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Airline Insider-July/August 06 |
| Written by Brian Dunn | ||||||
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With fuel prices hammering the bottom line of airlines, that old thorn of airport landing fees was again front and centre at ACE Aviation Holdings' annual meeting in Montreal where Air Canada boss Robert Milton called on Ottawa to lower the rent it collects from Canada’s airports. And with Toronto’s Pearson International being the most expensive airport to land at, ahead of Osaka’s Kansai airport by a hefty 45.5 per cent, according to the Air Transport Research Society, Milton said U.S. airports such as Detroit and Cleveland are luring Canadian travelers south where landing fees and therefore ticket prices are lower. And now that Air Canada and WestJet have settled their feud over corporate espionage, Milton wants to form a common front with WestJet head Clive Beddoe to lobby Ottawa to reduce airport rents. Despite higher fuel prices and high landing fees, Milton told shareholders he’s optimistic about revenue growth this year adding that Air Canada will benefit from simplified pricing and discount options in addition to an expanding route structure. Profitability at ACTS, its maintenance division should also improve, after it signed major contracts with Delta Airlines, US Air and Jet Blue Airways. CANJET FOCUSES ON THE EAST CanJet Airlines will terminate service between Toronto and Calgary in September, ending the carrier’s operations in Western Canada. For now, the airline is focusing its network in Eastern Canada. It has also warned staff that it may be forced to slow its growth due to high fuel prices and recent decisions by its flight attendants and pilots to join unions. In a letter to employees, chief operating officer Julie Gossen says these changes will require CanJet to “rethink and reshape our strategic business plan”. On the positive side, CanJet has been given a boost after Ottawa turned to it to help transport civil servants. Once the domain of Air Canada, both WestJet and now CanJet have signed a discount fare agreements with Ottawa which could reduce Air Canada’s estimated 80 per cent share of the $170 million business. In addition, CanJet and Harmony Airways of Vancouver are cross-selling tickets to offer passengers coast-to-coast travel with Toronto as the transfer point. Under the agreement, each carrier will sell the other’s tickets on select routes at a 10 per cent discount. CanJet will sell seats on Harmony’s 10 weekly flights between Toronto and Vancouver to its passengers, while Harmony will offer its passengers CanJet tickets from Toronto to Deer Lake, Nfld., St John’s, Halifax and Moncton. EXELTECH SIGNS WITH CANJET CanJet has signed ExelTech Aerospace to a long-term maintenance, repair and overhaul contract for its fleet of nine Boeing 737-500 aircraft. Under the agreement, ExelTech took the carrier’s first aircraft into its Quebec City hangar in June where it performed heavy maintenance checks, including major structural inspections. Exel- Tech is also providing ondemand line maintenance services to CanJet at Montreal’s Trudeau International Airport. “I am pleased that Canada’s third largest airline has selected ExelTech as its maintenance provider,” said ExcelTech’s president and CEO Derek Nice. “Having CanJet’s people place their confidence in the skills and dedication of our workforce is a source of pride for everyone at ExelTech.” Financial terms were not disclosed. HARMONY GOES REGIONAL Harmony Airways has introduced its first regional jet service as it considers acquiring smaller aircraft to support expansion. The carrier, which operates Boeing 757 aircraft, has contracted Voyageur Airways of North Bay to operate a single 50-seat Bombardier CRJ100 between Vancouver and Calgary. Harmony had originally scheduled the service to launch on May 14, but was delayed until June 15, according to Harmony CEO Gary Collins. Collins confirms that management will use data collected from this service to determine if regional jets will be introduced to the Harmony fleet. He stresses, however, that plans are still in the early stages, and that no commitment has been made to Bombardier or Embraer. Collins said 70- to 110-seat jets are a cost-effective way for the airline to build a domestic network to feed planned Asian routes. Voyageur operates a fleet of Bombardier Dash 7 and Q300 turboprops, as well as Raytheon Beech King Air 100s and 200s. Last year, it launched Dash service between Mont-Tremblant, QC and Toronto Pearson. JAZZ SERVING SECONDARY PAIRINGS Jazz Air is expanding beyond its traditional role this summer as an Air Canada feeder by offering service to more secondary Canadian markets and bypassing the traditional hubs of Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto. The city pairings include E d m o n t o n - K e l o w n a , Wi n n i p e g - L o n d o n , Edmonton-Victoria, Calgary- Yellowknife and Calgary- Comox, using 50-seat Bombardier CRJ-200s. Jazz currently operates a fleet of 136 aircraft, including 15 75- seat CRJ-705s which were added last year. OPEN SKIES WITH UK Canada and the U.K. have signed an Open Skies deal under which, beginning in September, Canadian airlines will be able to offer unlimited flights to third countries via the U.K. and vice versa. The two countries will also be free of restrictions on fares when carrying traffic through their own cities to the third country. More than two million passengers a year fly between the two countries. PORTER CHOOSES FLIGHT DECK RESOURCES Porter Airlines has contracted Flight Deck Resources to provide Class 2 electronic flight bag (EFB) systems for its fleet of 10 Bombardier Q400 aircraft. EFBs increase situational awareness in-flight with en-route, approach charts, moving map display and graphical weather information. In addition, it improves productivity by enabling pre-flight planning and efficient access to up-todate aircraft documentation, checklists, and operational planning information. “[Flight Deck Resources] has developed a turnkey EFB solution that is the right fit for our launch later this year,” said Porter president and CEO Robert Deluce. “Our goal is to use available technology with a clear focus on safety, operational efficiency and operating cost reductions.” |
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