International Lease Finance Corp. appointed Elias Habayeb CFO. He formerly was senior VP -investments and financial Services for ILFC parent AIG. Estonian Air announced President and CEO Andrus Aljas resigned, to be effective June 1. Aljas joined the company in 2006 as member of the management board and VP-finance. Fokker Technologies named Jeroen Koot president of Fokker Aircraft Services, replacing Edwin Schilling.
Embraer delivered an E-190 to Air Astana on Monday, the first of the type the airline has received and the first of two it had been slated to take this year. The aircraft, which is leased by KC from Florida-based Jetscape, will be used to “right size routes and fill a capacity gap between its Fokker and Airbus fleets,” according to an Embraer statement. It will used to fly a mix of domestic and international city pairs from Almaty and Astana.
Brussels Airlines reaffirmed its intent to launch service to the US but stressed plans are still under analysis. SN said the plans are conditional on obtaining transatlantic antitrust immunity with its Star Alliance partners and inclusion in their Atlantic Plus-Plus joint venture.
Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines inked a cooperation agreement with Liaoning province in northeast China, seeking to enhance its position in North China by adding capacity and boosting flight frequencies on routes from the provincial capital, Shenyang, to Shanghai, Xian and Kunming. According to the agreement, SHE-Shanghai service will increase to nine-times-daily in coming days. Flights from SHE to XIY and KMG will increase from three to five-times-daily on each route over the next two years.
Ryanair reported a net profit of €374.6 million ($530 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, up 23% from €305.3 million earned in the prior fiscal year.
Air Canada's pilots voted to reject a tentative labor contract that included guidelines for AC's establishment of a leisure-destination focused LCC, delivering a blow to airline management.
Eurocontrol said Monday there was "no significant impact on flights" related to Saturday's eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano in Iceland, though it cautioned that "the situation is constantly evolving."
Delta Air Lines and US Airways unveiled a revamped New York LaGuardia/Washington National slot swap agreement that the carriers believe will mollify US Dept. of Transportation objections to their original proposal put forward in 2009.
Ryanair reported a net profit of €374.6 million ($530 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, up 23% from €305.3 million earned in the prior fiscal year.
Iceland’s aviation authorities closed Keflavik International Airport to all inbound and outbound air traffic Sunday following Saturday's eruption of the Grimsvotn volcano.
Flydubai will launch thrice-weekly Dubai-Hyderabad service June 1, its second destination in India. JAL Group will resume regular Tokyo Narita service to Honolulu (thrice-daily) and Shanghai (twice-daily) in June. It temporarily suspended one daily flight on each route in April.
BAE Systems said that its Spares Co-op scheme, under which its airline customers earn loyalty rebates if they spend more than an agreed sum on aircraft spares during the year, has taken off with nearly £400,000 ($660,000) of rebates issued to seven operators. The largest amount (£186,000) went to Brussels Airlines, which exceeded its target spend on spares for its 26-strong Avro RJ jetliner fleet during 2010.
European Regions Airline Assn. and Innovata launched the first dynamic and interactive route map of the ERA airline member network. Innovata is providing ERA with the latest release of its market leading mapping service. It has been specially configured for ERA so that all destinations, direct routes, schedules, and a comprehensive timetable display are shown for users searching and querying the networks and schedules of ERA member airlines. ERA airline members collectively serve 483 cities across Europe linking more than 3,000 city pairs.
IATA reported that the international premium traffic rose 2.9% year-over-year, in March, which was “down significantly” from 7.8% growth recorded in February, owing to the “impact of the unexpected events in Japan and [the Middle East and North Africa],” IATA said in its latest Premium Traffic Monitor.
Southwest Airlines Senior VP and CFO Laura Wright said that specific revenue initiatives undertaken by the carrier helped to boost sales by $2.2 billion between 2007 and 2010, exceeding the carrier's target of growing top-line revenue by $1.5 billion. Addressing the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference, available via webcast,Wright noted that the revenue growth was achieved "on capacity that was slightly down" from 2007."
Aeroflot will take delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 this week and plans to put it into service June 16, according to Superjet International Deputy Senior VP-Commercial Svetlana Issaeva.
International Lease Finance Corp. on Friday announced it has increased the total amount of its cash tender offer for "certain of its existing outstanding notes" to $1.75 billion, up 133% from the $750 million figure it revealed on Thursday. Barclays Capital Inc. and JP Morgan Securities LLC will act as dealer managers for the offer, it said.
US National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an air traffic control incident in which an arriving SkyWest Bombardier CRJ200 nearly overflew a departing ExpressJet Embraer ERJ-145 at Chicago O’Hare International on the morning of May 16.
Bombardier revealed it will deliver a dual-class Q400 to an existing customer this summer and also is touting the better-than-expected performance of its first CRJ1000s in service.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. Executive VP Junichi Miyakawa conceded last week that a number of airlines are more interested in the 100-seat MRJ100X, which has not yet been launched, than the 70-seat MRJ70 and 90-seat MRJ90 models the manufacturer is currently developing and producing.
US Dept. of Justice has launched an investigation into whether conduct by Global Distribution Systems violates US antitrust law. American Airlines on Friday announced it had received a "Civil Investigative Demand" from DOJ's Antitrust Division "requesting that American provide information relevant" to the investigation.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines is "about halfway through" the process of merging with ExpressJet, ASA President Brad Holt told reporters at the Regional Airline Assn. Annual Convention in Nashville. He said the SkyWest Inc. subsidiaries expect to receive a single operating certificate "by late November, early December."
