Industry News

Senators FRank Lauten-berg (d-nj) and James inhofe (r-ok) — introduce bipartisan legislation that would ensure good faith collective bargaining for FAA employees and provide for an impartial impasse resolution process. The bill would restart contract talks between FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn., with the process going to binding arbitration if negotiations are not successful at reaching agreement. The FAA Employee Retention Act (S.3416) seeks to protect federal employees’ collective bargaining rights by requiring either binding arbitration by a panel of arbitrators selected by both parties or allowing both parties, by mutual agreement, to adopt their own procedures for resolving collective bargaining disputes, ending an ongoing cycle of litigation over the correct procedure to resolve impasses under the current law; and second, making null and void any changes to work rules made by FAA without union agreement or employee ratification on or after July 10, 2005.

Spirit Airlines will offer daily service between Ft. Lauderdale and Bogota, Colombia.

Standard Aero, — a DAE Engineering company based in Winnepeg, breaks ground on an 80,000-sq.ft. facility expansion to accommodate increased CF34 engine throughputs.
• Standard Aero also signs two long-term maintenance repair and overhaul agreements with Aerolineas Mesoamericanas (ALMA) in Mexico to support its CRJ200 fleet — one for General Electric CF34-3B1® engines and one for 36-150 auxiliary power units. Agreements are eight-year (four + four one-year options) programs, including spare engines and technical and program management.

Tsa — may allow airports to ban firearms from terminals, parking lots, roads, and other airport areas where many states currently allow passengers to carry lethal weapons. TSA is weighing a request by Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta Int’l Airport to modify its security program to impose an airport-wide ban on guns. It is the first such request to TSA from an airport. Federal law bars passengers from bringing weapons to or past airport checkpoints. But in many airports, state law allows passengers to carry guns and knives in unsecured areas such as a main terminal.

ultimate jetcharters— of North Canton, OH expands its charter fleet with its eleventh Dornier 328 Jet.

Universal Avion-ics Systems Corp. — of Tucson announces an agreement with Hawker Beechcraft Ltd. to provide digital flat-panel glass displays and flight management systems for a fleet of Hawker 125-700B series aircraft. Upgrade package replaces existing flight and engine analog instruments with Universal’s SBAS-capable UNS-1Fw FMSs, EFI-890R flat panel instrument displays, and Application Server Unit (ASU) with UCDT-III displays.