Air Transport News.

For more company news, data and analysis, please go to: http://www.airguideonline.com/professional.htm Jul 3, 2006

US Department of Commerce figures announced last week show that 9m international visitors traveled to the USA during the first quarter 2006, an increase of just 1% over the first quarter 2005. February visitation was up 1% while March arrivals were down almost 8% due mostly to the seasonal shift in the Easter holiday period. (In 2005 Easter occurred March and in 2006 it was in April). Visitation from Western Europe was down 10% for the quarter reflecting a 16% drop in March and a 9% decline in February. Arrivals from Eastern Europe, however, continued to grow, up 8% for the quarter and posting 31 consecutive months in arrivals growth. Arrivals from the UK were down nearly 11% the first quarter impacted mostly from a 16% which could be due to the late Easter or a resistance built in due to perceived (and real) passport problems and again difficulties in passing through security. German arrivals were also down 7% for the quarter with February and March in double digit declines. http://www.tinet.ita.doc.gov/view/m-2006-I-001/index.html Jun 30, 2006

Next Generation Air Transportation System, as the program to modernize the US air traffic control system is now known, will revolutionize the airways in the same way that construction of the US interstate highway system changed how people and goods move on the ground, outgoing Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said Wednesday at a forum on NGATS in Washington. "We are moving from single-lane roads in the sky to multilane air highways...[only] this time it is being done with technology, not asphalt and concrete," Mineta declared. Jun 30, 2006

EU signed a so-called "horizontal" aviation agreement with New Zealand allowing European airlines to fly between New Zealand and any EU member state. The agreement does not replace the bilateral agreements in place between member states and NZ but brings them in line with EU law by removing nationality restrictions. Similar agreements have been signed with Chile, Singapore, Ukraine, Georgia and several Balkan countries. Jun 26, 2006