Embraer to Assemble Biz Jets in U.S.
With a new 150,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art facility in Melbourne, Fla., Embraer is creating a final assembly line, the first for Embraer in the U.S., to produce both the Phenom 100 and Phenom 300 executive jet models. Announced with Melbourne Mayor and Florida Governor Charlie Crist, the new $50 million facility will include a paint shop and a delivery and customer design center. The announcement comes in the wake of Bombardier’s consideration of CSeries production in the U.S., which, with the value of the dollar, is now a low cost production environment.
After a rigorous and thorough site selection process, the preferred location for the project is Melbourne International Airport which best satisfies all applicable operational requirements and strategies, said the company, which signed a Memorandum of Intent with a final decision predicated on approval by the state and local governments.
Embraer expects to create approximately 200 skilled positions by 2011 for aircraft assembly, production planning, logistics and quality, aircraft interior design, corporate administration, engineering, and aircraft painting, delivery, and flight testing functions.

Compass F.A. Sets Fire Aboard Aircraft
The Associated Press reported that a 19-year-old Compass flight attendant forced an emergency landing when he set fire to a lavatory because he was angry. The flight attendant, Eder Rojas was arrested in Minneapolis. The May 7 flight, en route from Minneapolis to Regina, Saskatchewan, landed safely with no injuries to the 72 passenger and four crew on board. AP reported court documents said Rojas was angry at working that route so he used a lighter to set a fire inside a paper towel compartment.
After an indicator light for the smoke detector illuminated about 35 minutes into the flight, the pilot asked the bathroom be checked. Rojas, another flight attendant and a passenger put the fire out. Investigators later found the lighter in an overhead bin, according to the Associated Press.

Air Wis Names Baca to Customer Service, Training Post
Air Wisconsin Airlines Corporation promoted Joyce Baca to the position of director of training and development - customer service where she will be responsible for development, oversight and delivery of quality customer service and ramp operational training company-wide. Reporting directly to vice President Customer Service Vince Portaro, Baca will continue to be based at Air Wisconsin's Training Facility in Park Ridge, Ill.
Baca joined Air Wisconsin in 2003 as a customer service training instructor responsible for facilitating and developing materials for customer service training classes dedicated to the United Airlines product. In 2005, Baca was named manager of training - customer service, assuming responsibility for ground-handling services training for both the United and Northwest Airlines products, including new station openings.
Prior to Air Wisconsin, Baca was with Atlantic Coast Airlines in Chicago as a customer service agent assisting with new-hire, on-the-job training, later moving into a supervisory position with a focus on customer needs during irregular operations. Before joining ACA, Baca was an IT recruitment consultant at the Morgan Partnership UK Ltd in London and an intern for public relations and education departments at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art.

Midwest to Layoff Workers
In response to rising fuel costs which are now half of its operating expenses, Midwest Air Group is cutting 108 jobs including 35 pilots. The layoffs are about 3.5 percent of its workforce. Chair Timothy Hoeksema said the company has no choice if it wants to survive. The move compounds the 380 employees laid off when subsidiary Skyways was restructured from a regional feeder to a ground handling organization in favor of contracting with SkyWest to provide the feed as Midwest Connect out of Midwest’s two hubs. Related Story It is also dropping long-haul flights at both Milwaukee and Kansas City. While fuel has risen by a third since this time last year, Midwest is now able to save millions now that is able to buy fuel through Northwest, which became a minority investor earlier this year. Related Story

Fargo Gets Lynx
Frontier Airlines’ Lynx Aviation touched down in Fargo, N.D. on Monday, May 12, launching new twice daily service in the market. Fargo is the fifth of seven new regional markets Frontier announced in February. Fargo was one of Frontier's founding markets when service launched in 1994. In addition to the new service to Fargo, Frontier also announced new non- stops to two other Rocky Mountain and regional destinations from Denver including Jackson Hole Airport (JAC), Jackson, Wyo. starting May 15 and Gallatin Field Airport (BZN), Bozeman, Mont. starting May 22.

Celebrating Horizon Air’s 25 Years in Boise
Horizon Air is celebrating 25 years of service to Boise last week, and it’s holding several customer events to show its appreciation. Wearing attire sure to generate 1980s flashbacks, Horizon employees will be inviting customers to participate in retro games – including “Are You Smarter Than an Airline Employee,” “Name That Tune” and “Let’s Make A Deal” – for the chance to win two roundtrip tickets on Horizon.
“Boise is one of the anchors of our Pacific Northwest route system and has been vital to our growth as we’ve expanded service from the city into northern and southern California,” said Dan Russo, director of marketing and communications.
Horizon began serving Boise on May 15, 1983, with two daily flights to Pendleton, Ore., on 40-seat Fairchild F-27 turboprops. Since that time, Horizon’s service to Boise has grown to 25 daily flights with direct service to nine destinations – Seattle, Portland, Spokane, Idaho Falls, Lewiston, Pullman, Los Angeles, Sacramento and San Jose. Today, Horizon operates the 74/76-seat Bombardier Q400 high-speed turboprop and the 70-seat Bombardier CRJ-700 jet in Boise.