• Fleet News ---BOC Aviation, Bank of China's aviation leasing unit, said it signed a contract to lease two Boeing 777-300ERs to Air Canada.  The aircraft in question are C-FIUV/msn 35248, and C-FIUR/msn 35249 due in service shortly.   The last one, C-FIUR was delivered on 22April from Everett WA to Montreal-YUL and brings to thirteen the number of Boeing 777s in service.  On another note, an Airbus A319 (ex C-GJWE/msn1756) has been sold to TAP Air Portugal.   With several 777s now in service the Airbus A340 fleet is being disposed of with (C-FLYG/msn 175) being leased via Maple Leaf Leasing 8 to Swiss Airlines and it has now been RR HB-JMN.

• Manpower Planning Software---in an effort to strategically plan cost-effective and qualified crew manpower levels, Air Canada Flight Operations has selected Altitude MPP from Kronos Incorporated.  This new implementation complements the airline's use of Altitude PBS (Preferential Bidding System), which automates and optimizes the crew scheduling process for the pilot group.  The combined solution from Kronos enables more efficient use of resource allocation by enhancing planning capabilities, employee satisfaction, and cost efficiencies.  

• March Traffic Reported ---system traffic on a consolidated basis for Air Canada and Jazz rose 3.7 per cent on a capacity increase of 3.9 per cent system wide.  This resulted in a load factor of 82.9 per cent versus 83.0 per cent in March 2007.  The mainline carrier flew 3.6 per cent more revenue passenger miles (RPMs) with a capacity increase of 3.9 per cent, resulting in a load factor of 83.5 per cent, compared to 83.7 per cent in March 2007, a decrease of 0.2 percentage points.  Jazz, from which Air Canada purchases regional capacity, flew 4.8 per cent more RPMs in March 2008 than in March 2007, according to preliminary traffic figures.  Capacity increased by 4.1 per cent resulting in a load factor of 76.5 per cent, compared to 76.0 in March of 2007.  

• ACTS' IT to modernize ---ACTS has announced that Hewlett Packard, Nortel and Bell Canada will help modernize its information technology infrastructure in an ongoing effort to remain competitive and flexible in a fast changing environment by improving performance and reducing maintenance charges.  This modernization is an integral part of an overall strategy to become the leading maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) provider in the Americas.  ACTS has signed a seven-year agreement with HP for the management and transformation of the ACTS information technology environment.  HP will provide overall expertise in service desk and on-site support, server administration and hosting, as well as an upgrade of the ACTS fleet of desktops and laptops.  Nortel, a leading provider of unified communications solutions, will provide equipment and services for seven years.  This includes switches, routers and phones along with network design, deployment, management and resident engineering services from the Nortel Global Services portfolio; while Bell Canada will provide communication services for three years.  

• CTA Rules Against Air Canada --- the Canadian Transportation Agency (CTA) has disallowed Air Canada's proposed tariff revisions which would have terminated the carriage of animals and their kennels weighing less than 70lbs. as checked baggage on both domestic and international flights.  In its decision the Agency found that the proposed revisions were unreasonable since an imbalance existed between the interests of Air Canada and consumers by giving only advantages to the carrier while exposing pet owners to many significant disadvantages.  Air Canada has until May 5, 2008 to amend its domestic tariff to allow for the carriage of animals and their kennels weighing less than 70 lbs. as checked baggage.  As for international flights, the Agency had already suspended, in July 2007, the carrier's proposed revision, and is now confirming its disallowance.

• ACE Aviation to Sell Aeroplan Units ---announced on April 2nd that it has entered into an agreement with a group of underwriters to sell an aggregate of 20.4 million trust units of Aeroplan Income Fund at a price of $17.50 per Unit, for gross proceeds of $357 million.  Aeroplan Income Fund will not receive any of the proceeds from the offering.  The offering closed on April 21, 2008 with the offering complete. Air Canada received net proceeds of approximately $342.7 million.  Immediately following the offering, ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. will retain 19,892,088 units of Aeroplan Income Fund, representing 9.9% of the 199,968,791 units issued and outstanding.

• New York Cutbacks -- the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing certain cutbacks in airline frequencies for airports serving the greater New York area.  This includes Newark, LaGuardia and JFK airports.  Air Canada may have to re-time its two flights in/out of JFK to meet the new requirements and is not happy about that.  It is not clear yet whether their schedules to/from Newark and LaGuardia airports will be affected or not. 

• Special Assistance Offered ---iSeatz, a provider of highly customized travel and entertainment solutions, has announced that its custom-designed solution powers Air Canada's new service, "On My Way" which sets an industry-first.  Never before has an airline offered a comprehensive travel assistance service for customers affected by flight delays or travel disruptions that are beyond the control of airlines, from adverse weather conditions to airport or air traffic delays.  By leveraging iSeatz flexible booking engine, newly deployed Guest- Agent-Solution, extensive network of sourced suppliers and "always-on" customer service, Air Canada is uniquely positioned to enhance its customer service offering and provide a more streamlined and worry-free travel experience.  An optional "On My Way" costs just $25 for short-haul flights or $35 for long haul flights each way.  Air Canada has added this new service to its existing selection of branded a-la-carte options that enable customers to personalize their travel experience.  "On My Way" is available for all AC and Jazz -operated flights within Canada as well as flight to and from the United States, including Hawaii and Alaska.

• Singapore code-share ---Air Canada has applied to the CTA on behalf of itself and All Nippon Airways to allow Air Canada to code-share on All Nippon services between Tokyo and Singapore for a period of three years commencing on May 1, 2008.  The CTA has approved the application.

• Cargo Exit ---announced on April 22nd that as of June the agreement to wet-lease a World Airways MD-11F freighter will be terminated.  Air Canada will no longer offer main-deck all-cargo service anywhere on their route system.  After four years the rise in fuel costs was the main reason for the decision.  "The freighter has not been doing that badly," insisted Gerry Simpson, director of cargo marketing and business development.  "It was the fuel price and the degree of commitment required for an ongoing ACMI operation, that caused us to decide that we are not going to continue with the freighter."  Within a week of having reached the level that put the carrier's fuel surcharge to 95 cents per kilo, the fuel price index soared higher to a level that would suggest fuel surcharges go up two notches further, Simpson said.  "When we started the freighter in 2004, oil was at about US$1.40-1.45 for a gallon of kerosene.  Now it's close to $3.20.  

• ATAC Dropped ---Air Canada withdraws membership from the Air Transport Association of Canada (ATAC).  Other airlines, including Westjet, Jazz and Air Transat have also withdrawn claiming that ATAC did not represent their interests the best way possible since it now has over 200 members in all facets of the aviation industry.  The airlines are planning for future representation of the collective policy interests of Canada's large air carriers

• March Traffic Reported ---March traffic se a record load factor of 86.6 per cent with a capacity increase of 19.6 per cent, an improvement in revenue passenger miles of 21.7 per cent.  WestJet President and CEO, Sean Durfy commented, "Our March load factor of 86.6 per cent marks 15 consecutive months of record load factor and caps a strong first quarter.  We can attribute this record load factor to our seasonal capacity deployment strategy, Easter weekend taking place in March and the continued success of our exceptional guest experience delivery by our people."

• Air Miles Renewed ---WestJet announced a multi-year renewal agreement with the Air Miles Reward Program, reaffirming WestJet's Reward partnership and thus continuing to provide Collectors with the ability to redeem for WestJet flights.  WestJet has been an Air Miles reward supplier for eight years.  

• Guardian Fare ---announced the introduction of a Guardian Fare to replace its Unaccompanied Minor Program.  The Guardian Fare will allow parents or guardians to escort their children, at a substantially reduced rate, to their desired destination and then return immediately to their city of origin.  A guardian will receive a fifty per cent fare reduction and must be 18 years of age or older.  A guardian is assigned at the time of booking and is responsible for the transportation of the child.  Children eligible must be 11 years and under.  The Guardian Fare is only valid for one person travelling with the child(ren) and they must return to their city of origin within 24 hours of their outbound flight.  Two different people may be designated as guardians at the time of travel--one from the originating city and one returning back from the destination.  

• New York cuts ---CEO Robert Deluce says his carrier's fledgling Newark service may not be "viable" in the face of anti-congestion measures proposed for the clogged Newark International Airport.  The airline's schedule between Toronto's City Centre airport the Newark may be disrupted by the FAA's efforts to reduce traffic at Newark, which is known for lengthy delays during peak hours.   Porter complains in filings to the U.S. agency that the "most important weekday and Sunday departure and arrival have been eliminated."   Other flights bumped to later in the evening will have to be scrapped entirely because of the Toronto City Centre Airport's restrictions on late-night operations.  Deluce said in an interview that the proposed changes, scheduled to go into effect later this spring, would effectively force Porter to slash the number of round trip flights to five from seven.  "We would have never started up service in New York if we had any indication that we would only have five flights," Deluce said.  The airline argues it should be exempt from the new rules because its Bombardier-built Q-400 turboprops can land on the airport's shorter and less-used runway and therefore not taking up valuable slots on the main 04/22 parallel runways.  The FAA is on a campaign to cut back flights in the overall New York airspace due to severe congestion in peak hours.  

• Pre-Clearance---apparently, Porter's President and CEO, Robert Deluce has indicated that he expects to have U.S. pre-clearance facilities in place at the City Centre airport in 18 months time.  If successful in establishing that it would open the door to service to such airports as Chicago's Midway and New York -LaGuardia, subject to being able to obtain landing slots of course.  

• New NextGen Orders ---announced on March 20th that it has received a signed firm order for six CRJ700 NextGen regional jets.  The airline which placed the order has also taken options on an additional 10 aircraft, and has requested to remain unidentified.  Including this order, firm orders for the CRJ NextGen family now stand at 205 aircraft from 18 airlines.  The CRJ NextGen aircraft will see improvements from fuel burn savings of up to four per cent and direct maintenance cost reductions achieved through lower airframe maintenance requirements.  Maintenance schedule intervals have been increased, and tasks have been harmonized to reduce aircraft down time and labour over the life of the aircraft.  

• Q400 Order ---the order announced last October 23rd for 10 Q400 turboprops plus 10 options has been identified as Air Berlin PLC of Berlin, Germany.  The Q400 will be the airline's first turboprop aircraft and will be configured with 76 passenger seats.  The third-largest low-cost carrier (LCC) in Europe, Air Berlin serves more than 100 destinations worldwide.  "We will be deploying our Q400 aircraft on routes that do not require the seating capacity of our jet aircraft," said Joachim Hunold, CEO.  Separately, Austrian Airlines agreed to acquire four Q400s from SAS to replace two CRJ200s, and two older Dash 8-300s.  It says aircraft will be checked and converted to Austrian-standard at E1.5m each, including maintenance and mods to landing gear.

• Production Cutback --Bombardier announced on April 6th that the production of Q200 and Q300 Dash 8 models will terminate in 2009.  The reason given was low demand and at the same time the company will be increasing production of the Q400 which has a three year backlog of orders and has better operating economics in today's high fuel price market.  Most of the wing and fuselage of the older Dash 8s are made by unionized employees at Downsview and build cost is quite high.  The fuselage of the Q400 is now made by Shorts in Ireland which took over production from MHI in Japan.  

• Package Freighter --Bombardier are now offering a "PF" version of the Q400 Dash 8 model.  Cascade Aerospace at Abbotsford BC has a contract to convert two ex-SAS Q400s to package freighters.  The first one to be completed in Abbotsford and a kit to be provided for installation work to be done in Europe for the second.  

• Income Fund News --Cargojet Income Fund has closed its previously announced offering of $31,000,000 aggregate principal amount of Subordinated Unsecured Convertible Debentures due April 30, 2013.  The Fund intends to use the net proceeds of the offering to finance the start-up costs for its previously announced wide body aircraft program, finance the acquisition of Prince Edward Air, temporarily repay current indebtedness under its credit facility and for general corporate purposes.  The Fund has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional $4,650,000 aggregate principal amount of Debentures for a period of 30 days following closing of the offering.  The Debentures are subordinated, unsecured obligations of the Fund and will bear interest at a rate of 7.50% per annum, payable semi-annually in arrears on April 30 and October 31 of each year, commencing October 31, 2008.  

• Specialized Healthcare Cargo ---announced on April 2nd that it plans to improve its handling of sensitive healthcare products including pharmaceuticals, that are shipped by air.  Cargojet fully complies with IATA's Perishable Cargo Regulations manual, which has become the worldwide industry standard for the preparation, packaging, and handling of time and temperature-sensitive and pharmaceutical related products by air.  

• New Route ---has applied to the CTA for extra bilateral authority to operate a scheduled international passenger service between Canada and Malaga, Spain from May 1 to October 31, 2008.   The airline proposes to operate a Montreal-Barcelona-Malaga-Montreal, Toronto-Barcelona-Malaga-Toronto, and Montreal-Malaga-Montreal routes.  The CTA has granted the application.

• Leases Extended --the lease agreements on three Airbus A310-300s have been extended from GOAL.  They are for CGTSD/msn 547, C-GTSI/msn595, and C-GTSH/msn599.

• New Route Added ----effective July 3, 2008 US Airways will commence a new route linking Charlotte NC with Montreal-YUL.  The flight will be operated by US Airways Express partner Republic Airlines using an 86-seat Embraer 175 aircraft.  The northbound flight will arrive at Montreal at 2223hrs and the southbound flight will depart at 0800hrs.

• Zagreb re-instated ---announced on April 7th that its seasonal scheduled air service to Zagreb Croatia will commence on May 28th, 2008.  The weekly flight will depart Toronto on Wednesday nights at 2245hrs arriving in Zagreb at 1500hrs the next day.  The westbound flight will depart at 1900hrs arriving in Toronto at 0034hrs the next day.  Flights will be flown using Boeing 757-200 aircraft.

• Skyservice Maintenance Contract---an ex-Independence Air CRJ200 (msn 7211) was acquired by Project Phoenix from Aircraft Solutions for sale in a 15-pas VIP configuration to Ritz Pacific for operation by Jet Asia in Macau.  Skyservice will do heavy maintenance and Flying Colours completion work.

• New Route ---will launch a new non-stop service between Toronto and Rome on May 3rd, followed by Montreal-Rome on May 6th.  Since 2001, travel to Italy by Canadians has increased more than 90 per cent according to Statistics Canada and is the only European country to have gained Canadian market share almost doubling over the 2001-2006 period.  Zoom will operate twice-weekly flights from Toronto to Rome's Fiumicino airport and a weekly service from Montreal.  

• New Service Launched ---Canada Post Corporation and FedEx Express Canada have combined forces in the development of Priority Worldwide, a new international express service that will be sold in Canada through Canada Post's retail and commercial networks and delivered worldwide through the extensive FedEX inter -national delivery network.  Priority Worldwide will be available to customers in the fall of 2008.  It will offer an on-time, money-back guarantee and delivery standards of next business day by noon to most USA destinations and 2-3 business days to most of the remaining industrialized world.  

• Through Fares Offered ---announced March 25th that the airline will introduce "Through Fares" for guests travelling from Waterloo International Airport (YKF) to destinations in North Eastern Ontario.  This fare structure will provide guests with substantial savings by combining two sector fares for travel between Waterloo Region and destinations including; Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie, North Bay, Timmins and Kapuskasing via Ottawa.  On October 1,2007 Bearskin Airlines launched service between Waterloo and Ottawa.

• Revised Routing ---has applied to the CTA for extra-bilateral authority to operate an additional weekly all -cargo flight on the route Indianapolis-Los Angeles-Calgary-Luxembourg with fifth freedom traffic rights between Indianapolis and Calgary.  Service to commence on March 30, 2008.  The CTA has granted the request for the period of one-year only at this time.

• License Application ---has applied to the CTA for a license to operate a non-scheduled international service to transport goods on a charter basis between points in the Russian Federation and points in Canada.  The CTA has issued a licence authorizing it to operate a non-scheduled international service to transport goods on a charter basis between points in Russia and Canada.  

• Licence Revision ---has applied to the CTA for extra-bilateral authority to serve the additional point of Halifax from June 25 to August 31, 2008.  Corsair is requesting to operate up to a total of ten scheduled international passenger flights on the route Paris-Quebec-Halifax-Paris.  The Agency has previously granted extra authority for Corsair to include Quebec on its Paris-Montreal flight routings between June 5th and October 23rd 2008.  Corsair is not asking for additional flights, but only to include Halifax on the routing.  A memo was sent out to all Canadian air carriers and the airport authorities and both Air Canada and the Halifax International Airport Authority filed applications in support of the above.  The CTA has granted the revised licence document.

• North America Service ---Air One will increase its presence at Milan-Malpensa airport this summer, using opportunities available as a result of Alitalia's downscaling at the airport.  The Italian carrier will operate 138 weekly flights from MXP on a network featuring domestic, European and long-haul routes.  ATW report that Air One has applied to the US Dept. of Transportation for authority to launch flights to the USA.  The new transatlantic open skies agreement eliminates the designation requirements but still requires licensing.  The airline intends to launch five-times weekly flights to Boston on June 14 and six-times weekly to Chicago-ORD on June 21st aboard new Airbus A330-200s.  Service to Boston will be in codehsare with US Airways and flights to ORD with United Airlines.  Air One's first new A330 arrived in February and a second is scheduled for delivery at the end of May.  Reportedly, it also intends to launch flights to Miami next winter and Washington -Dulles or Toronto in summer of 2009.  

• Military Contracts ---IMP Aerospace, a division of I.M.P. Group International Inc. has been awarded a major installation contract from the Royal Norwegian Air Force (RNoAF).  IMP will be contracted to carry out a series of major aircraft structural upgrades on six Norweigian P-3 military aircraft.  The work will be conducted over a four-year period beginning in 2009 and is expected to create up to 100 new jobs.  As part of the preparations for this work, IMP will leverage the expertise of Lockheed Martin, the original aircraft manufacturer, through a technical support subcontract.  The resulting strategic relationship will deliver a low risk, technically robust solution, which draws upon the experience of both companies. The P-3 Aircraft Structural Life Extension Program is a major structural upgrade which includes the replacement of the wings and horizontal stabilizers.   

• Aeroplan Member ---Aeroplan announced on April 1st that Star Alliance carrier Turkish Airlines has been added to the frequent flyer plan.  Aeroplan members can accumulate and redeem Aeroplan Miles for travel with Turkish Airlines, bringing the total number of airline partners to 30.   Turkish Airlines was rumored to be considering service to Canada but no definitive plans have been announced as yet.

• Yukon Authority Requested ---has applied to the CTA for extra bilateral authority to carry German returning and Canadian originating traffic from Whitehorse to Frankfurt via either Fairbanks or Anchorage between May 6 and October 7, 2008.   This is a seasonal summer request and has been granted by the CTA.  

• Canada Service Possible ---in an article April 7th on the Reuters News site an interview with the Chairman of Kuwait Airways talks about leasing in additional aircraft and that KAC is also considering flying new routes such as to Canada, Australia, Japan and South Africa.  No details or time span were mentioned.

• Flight Options Link ---Flight Options, the private jet company and Starlink Aviation, a leading provider of private travel services in Canada have announced an international commercial partnership that will provide expanded private jet travel programs throughout North America.  Under the terms of the agreement, the two companies have formed Flight Options Canada, which will offer a variety of private jet travel products and an expanded network of private travel facilities and services on both sides of the border.  The agreement will provide increased value and seamless travel throughout North America for private jet customers.  Flight Options Canada will immediately offer fractional ownership, JetPass membership, charter and aircraft management programs within Canada.  Starlink Aviation will continue to offer FBO, aircraft sales, brokering and maintenance services.  

• Software Purchase ---announced that the Lawson M3 Finance Management, Enterprise Asset Management and Supply Chain Management Suites along with Lawson Business Intelligence has been licensed to Kelowna Flightcraft.  Kelowna selected the Lawson enterprise software solutions to help improve profitability, increase operational efficiencies and support its growth plans.  The contract was signed during the third quarter of fiscal 2008, which ended February 29, 2008 for Lawson.  Kelowna Flightcraft includes Kelowna Flightcraft Ltd., Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter Ltd. and Allied Wings.  Kelowna Flightcraft Ltd. is a maintenance organization that operates 10 line maintenance facilities across Canada and two full-service maintenance, repair and overhaul facilities in Kelowna, and Hamilton.  Kelowna Flightcraft Air Charter Ltd. is the air cargo carrier for Purolator Courier Ltd., shipping up to 600,000 pounds of freight nightly.  Allied Wings operates the Canadian Forces Contracted Flying Training and Support Program near Winnipeg.  Together, these three businesses employ 1,000 employees who fly, maintain, modify, engineer and paint aircraft.  Kelowna will use the Lawson M3 Enterprise Managemetn System to help increase profitability by standardizing and automating core business processes company-wide.  In addition to helping staff more efficiently manage aircraft maintenance and repair, the Lawson applications will help Kelowna Flightcraft optimize its financial and materials management processes.  

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• Calgary Launch ---has re-instated their Calgary-Frankfurt route after several years absence.  The new service will be operated daily with an Airbus A330-300 aircraft in a 3-class layout.  It is the only airline to offer First Class service from Calgary to Germany.  Eastbound flights will depart Calgary at 1445hrs arriving in Frankfurt at 0755 the next morning.  Westbound flights depart Frankfurt at 1110hrs and arrive at Calgary at 1250hrs local time.  Lufthansa will also be launching their new Toronto-Dusseldorf service the first week of may using Airbus A340-300 aircraft.  

• More Flights --has asked the CTA for an authority to operate five additional round trip flights between Seoul and Toronto on June 23, and 30, August 23 and 30, and September 6, 2008.  Korean Air submits that the additional flights are required to meet the increased demand for travel during the upcoming summer season.  The CTA has granted the application.

• February Traffic ---reported that the February 2008 traffic increased by an average of 11.6 per cent compared to the same month in 2007.  Traffic is measured in weighter charging units for en-route, terminal and oceanic air navigation services.  

• Financial Results ---on April 11th released its financial results for the three and six months ended February 29, 2008.  Continued growth in air traffic and favourable operating cost variances from plan have contributed to a solid financial performance for the year-to-date.  NAV Canada implemented a 4 per cent service charge reduction on August 1, 2007 with 1 per cent of it temporary until August 31, 2008.  The reduction will save customers approximately $50million in fiscal 2008.  The Company expects to achieve breakeven financial results in 2008, consistent with our mandate.  For full details go to:  www.navcanada.ca 

• March Traffic ---figures for March, as measured in weighted charging units increased by an average of 5.8 per cent compared to March 2007.  Fiscal year-to-date traffic was 6.4 per cent higher than in fiscal year 2007.  NAV Canada's fiscal year runs from September 1 to August 31.  

• Pratt & Whitney Canada ---plans to build a 164,000 sq. ft. flight test center, to manage two 747SP test aircraft and handle up to 90,000lb thrust engines, at Mirabel by 2009.  Once completed all operations currently at Plattsburgh NY and at Saint-Hubert Quebec will transfer up to Mirabel.

• MXI Technologies Canada ---has announced orders for its Maintenix MRO management software from Qantas and from Air Canada's ACTS division.