AFI KLM E&M was selected by Alitalia for GE90 maintenance and support. The contract includes support services with access to the spare engines pool and engine shop visits on a time and material basis. Separately, the company announced that Sunwing Airlines renewed its Boeing 737-800 component support contract for a further six years. In addition to full component repair and overhaul, it will provide access to the spares pool and deployment of a main base kit of spare parts in Toronto.
Lufthansa Cargo Chairman and CEO Karl Ulrich Garnadt said the Austrian Lufthansa Cargo joint venture launched last year, through which LH and subsidiary Austrian Airlines jointly market and manage the two carriers' cargo capacity ( ATW Daily News, Feb. 25, 2010), has been successful. The airlines integrated handling and distribution in Austria while freight activities in all other countries fall under LHC management.
Ryanair will trial reserved seating on two routes from Dublin to Malaga and London Gatwick from May 16 in yet another move to generate more ancillary revenue. The pre-booked service costs €10 ($14.32) each way and includes priority boarding and the reservation of a seat in the front two rows or in over-wing emergency exit rows, which have more leg room. The LCC said it will continue to offer priority boarding service for €4, and it intends to roll the reserved seating out selectively on other routes in the coming months if it proves to be popular with passengers.
Longtime airline equities analyst Jamie Baker of JP Morgan has called on US legacy carriers to develop a new pricing model better able to cope with the roller coaster fluctuations in the price of oil. In a brief investment report on Tuesday, he wrote, "We can think of few consumer products that can be purchased up to 330 days prior to consumption, where the manufacturer or service provider has virtually no knowledge or control over their largest input cost [fuel]."
Armavia took delivery Tuesday of the first production Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SN95007), at Zvartnots International in Yerevan, nearly three years after the jet’s maiden flight. The aircraft was christened “Yuri Gagarin” in memory of the first cosmonaut. The Armenian carrier holds two firm orders plus two options.
The June 20-26 Paris Air Show will likely turn into an "Airbus festival," Bernstein Research predicted. But the New York-based firm warned that while the European manufacturer will rack up aircraft orders, it may not get the price premium it wants.
The EU is banning all air carriers certified in Mozambique, including LAM Mozambique Airlines, from operating to its airports—as well as two Air Madagascar Boeing 767s—owing to “significant safety deficiencies,” the European Commission announced Tuesday in an update of its blacklist.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce slammed the unions representing the airline's engineers, pilots and baggage handlers, telling ATW that they are conducting a "kamikaze" industrial campaign that will "kill jobs."
Private equity firms sell 10% of Amadeus Sabre says American is ‘threatening’ agents with new fee Expedia Inc. to spin off TripAdvisor Group European Commission to revisit passenger rights rule GetThere launches ground transportation network In Focus: Have a question about a vacation rental? Just Wise Ask World news briefing
Sabre Travel Network sent an e-mail letter to subscribers warning that American Airlines had "threatened" some travel agents with a new fee of $5.50 per segment booked through a GDS. Sabre said American made the threat to the agencies "through a new 'Content Commitment Policy,' which would essentially force them to either accept AA's one-off, fragmented approach" -- its direct-connect strategy -- "or face the consequences: less than full content through the GDS and a new fee.”
News from Travel Technology Update: Sabre Travel Network sent an email letter to subscribers warning that American Airlines had "threatened" some travel agents with a new fee of $5.50 per segment booked through a GDS.
Armavia took delivery Tuesday of the first production Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SN95007), at Zvartnots International in Yerevan, nearly three years after the jet’s maiden flight.
Vueling Airlines will launch five-times-weekly A320 Amsterdam-Zurich service Sept. 14. Dragonair will decrease daily Hong Kong-Fukuoka service to five-times-weekly May 1-May 31 and will resume twice-weekly HKG-Okinawa service July 3. Avianova will launch four-times-weekly Moscow-Simferopol service June 15. Turkish Airlines will launch thrice-weekly Istanbul Atatürk-Basra service May 23.
KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH was mandated by BOC Aviation as arranger and sole lender for a seven-year commercial debt financing of three new Aeroflot-operated Airbus A320-200s. The transaction closed in March and aircraft deliveries are scheduled for April and May this year. ILFC reached a five-year lease agreement with Aerolíneas Argentinas for 10 Boeing 737-700NG aircraft. Deliveries are expected to begin this month and be completed by October 2012.
GE Aviation announced the launch of the CF6 TRUEngine program, awarding TRUEngine designation to Nippon Cargo's fleet of 43 CF6-80C2s powering its Boeing 747s. The TRUEngine status, which was launched for CFM56s in 2008 ( ATW Daily News, July 14, 2008), requires engine configuration, overhaul practices, spare parts and repairs to be consistent with GE or CFM requirements.
United Continental Holdings announced that for every customer who uses a mobile boarding document on Earth Day, April 22, the company will donate $1 to support the "Protect an Acre" program in partnership with Conservation International. “For customers who use the Continental Mobile App for Android or iPhone, the company will double the contribution to $2,” it said.
Sabena Technics confirmed that Barfield Bogota, the Colombian subsidiary of Barfield Miami, is expected to open mid-year 2011. The new subsidiary follows the signing of a 10-year Airbus A320 component services contract with AviancaTaca for subsidiary carriers Avianca, TACA, Aerogal and Ocean Air. The “fast shop” will initially focus on avionics testing and repair with plans to expand its capabilities to service a larger array of components. The shop will also provide services to other operators in South America.
Gulf Air announced the launch of two new destinations from its hub in Bahrain, bringing to eight the number of new destinations in 2011. A four-times-weekly service to Copenhagen will commence July 1 and four-times-weekly flights to Nairobi will launch July 5. The BAH-CPH route will use a Boeing 737, operated by Privatair, in a two-class configuration with 16 seats in business class and 78 in economy; the BAH-NBO service will use an Airbus A320, featuring 16 business class seats and 120 in economy.
ARC reported that ticket sales through participating travel agencies climbed 9.8% in March compared to March 2010 to $8.34 billion despite a 1.2% decline in the number of transactions. Credit card sales rose 8.9% to $7.44 billion on a 2.8% dip in transactions while cash sales jumped 17.7% to $909 million on a 10.5 hike in transactions. Total fares excluding taxes and fees rose 9.3% to $7.01 billion. Domestic fares climbed 8.4% to $3.58 billion on a 2.3% decline in transactions and international fares rose 10.3% to $3.4 billion on a 1.5% rise in transactions.
Embraer delivered 20 commercial aircraft while taking firm orders for 44 E-Jets during the first quarter. Deliveries were slightly behind the 21 commercial aircraft delivered during last year's March quarter. The Brazilian manufacturer's firm backlog stood at 270 aircraft valued at $16 billion on March 31, up 2.6% compared to $15.6 billion as of Dec. 31, 2010.
Boeing's decision on whether to launch an all-new aircraft to replace the 737NG will be driven by technology and risk assessment, according to a Buckingham Research client note.
Norwegian Air Shuttle said its free inflight Wi-Fi is a “hit” with its passengers and that on some routes—such as Oslo Gardermoen-Geneva—between 40% and 50% of all passengers logged on.
AviancaTaca, the parent of Avianca and TACA, said preliminary results of its IPO reveal that the requests for shares exceeded $1.5 billion, more than five times the initial offering of 100 million shares priced at a total $250 million.
Air China is pressing ahead with requiring its majority-owned subsidiary Shenzhen Airlines to join Star Alliance, an industry insider told ATW. The source noted that Star is still evaluating the carrier and there is no specific timetable for a formal agreement.
