Recently in Airlines Category

So BA, American and Iberia have finally bitten the bullet and are are asking for anti-trust immunity for their alliance - with Finnair and Royal Jordanian thrown in for good measure. This one will run and run, but an interesting development on day one is that they are banking on public support through a new campaigning website with the provocative url www.MoreTravelChoices.com

First question now will be to see who actively opposes this. Virgin we know all about - but how will Star Alliance and SkyTeam address this? Very tricky for them I think.

In the great, and generally successful, tradition of Unusual Attitude off-the-cuff predictions here's one more: this application will be approved.

Comments very welcome.

I've been on holiday, so this is just an aviation travelogue (avialogue?), but it's a bit offbeat, so here goes. We were in Croatia, one of the places in Europe where I still get a passport stamp, though when the Croatians negotiate their way into the EU I won't anymore. We flew into Pula Airport with you know who and mixed it with the Carelesses, Cambers, and Fishbeds.

Regular readers will know it's an article of faith for me that improved air traffic management is the only way that aviation is going to improve its environmental act to any meaningful extent in the near future. Part of that needs to be the widespread adoption of what's called required navigation performance (RNP) techniques. And it's starting to happen.

One of the biggest RNP programmes underway is the one at Southwest Airlines. They'be been a bit reticent about talking about it, but now, rather more characteristically, they're shouting about it. RNP is a wee bit complicated - but not that bad really, you just have to concentrate. Southwest has put together a nice presentation here explaining what's going on.

Their partner in all this is probably the world leader in RNP - Naverus. They have a great series of case studies on their site which really do show what the concept is all about. Start with the story that launched it all - the remarkable tale of how Naverus founder Steve Fulton, then an Alaska Airlines pilot, demonstrated at Juneau, Alaska how emerging navigation techniques could change the world. We really need to do more of this.

Here at Flight I've been managing the launch of a website in Chinese aimed at China's air transport business. We publish about 10 stories a day and it's been impossible to ignore the fact that all of a sudden some of them have contained some startling statistics for the month of May.

First there were the traffic figures for Beijing International airport - passenger numbers down 2.9%. Then Air China - passengers down 10.7%, RPKs down 6.7%. China Southern turned up with flat passenger numbers and RPKs up a miserable (by Chinese standards) 1%. China Eastern followed with passenger numbers down 8.1%

Well it looks as if I was right to say that British Airways pilots wouldn't strike over OpenSkies, but I was wrong about the reason. In fact it seems we will never know whether the envisaged strike would have taken place or not.

This afternoon it's reported that BALPA has withdrawn its court action. No word from the union yet on exactly why, but its lawyer apparently told the court that it had become clear that the case would have been subject to escalating appeals and judgements. In the meantime BA would have once again sought an injunction preventing strike action, or obtained damages if a strike went ahead. So the union would be in the same position as now, or much worse if the airline ultimately won in the courts.

I think there's still an IFALPA employment ban in place covering OpenSkies, but I'm not sure it's relevant now. Presumably the airline will duly launch on 19 June. The state of BA's industrial relations is an open question however.

Although it's a side-issue, there was actually quite an important point of European labour law at stake in all this. It's still not settled and so it's a great day for m'learned friends.

British Airways' OpenSkies subsidiary is taking bookings for flights starting 19 June. So it's not just a blog anymore, it's more or less an airline.

Always a delight to get a ride in a genuine vintage aeroplane. The smell richly redolent of aviation from an earlier era, the upholstery shabby in a faintly distinguished sort of way, and the seating quaintly intimate. Yes, we're in a British Airways Boeing 737 Classic of course, enjoying an experience now largely denied to most Europeans....

Forget about tedious stuff like the incoming aircraft being delayed (about six sectors earlier), wrong kind of clouds (black), too many bits fell off during last sector (any.) At London Luton Airport there is irritation with one carrier whose pilots have been holding things up while they swap uniforms - with each other I mean.

How might this happen. Well, imagine you were an East European who'd got a frankly modestly rewarded job with a West European carrier who charged you for your type-rating, meals, mobile phone electricity, and, errr, uniform. You can spend weekends on the cheaper fringes of the Eurozone, but you need to watch the pennies during the week. Suffice it to say you'd look for innovative solutions and, let's face it, you can't share a type-rating.

From an impeccable source.

Silverjet has now got its hands on the initial investment it said last week it had secured. This is £8.4 million from a company that turns out to be Viceroy Holdings LLC, which is affiliated with Viceroy Fund. Viceroy's website might best be described as discreet.

I don't think anyone saw that one coming. My colleague Lori Ranson on Air Transport Intelligence had a very interesting story yesterday that British Airways' OpenSkies unit is asking for authority to codeshare on Paris-New York with Elysair - which is the parent company of French all-premium carrier L'Avion. L'Avion flies daily New York Newark-Paris Orly with Boeing 757s, which is where the plot thickens.