Blog Archives
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Looking at the Future Airline Industry
- Thursday January 19, 2006The airline business, to say the least, is a study in contrasts. Recent reports from Boeing and Airbus would have an observer think, considering the record aircraft orders being placed, that the airline business is booming. Add FAA's projections for passenger forecasts and the rose is in full bloom. Except that the petals - the air carriers - seem to fall off the flower faster than it can reproduce. Delta, Northwest, and United remain in bankruptcy protection; overall, the airline industry loses money regularly. It would seem a non-sequitur. The Wall Street Journal took the DOT Secretary to task this week for "musing on the possibility" of a merger of Delta and Northwest; this at a time when DOT appears opposed to a full merger of the... -
Wireless Debate Brewing; Observations on TSA
- Wednesday January 11, 2006Wireless, the salvation for many travelers married to their laptops, has to date been pretty much a customer service versus revenue opportunity issue, or both. Officials at Boston Logan say it's a safety and security issue as well. Continental Airlines disagrees. Massport, which operates Logan, charges $7.95/day for its wireless service; Continental offers free wireless to customers in its President Club lounge at Logan. The debate is currently being reviewed by the Federal Communications Commission, to which Continental formally complained last July. As one might expect, airline and tech groups are siding with Continental; airport groups with Massport. Regarding the latter, it would seem that for airports the overriding issue here is one... -
On Independence Air; EPA
- Tuesday January 3, 2006As of this Thursday, January, 5, Independence Air, based at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, will cease operations. Its parent, FLYi Inc., cites the inability to garner new outside investors as the reason. It's been an uphill struggle from the beginning in 2004, when the former Atlantic Coast Airlines, a profitable contract feeder for United Airlines, decided to go it alone as a carrier following Uniteds bankruptcy protection filing. In all, some 2,500 of 2,800 employees will be immediately laid off. Many questioned Independence's prospects for success from the start, suggesting that disconnecting from United was not the wrong decision; having a stand-alone airline built on regional jets was. Reports say United and... -
Email Lists
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TEB Versus AOPA
- Wednesday December 21, 2005The Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association, one of the stronger aviation lobbying groups if for no other reasons than its numbers and grass roots orientation, is up in arms about user fee increases that go into effect January 1 at Teterboro (NJ) Airport. (One can stand on a ramp at TEB and enjoy the vista of the New York skyline -- it's that close.) The complaint, per AOPA, is that small aircraft are being disproportionately charged in the new fee structure. Perhaps. However, with the new reality of business aviation dominating interests at various bizav airports around the country, it's not an unexpected development. At Teterboro, an aircraft weighing less than 12,500 pounds will see its landing fee go from $15 to $22.50 overnight... -
Southwest and Midway ... a time to pause
- Tuesday December 13, 2005The recent tragedy at Chicago's Midway International Airport when a Southwest airliner stopped beyond the fence and landed in a nearby street intersection, killing a young boy in a vehicle, is a cause for reflection. In the general media, its an opportunity to jump on runway lengths. Someone said something like, Midway's runways are shorter than a commercial airport of similar size. That's all CNN & Company needed to jump on what must be the cause lack of pavement. Perhaps an issue, but this window brings in a vast array of concerns, and arguments (ATC modernization, better zoning laws, the need for cockpit/GPS navigation are a few that come to mind). From NTSB and other reports about what actually happened (at this point), it appears a... -
Thoughts on Security and Open Skies
- Tuesday December 6, 2005Thoughts on a few recent items in the news Item 1: Giovanni Bisignani, director general of the International Air Transport Association, calls on airports worldwide to discard inefficient business practices and to stop considering airlines as their cash cows. Bisignani apparently is displeased with the fact that while his constituents, the air carriers, have been immersed in the worst five financial years in history, airports have been able to remain financially stable. Every estimate I've ever heard on airline costs puts overall airport charges to airlines at some 4 percent of their overall cost structure. Seems they ought to be more focused on the other 96 percent. Airports can operate more efficiently, to be sure, but the stability of... -
A Day in the Life...
- Wednesday November 30, 2005Thoughts on the O'Hare expansion... Went by way of Chicago O'Hare International for the Turkey Day festivities flew a United RJ from Austin to Chicago direct, seated for some two and a half hours in seat 16D. It's a small window, but a window (if the world is going to pass you by, you might as well watch it). The laptop stayed aloft in the overhead bin; this is not a working environment, despite the flight time. Everything on time; luggage arrives. (Way to go, United.) Leaving the Avis parking lot, one enters another -- the Chicago freeway infrastructure out of O'Hare at 5 p.m. on a Friday. O'Hare is a place of fascination for me. I grew up some 20 minutes to the southwest, in the flight pattern of southerly winds. I am here today... -
Farewell, Woodie
- Tuesday November 22, 2005I first met Woodie Woodward at the AAAE Convention in Baltimore in 2000, sitting with her and Kate Lang for an interview for AIRPORT BUSINESS. It wasn't until some two years later that I learned, from a moderator introducing her at one of her many public presentations, that she was a doctor. In fact, she earned her Ph.D. in University Administration and Personnel Management from the University of Kansas. It wasn't surprising that few in the audience had known of her doctoral status. Dr. Woodie Woodward is one of the most unassuming individuals you will ever meet; yet, her responsibilities as FAA's Associate Administrator for Airports are quite large and she has held the position during a very trying period for aviation. Be it funding... -
Report from Orlando -- Post-NBAA
- Tuesday November 15, 2005ORLANDO Reporting from this year's 58th annual convention hosted by the National Business Aviation Association, the overriding message is that business aviation remains robust. The bottom line assessment appears to be, as long as the overall health of the U.S. economy remains strong and corporate earnings are healthy, business aviation will continue to grow. Fixed base operators and charter companies that target business flyers continue to report that business is good. If there is a caveat, it is with the fractional ownership programs the catalyst to the boom in business aviation as many believe the product is not being priced properly. Now enter the entry level jets, or very light jets as some bill them. As anticipated, the ELJs/VLJs...
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