News Archive

Air New Zealand have announced an increase in consumer demand that is leading them to increase capacity on routes.

The increased demand is a hopeful indicator that the global economic recovery is underway as some of the capacity increases is a return of decrease forced by last year’s slump. The airline will increase number of seats on international routes by 4.9% and on domestic routes by 3.8%.

Recent non-fatal accidents involving US carriers are causing the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to question if larger issues exist in the flight deck environment that require more scrutiny.

Board chairman Deborah Hersman during a speech today at the Regional Airline Association convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin said while the Colgan Air flight 3407 crash of a Bombardier Q400 in February 2009 garnered significant attention, NTSB is seeing other incidents that are triggering questions about sterile cockpit rules being routinely violated.

The number of airlines in merger talks seems to keep growing. Virgin Atlantic’s chief executive officer, Sir Richard Branson, has commented that his airline may no longer be able to avoid their own need to merge.

Continental and United Airlines in the USA, last month announced their merger plans which are currently awaiting state approval. If the plans go ahead they will create the world’s biggest airline.

Last Sunday, UPS furloughed pilots for the first time in the airline’s history. This comes despite the cost cutting measures put in place by the cargo carrier last year and the improving economic situation.

54 pilots were furloughed last week but the Independent Pilots Association (IPA) claims that more face the same bad news. The association that is responsible for representing 2800 UPS pilots, said that a total of 300 layoffs were expected.

Yesterday, BAA withdrew its planning applications for expansion at Heathrow and Stansted airports.  The move comes in light of the new Conservative-Liberal Government in the UK.

Both the Conservative party and Liberal Democrats were vocal in their plans to stop the third runway at Heathrow in the run up the the election.  Their coalition manifesto also outlined restrictions on any airport in the South East of the UK.

A Boeing 757, operated by United Airlines, was forced to make an emergency landing last Sunday evening following a suspected fire in the cockpit, according to the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board).

None of the 105 passengers and seven crew members on board the aircraft were injured when the incident occurred. The flight was United 27 flying to Los Angeles from New York when the fire is reported to have occurred. The pilots elected to divert to Washington D.C.

The recent, and potentially ongoing, disruption to European air transport caused by volcanic ash has focused customers’ minds on the potential value of executive charter flights, according to a new survey by UK operator London Executive Aviation. LEA’s survey showed clients keen to turn to business aviation to fulfill travel plans that airlines dealing with huge backlogs of stranded passengers could not meet. It also revealed that the continuing strike action at British Airways also is stimulating interest in charter alternatives.