB in 2002. The Dutch flag carrier currently operates 13 EFB-equipped 777s and eventually will have 18.
