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NEWS

Delta moves nearly all fuel hedges out of U.S. benchmark
U.S. crude oil has trailed the 27% rise in jet fuel, creating difficulties for U.S. airlines in managing energy costs. Delta has shifted nearly all jet fuel hedges away from U.S. crude oil. "[The U.S. crude benchmark] WTI, which is the instrument that many of us hedge in this market, has dislocated from Brent in terms of pricing," said Delta President Ed Bastian. JetBlue, Southwest and Virgin America have also voiced concern over the divergence between WTI and jet fuel prices.
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AirTran workers vote for unionization ahead of merger
Fleet workers and reservations agents at AirTran Airways will be represented by the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers while the carrier goes through its merger with Southwest Airlines. About 53% of voters chose the unionization option, though 36% of eligible workers did not vote. An AirTran spokesman said the company has "always respected the right of our crew members to decide on representation, and we will respect this vote." Said an IAM official after the election: "As airlines consolidate, merge and partner with each other to protect themselves, the employees of AirTran realize that joining together is the best protection they have."
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Delta, partners focus on Florida with new flights
Under a trans-Atlantic joint venture, Delta Air Lines and its SkyTeam partners are beefing up direct service between Florida and Europe. Delta launched its Miami to London Heathrow service on Saturday, while KLM on Sunday began direct flights between Orlando and Amsterdam. Air France plans to begin flying from Orlando to Paris in June. In order to offer "convenient connecting service for Florida customers traveling to London-Heathrow," Delta also launched frequent daily regional service linking Miami to Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa.
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Capacity discipline, pricing help carriers weather high oil prices
Despite dramatically higher oil prices, profits for the U.S. airline industry should decline only slightly this year as slimmed-down carriers maintain fare discipline rather than clawing for market share. With a fundamental restructuring taking hold, analysts expect two airlines to be profitable in the current quarter -- traditionally a money-losing period -- while all of the biggest carriers should report a profit in the second quarter.
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Boeing says it won't lose cost advantage to Airbus A320neo
Including all ownership costs, Boeing says its existing 737 will still be cheaper to operate than the upcoming A320neo from rival Airbus. Boeing Commercial Airplanes CEO Jim Albaugh said the 737 currently enjoys an 8% cost advantage over the A320, though that would slip to 2% when Airbus completes its re-engining. "One thing we will always have is the most capable and the most efficient airplane in every market that we serve," Albaugh said.
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Column: Will mid-tier markets diminish without subsidies?
In Kansas, Frontier and AirTran Airways currently service Wichita Mid-Continent Airport, and the airlines each get part of a $5 million annual state subsidy designed to attract low-cost carriers. But with subsidies drying up and AirTran poised to be combined with Southwest Airlines, the future of such service is in doubt. Southwest may be able to profitably serve smaller markets with Boeing 717 jets inherited from AirTran, though that is far from certain. "There are a lot of mid-size cities around the country facing these same prospects right now," writes columnist Brett Snyder. "Will Southwest figure out how to profitably serve them, or will the airline walk away?"
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Fuel prices could boost carriers' costs by $9 billion
Higher fuel prices could cost the eight largest domestic airlines $9 billion, according to a recent analysis. "It should come as no surprise that the airlines must find ways to increase revenues and/or decrease costs to match these large fuel price increases," wrote Bob Herbst, an analyst with AirlineFinancials.com. "Fuel is every airline's highest expense item and covers more than 30% of an airline's total revenue." His projection is based on fuel prices continuing to be 45% more than last year's average.
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Indian carriers join U.S. and Chinese in protesting EU carbon scheme
Some Indian carriers say new carbon trading rules taking effect in Europe next year could put them at an unfair disadvantage. Newer, more efficient carriers would get fewer credits than established carriers with records of higher carbon emissions, resulting in higher costs. Nancy Young, vice president of environmental affairs at the Air Transport Association, says the situation shows why the EU rule is untenable. "We believe airline greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed under a global approach, rather than through a unilateral action by the EU," she says. An ATA legal challenge is currently pending before the European Court of Justice. Meanwhile, the China Air Transport Association notified the EU that it is protesting its inclusion in ETS.
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Carry-on luggage trend raises concerns about security
The Transportation Security Administration estimated that airline passengers brought 59 million more pieces of carry-on luggage with them last year than the previous year. The situation is raising concerns about the cost of screening all the extra carry-ons and whether it is stretching airport security too thin. Though some are calling for federal limits on checked-bag fees in order to cut down on hassles at security checkpoints, experts note that the problem appears to be minor. "Last year, there were record high load factors," says Robert Herbst of airlinefinancials.com. "If there is that much discouragement about going through the screening process, how come we've got load factors so high?"
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El Al swings to $57 million 2010 profit
El Al Israel Airlines reported a 2010 net profit of $57.1 million, reversing a $76.3 million net loss in 2009, on a 19% rise in revenue to $1.97 billion.
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Antinori resigns from Lufthansa Group, will not become CEO of Austrian Airlines
Lufthansa Group announced Tuesday that Board Member and Executive VP-Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori will resign Thursday and “shall not be assuming the position as chairman and CEO of Austrian Airlines” as planned.
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AirAsia, Expedia to form exclusive online joint venture
Low-cost carrier AirAsia and Expedia announced the launch of a joint venture to sell "a complete range of value flights, hotels and holiday packages" in the Asia/Pacific region. The companies called the JV "the first partnership of its kind globally between a low-cost carrier and an online travel agent."
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Germany investigates what caused Eurofighter to drop fuel tanks
A German air force Eurofighter lost two 1,000 litre (265USgal) underwing fuel tanks during a routine training flight over the southern state of Bavaria on 28 March. The two tanks detached from the fighter at around 14:30 local time and the crew immediately reported their loss. A search effort was launched to locate the missing equipment, which was found about 20km (12 miles) west of Augsburg later that day.
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EFW receives first A320 for freighter conversion
EADS's specialist modification division EFW has received its first Airbus A320, from AerCap, at its site in Dresden ahead of the twinjet's passenger-to-freighter (P2F) conversion. The prototype aircraft, serial number 211, is equipped with CFM International CFM56 engines. It was built in 1991 and operated as a passenger aircraft with carriers including Air France and Tunisair, accumulating 35,000h.
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FAA suspends controller for loss of separation between a Cirrus and Southwest 737
The US FAA has suspended a controller in the Central Florida Terminal Radar Approach Control after a Southwest 737 was placed in "close proximity" to a Cirrus SR22 during an incident on 27 March. FAA states the controller requested assistance from the Southwest aircraft to check on the Cirrus after it was out of radio contact for over an hour.
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Other News

The Dept. of Transportation's tarmac delay rule, introduced in April 2010, has resulted in a "42% surge in bad-weather airline cancellations," at a cost of "billions of dollars"in airline costs, business disruption and lost productivity, according to an extensive study by aviation consultants Darryl Jenkins and Joshua Marks released Tuesday.

Toronto-based Porter Airlines confirmed options for two Bombardier Q400 NextGen aircraft to be delivered in December 2011 and April 2012. The order is valued at approximately $61 million.

Air India has completed the double migration of Air India and Indian Airlines to SITA's Horizon Passenger Services System. "SITA successfully took the two separate airlines' IT platforms and completed this complex migration to the new PSS in a record 293 days. This included the successful transfer of more than half a million Passenger Name Records with 99.99% accuracy," SITA said. The migration is a key step toward merging the two airlines and is a requirement for Air India's entry into Star Alliance set for mid-year.

AENA’s airport employees voted to call off 22 days of strike action, union leaders announced. Spanish airport operator and air traffic authority AENA and unions reached a preliminary agreement to call off the action on March 16 and unions asked members to vote on the agreement. “The ratification of this deal means the cancellation of the call for 22 days of strikes planned on different days between April and August,” the CCOO union said in a statement.

Travelport reached a renewed multi-year content agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines. Under terms, Galileo and Worldspan-connected users will gain enhanced connectivity to the carrier’s inventory of flights and fares on over 80 domestic and international routes.

Lufthansa Systems signed a five-year contract with Cebu Pacific to provide its Flight Management System.

TRAX was selected by Manila-based carrier Zest Airways to implement the latest version of its MRO software, e4.

CHAMP Cargosystems was selected by HNA Group to supply a full suite of Cargo IT services to be deployed at Hong Kong Airlines and Hong Kong Express.

Global Logistics System said China Airlines has chosen its Web-based EzyFreight platform for message exchange between the carrier and its agents.

A J Walter Aviation announced the availability of a new interactive Web portal to give customers a real-time view of all component orders.



AVIATION QUOTE

From a safety standpoint, in our view one of the things that we do in the basic design is the pilot always has the ultimate authority of control. There's no computer on the airplane that he cannot override or turn off if the ultimate comes. In terms of any of our features, we don't inhibit that totally. We make it difficult, but if something in the box should behave inappropriately, the pilot can say 'This is wrong' and he can override it. That's a fundamental difference in philosophy that we have versus some of the competition.

— John Cashman, Chief Test Pilot Boeing 777.



ON THIS DATE

March 30th

• In 1928... The Federal Aeronautique Internationale (FAI)–ratified world speed record is pushed through 300 mph for the first time. Flying a specially adapted Macchi M-52bis seaplane, Italian Maj. Mario de Bernardi achieves a speed of 512.69 km/h (318.64 mph). This is an increase of 20.81 mph over his previous record.

• In 1928... A resident of Zehden, Germany, Samuel Schwartz, asks German airline Deutsche Luft Hansa (DLH) for rent for the airspace above his house, citing law that says his rights extend to the “space above and the ground beneath” his property.

• In 1929... Imperial Airways inaugurates a weekly passenger service from England to India, part of which would have to be taken by rail. For £130 single fare, the trip ends in Karachi seven days after leaving England.

• In 1939... Piloted by Flugkapitän Hans Dieterle, the Heinkel He 100 V8/R (serial no. D-IDGH) seizes the absolute world air speed record from Hermann Wurster, who has flown his Bf 109 to 379 mph. The pilot achieves four legs of a course at Oranienburg to record an average speed of 463.92 mph, adding 70 mph to the previous record.



DAILY VIDEO





EDITOR’S CHOICE





HUMOR

ATC Interview

It seems that a person was interviewing for an ATC tower job when the tower chief ask;

"What would you do if you saw an airplane coming in for landing without putting down the landing gear?"

The prospective controller replied; "I would get on the radio and tell him to go around and check that his landing gear is down."

The tower chief asked; "Well, what if he didn't respond to the radio?"

The prospective controller replied; "I would use the light signals to tell him to go around and hopefully he would put his gear down on the next landing."

The tower chief asked; "What would you do if he didn't respond to the light signals?"

The prospective controller replied; "I would call my brother that works at the FBO on the field."

The tower chief asked; "What would your brother do?"

The prospective controller replied; "Nothing, but his has never seen an airplane crash!"



TRIVIA

Google Airports

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10.

Well, the last one is St. Barts, but I'm drawing blanks on the others right now. No fear, I'll returned to them with a flaming sword of knowledge in due time.

ANSWERS:
1. STT, HS Truman, St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands
2. NRR, Roosevelt Roads NAS, Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico
3. BQN, Borinquen, Aguadilla, Puerto Rico
4. AXA, Wallblake, Anguilla, British Overseas Territory
5. EIS, Beef Island, Brisitsh Virgin Islands
6. FDF, Le Lamentin, Fort de France, Martinique
7. VC Bird Int’l, St. John, Antigua & Barbuda
8. PTP, Le Raziet, Pointe-de-Pitre, Guadeloupe
9. STX, Alexander Hamilton, St. Croix, US Virgin Islands
10. SBH, St. Barthelemy, Guadeloupe

I was going to comment on the insanely displaced threshold at the western end of number 9 (which also seems to have been renamed, if Google Maps is accurate), but it looks like it's all runway here:



Which is the more up to date imagery?

Edit: This is, it seems - you can see the old arrow markings if you zoom in.