Today is 9/11/2009. Never forget those that lost their lives on that fateful day; never forget those that gave their lives in combat. Remember and honor them, Keep their memory alive.
NEWS
FAA forum promotes safety through sharing information, best practices A wealth of information is available on aviation safety, but improvement is needed in coordinating and sharing the best safety practices that could benefit the entire industry, ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin said yesterday at the annual FAA International Aviation Safety Forum in Washington. Link
LAN expects another profitable year LAN Airlines is feeling the effects of the industry crisis but said it expects to report a profit this year thanks to its domestic strength in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador and a robust cash position. Link
Transat rides fuel hedge gain to profit Air Transat parent Transat A.T. reported net income of C$30.5 million ($28.3 million) for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31, reversed from a net loss of C$895,000 in the year-ago period, on a 4.7% decline in revenue to C$819.4 million. Link
FAA's Babbitt sees safety slipping, urges more 'professionalism' Federal Aviation Administrator Randy Babbitt warned yesterday that "the national and international trends for fatal accidents and accidents. . .are no longer pointing downward, in fact they may be up slightly," and said the biggest requirement for all of aviation is the need to "step up the professionalism in the workplace." Link
U.S., Saudis Deal For Additional Eagles Washington and Riyadh are close to setting the framework that could ease the way for the Royal Saudi Air Force to buy an additional 72 Boeing F-15 Strike Eagles. Link
Industry presents FAA with proposed overhaul of crew rest rules A group of experts drawn from the airline industry and pilots unions have agreed to new guidelines on pilot rest, The Wall Street Journal reports. The sweeping recommendations presented to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt on Wednesday would replace uniform limits with more flexible rules to take into account such factors as number of flight segments and time of day when capping pilots' workload. The FAA must now review the proposed new guidelines, and could move to implement any final industry rules on this issue at the end of next year. Link
Other News
Jet Airways and the National Aviators Guild representing the carrier's 760 pilots will meet in New Delhi at the behest of top government labor officials in an effort to resolve the dispute that has led to nearly half Jet's pilots calling in sick for the past three days, severely disrupting its flight schedule. Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal, who has accused the pilots of holding the airline "hostage" with an "illegal" work action, met yesterday with Indian Labor Minister Mallikarjun Kharge. A meeting will be held as soon as today between the carrier and NAG, according to media reports. At issue is Jet's recent firing of two pilots whom NAG is demanding be reinstated. The firing's cause is unclear, but both reportedly were key players in forming NAG over the summer, enabling the pilots to unionize.
Southwest Airlines and negotiators for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn. reached a new tentative labor agreement, though the union's board has not decided whether to endorse the accord. In June, the LCC's pilots narrowly rejected ratification of a prior deal. The agreement reached yesterday would last two years before becoming amendable. According to The Dallas Morning News, the new contract would limit capacity operated by SWA codeshare partners on international routes to no more than 4% of SWA's total capacity, down from 6% in the rejected agreement. It also includes pay increases. SWAPA told the newspaper that its board will meet next week and consider sending the new deal to its membership.
Separately, SWA announced yesterday that it will launch service from Denver to Boston (twice-daily), Reno-Tahoe (daily) and Spokane (daily) on Jan. 10.
AirBaltic said it "very much appreciates and welcomes" a meeting between the transport ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and their discussions regarding a pan-Baltic flag carrier, while claiming that it already fits that profile. The Riga-based airline plans to expand its Tallinn operation with flights to Turku beginning Oct. 1 and is "prepared to become involved in future negotiations," according to President and CEO Bertolt Flick. "If the airline's capital base is expanded, airBaltic will expand even more rapidly than before in the Baltic states," he said.
AirBaltic's two shareholders, the Latvian government (52.6%) and a company owned by Flick (47.2%), are in negotiations to increase the carrier's capital. Latvia reportedly is proposing to boost capital gradually over three years to LVL30 million ($61.9 million), with each shareholder committing LVL2 million this year. Late last month, airBaltic said it remained on track to post a profit of around LVL12 million this year while strongly denying rumors that it was on the verge of bankruptcy following last year's loss. It carried 1.8 million passengers in the first eight months of 2009, up 6% year-over-year. Load factor rose 6 points to 68%.
Lufthansa will hold 95.4% of Austrian Airlines Group following the Wednesday expiration of its offer to free-float shareholders, it announced yesterday. Approximately 8.9% of those shareholders accepted LH's offer of €4.49 ($6.52) per share.
Separately, LH announced a 40% increase in capacity to Nigeria beginning Oct. 25. It will continue to operate daily Frankfurt-Lagos flights and will increase its FRA-Abuja service to daily from thrice-weekly. Abuja will continue to Port Harcourt four-times-weekly and to Malabo thrice-weekly. All flights are aboard A330-300s, A340-300s or A340-600s.
WestJet announced an offering of 13.4 million common and variable voting shares, with an overallotment option of up to 2 million shares, which it expects to produce proceeds of C$150-C$172.5 million ($139-$159.9 million). A syndicate of underwriters led by CIBC will sell the shares at C$11.20 each, and the offer is expected to close on Sept. 30.
Frontier Airlines Holdings said its plan of reorganization, which includes its purchase by Republic Airways Holdings, was confirmed yesterday by the US Bankruptcy Court. It said it will emerge from Chapter 11 protection "on or about Oct. 1" as a wholly owned Republic subsidiary.
Korean Air launched the second phase of its $200 million fleet upgrade and this month will begin installing new seats and an on-demand inflight entertainment system across all classes in its 777s and A330s. Work on 70 aircraft is expected to continue through April 2011. New deliveries will come with the product already installed. By 2014, all 96 of KE's mid- and long-haul aircraft will feature the upgrades.
Virgin Atlantic Airways introduced a new baggage policy based on what it called a "piece system." Economy passengers will be allowed to check one bag weighing up to 23 kg. free of charge, premium economy passengers will be entitled to two bags weighing up to 23 kg. each and business class passengers can check up to three. Any additional bags will cost £32 ($52.87) per item when booked online or £40 at airport check-in. Economy passengers travelling between London Heathrow and Nairobi or Lagos will be able to check a second bag at no charge.
IATA and Flight Safety Foundation yesterday jointly issued a "Runway Excursion Risk Reduction" toolkit. The organizations said the package includes "an in-depth analysis of runway excursion accident data, a compilation of significant risk factors and. . . recommendations for operators, pilots, airports, air traffic management, air traffic controllers and regulators to assist in addressing this challenge. The toolkit also contains considerable training materials and best practices for all operators." Noting that "data drives safety improvements," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said the toolkit "analyzes the major causes of runway excursions and provides practical solutions." It is available on IATA's website.
Turkish Airlines will launch four-times-weekly Izmir-Athens service Sept. 21.
Amadeus announced what it called a "groundbreaking partnership" with AirAsia that will enable the more than 102,200 travel agencies that subscribe to the GDS to book travel on AirAsia and its affiliates "in the same way they would for a full-service carrier." In addition to AirAsia the partnership covers Indonesia AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and AirAsia X. Amadeus said the enabling technology is its Amadeus Ticketless Access solution "that allows real-time fare and flight information" for AirAsia "to be displayed alongside that of full-service airlines on a travel agent's Amadeus screen."
Panasonic Avionics Corp. signed an agreement with SIA Engineering Co. covering maintenance of inflight entertainment and communication systems on the Singapore Airlines fleet. Panasonic is providing IFEC MRO services for the entire SIA fleet over 10 years. It said that under the agreement with SIAEC, the two will work together "to provide a 'one-stop-shop' solution covering all on-aircraft labor, logistics, spares, repairs and media loading."
TAM said its Technological Center MRO unit was certified by US FAA to work on aircraft registered in the US, including C and D checks. TAM's 4.6-million-sq.-m. maintenance center is located in Sao Carlos.
AVIATION QUOTE
Capitalism without bankruptcy is like Christianity without hell.
Frank Borman
AEROSPACE TERM
Global Positioning System
A satellite navigation system which will display many (up to 24) satellites in three sets of orbits by means of a precise time standard and three-dimensional information on position and velocity.
DAILY VIDEO
HUMOR
Air Traffic Control?
During taxi, the crew of a US Air departure flight to Ft. Lauderdale made a wrong turn and came nose to nose with a United 727. The irate ground controller (a female) lashed out at the US Air crew screaming "US Air 2771, where are you going? I told you to turn right on 'Charlie' taxi way; you turned right on 'Delta'. Stop right there. I know it's difficult to tell the difference between C's and D's but get it right".
Continuing her lashing to the embarrassed crew, she was now shouting hysterically, "You've screwed everything up; it'll take forever to sort this out. You stay right there and don't move until I tell you to. You can expect progressive taxi instructions in about a half hour and I want you to go exactly where I tell you, when I tell you, and how I tell you. You got that, US Air 2771??"
Naturally, the 'ground control' frequency went terribly silent until an unknown male pilot broke the silence and asked, "Wasn't I married to you once?"
TRIVIA
US Air Power
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And let's get one thing straight. There's a big difference between a pilot and an aviator. One is a technician; the other is an artist in love with flight. — E. B. Jeppesen
