Recently in Americas Category

Here's a unique take on a well-known story. A new book has just been released on US carrier legend Pan American World Airways, which offers an insight into its colourful history through those that worked at the airline.

Pan American World Airways - Aviation History through the Words of its People is a collections of contribution from 75 writers including pilots, flight attendants, station manager and other staff contributing to this anthology of the airline.  Covering more than six decades of history at the airline until its demise in 1991, the contributions cover some of the news-making events which dominated its history, including the first Boeing 707 flight, the introduction of Boeing 747s, hijackings, the first visit of the Beatles to the USA

The book is co-authored and co-edited by James Patrick Baldwin, an adjunct instructor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Jeff Kriendler, formerly vice president - corporate communications at Pan Am.

The book is published by Bluewater Press and you can find out more about it here.

American Airlines move to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday ended the Oneworld carrier, and its chief executive Gerard Arpey's, lengthy resistance to following its peers into restructuring under Chapter 11. American was the last man standing among US majors after a tumultuous decade for North American carriers, which has a string of operators restructure through Chapter 11 or the Canadian equivalent - here's quick graphic timeline of the North American carrier restructuring story of the last decade:

Digital editions of all three issues of the Airline Business daily from the ALTA Airline Leaders forum in Rio are now available  (see below for links)

The great and the good of the Latin American and Caribbean airline industry have been out in force at this year's ALTA Airline Leaders forum in Rio, and the Airline Business is there to cover this of gathering executives in one of the most dynamic regions in the business. We are producing three daily papers from Rio, featuring all the news, analysis and flavour from the event.

If you can't get to the show, digital versions are now available here

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The answer, according to US DOT data, is 1998 when Martinair began flying to Amsterdam. That service is no longer, but Tampa is celebrating once again as Swiss carrier Edelweiss will fly to the Florida gateway from next summer.

Here is the full story from Flightglobal of the arrival of Edelweiss:

The fact that Boeing has decided to go derivative rather than all-new for its competitive response to the Airbus A320neo will have been greeted with relief in Toulouse, but it could actually create headaches elsewhere in the airframer's product line-up.

Okay, so the threat of the A320neo being obseleted almost before its paint has dried by an all-new competitor from Seattle has gone. But this removes a huge potential weight from the Boeing PD engineering teams who - once they've sorted 787-9 and possibly -10 and tinkered with the 737RE, will be relatively unencumbered.

And guess what their next task will be? You can bet it will centre on nailing the 777 refresh/successor programme to blow the A350-1000 out of the water (now they have a better idea what that beast will actually look like).

And don't take my word for it - that was the surmise that a certain industry icon with the initials SUV made to me a couple of months ago, and he knows a thing or two about product development.

Given the lukewarm reaction that Airbus's attempt to sharpen up the A350-1000 received from customers at Paris, this task may be easier than Boeing had feared it would be.

The 777, in -300ER guise (above), is already established as the long-haul widebody benchmark so taking it on to the next level will be a challenge. And I wonder what engine the 777 revamp might have? There's one engine maker whose initials also stand for "Get Everything" that might possibly be well placed, particularly as Airbus has closed the door to anyone other than Rolls on the A350-1000 (below).

But then again, wouldn't a Pratt GTF-powered 777 be an interesting proposition? And Pratt of course let on a few years ago that it had been approached by an airframer about the possibility of a GTF sized for a widebody application. So the idea might not be as daft as it sounds...

The Sarasota region's tourism chiefs have got some big smiles on their faces this week following the news that their very own Siesta Key Beach has been named "America's Best Beach".

Normally, even the Airline Business blog does not venture into such territory. But seeing as this news comes from our friends in Sarasota, namely the city's international airport (SRQ) and its Convention & Visitors Bureau, and with both being former hosts of our popular airline-airport speed dating event Network USA. then we'll make an exception. Oh, and they invited us to a party in London to celebrate.

Having America's best beach is a peachy one, demonstrating the attraction of Sarasota as a destination. It is the first time in the 21 years that the award has been going that Siesta Key has won, says Erin Duggan, communications director at the Sarasota CVB.

Siesta Key is an eight mile long crescent-shaped barrier island on the Gulf of Mexico's Gulf Islands. The judging is done by Dr Stephen Letterman - aka Dr Beach - who undertakes a rigorous analysis of beaches across the USA to come to his decision, measuring factors like sand and water qualit and beach safety.

Waxing lyrical about Siesta Key, Dr Beach says: "The sand is super soft. So soft in fact that it sqweaks when you walk on it."

Sarasota is a popular destination for travellers from the US, Canada and Europe alike. British Airways, for example, via its Holidays arm has seen its business in the region rise by 20% this summer so far, says Gemma Pascall, BA Holidays destination executive.

BA Holidays works with 15 hotels and properties in the area and is always on the look out for more, she says.

Below, Airline Business publisher Mark Pilling (left) and SRQ marketing chief Michael Walley pose with the Sarasota beach rubber ring photo cutout. It's a tough job but somebody's got to do it right?

"This is the world's greatest flying machine, I'll tell you that!" 30 years ago, those words from  STS-1 commander John Young ushered in what many thought would be the era of routine spaceflight after he had flown Space Shuttle Columbia to a smooth touchdown at Edwards AFB in California.

For Young, along with "co-pilot" Bob Crippen, had become the first astronauts to ride a spacecraft into orbit and then "fly" it safely back to a runway landing.

And back in 1981, when NASA achieved that remarkable feat (above), many of us really believed - or hoped, perhaps - that the shuttle era would lead to regular - perhaps weekly - flights into space from "shuttle-ports" across the USA, and maybe even the world. Perhaps there was even the chance that, by the turn of the century, a fleet of "Pan Am World Spacelines" shuttles could be ferrying civilian passengers to huge orbiting space hotels?

But the reality, of course, was somewhat different. NASA never got anywhere near its launch frequency targets, and the world would quickly wake up to the fact that space travel would never become "routine" when the Challenger exploded within sight of the Kennedy Space Center on that tragic day in January 1986.

So three decades on from that first historic mission in April 1981, the return of a shuttle, in this case the Atlantis (above), to KSC earlier today for the last time finally ends those dreams about space-planes operating scheduled passenger services into orbit. But it was great while it lasted, and who knows - perhaps one day it may still become a reality! Thanks NASA, for letting the world almost live the dream for three decades!

American's order for 260 A320s is a landmark deal for Airbus, as it represents Toulouse's first narrowbody deal ever with the Iconic US carrier. It also marks the first Airbus order from American for some two decades - in 1986 it was launch customer for the A300-600R widebody.

But the A320 deal is also a coup for Europe from an airline that has often thought a bit differently about fleet acquisitions. In the 1960s it was the launch customer for the UK-built BAC One-Eleven 400 short-haul jet (above), and 20 years later it ordered the Fokker 100.

But intriguingly, I recently learnt that Toulouse missed out on landing an American Airlines order back in the days of the Caravelle. Speaking to Sud Aviation and Airbus legend Roger Beteille for a forthcoming article on the Caravelle, he told me that there was a possibility of a sale to American during Sud's marketing tie-up with Douglas Aircraft in the early 1960s.

Beteille says that Sud made "the crucial mistake" of rejecting a Douglas suggestion, made at the request of American, to broaden the fuselage section to increase luggage capacity. That decision ultimately stunted the Caravelle's sales potential and left the door open to the US manufacturers who went on to enjoy huge sales success for more than a generation.

American's A300-600 acquisition, of course, would lead to the dreadful 2001 AA587 New York crash after a tailfin failure caused when the aircraft was apparently mishandled when flying through wake turbulence. Clearly this deal shows that both sides have now moved on from that tragedy.

Anyway, well done Airbus on this landmark A320 family deal. By my reckoning, that leaves just Delta as the airline that (in its own right) has never ordered Airbus single-aisles (or any type of Airbus, for that matter). Well this task should be easier for Airbus now, after Atlanta became an A320 operator through the take-over of Northwest!

In June airline industry leaders head to Singapore for this year's IATA annual general meeting. Airline Business will be there as usual, producing daily papers, video inteviews, blogs and tweets from the event - which comes at a fascinating time as volatile fuels costs, geopolitical unrest and natural events threaten to destabilise the airline sector's recovery.

This year's meeting is also significant for IATA, given it marks Giovanni Bisignani's last AGM as director general - former Cathay Pacific chief executive Tony Tyler takes the helm in July - after a decade in which he has transformed IATA and the industry has faced unheralded challenges.  For more on Bisignani's impact on IATA and the industry, read the recent Airline Business comment on Giovanni's Decade here.