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Aviation News February 2006
US says post-September 11 air travel recovery is complete
WASHINGTON,
Feb 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. government released an optimistic
forecast on Tuesday for commercial air-travel growth, prompting
the nation's transportation chief to formally mark the end of
the slide triggered by the 2001 attacks. "For the first
time in several years, we are no longer talking about
recovery," Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta told a
Federal Aviation Administration conference.
"It has been a steep climb since
September 11, 2001. But as of the end of 2005, the number of
passengers flying in the United States was 5.9 percent higher
than before those horrific terrorist attacks," he said. The hijack attacks on New York and
Washington severely depressed air travel and facilitated the
descent into bankruptcy of four major carriers between 2002 and
2005. But during the period, travel slowly rebounded as fierce
competition produced consistently low fares. The FAA said mainline and regional U.S.
airlines boarded 669 million people in 2005, up 6.6 percent. The
figure is expected to dip less than 1 percent in 2006 as big
airlines continue to cut domestic flights and restructure their
operations but then rebound with 3 percent growth annually
between 2007-2011. Total boardings are scheduled to reach 1
billion in 2015, the FAA said.
Herb Kelleher, the chairman of Southwest
Airlines, said the government's business forecast was
"probably realistic." While travel has bounced back, several
airlines continue to gasp financially due to sustained high fuel
prices and weak revenue from budget fares. The drop-off in revenue has also weakened
receipts for the government program that funds the sprawling
FAA-run air traffic control system. The federal Aviation Trust Fund is fed
mainly by ticket taxes and other fees paid by commercial
airlines, the biggest of which have united behind a proposal for
the government in coming years to impose a series of fees on all
users of the air traffic system. Details of the airlines' plan remain
confidential pending the release of an FAA proposal this spring
for overhauling financing of the aging air traffic system. FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said the
changes would be fundamental. "The formula that gets us
there just doesn't work anymore," she said. Blakey's plan is expected to include a user
fee component and cover operations by commercial airlines and
general aviation, including private recreational pilots and
corporate jets. It is unclear if the government would roll back
ticket taxes.
Ryanair established a new Mexican low-cost airline
MEXICO
CITY, Feb 27 (Reuters) - The Ryan family, founders of Europe's
biggest low-cost airline, has teamed up with one of Mexico's
largest bus companies to launch a new, no-frills air carrier in
the increasingly crowded domestic market.
The Ryan family, which founded Ireland's
Ryanair, said it has linked with bus company IAMSA to create
AirBus. The new airline is expected to launch in
September, transport 1.5 million passengers during the first
year of operation, and include U.S. cities among its
destinations, the Ryan family said in a statement.
The Ryans said in a statement they have
joined with Maurice Mason of Kite Investments to establish
RyanMex to facilitate the family's investment in the airline.
RyanMex will have a 49 percent shareholding
in the airline, while IAMSA will hold a majority stake. AirBus will compete
against three other low-cost airlines. Brazil's GOL is also expected to launch operations in this market segment
during the first half of the year.
Pratt & Whitney wins FedEx plane service deal
CHICAGO,
Feb 23 (Reuters) - Pratt & Whitney, a unit of United
Technologies Corp. said on Thursday it reach a 20-year agreement
with FedEx Corp. to service 135 engines on planes in the
package delivery company's fleet. Financial terms were not disclosed.
This is one of the largest and wide ranging service agreements
we have received," said Jim Keenan, senior vice president,
Pratt & Whitney Global Service Partners, in a company
statement. The agreement includes the overhaul and repair of 135
Pratt & Whitney produced PW4000 engines operating on FedEx's
fleet of MD-11s, A300s and A310s, with the option to include
additional PW4000-equipped aircraft added to their fleet
throughout the life of the contract.
Bombardier fractional jet program
MONTREAL
- The dream merchants at Flexjet -- Bombardier Inc.'s
fractional private jet ownership program -- figured it was time
Canada had a home version of the U.S.-based service that allows
the rich to pretend they're very rich. Dallas-based Flexjet announced yesterday the
launch of Flexjet Canada service, allowing for point-to-point
travel within Canada on Canadian-registered aircraft.
Existing regulations do not allow U.S.
aircraft -- such as those registered under Flexjet's name -- to
fly only in Canadian skies and vice versa.
Thus, Flexjet customers in Canada could not
use the service to fly directly from, say, Toronto to Vancouver.
It's the latest move by third-ranked Flexjet
to attract more customers in the competitive fractional jet
market, which sells part-ownership in private jets. In Flexjet's
case that is usually a 1/16th share in a Bombardier-made
business jet.
The initial Flexjet Canada fleet will be
made up of three planes pressed into service from Montreal-based
Bombardier's own corporate fleet of six: two Learjet 45s that
seat eight and one Challenger 604 wide-body seating 10.
"We're leveraging use of these planes
further," Flexjet vice-president Sylvain Lévesque said in
a telephone interview. Bombardier is hanging on to the remaining
three corporate jets, not least its ne-plus-ultra Global
Express, used by chairman Laurent Beaudoin and other top
executives. Flexjet celebrated its 10th anniversary last
year with a slight profit or break-even profile, depending on
the accounting treatment used, Mr. Lévesque said.
With 84 jets in service, Flexjet trails far
behind market leader NetJets, owned by Warren Buffett's
Berkshire Hathaway Inc. and boasting 423 planes, according to
the latest numbers gathered by AvData Inc. of Utica, N.Y. In
second place is Flight Options, with 161 aircraft.
NetJets has the edge because of the wide
variety of jets on offer from several different manufacturers,
said Kenneth Green of AvData.
CitationShares is the fourth major player,
with 70 Cessna jets.
The trend these days is for not only high
net worth individuals but, more and more, companies to buy into
fractional jet ownership.
Flexjet spokeswoman Nathalie Bloomfield said
the split is roughly 50/50 and that the business-to-leisure
ratio is also roughly 50/50.
The cost? For an up-front, five-year commitment to 1/16 of a
Learjet 45, you're looking at $660,000 (U.S.). That buys you 50
hours of flight time a year. Then comes the monthly fee,
including pilots, maintenance and hangar: $6,900.
Airbus cuts price in Russia plane bid
MOSCOW,
Feb 16 (Reuters) - Airbus has offered Russian flag carrier
Aeroflot a $100 million discount as it competes with Boeing for
a $3 billion contract to deliver 22 new long-haul planes, the
Vedomosti daily said on Thursday.
The business daily quoted a source close to
Airbus as saying that the firm had offered the discount on its
Airbus A350 aircraft, which up against Boeing's 787 Dreamliner
for the deal.
TQuoting
sources at the Russian carrier, Vedomosti said Aeroflot, which
tendered for the long-haul aircraft last year, wants to buy 22
planes worth $3 billion and that it might sign an option to buy
a further 12.
Aeroflot and Airbus officials declined
comment.
Russian media have speculated that Aeroflot
may opt for Boeing's long-haul jets instead of Airbus's.
Aeroflot Deputy General Director Lev
Koshlyakov has said that the company hopes to sign the contract
by end-March.
State-controlled Aeroflot is updating its
fleet. It recently approved the lease of five Airbus A320
airliners, and has said it would also acquire seven A321
aircraft.
Airbus is 80 percent owned by EADS with the
balance held by BAE Systems Plc.
Boeing aircraft make up 81 percent of the foreign jet fleet of
the post-Soviet Commonwealth of Independent States, including 76
percent of Russia's 97 foreign-made jets.
China sees big safety challenge
BEIJING,
Feb 14 (Reuters) - China faces an enormous aviation safety and
infrastructure challenge over the coming years as it grapples
with explosive growth in passenger travel and tries to integrate
new aircraft, the industry regulator said on Tuesday.
The number of airline passengers more than
doubled last year to almost 140 million, and about 100 new
aircraft annually are expected to be added to fleets over the
next five years, Gao Hongfeng, vice head of the General
Administration of Civil Aviation of China, said.
There are 11,000 take-offs and landings a day, he added.
"With such an enormous volume of air traffic, the
pressure on safety is only too apparent," Gao told a news
briefing.
Demand is so high, that Beijing's international airport is
already operating beyond capacity and is allowed to handle just
1,000 flights a day, which is still one take off or landing
every minute or so.
"We must impose restrictions to guarantee safety, and
the steady forward development of the industry," he said.
China's last major air crash was in 2004, when a China
Eastern Airlines regional jet came down in a frozen lake shortly
after take-off, killing 54.
A spate of accidents in the 1990s was blamed on poor
maintenance, ropey training and use of outmoded aircraft.
Since then, China has embarked upon a multi-billion dollar
programme to upgrade fleets and train staff to international
standards, as well as building or expanding dozens of airports.
This has made China an increasingly important battlefield for
the world's two top commercial aircraft makers, Boeing Co. and
Europe's Airbus, majority owned by the Franco-German company
EADS.
With recent huge orders from Chinese airlines -- including
China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd., Air China Ltd. and China
Southern Airlines Co. Ltd. -- it would be hard to find enough
pilots and mechanics, Gao said.
For
every 100 new aircraft, more than 1,000 extra pilots would be
needed, though it should be possible to train them all, he
added.
"But the most serious challenge will be whether we can
train well-qualified pilots so quickly, Gao said.
Chinese flying schools can only graduate a total of 600
airline pilots a year, according to the official China Daily,
and Air China would try to recruit foreign pilots.
Despite such phenomenal growth, Gao said profitability was
relatively low due to the high debt airlines carry to finance
their fleet expansion schemes.
Margins could also be further affected by continued
liberalisation of ticket prices.
China has been gradually letting airlines set their own
prices within government guidelines as a way of encouraging
competition.
But in some cases this has had the effect of making airline
tickets cheaper than train tickets.
"The direction we are going is to loosen controls on
ticket prices," he said, without giving a timeframe for
when all restrictions might be lifted.
China would also continue to welcome foreign investment in
its airlines, Gao said, though foreigners cannot control more
than 49 percent of a Chinese carrier, and an individual overseas
investor is limited to a 25 percent stake.
"In the global aviation world, this level of openness is
quite high," he added, though did not say if the government
might consider raising the threshold"
Lawsuit is filed against Alaska Airlines
LOS
ANGELES, Feb. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Six passengers of Alaska Air
Flight 536, who in December suffered through a harrowing
30-minute flight after a one-foot-hole opened up in the airplane
at 26,000 feet causing an explosive decompression of the cabin,
today sued the airline and Menzies Aviation Group, a ground
service provider. The airplane made an emergency landing in
Seattle. The suit* was filed in California Superior Court in Los
Angeles on behalf of the passengers by the law firm Kreindler
& Kreindler LLP.
The
aircraft, an MD-83 model, was being loaded for a flight from
Seattle- Tacoma International Airport (Sea-Tac) to Burbank, CA,
on December 26, 2005, when it was damaged on the ground by an
unreported collision with a baggage- carrying vehicle controlled
and operated by Menzies, a ground service provider to several
airlines, including Alaska Airlines. Soon after take off, a one-
foot-long hole was ripped out of the aircraft's fuselage as a
result of the ground collision, causing an explosive and violent
decompression of the plane's cabin that resulted in the
plaintiffs' physical and emotional injuries.
"The
defendants in this case negligently and carelessly disregarded
and violated numerous safety procedures and training standards,
and have caused these passengers -- their customers --
substantial injury," said James P. Kreindler of Kreindler
& Kreindler. "For this collision to go unreported prior
to take off is really inexcusable, and is reflective of a
troubling recent history between these two companies. This jet
was not airworthy, and yet it still took off, seriously
threatening the lives of all those aboard. The system terribly
failed these passengers and the crew."
Last
year, reportedly to save money, Alaska Air eliminated hundreds
of unionized ground service positions at Sea-Tac, outsourcing
these services to Menzies. "Alaska Air knew or should have
known that Menzies was not competently handling its ground
service responsibilities, and yet it continued to use the
company to perform those services," said attorney Daniel O.
Rose of Kreindler. "Within four months of Alaska Air's
retention of Menzies, the operator's ramp employees caused
damage to the airline's aircraft on at least 12 separate
occasions. Employees of Menzies warned both the operator and the
airline about serious training deficiencies of their ramp
personnel and of the associated risks. The negligence of both
companies resulting in the traumatic Flight 536 incident is
quite clear."
The
plaintiffs in this suit include Mark Reveley and Emma Hellsten
of Los Angeles and four others who reside in Sweden. Their
injuries include eardrum damage and hearing loss, affecting
their ability to work, along with substantial emotional trauma.
"Apart from their physical injuries, these passengers'
lives are profoundly changed by what they thought was their
near-death experiences," said Mr. Kreindler. "Some
actually witnessed a piece of the plane flying past their
windows. The cabin was in chaos, and passengers were saying
their last goodbyes to loved ones. They are fortunate to have
survived this flight, but many will continue to suffer serious
long-term effects."
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