Pinnacle Airlines said in late October that it would close the headquarters of its Eagan, Minn.-based Mesaba Airlines subsidiary toward the end of next year’s first quarter as it moves to reduce the number of its operating certificates from three to two. Pinnacle also owns Manassas, Va.-based Colgan Air.
Orders for hundreds of Boeing and Airbus narrowbodies stand subject to revision following AMR Corporation’s Chapter 11 filing last week. However, both manufacturers remained sanguine about the extent to which the reorganization of the company and its American Airlines subsidiary might affect their respective contracts.
Boeing and Lufthansa on December 6 plan to begin pre-delivery testing of the first 747-8 Intercontinental at the airline’s main operations base at Frankfurt Airport. Scheduled to last until December 9, the testing will help ensure a smooth integration of the newest 747 into Lufthansa’s operations, according to Boeing.
Not without reason, China continues to dominate expectations for business aviation growth in Asia, but the continent as a whole presents a vast if complex opportunity for the industry.
The European Business Aviation Association (EBAA) is voicing its concerns over the European Commission’s draft regulation for airport slot allocation. “The association is hugely disappointed that the EC, despite robust arguments against, has maintained a recast of its slot regulation…based solely on the number of passengers carried,” EBAA said.
Tough cost battles in the market segment where regional airlines and low-cost carriers converge are driving demand for Embraer’s E-Jet series, according to the Brazilian airframer.
The FAA has issued an Airworthiness Directive for the Socata TBM 700 electrical system.
AMR Corporation and its two U.S. airline subsidiaries, American Airlines and American Eagle, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today after failing to agree to cost-cutting measures with its pilots.
Three weeks of fruitless negotiations between Qantas and three of its employee unions have forced the government’s workplace labor tribunal to arbitrate new labor agreements. The Australian flag carrier has warned that the dispute could result in a dip in its profits for the last six months of 2011 of up to 66 percent.
Emirates SkyCargo set a company record this past summer when it carried 52.87 metric tons of freight in the belly hold of one of its Boeing 777-300ERs on a flight from Karachi to Dubai. Indeed, the load, consisting mainly of dense perishable meat products and vegetable produce, marked a significant achievement for Emirates during a period of sagging fortunes in the air cargo business.