The European Commission yesterday released its "Proposed Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council on Common Rules for Air Services in the European Union," which among other things will require airlines to include all extra charges and taxes in advertised airfares, including those published on carrier websites, beginning in December 2007.
Love Terminal Partners, a group that owns the vacant Legend Airlines terminal at Dallas Love Field, filed suit in a US court Monday to block the deal forged by Dallas, Fort Worth, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines to gradually repeal the Wright Amendment ( ATWOnline, June 16). The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reported that LTP alleged the agreement violated antitrust law and compromised the value of the terminal, which the group has been attempting to sell to Pinnacle Airlines for $100 million.
ARINC said Philippine Airlines chose its GLOBALink/VHF data link service for operational communications, mostly on transpacific routes. The company also signed a GLOBALink/VHF data link contract with Canadian startup Porter Airlines, which is expected to launch later this year.
Rolls-Royce projects that 114,000 jet engines will be required to meet global demand for 51,000 commercial aircraft ranging from business jets to long-haul passenger planes over the next 20 years. That adds up to a worldwide market for jet engines through 2026 potentially valued at $600 billion, the engine-maker said in its long-term forecast released this week. Underpinning the demand will be 6.6% annual growth in Asia/Pacific air traffic over the 20-year period, Rolls said.
Cathay Pacific Airways signed a $1 billion, 20-year OnPoint Solutions service agreement with GE covering MRO of 40 GE90-115B engines on 777-300ERs. It has ordered 18 of the type, the first of which is scheduled to enter service in September 2007 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16, 2005).
British Airways said it reached an agreement with unions representing 1,800 London Gatwick-based crew on work rule changes that will save the carrier £13.2 million ($24.1 million) per year.
Mandarin Airlines, a Regional subsidiary of China Airlines, signed a letter of intent with GE for an eight-year OnPoint Solutions agreement for MRO of the CF34-10Es that will power its new Embraer 190/195 aircraft.
Finnair said it has negotiated a compensation package with Airbus to cover the delays in the introduction of the A350, a revamped version of which was unveiled yesterday at the Farnborough Airshow (see today's show report above). Terms of the compensation deal were not disclosed. Finnair originally planned to take the first of nine firm A350s in the spring of 2012. That has been pushed back to 2013.
US Airways signed a five-year, full-content distribution agreement with Worldspan. The airline also unveiled an expanded codeshare agreement with Star Alliance partner TAP Portugal to include additional destinations on both sides of the Atlantic. Separately, it will launch thrice-weekly Las Vegas-Nashville service on Oct. 5 with an A319.
NAV Canada will withdraw its three-year-old 2% service charge on Sept. 1. The fee was instituted in order to rebuild the Rate Stabilization Account to C$50 million ($44.3 million) from a C$116 million deficit. The account had C$73 million as of May 31. NAV Canada said the decision was due in part to a Supreme Court of Canada decision that allowed it to recover C$8 million in unpaid customer service charges.
ANA said it has become the first Japanese carrier to implement a Line Operations Safety Audit program. From the end of August, approximately 250 flights will be monitored by trained TLC observers based in Texas. The review process will take six months and be repeated every 3-5 years.
Etihad Airways will launch daily Abu Dhabi-New York JFK service from Oct. 26 aboard A340-500s. It is its second North American destination after Toronto. Copa Airlines launched five-times-weekly Panama City-Manaus service last weekend aboard Embraer 190s. Cargoitalia launched twice-weekly Milan Malpensa-Houston Bush flights aboard DC10-30Fs.
Varig creditors meeting, scheduled for yesterday to evaluate VarigLog's bid for the bankrupt airline ( ATWOnline, July 12), was postponed after the freight and logistics company altered its offer, Bloomberg News reported.
American Airlines yesterday announced a redesigned business-class section on its 767-300s and 777s that includes lie-flat seats, personal inflight entertainment systems and other features that many of its competitors already have implemented on long-haul service. AA has installed the changes on one 767-300 and plans to complete the revamp on its remaining 57 dash 300s and begin retrofits of its 777 business cabins early next year.
US Senate passed an amendment introduced by Sen. Dick Durban (D-Ill.) that orders the Dept. of Homeland Security to develop new procedures to quickly eliminate the names of individuals incorrectly placed in the database of suspected terrorists, either because they were placed there in error or because their names are similar to those that belong in the database. Current clearance procedures require passengers to present a letter to airline employees each time they fly.
Boeing in talks to sell 1,000 more 787s New CEO acknowledges crisis, vows to restore confidence in Airbus Airbus launches A350 'extra wide body' Lion Air doubles 737 order GoAir goes for A320 PowerJet conducts first test run of new regional jet engine Additional stories Farnborough News from July 17
Northwest Airlines reached a new tentative agreement on wage and benefit reductions with its flight attendants yesterday, striking an accord on $195 million in annual cuts that averts a potential work action and seemingly paves the way for the carrier's eventual emergence from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
United Airlines said it will move its headquarters and 350 management employees to downtown Chicago from its current facility near O'Hare. It also will consolidate several suburban facilities into an Operations Center at its Elk Grove campus. UA is receiving $5.25 million in tax increment financing from the city and $1.35 million from the state of Illinois. Both city and state will introduce legislation to cap the jet fuel tax for the next five years.
Meggitt and AeroMechanical Services reached agreement involving joint marketing of Meggitt's condition monitoring system with AMS's Automated Flight Information Reporting System that will permit real-time transmission of aircraft flight and engine data to "airline and helicopter companies' financial, operational and maintenance decision-makers and aircraft and engine owners with inclusive lease contracts."
SAS Cargo signed a cargo capacity agreement with Spanair effective Sept. 1. SAS said the agreement will be useful particularly to Scandinavians sending or receiving freight from Africa and South America, since Spain is a major gateway from those continents. Cargo Counts, a unit of Lufthansa Cargo, no longer will be in charge of selling capacity on Spanair's 51 aircraft. SAS said it will sell capacity through GSAs and its own staff.
Vistair launched SafetyNet, a Web-based air safety and incident reporting system for airline personnel. It was developed initially for Ryanair and since has been adopted by FlyBE.
Delta Air Lines told the US Bankruptcy Court in New York last week that it has signed a letter of intent with ILFC to lease 10 757-200ERs. The aircraft, powered by Pratt & Whitney PW2037s, will be delivered from July 15 through Nov. 15, 2007, after undergoing C checks and painting, and will be leased for seven years and three months each, according to the filing. The rent figures were not disclosed.
