November 2012

When the US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) was created in November 2001 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, few would have predicted the extent to which the new agency would grow. By the end of January 2002, TSA—which started life as a Dept. of Transportation agency, but moved to the newly created Dept. of Homeland Security in early 2003—comprised 13 employees. Today the agency employs approximately 120 federal security directors (FSD), 37,000 full-time and 14,000 part-time security officers. It screens approximately 1.7 million passengers daily at over 450 US airports....More

The acquisition of Aveos by A J Walter Aviation exemplifies the growing revenue potential of component repair and overhaul....More

Although the journey began eight years earlier, in April 2004 when All Nippon Airways (ANA) became launch customer for 50 aircraft, the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s true starting-block moment came on Oct. 26, 2011. When flight NH 7871 took off from Tokyo Narita bound for Hong Kong, the 787’s entry into commercial service began....More

Over the last 10 years, 37 airlines have been started in Africa and 37 have failed. This was the startling statistic given by FastJet CCO Richard Bodin, speaking at World Route Development Forum in Abu Dhabi....More

“Here begins our tale. The empire, long divided, must unite; long united, must divide.”—There is no better description than this famous Chinese saying to summarize the growing trend in which Chinese major carriers are launching local airlines with different local municipal or provincial governments. The trend is known as the “new enclosure movement.”...More

For most of the industry, the cargo side of business continues to be challenging. But Russian carriers are pursuing goals of growing their international freight market share despite a tough business environment and considerable local hurdles....More

Middle Eastern carriers continue to make headlines: Emirates has entered into a 10-year global partnership with oneworld alliance member Qantas; Etihad Airways has formed a strategic partnership with SkyTeam member Air France-KLM and oneworld’s Air Berlin; and Qatar Airways is set to become the first major Gulf carrier to enter into one of the three global airline alliances when it becomes a full member of oneworld in about 12-18 months....More