An Ominous Start to Vacation?

Well it took all of about two seconds to have our first vacation miscue courtesy of Orbitz. See I used Orbitz to book the tickets and did my seat selections via Orbitz as well, seats 5A through 5D...perfect. WRONG!

I attempted to use Frontier's website to get boarding passes to no avail. So I called...turns out Frontier does not release rows 1-7 and exit rows for seat selection until the day of departure. Thus my row 5 seat selections via Orbitz were rejected. Did Orbitz let me know this...nnnnnnnnooooooo. LOSER!...MOVE ON!

Get your crap together Orbitz, if your going to offer seat selection it should play by the rules the airlines have in place. If it fails you should notify the person who just dropped a chunk of change via you website. If you simply cant make it work accurately then don't offer it. Seat selection is kind of a big deal to those of us travelling with kids.

For Frontier's part I got the impression early on in my conversation with the representative that she annoyed that I had the nerve to mention Orbitz. "I'm sorry sir, I have no idea how Orbitz works" "You could try to call back later to see if you can get your seat selections". I know that doesn't read too bad but trust me...it was delivered with some snap.

I've sent an email to Orbitz, I'll report back on their response.

Vacation is Calling and I am Answering

New posts will be sparse for the next 8 days because me and the whole fam-dam-ily are on vacation. I'll be back with trip reports and other stuff as appropriate soon. I am sure all 8 of you will find something else to read in the interim.

Boeing 757's are Still Sexy

God help me but airplanes are cool. I freely admit that there are certain aircraft that I classify as "good looking" and the Boeing 757 is one of them. I don't know what it is...maybe the combination of a long sleek hull with big engines hanging off the wings...but its one cool flying machine made even cooler when Northwest put winglets on them.

Northwest has big plans for these putting the 757 into a not so traditional role, international flying. The Cranky Flier has a good update on this as does IAG here. Photo credit goes to IAG as well. Nice!

Politics Complicate the Future at Airbus

Its clear now that politics are going to play a huge role in any corrective action taken by Airbus. As the French and Germans prepare to meet today its plainer than ever. Rumors have surfaced that Germany, yes...the country, is considering buying a stake in Airbus parent EADS in an attempt to guarantee a hand in the decisions regarding Airbus. This comes in the face of other rumors that five German based Airbus facilities could be sold off. Meanwhile, the new head honcho at Airbus, Louis Gallois, is trying to assure everyone that everything will be handled fairly in terms of national interest. Finally EADS tells us to not expect any decisions on restructuring at Airbus for the next few months. That which puts us into 2007 before we'll hear how Airbus plans to pull out of this A380 induced nose-dive. Sounds like great politics but poor business strategy to me. Airbus needs to start making decisions now now now.
The press is drawing comparisons between Airbus' current dilemma and the problems that faced Boeing in the mid to late 90's. Its a fair comparison. The difference is that Boeing was and is a business first and a major national manufacturer a distant second. Boeing was able to enact its recovery plans without far less worry for which countries were involved (though political interests and alliance did work in the background). The unprecedented level of multi-national outsourcing on the 777 and the upcoming 787 are evidence of that. Generally speaking, governments are not good at being successful businesses. The government interests in EADS and Airbus need to quit meddling and let Airbus be a business.

Virgin America Introduces Jefferson Airplane

Virgin America's attempts to gain approval to operate in the US may still be in a holding pattern but they are working the campaign trail. The airline unveiled its first aircraft, an A320, at San Francisco International (SFO) on Wednesday duly name "Jefferson Airplane" in honor of its San Francisco roots. Virgin America even managed to get Grace Slick to come out for the presentation of the aircraft.

Controversy still swirls regarding ownership of the airline despite the fact that they can clearly show that Virgin brands kingpin, Richard Branson's share is 25%, the maximum foreign ownership allowed under US law. It seems that the US Dept of Tranportation is taking its sweet time in the approval process. One reason for that is that several US airlines are bending the ear of the DOT and every Congressman that will listen and these airlines do carry some clout in Washington DC. One only needs to look as far as the recent Wright Amendment compromise to see that clout in action. Its a fair bet that they would all like to see Virgin America either fade away or have Virgin's start up delayed as long as possible while they shore up their defenses. Terrific post here. But Virgin does not appear to be going anywhere as they are poised to launch the most heavily captilized start up airline in US history. I think the investors backing the airline realize Virgin's name and their ability to generate a lot of swagger and PR make sticking with the process a good bet. Certainly high risk but high reward if it works. Will Virgin America be a west coast version of JetBlue?

PS. Hey, when's the last time you heard "Grace Slick" and "virgin" in the same sentence...yeah...that's what I thought.

How the Dots Connected at Helios

Investigations into the August 2005 crash of a Helios 737-300 have been completed and finding revealed (ATW). Once again we find that is was not single large fatal error but a collection of small things that led to a tragedy, the dots have once again been connected.

Boeing: "ineffectiveness of measures taken by the manufacturer in response to previous pressurization incidents in the particular type of aircraft."

Helios, now Ajet Airways: found to have "deficiencies in...quality management and safety culture."

Helios Maintenance: "Maintenance workers were at fault for failing to return the pressurization mode selector to the "auto" position after performing nonscheduled maintenance.

Helios Pilots: "not recognizing the cabin pressurization switch's incorrect setting before takeoff

Helios Pilots: ""nonidentification" of warnings once the plane was airborne"

Dot to dot to dot...the crew passes out from hypoxia due to the lack of pressurization on the aircraft and after 90 minutes on auto pilot, fuel exhausted, the engines flamed out. The aircraft descended rapidly and crashed into hilly terrain just 33 km from Athens Airport killing all 121 people on board.
So there they are, the dots connected and the accident happens. According to the report new policy and procedures in place but it sounds like a corporate culture needs to change too. It bears repeating: the little things matter.

Airbus CEO Resigns...Really...I'm Serious This Time

EADS has finally announced that Airbus Chief Exec Christian Streiff has well and truly resigned and that his resignation has been accepted by EADS and that his replacement will indeed be ex-Aerospatiale and current EADS co-chief exec Louis Gallois. In other words, everything that EADS and Airbus tried to refute over the last few days has turned out to be true. Everything...seems like a lot of wasted effort. Speaking of wasted efforts Streiff's departure after a mere 100 days should be viewed as an alarm that grows louder everyday. Consider Streiff's parting shots given to France's Le Figaro newspaper:

"I hope that (my resignation) will provide a salutary shock that forces a rethink about how Airbus is governed,"

"The organization and governance of EADS have as major objectives the preservation of a delicate balance between men, power and positions," Streiff told French daily Le Figaro on Tuesday. "This formula can work in normal times, but it is not appropriate for a firm that is going through a serious crisis."

the "governance of Airbus" would not allow his cost-cutting plan to succeed. "It is not a problem of men," he said, explaining that he personally had no issues with Gallois or EADS co-CEO Tom Enders. Instead, Airbus suffers from "a problem of structure," he said, asserting that EADS needs to give the manufacturer more autonomy to make decisions and carry out initiatives. He added that Airbus's production facility in Hamburg, where A380 assembly is centered, has "problems" and is the company's "weak link."

Normally I stay away from "industry" sources but they were all dead on regarding this situation so I will offer up this commentary:

An industry source who closely watches EADS said Streiff's position had become untenable after he exposed deep flaws in Airbus's industrial methods and raised the prospect of sensitive job cuts without adequate political cover.

And therein lies the rub. Streiff apparently made the mistake of offering his honest assessment when he called the Hamburg Airbus plant as "the weakest link" in the A380 production process. A smart business assessment, perhaps. A political bomb, absolutely.

My read on Streiff's departure is that the mix of business and politics at Airbus/EADS made the recovery of the A380 program impossible to achieve in the timeframe being demanded. Faced with an inability in enact the plans he felt necessary to bring about the needed changes Streiff seems to have seen the writing on the wall.

The funny thing is that time may bear out Streiff's assessment. New Airbus head Gallois has wasted no time in stating that their will be job cuts, its his first day on the job folks. He also states that cost-cutting will be evenly distributed between French and German operations. Take careful note, Gallois did not say that job cuts will be evenly distributed, he said cost cutting measures...the two are not necessarily equivalent. People...Streiff is the third CEO to depart Airbus since May 2005...maybe he's not the first to recognize the deep issues at Airbus.

UPDATE 5 - September Airline Results Extravaganza

Here's a quick summary on all the airline results that I have seen so far:

AirTran
Sept RPM=950 Million (+11.6%) Load Factor=61.8 % (-9.4) ASM=1.5 Billion (+28.6%)
YTD RPM=10.4 Billion (+24.7%) Load Factor=74.1 % (-.2) ASM=14.0 Billion (+25.0%)

Alaska
Sept RPM=1.4 Billion (+5.9%) Load Factor=73.6% (+1.2) ASM=1.9 Billion (+4.2%)
YTD RPM=13.6 Billion (+6.0%) Load Factor=77.5% (+.9) ASM=17.5 Billion (+4.7%)

American (without American Eagle)
Sept RPM=10.6 Billion (-1.4%) Load Factor=75.5% (-.7) ASM=14.0 Billion (-.5%)
YTD RPM=106.2 Billion (+1.1%) Load Factor=80.5% (+1.8) ASM=131.8 Billion (-1.1%)

ATA (Scheduled Service)
Sept RPM=299.0 Million (-37.6%) Load Factor=74.5 % (+3.6) ASM=400.0 Million (-40.6%)
YTD RPM=3.1 Billion (-43.4%) Load Factor=80.0 % (+10.2) ASM=3.8 Billion (-50.6%)

Continental (Mainline and Regional)
Sept RPM=6.9 Billion (+11.5%) Load Factor=78.6% (+1.2) ASM=8.8 Billion (+9.9%)
YTD RPM=67.7 Billion (12.6%) Load Factor=81.0% (+1.7) ASM=83.6 Billion (+10.2%)

Delta
Sept RPM=9.1 Billion (-3.4%) Load Factor=74.6% (+1.5) ASM=12.2 Billion (-5.4%)
YTD RPM=88.2 Billion (-4.5%) Load Factor=78.8% (+1.5) ASM=112.0 Billion (-6.2%)

Frontier
Sept RPM=616.5 Million (+11.3%) Load Factor=67.6% (-3.4) ASM=911.6 Million (+17.0%)
YTD RPM=6.4 Billion (+17.7%) Load Factor=77.8% (+1.4) ASM=8.2 Billion (+15.7%)

Hawaiian
Sept RPM=548.8 Million (-4.0%) Load Factor=83.1% (-6.0) ASM=660.3 Million (+2.9%)
YTD RPM=5.1 Billion (+2.1%) Load Factor=86.8% (+0.1) ASM=5.9 Billion (+2.0%)

JetBlue
Sept RPM=1.6 Billion (+8.2%) Load Factor=72.6% (-5.1) ASM=2.3 Billion (+15.8%)
YTD RPM=17.5 Billion (+16.5%) Load Factor=78.8% (+1.5) ASM=21.3 Billion (+22.9%)

Northwest
Sept RPM=6.2 Billion (-5.5%) Load Factor=81.3% (+1.3) ASM=7.6 Billion (-7.1%)
YTD RPM=59.1 Billion (-6.5%) Load Factor=84.7% (+3.0) ASM=69.8 Billion (-9.8%)

Republic
Sept RPM=534,827(+49.0%) Load Factor=66.9% (+1.9) ASM=799,018(+44.7%)
YTD RPM=1.8 Million (+56.8%) Load Factor=72.9% (+4.7) ASM=2.5 Million (+46.5%)

Spirit
Sept RPM=299.0 Million (+15.0%) Load Factor=70.0% (-2.4) ASM=427.0 Million (+18.8%)
YTD RPM=3.4 Billion (-4.0%) Load Factor=72.4% (-1.0) ASM=4.3 Billion (-2.7%)

Southwest (System)
Sept RPM=5.2 Billion (+9.8%) Load Factor=67.2%(-.2) ASM=7.7 Billion (+10.1%)
YTD RPM=50.9 Billion (+12.9%) Load Factor=74.0% (+2.9) ASM=68.7 Billion (+8.4%)

United (System)
Sept RPM=9.3 Billion (+1.3%) Load Factor=79.5%(-.7) ASM=11.6 Billion (+2.3%)
YTD RPM=89.0 Billion (+3.5%) Load Factor=82.8% (+.9) ASM=107.6 Billion (+2.3%)

US Airways (Combined US Airways, America West and Regional)
Sept RPM=4.8 Billion (-4.8%) Load Factor=72.2 % (-.5) ASM=6.6 Billion (-4.2%)
YTD RPM=48.1 Billion (-6.8%) Load Factor=78.8 % (+2.1) ASM=61.1 Billion (-9.3%)

Update 1 - Added JetBlue
Update 2 - Added Frontier and Spirit
Update 3 - Added Southwest and alphabetized
Update 4 - Added Northwest
Update 5 - Added Hawaiian

Northwest and Mechanics Have Tentative Agreement

Northwest Airlines and its mechanics represented by AMFA have finally reached a tentative contract agreement (Yahoo!). The agreement could provide monetary relief to striking mechanics in one of two ways. First, they can accept layoff status and pull in layoff pay, one week per year employed up to 5 weeks total. Doing so also makes them eligible for furloughed status for up to two years. Or they can choose termination and receive one week per year employed up to 10 weeks total. Nothing changes regarding the mechanics now working for Northwest though mechanics accepting the layoff option are eligible to apply for open positions. Finally, Northwest would agree to halt the appeals process on a recent ruling that allowed striking mechanics to claim unemployment benefits.
Despite the possibility of monetary relief for the mechanics most of this agreement is really a final victory for Northwest. Look at the way the terms skew the payouts. It sweetens the pot for senior mechanics take the "I quit" option. You can bet that this offer is going to cost Northwest less than it would to continue unemployment benefit payouts while racking up legal fees trying to appeal the ruling of the courts on that matter. The agreement doesn't do anything to change current contract terms for pay scale or benefits and doesn't bring any jobs for striking mechanics. Moving on...nothing more to see here.

US Airways Showing Their Pilots Tough Love

I've posted that the pilots union at US Airways needs to be careful with the negotiation tactics. The airline has shown some slim profits but overall US Airways is still trying to bring their merger and their recovery to full fruition. In that post I cautioned that any demands for increased pay need to be balanced with some give backs on benefits and work rules.
So it shouldn't be a shock that US Airways just handed the union a laundry list of concessions they would like from their pilots. US Airways CEO, Doug Parker "...has repeatedly said the company cannot afford to increase its overall labor costs,...". The airline will take a tough stand in order to be a viable airline. But the pilots union is plenty mad about it saying US Airways "tossed the most onerous sick-leave policy in the industry across the table." Furthemore, the union is accusing the airline of backing out of a tentative agreement on sick leave and other benefits.
So where's the truth. As with most negotiations its somewhere in the middle. The whole thing is complicated by the fact that US Airways must find a way to unify the two pilot unions...pilot unions with very disparant contracts. Its going to be a long road.

Emirates Buys Some Big Boeings

Emirates Airlines announced a firm order for of ten Boeing 747-8 freighters and options for an additional ten aircraft. This is a $5.6 billion warning shot across the bow of Airbus who are struggling to deliver the A380 as promised to Emirates. The airline's plan to expand their cargo opration hangs in the balance so they are supporting those plans up with the new 747-8. And the warning shot is two fold as Emirates also needs a new mid-range aircraft, i.e. the A350 XWB or the Boeing 787. Airbus has cautioned that the A350 XWB could be heavily delayed, Boeing's 787 is going to beat it out the door by 2-3 years at the current date. Airbus is in a very tough position.

Airbus Head Has Has Not Resigned

The difficulties in running a multi-nationally controlled company like Airbus came to the forefront late last week as we watched rumors flying about Airbus head Christian Streiff. Things kicked off with reports that Streiff has offered his resignation followed by denials from Airbus and EADS that his resignation had been accepted. It appears that Streiff is making a statement. To me that statement is to let him run the company and take the actions he deems necessary or accept his resignation. Because the job he has to do is going to be unpleasant and is going to stir up a lot of nationalism and politics. Airbus needs to cut costs to blunt the effect of the money being poured into the A380. There are talks of outsourcing and re-organizing Airbus divisions. Airbus partners Germany and Spain are already trying to assure workers at plants in their countries that all things will be considered before making decisions. Officials from the French and German government will be meeting so now things will get very sticky. Mixing business and politics is tough and often slow. Streiff needs to act fast to stem the bleeding at Airbus. Good Reuters article here.

A Couple of Thoughts on September Airline Results

A couple of things caught my eye as I looked at the September and year to date results rolling in from the airlines. See my results extravaganza here

Overall capacity growth looks fairly controlled, load factors looked better as did revenue generating traffic.

Delta's results smell like a carrier still struggling with recovery I'll take that back. Bankrupt Northwest and Delta have reduced capacity but revenue generating traffic has fallen to a lesser degree and load factors have improved some. I think those are steps in the right direction.

Latin America figured heavily in the improved numbers at United, a region that is a traditional American Airlines stronghold.

JetBlue's continued expansion shows in its numbers as capacity (ASM) grew faster than traffic (RPM)

Southwest's numbers continue to look healthy

Frontier's numbers for September were a little off, YTD doesn't look bad but their shares took a beating on Wall Street yesterday as they significantly reduced their 2nd quarter earnings per share forecast. They blame the foiled terrorist bombing plot. Cutting your earnings forecast from 10 cents (some analysts had it as high as 18 cents) to 1 to 5 cents makes me wonder if something more is at work here.

More later as I continue to absorb the info.

JetBlue Likes O'Hare, Gary Likes JetBlue

Gary as in Gary/Chicago International Airport. I recently posted on JetBlue's attempt to wedge itself into Chicago O'Hare airport but I came across this interesting little piece on the Northwest Indiana Times. Seems that Gary/Chicago International Airport thinks they would be a good alternative to O'Hare especially if JetBlue's bid fails. Even if JetBlue were to get into O'Hare I think that Gary will continue to lure JetBlue their way. Its a very good article and it provides some nice details on JetBlue's plans to invade Chicago one way or the other. I suggest you head on over and read it.

go! Can Still Sell Tickets in Hawaii But Not Necessarily Out of Hot Water

Hawaiian Airlines attempt to throw upstart and general rabble-rouser go! (no that's not a typo its really lower case...moving on) airlines off the islands was turned down in court yesterday. At issue was Hawaiian's claim that go!'s parent Mesa used confidential information provided by the Hawaiian when the airline was shopping for investors. Hawaiian claims that Mesa used that information to build their own marketing and sales plans for go!. But its a two part equation according to the judge:

"Mesa probably breached the confidentiality agreement," as Hawaiian alleges. But Faris said that Hawaiian failed to meet the second part of a two-part test because Hawaiian failed to show that Mesa's action caused Hawaiian irreparable harm.

Despite the fact that go! will still be allowed to sell tickets for island travel the judge has some harsh words for them. Here's a choice quote from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Faris who presided over this case:

"the evidence raises real doubts about the propriety of Mesa's conduct." Faris levied particularly harsh comments against Mesa's executive vice president and chief financial officer, George Murnane III, calling his "self-contradictory testimony ... profoundly troubling."

The judge goes on to point out the Murnane essentially lied in court and then had to backtrack and admit that he did actually use the info obtained from Hawaiian to benefit go!'s startup. If I was Mr. Murnane III I would be packing my bags because the litigation is not over yet. I think Mesa and go! are gonna hang Murnane out to dry in an attempt to distance themselves from this impropriety.
PS - Want more background on this nasty little battle? Go visit The Cranky Flier

New Agreement on EU Passenger Data

A follow up to my previous post regarding the ongoing efforts to put a new plan in place for sharing EU passeneger data with the US government. You will recall that the EU courts have thrown out the previous agreement in May of this year and asked that a new one be created by October 1st. The BBC is reporting that the two sides have reached an agreement in prinicipal and are hoping to have formal approval next week.
One big change is that the data will only be "pushed" to the US via airline computer systems versus the previous system which allowed the US to "pull" the data anytime they wanted it. Another change will have all data going to the US Dept of Homeland Security who will then have authority to distribute to other agencies as required. It appears that there were concerns over the ability of other folks, lets say the FBI for instance, having access to this data at will.
On the face of it this appears to be a decent compromise. More control and security over the data for the EU and continued access to the data for the US. It also maintains the ability to share the data amongst the US federal agencies responsible for fighting terrorism. The US Dept of Homeland Security has a difficult task in efficiently distributing this data while trying not not filter or restrict too much of the information being fed to them. Let's hope that extra layer doesn't create a bottleneck on critical info. Timing is everything.

United Says No Fair to JetBlue in O'Hare

JetBlue has publicly coveted service to Chicago for quite a while so yesterday's announcement that it is has formally requested landing rights at Chicago O'Hare (ORD) comes as no surprise. However, this unabashed attempt to step into the backyard of two of the biggest airlines in the US, United Airline and American Airlines, did not go unnoticed. United has quickly flown the protest flag but not for anything related to business or congestion at O'Hare. Instead, United appears to be arguing on a technicality by stating:

"JetBlue must operate in accordance with the regulatory rules of the road, just as all other carriers must do. Because its current request ignores those rules, it must be denied,"

While that may be true it is, at best, a delaying tactic. If the FAA sides with United then its only a matter of time until JetBlue refiles the right way. So what will the United's next protest be? JetBlue's colors clash with the ticket counters in the terminal? Okay that's kinda unfair and over-simplistic but still...

Does Airbus Need to Decide? A380 or A350

The impact of the besieged A380 project came into stark focus today as Airbus admitted it has fallen ten years behind Boeing. Everyone following this debacle knows that the A380 is bleeding resources and finances from their other major projects, namely the A400M and the A350 XWB. Is it time for Airbus to reconsider the their projects and their future?
Airbus says the A400M, a military airlift aircraft, has no cushion left in its timeline to absorb further delays and will not make money unless costs can be cut. Ouch...double whammy.
The A350 XWB is no stranger to this blog...an aircraft that Airbus intends to pit against the Boeing 787. Airbus parent company EADS is now stating that they will not let this project move forward until the company demonstrates that they can manage the A380 and have the finances for the additional project. I am suggesting that maybe EADS needs to reconsider their priorities. Should the A380 take precedence over the A350?
I have suggested that the A380, even in concept, was doomed to be a small player in the airline business. Just a handfull of airlines flying it to the few airports that will spend the money so that they can handle the aircraft.
In my mind the timeline of the A350 XWB makes that project dead in the water unless Boeing makes some large errors in delivering the 787. I see this as an even bigger problem than the A380. Consider this quote from a Reuters article:

After several false starts, Airbus has come up with a new wider design for the A350 to try to halt a surge in sales of Boeing's rival 787 Dreamliner. Both planes exist only on paper, but the mid-sized market has become the biggest battleground between the two firms despite public attention to the A380.

Nobody's saying it yet but I am beginning to wonder. Should Airbus consider killing the A380 in favor of getting the A350 back on track? Should they devote themselves to bringing making the A350 XWB a reality and push the timeline back on the A380? Is the A380 simply ahead of its time or will its time ever come?


DIGG This!

Mesaba Unions Offer up Concessions Deal

Its no secret that Mesaba Airlines is one sick puppy right now. That'll happen when your biggest stakeholder, Northwest Airlines, decides to goes bankrupt, doesn't pay you , sends a big chunk of your airplanes back to the leasing companies that own them and...oh yeah...opens its own regional airline to compete with you.

Mesaba is now working its own bankruptcy recovery and has asked the court to allow them to terminate existing labor contracts with pilots, flight attendants and mechanics. Initially the courts approved that request but the ruling was quickly overturned. While management at Mesaba regroups a coalition group representing the pilots, flight attendants and mechanics unions has presented their own plan to, in their words, "with an unprecedented joint offer to save their airline, their jobs, and their contracts".

Interesting approach, certainly a refreshing one given some of the antics from other unions. At face value it appears that the "Mesaba Labor Coalition" has done the homework and is taking a balanced approach. It certainly places pressure on Mesaba management to take a careful look at the plan before rebutting it. No doubt the bankruptcy court will be watching closely how Mesaba handles this. Mesaba's previous effort to throw out the union contracts was overturned with a fairly strong rebuff that "...Mesaba had failed to demonstrate that its proposed contract spread the burden of reorganization fairly among all affected parties.". Game on!

Sorry Folks...Back Tomorrow

Sometimes life and/or my job interferes with my daily posting regime. That's the case today. Tune in tomorrow. I should be back at it

A380 Customer First to Report on Delay...What's Wrong With This Picture

Does anybody but me find something wrong with the customer reporting the bad news? 'Cause that's exactly what is happening with the latest A380 delay. Last week EADS concluded their board meeting and left everyone, including their customers, wondering just what the latest delay on the A380 would be. In fact they were rather nonchalant about it in their press statement:

"Today the EADS board of directors met in Amsterdam to -- among other regular topics -- discuss the A380 situation. The board of directors will continue this discussion in the near future,"

Yeah, like this was just a bullet point in the agenda. If the A380 delay didn't dominate that board meeting then things are more disfunctional at EADS than I thought.

So we find out today, not from Airbus, not from EADS, but from their biggest A380 customer, Emirates Airline, that the latest delay will add another 10 months to their delivery date. The following is not the quote of a happy customer:

Our first aircraft will now arrive in August 2008. This is a very serious issue for Emirates and the company is now reviewing all its options," Emirates President Tim Clark said in a statement.

. Furthermore, Emirates is mulling over their next mid-range aircraft, the A350 or the 787. Rumors estimate that deal to be worth $15 billion. Which way would you go? Yeah...that's what I thought.

What a debacle. Will the A380 become a modern day Spruce Goose? At this point I say no but I am willing to go out on a limb with this thought. If Airbus does not halt this backslide the A380 may be doomed to be a bit player much like the Concorde was a bit player. Just a few airplanes flying to the few airports that can actually take the aircraft. Specialized service for specialized routes. It is becoming evermore doubtful that the A380 will be the revolution that Airbus envisioned.

Wright Amendment Set to Fade Away

SURPRISE! After an inordinate amount of wrangling legislation to repeal the Wright Amendment has been approved by Congress and sent on to President Bush. Even last week it appeared this legislation was doomed due to a lot of unnecessary language aimed at insulating American Airlines and Southwest Airlines from anti-trust worries. That language was struck in favor of some much more vanilla statements in order to get the bill moving.
In an ending fitting of the whole process the Wright Amendment will not go out in a blaze of glory, no no no, that would be too simple. Instead, for the next 8 years flights to and from Dallas Love Field will still be restricted as follows:

...Southwest would immediately be able to sell through tickets for Dallas flights to and from any other cities it serves, as long as those flights stop at another Texas airport or airports in eight other states covered by the Wright law: New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Missouri.

Asinine compromise in my opinion, what a bunch of monkey motion. But proof that big business swings a mighty big hammer at our capital. Sure, its smart business for American Airlines to try and delay anything that would benefit a competitor but how did Congress get talked into 8 years? Ah well what's done is done and hopefully President Bush will sign this quickly so that the countdown can begin.

EU Airline Passenger Data Still up in the Air

In May the EU's highest court ruled that a a data sharing agreement between the US and EU airlines had no legal basis and needed to be re-worked. That agreement had airlines providing the US with 34 pieces of data on each passenger within 15 minutes of departure for any US bound flight. Since then the two sides have been working to create a new agreement against a court imposed September 30th deadline. My calendar say October 2nd and, yeah you guessed it, no agreement has been reached yet. Reports ranged from "talks collapsing" to "everything is fine we just need more time". Good grief, how many i's need to be dotted and t's crossed?
In the mean time it appears that the wrath of the EU court system is not going to swoop down on anyone nor is the US likely to make good on its threat to impose a 6,000 per passenger fine on any airline that does not provide the data. In fact it sounds like airlines will keep transmitting the data until further notice...business as usual.

Here's the polished, shiny, politically correct statement issued by the European Commission. See? Everything is fine.

Mid-air Collision brings down Gol 737

Sad events this weekend as we learned that a Gol 737 collided with a Embraer Legacy 600 over Brazil last weekend. The Legacy 600, operated by ExcelAire, landed with a damaged wing time shortly after the collision. The consequences where far greater for the 737 which crashed into dense jungle. The Brazilian Air Force is now confirming that no one survived...149 passengers, 6 crew perished.

I've posted recently about how accidents are normally a sequence of little things that build up to a disaster, dots connecting if you will. Early information gives no clues as to how two modern jets managed to find the same airspace over Brazil. So we must wait as searchers and analyst try to piece together what happened...how did the dots connect on this one?

In the meantime my prayers are with those who lost friends and family.