U.S. airline passenger numbers will reach 1 billion in 2023, two years later than projected, because of slow economic growth, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

The revision in the agency’s annual forecast follows an “unprecedented” drop in operations last year, when take-offs and landings fell 10.4 percent, said Nan Shellabarger, the agency’s director of aviation policy and plans.
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An American Airlines jet scraped a wingtip and partially veered off the runway while landing in poor visibility Sunday night at Charlotte, N.C., and federal air-safety regulators are looking into why it took the carrier four hours to notify them about the event.

While none of the crew or the 110 passengers aboard Flight 1402 was injured, the Federal Aviation Administration is treating the event as an accident. On Monday, FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said American’s timing in notifying the agency “is part of the investigation.” (continue reading…)

British Airways goes to court today in a desperate bid to get the Christmas strike by cabin crew ruled illegal.

The 12-day walkout could cost loss-making BA £30million a day and ruin the airline. It will also wreck Christmas travel plans for more than a million passengers.

Many were yesterday scrambling to book with other airlines. But increased demand has led to carriers bumping prices even higher and thousands of travellers will be priced out.
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American Airlines is upping the ante for an alliance with Japan Airlines in an effort to outbid Delta and gain access to JAL’s trans-Pacific routes.

American Chief Executive Gerard Arpey told JAL Wednesday that his company will not compete with the financially struggling Japanese carrier for connecting passengers to other points in Asia if it remains American’s partner in the Oneworld alliance, according to The Associated Press. American’s exclusivity offer would involve American feeding traffic between the U.S. and Japan but not elsewhere in Asia.
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Japan’s transport ministry expects the U.S. government to rule on two expected airline antitrust applications by October 2010 before enacting a landmark new aviation deal.

The ministry expects the applications involving Japanese members of two global airline alliances to be filed by mid-February, and called on its counterpart “to give expeditious consideration,” according to a letter sent to the U.S. State Department.
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Bombardier Inc. said Thursday that the parent of regional airline American Eagle ordered 22 jets with a value of $779 million.

Eagle, the regional sister carrier of American Airlines, held options on the planes and converted them to firm orders, said Bombardier said, which is based in Canada.

In a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Eagle parent AMR Corp. said it reached an agreement with Canada’s export agency and another party, which it did not name, to provide financing for the full cost of the order. (continue reading…)

In the ongoing dispute between American Airlines and its pilots union, an independent arbitrator has ruled that the company’s proposed alliance with British Airways does not violate the pilots’ contract.

After a series of discussions with representatives of the airline and Allied Pilots Association, which represents 11,500 pilots at American, the arbitrator decided in favor of the carrier, citing the likely economic benefits of the alliance. (continue reading…)

AMR Corp.’s American Airlines operated jets later found to have substandard repairs, and federal regulators are probing allegations that at least one plane was considered unsafe to fly at normal cruise altitude, according to people familiar with the matter.
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Officials at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport are expected to consider a package of expanded incentives to entice new and existing airlines to add or expand service.

Airport Director Dick Hrabko plans to unveil an expanded incentive program for airport commissioners to consider and possibly adopt at their meeting Wednesday.
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