Hawaiian Airlines’ parent company has begun the process of creating a new regional subsidiary to serve the Hawaiian islands of Molokai and Lanai with a used ATR 42 it bought in late October from Dublin, Ireland’s ASL Aviation Group. A separate purchase agreement between the two companies called for delivery of another ATR 42 last month.
Transport
December 4, 2012 - 1:10am
Venice, Italy-based Superjet International held a “roll-in” ceremony at its hangar at Venice Marco Polo International Airport on October 19 for the first Sukhoi Superjet 100 destined for delivery to Mexico’s Interjet. The airplane arrived in Tessera, an administrative division or frazione of Venice, on October 6 following a roughly 4,500-nm journey from Sukhoi Civil Aircraft’s manufacturing site in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia.
December 4, 2012 - 12:45am
Avincis is the new name for World Helicopters, a firm that combined the Bond Aviation Group with Inaer when it took over the former last spring. The group, owned by KKR and Investindustrial, operates 400 aircraft, 350 of them helicopters.
December 4, 2012 - 12:40am
Republic Airways’ efforts to “restructure” its Indianapolis-based Chautauqua Airlines subsidiary appear to have yielded their intended results. During a November 1 conference call to discuss the company’s third-quarter earnings, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford reported that the regional airline holding company has found a way to mitigate future negative cash flows at Chautauqua by some $45 million over five years, largely by reaching new business agreements with several “key stakeholders ” and returning idled aircraft to revenue service.
December 3, 2012 - 7:34pm
A reader recently took me to task for writing that the FAA is reinterpreting Part 135 regulations, in a story about the FAA’s belief that contract charter instructors and check airmen apparently are not complying with the rules.
December 3, 2012 - 2:10pm
A French appeals court has overturned the manslaughter verdict against Continental Airlines resulting from the July 2000 crash of an Air France Concorde soon after takeoff from Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport (CDG). The initial ruling held Continental liable for the accident on the grounds that maintenance errors caused a 16-inch piece of titanium to fall from one of the U.S. airline’s DC10s during its takeoff roll just moments before the Concorde.
December 3, 2012 - 1:35pm
The Latin American and Caribbean Air Transport Association (ALTA) has improved aviation safety across the region but it still has work to do on this score, according to the group’s president Roberto Kriete. At the recent 9th ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Panama City, Panama, Kriete said the association “will step up its efforts to urge authorities to make the IATA Operational Safety Audit [IOSA] accreditation a requirement for certification in the region.”
December 3, 2012 - 1:20pm
Canada’s Transportation Safety Board (TSB) has released a new video to call attention to the hazards of runway incursions, which the Board recently identified as one of the country’s top nine transportation hazards. The TSB recorded more than 4,100 incursions between 2001 and 2009. Incident numbers increased 27 percent between 2010 and 2011 alone, from 351 to 446, respectively, since runway incursions were placed on the TSB’s watch list in 2010.
December 3, 2012 - 1:12pm
The International Civil Aviation Organization officially recognized Airways New Zealand with its Trainair Plus quality-assurance certification as a source for air traffic services training. Airways New Zealand is the first ATC training organization in the region to receive the certification.
December 3, 2012 - 1:07pm
Ailing Scandinavian carrier SAS will reduce its workforce by 6,000 employees, sell off its Widerøe regional subsidiary and centralize administrative functions in Sweden in return for an increased credit line from major shareholders and banks of 3.5 billion Swedish kronor ($525 million) through March 2015. The new revolving credit facility has yet to be approved by the parliaments of Sweden and Norway.
