AirlinesAir Transat Fined After Engineers Missed TrainingAir Transat said it will pay a CAD$150,000 (USD$122,000) penalty after the Canadian government's transport department found it violated a safety regulation last year. A short disclosure posted by Transport Canada on its website said the company had authorized six engineers to sign maintenance releases even though they did not have some of the training required. Montreal-based Air Transat said the training that had been missed was not technical.
LinkAmerican Airlines' Slimming Capacity DietLast week, American Airlines amended part of its mammoth 2011 aircraft purchase agreement with Airbus Group, pushing back scheduled deliveries of 35 next-generation, fuel-efficient A320neo narrow-body jets, originally slated for 2017 and 2018, to 2021 to 2023. American now has zero delivery commitments of A320neos for the next four years, and will instead begin receiving its first 25 "neos" in 2019, with the remaining 75 to be delivered from 2020 onward. An American spokesman told Reuters that the delay shouldn't be taken as "a macroeconomic commentary on air-travel demand." The company also said pushing back the delivery of the A320neos gives it more flexibility to control capacity growth. Earlier this year, the carrier cut its annual capacity growth forecast to 2% in response to the growing competitive activity of Gulf area carriers, including Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways.
LinkChina’s Airlines Are In A Super CycleChinese tourists are traveling overseas at record pace. In the first-quarter this year, Chinese airlines reported a 39% year-on-year rise in international passenger numbers to 9.6 million. Yet, international travel has just begun. International traffic accounts for only 9.3% of the airlines’ total volume. Meanwhile, the airlines’ domestic market remains healthy, growing a
LinkDelta Air Lines offers discreet celebrity service For celebrities and VIPs, traveling on a commercial flight can be a complex and stressful experience fraught with autograph seekers and paparazzi. Recently, we caught wind of a mysterious program from Delta Air Lines called "VIP Select" that's designed to offer public figures a heightened level of privacy.
LinkJetBlue Elevates Service, Expanding Premium SeatsJetBlue Airways is expanding premium-class services that have already undercut legacy carriers on key cross-country routes, potentially sparking more airline competition domestically. On Tuesday, JetBlue said it will offer its Mint service on flights out of Boston, the first new city for the airline's first- and business-class option. It will be available on flights to San Francisco beginning in March 2016 and to Los Angeles starting in the fall of 2016. JetBlue will also provide seasonal Mint service with weekly round trips between Boston and Barbados.
LinkJetBlue is connecting Nashville to Boston, Fort Lauderdale JetBlue is entering the Nashville market with service to Boston and Fort Lauderdale. The airline also has plans to expand its premium Mint services to the Boston area.
LinkLOT Says All Carriers At Risk From Cyber AttacksNo airline is safe from the type of cyber attack that grounded aircraft and hundreds of passengers at Poland's busiest airport at the weekend, LOT's chief executive said. Poland's domestic intelligence agency said it had been called in to investigate, but there was no word on who might be responsible for the attack, which disabled the system LOT uses for issuing flights plans. The attack is likely to bring renewed scrutiny to the question of whether the systems which help keep airliners safely in the air are adequately protected from hackers intent on causing havoc or even on bringing down a plane.
LinkSiberian tiger livery unveiled on Transaero 747Russian carrier Transaero has unveiled a Boeing 747-400 featuring a special livery in which the entire nose section carries the image of a tiger’s head. The aircraft (EI-XLN) has been painted to highlight the conservation work of the Amur Tiger Center – located in Moscow and Vladivostok – which specializes in dealing with protection of Siberian tigers.
LinkUnited Airlines to add Boeing 737s to fleet United is adding two 737-700s to its fleet to accommodate growing demand.
LinkThailand Expects Record Tourist ArrivalsThailand expects 29.5 million tourists this year, up 19 percent from 2014, with almost a quarter of the visitors coming from China following a surge in bookings. Accounting for 10 percent of the economy, tourism had suffered in 2014 as some foreign governments issued warnings against non-essential travel to Thailand due to political unrest and a military coup.
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