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Monday, December 6, 2004

Briefs

  • Chicago Express, a unit of ATA Holdings [ATAHQ], will take its first steps in January to building a new network. Flying as ATA Connection, the regional carrier has been flying traffic from Midwest locations into Chicago's Mid-way International Airport. Now operating in Chapter 11, ATAH plans to retreat from its Midway hub to its hub operations in Indianapolis. Beginning in January, Chicago Express will fly its Saab 340s from three Indiana cities -- Evansville, Fort Wayne and South Bend - - to Indianapolis to feed to ATA. It also plans to fly from Milwaukee and Dayton, Ohio. Chicago Express will not be cutting back its routes from these same cities feeding into Midway. AirTran Airways [AAI] in January will begin to fly the ATA routes out of Midway as a new code-share partner.
  • Six weeks after the fatal crash of Pinnacle Airlines [PNCL] Flight 3701, killing its two crew members (CRAN, Oct. 25), another Bombardier [BBD] CRJ 200 crashed. China Eastern Airlines was flying the CRJ 200 on Nov. 22 with 53 on board when it crashed seconds after takeoff from Baotou in Inner Mongolia. China's civil aviation authority grounded the 30 CRJs operated by six airlines in that country for maintenance checks. Bombardier called the grounding a "precautionary move." A cause of the accident has not been determined. Six days later, a Bombardier Challenger 601-1A crashed in Colorado, also on takeoff, killing three of the six people on board.
  • As Bombardier continues to study the market feasibility of a 110- to 135-seat commercial plane, the Canadian government is working to have a $700 million aid package in place by the time the Bombardier board makes a decision on the plane in late January. The Canadian builder wants a government agency to fund fully one-third of the development costs of the new plane. A Canadian investment will assure production of the plane in Canada. Northern Ireland, home of another Bombardier production facility, and three U.S. states plan to make similar investments in order to build the plane.
  • Canada's financial support of a new Bombardier aircraft underscores an ongoing battle between Canada and Brazil, home of Embraer [ERJ]. The two governments have accused each other of offering unfair financial support of its respective aircraft industry. Late last month, the two nations announced they are close to reaching an agreement that will spell out rules for financing future aircraft sales.
  • Tapping a $600,000 federal grant obtained from the Small Community Air Service Development program (CRAN, Sept. 13), Latrobe, Pa.'s Arnold Palmer Regional Airport lured Northwest Airlines [NWAC] to begin service in April. Mesaba Airlines will fly three daily round-trips on a Saab 340 between Latrobe and Detroit. The airport does not have any scheduled service.
  • As it tries to cut its losses, Independence Air [FLYI] in January will drop all service to two Midwest cities - Dayton, Ohio, and Lansing, Mich. After it began providing multiple flights daily to Washington Dulles International Airport, Northwest stepped up its service and matched the low Independence fares. The two mark the first cities that Independence has completely abandoned since it started flying in June.
  • ExpressJet [XJT] pilots last month ratified a new four-year contract. The pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), have been negotiating since July 2002. The size of the pay raises for the pilots, as well as other terms, were not released.
  • Protesting the slow pace of negotiations, American Eagle flight attendants staged an informational picket line in Chicago late last month. Represented by the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, the flight attendants are protesting that the carrier has not offered a raise for first-year attendants who earn $15,900 annually. The union represents 1,200 at American Eagle.
  • The pace of pilot hiring continues to surpass 2003 levels. According to Air Inc., 687 pilots were hired in October compared to 452 last October. For the year, 8,209 pilots have been hired compared to 3,978 for the first 10 months of 2003. Regional carriers and low-fare carriers continue to dominate the hiring scene.
  • The European Union is now studying the possibility of curbing aircraft emissions by including these emissions in its new carbon dioxide emissions trading system, which will be launched in January. Britain has said it would like the aircraft emissions included in the new system by next July. The new trading system covers 12,000 industrial sites, but not households or transportation emissions.
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