News Archive

The President of the Air Line Pilots Association, ALPA, believes it is likely we will see more airline mergers over the next few years.  Captain John Prater also hopes that over half of the 38 airlines with ALPA representatives would, with the support of the Unions, back any mergers that would result in job saving oppurtunities.  This possibility does not just relate to the legacy carriers as Prater believes it likely we will see some low cost carrier link ups as well.

Senators in the USA have strongly urged the FAA to do something about pilots who regularly commute long distances to get to work.  This concern is largely down to the Colgan air crash of February 12 2009.  The first officer on board the Dash 8 Q400 had the night before slept in the crew lounge at Newark airport following a commute from the Pacific Southwest where she lived.  The Captain on board had also spent the previous night in the crew lounge, which was against the airlines policy, as he lived in Florida and had been on a two day tour.

Ahead of this weeks new working terms ballot of Aer Lingus employees, the Irish carrier has threatened that 1100 jobs will have to go if members do not accept the proposed cost-cutting plan.  The comments have caused an angry response from IMPACT, the Union respresenting the airline's pilots and cabin crew.

Bombardier Aerospace has a $3.1 billion US deal to sell 40 of its CS300 jet airliners to Republic Airways Holdings, a U.S. operator of 1,600 daily flights under half a dozen different airline names.

ICAO has continued to push aviation to the forefront when it comes to reucing emmisions.  Following last December's Copenhage Climate Conference a significant amount of criticism was raised due to the lack of any binding agreements.  There were also no aviation specific strategies from the summit.

CAEP, the organisaions Committee on Aviation Environmental Protection, is putting in place a Carbon Dioxide standard to be met by as early as 2013.  There are also targets to reduce global fuel burn by 2% annually between now and 2050.

By JOE SHARKEYPublished: February 22, 2010

HAPPY days are not quite here again in the business aviation industry, but at least there are some breaks in the clouds.

Chris GashGingerly, some business travelers are venturing back into private aircraft after the battered economy — and a public outcry against that perk of fat cats, the corporate jet — walloped the general aviation industry starting in 2008.

The signs of a small and tentative rebound are discernible. In January, business aircraft flights, as monitored by the aviation research firm Argus, rose 5.3 percent over January 2009.