One of the biggest convenience's of private aviation is the speed with which passengers can get on the plane and off the ground.

But that may be about to change. The Department of Homeland Security is proposing to extend to private aviation many of the security rules imposed on commercial airlines. Those include requiring fingerprint-based background checks on pilots, checking passenger names against a government watch list and restricting what items may be carried onto the airplane.

The proposal could affect 10,000 previously exempt air operators, including not only wealthy businessmen like Microsoft's co-founder, Paul Allen, who owns a Boeing 757, but also fractional jet ownership companies and even some recreational fliers.

The proposal to extend the jurisdiction of the Transportation Safety Administration to include private jets has angered many. Organizations representing private airplane owners have complained so vigorously that the Transportation Department has extended the comment period for the proposal and scheduled a series of public meetings. The first will be held Tuesday at Westchester County Airport in White Plains, one of the nation's busiest for private and corporate aviation.

FULL ARTICLE - NY Times

DENVER, Jan. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Members of the Frontier Airline Pilots Association (FAPA) today ratified a long-term labor agreement with the airline. The agreement will extend certain wage and benefit concessions through December 2011. Nearly 85 percent of votes cast were in favor of ratification. Of the 454 votes cast, 384 voted yes, only 70 voted no.

Our pilots once again have demonstrated their willingness to help Frontier's leadership move our airline toward sustainability and growth," said Frontier President and Chief Executive Officer Sean Menke. "This agreement is important because now 100% of our workers have made wage and benefit concessions, a factor that will prove critical in attracting exit financing for our emergence from bankruptcy," Menke added.

"The leadership of the Frontier Airline Pilots Association and its members understand the challenges Frontier is facing and appreciate the joint effort made in reaching this agreement," said FAPA President John Stemmler. "This agreement is a clear demonstration of our commitment to Frontier and our belief in its long-term success."

The Frontier Airline Pilots Association represents more than 600 pilots at Frontier.

NEW YORK -- Continental Airlines and American Airlines parent company AMR Corp. have filed a lawsuit against the Federal Aviation Administration over new safety measures meant to ensure against pilot fatigue on certain international flights, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

The two carriers are challenging the legality and the safety benefits of the new rules for pilots of ultralong-range flights lasting 16 hours or longer, the newspaper said. Airlines have become more reliant on such routes, but hesitate extending pilot rest time between flights as it raises the cost of labor, The Journal said.

All Nippon Airways, Japan's second-biggest airline, will scrap plans to buy the Airbus A380, as it and bigger rival Japan Airlines cut capital spending amid weakening passenger demand, the Yomiuri newspaper reported.

The global economic downturn has been hitting airlines as fewer people travel for business and leisure, forcing carriers to review capital spending plans and ditch less profitable routes.

The paper, without citing sources, said on Monday that ANA would cut capital spending by JPY100 billion yen to JPY200 billion yen (USD$1.09 billion to USD$2.18 billion) from a planned JPY900 billion in the four years to March 2012.

ANA, which has been considering adding the Airbus A380, Boeing's 747-8 and others to its fleet from fiscal 2012, said that while it has postponed choosing new aircraft, it has not decided to shelve its plans.

FULL ARTICLE - AirWise

Southwest Airlines Co., the largest low-fare carrier, remains in negotiations over the amount of a proposed fine by U.S. regulators for flying its Boeing Co. 737 jets without required inspections.

The Federal Aviation Administration is "still talking with" Southwest after the Dallas-based carrier missed an Aug. 29 deadline to pay a record $10.2 million fine, FAA spokesman Les Dorr said today in a phone interview.

The fine was set in March after Southwest operated 46 of the jets on almost 60,000 flights in 2006 and 2007 without full inspections for possible fuselage cracks. The FAA changed practices and personnel since disclosures that it allowed Southwest to fly the planes after workers who tried to alert their managers to oversight problems were rebuffed.

FULL ARTICLE - Bloomberg

Federal aviation authorities on Monday said they are trying to cut the number of flights at LaGuardia Airport in an effort to reduce congestion at the airport with the highest incidence of delays in the country.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters announced the government will lower the cap on flights at LaGuardia from 75 to 71 per hour. But the cap is strictly voluntary, and requires participation by the three top airlines at the airport -- Delta Air Lines, American Airlines and US Airways.

The airlines have 10 days to comment on the proposal. If approved, the new hourly flight quota will take effect in April and end Oct. 24.

FULL ARTICLE - BusinessWeek

Boeing today announced that the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approved the all-new 787 Dreamliner's scheduled maintenance program.

The scheduled maintenance program defines the maintenance tasks and intervals operators will use to maintain the 787 and is documented in the 787 Maintenance Review Board Report (MRBR). The report was accepted by the Maintenance Review Board, an FAA organization composed of specialists who review and accept maintenance requirements. This MRBR approval from the FAA is one of the many requirements needed for airplane certification.

"The MRBR approval is a result of the most comprehensive maintenance program development effort in the history of the industry," said Mike Fleming, 787 director of Services and Support. "It is supported by more than 33,000 pages of supporting analysis, as well as the participation of eight regulatory agencies, 25 airlines and 30 suppliers and partners."

FULL ARTICLE - PR Newswire

Australia's Qantas Airways and British Airways called off talks for a $6.4 billion merger, leaving the British carrier to consider other combinations with European peers as the sector grapples with falling demand and volatile fuel prices.

Qantas and BA announced the end of talks to the Australian and London stock markets on Thursday, saying they could not agree on key terms for a deal, which a BA spokeswoman told Reuters included a Qantas demand for more than 50 percent of the business.

FULL ARTICLE - Reuters

Boeing and Airbus are preparing to pump the world aviation market with billions of dollars worth of loans to carriers in 2009 to try to offset what is expected to be "a very, very tough" year for aircraft manufacturers.

In an interview with The Times, Giovanni Bisignani, the head of the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said that aircraft manufacturers are already trying to set up financial packages in anticipation of a forecast slump in aircraft orders and deliveries.

Industry sources have also confirmed that the big two manufacturers are braced to try to buoy their customers to avoid taking the brunt of a collapse in orders.

While airlines are being forced to slash capacity and cut costs, they are also having to cope with the withdrawal of funding lines from lenders engulfed by the credit crisis.

Iata, whose members represent 93per cent of scheduled international air traffic, has cautioned that the world airline industry is facing the worst revenue crisis since the end of the Second World War and that only US carriers, which rapidly cut capacity before airlines elsewhere, would make a profit in 2009.

FULL ARTICLE - Times of London

Embraer's Phenom 100 entry level executive jet was certified today by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). All design goals were met or even surpassed. First deliveries begin next week.

"We are thrilled to announce that the Phenom 100 is certified by the FAA, as planned, confirming all of the exceptional performance characteristics previously approved by ANAC," said Luis Carlos Affonso, Embraer Executive Vice President, Executive Jets. "U.S. certification validates the jet's design and its suitability for one of the most important business aviation markets."

The FAA granted U.S. Type Certificate based upon Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency's (Agencia Nacional de Aviacao Civil - ANAC) Type Certificate issued on December 9. EASA certification is expected for the second quarter of 2009.

PR Newswire