ABC: Alitalia, Bankruptcies, and CAPBOR

• Alitalia sold three slots at Heathrow Airport for $133 million. Details here. [Today in the Sky]
• Cranky takes a wistful walk through 2007’s airline graveyard. [The Cranky Flier]
• Austin, Texas, declines to host the gadfly Coalition for an Airline Passengers Bill of Rights [Aero-News.Net]

Advertisement

Read Full Post »

China, UAE, Russia

Here’s an all-international edition of Daily Departures:

•  Beijing Capital International Airport’s expansion program is complete, just in time for the ’08 Summer Olympics. [Xinhua via Towers and Tarmacs]
• Emirates president Tim Clark credits the airline’s success to Dubai’s fortuitous location, its business-friendly climate, and a favorable currency situation. [Today in the Sky]
• Russia’s new Sukhoi SuperJet program is seeing a delay. [Planenews]

Read Full Post »

Merry Christmas, everyone!

With my warmest wishes for a happy holiday, here are some Daily Departures to tide you over:

• Several airlines have been charged with antitrust violations for their cargo services. [ATW Daily News]
• Newark’s flight cap this summer will likely be around 83 flights per hour. [ATW Daily News]
• All-business-class pioneer MaxJet is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and halted all flights. Mark Ashley looks at relevant issues here. [Today in the Sky]

Read Full Post »

Daily departures: climate, passenger rights, China, and more

• There’s debate among European governments about when aircraft climate emissions should be included in reduction programs. [AP/Aviation.com]
• The Italian government continues to hold out on picking a bidder for sagging Alitalia. [ATW Daily News]
• A U.S. district court granted summary judgment in favor of New York state’s passenger’s bill of rights. Expect an appeal. [The NV Flyer]
• China unveils its first “homegrown” jet. See my take here. [AP/MSNBC]
• NASA urged to relaunch controversial pilot survey of airline safety. [Aero-News.Net]

Read Full Post »

Fisking the Feds’ JFK flight cap plan

The federal government has reached an agreement to cap flights at JFK. Here is the press release announcing the agreement. Let’s take a look at what the government is doing:

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters today announced new measures to reduce airline delays over the holiday season and new actions designed to reduce congestion in the New York area starting next summer. . . . She said the new measures developed at the direction of President Bush this fall include an agreement to cap hourly operations at JFK International Airport, plans for hourly limits at Newark and capacity improvements for the region, and were based on input from a multi-month process that involved airlines, airports and consumer advocates.

The agreement among the major airlines serving JFK caps the number of flights at either 82 or 83 per hour, depending on the time of day, Secretary Peters said. The hourly caps will take effect March 15, 2008 and will be in place for 2008 and 2009. Airlines will be able to shift their flights to times of the day when the airport has unused capacity, allowing 50 more flights per day than were offered last summer – just more reasonably spaced, she said.

So it’s a voluntary agreement. I’ve got some questions: were all the airlines at JFK involved? If not (as I suspect), then who was left out? Will foreign carriers with schedules to keep at foreign hubs be able to hold onto their slots in the crowded evening rush hour? How will new entrants be affected? There aren’t details on this. I suspect that the only airlines who could reshuffle are the ones who have begun to do so: Delta, JetBlue, American, and other U.S. carriers. Delta earlier this year began shifting some of its long-hauls to depart before the evening rush hour. There are a lot of questions to be answered before the agreement can be assessed.

The Secretary also directed the FAA to enter into negotiations to set hourly caps at Newark International Airport, so that flights aren’t simply shifted there, erasing gains made at JFK. Effective today, Secretary Peters also announced new take-off patterns at Newark and Philadelphia International Airport that will allow aircraft to fan out after take off and provide more options for aircraft waiting to depart.

Newark’s delay problem is actually worse than JFK’s–it is home to Continental’s massive domestic/transatlantic hub and also serves many long-haul foreign carriers. Whoever wrote this press release seems to be under the bizarre delusion (often seen in the media) that Newark is some underused, provincial, backwater airport.

Read Full Post »

Daily departures: JFK, Congress, and Midwest Airlines

• The White House is set to announce its decision on JFK flight caps and congestion charging. [ATW Daily News and Washington Post]
• Transportation and Homeland Security omnibus bills are making their way through Congress in the eleventh hour. [Towers and Tarmacs]
• Does the Northwest-backed TPG buyout of Midwest Airlines raise an antitrust red flag? [Tourism Central Florida via Today in the Sky]

Read Full Post »

Daily departures: Airbus, foreign aircraft safety, and pilot unions

• Will France let Airbus be competitive? Maybe not. [Aero-News.Net]
• Britain will double its safety checks on foreign aircraft. [Aviation Safety Network]
• Long-suffering pilots are going to throw their weight around in mergers. [Star Tribune]

Read Full Post »

Gates, terminals, fees, and the business of airports

Airports in the United States are almost always owned and operated by municipal or county authorities. (In a few cases, like Indianapolis and Chicago Midway, private companies have managed airports for the authorities.) These airports lease gates to airports in long-term leases, and then that airline has exclusive use of those gates. Most big-city airports have extra space to accommodate new entrants or airlines wishing expand service, as airlines rarely wish to lease more gates than they need. In some cases, however, gate unavailability has limited the entrance of new carriers. (Issues like this have threatened US Airways international expansion in Philadelphia.)

Airlines who lease gates at airports usually offer the same amenities to all airlines/tenants: baggage facilities, concessions, and the like, which means that gate-lease fees vary little. If there is competition for amenities and fees, it is among airports. For example, Providence and Manchester offered lower fees and attracted discounters like Southwest unwilling to pay the higher fees of Boston’s center-city Logan Airport. The same applies for Miami versus Fort Lauderdale, Orlando International versus Orlando Sanford, and several others. There has been until now little competition within U.S. airports for fees and amenities.

Austin-Bergstrom International Airport in Texas is now attempting to pull this off. Its only passenger terminal, the Barbara Jordan Terminal, is fully occupied and leased. So, to add significant service, it will need to build more space. But this new space is intended to serve the super-discount airlines like Skybus and Mexico’s vivaAeroBus that Austin wants to attract. Back in June, it began negotiations with GE Commercial Airline Services (GECAS) to build and operate a no-frills terminal at Bergstrom. GECAS would operate the terminal for thirty years, and it would be expressly designed for super-cheap airlines, with neither luggage facilities nor assigned gates. Gate fees at the GECAS terminal would presumably be much less than those at the Jordan terminal.

Read Full Post »

Bush signs pilot retirement age raise into law

President Bush signed the Fair Treatment for Experienced Pilots Act on Thursday, a few hours after the Senate passed it. See my analysis of the bill here.

Age 65 becomes law [ATW Daily News]

Read Full Post »

Daily departures: delays, DHS, NY passenger’s bill of rights, and more

• Mike Boyd lays the blame for flight delays and small community service cutback’s at the FAA’s feet. [Jet Lagged]
• The Department of Homeland Security touts its accomplishments in 2007. [Towers and Tarmacs]
• Kenneth Nankin has legal analysis of the case involving the New York passenger’s bill of rights. [The NV Flyer]
• Virgin America wants an exemption from any JFK flight cap regime. [Aero-News.Net]

Read Full Post »