Travelport and Air Astana announced the signing of a long-term content agreement under which Galileo and Worldspan-connected users will gain access to all of Air Astana's fares and inventory "with immediate effect." Air Astana said that as a result of the agreement, Air Astana has designated Travelport as a "Competitive Booking Source," whereby agents using the Travelport GDS platforms can earn their commissions in full "without being subject to the Commission Booking Deductible for domestic bookings made in Kazakhstan."
The European Low Fares Airline Assn. said its nine member airlines reported a 6.1% year-over-year increase in passenger numbers for 2010 to 172.4 million and a 0.3% increase in average seat load factor to 82.3%.
Qantas reported a statutory net profit for the fiscal first half ended Dec. 31, 2010 of A$239 million ($241.7 million), dramatically improved over earnings of A$60 million in the year-ago period.
EgyptAir reportedly has sent aircraft leasing proposals to Aviation Capital Group, GECAS and fellow members of the Star Alliance as it attempts to cope with severe drops in inbound passenger demand following the recent civil protests that led to the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak.
The Chinese government on Saturday responded to escalating oil prices by raising domestic jet fuel prices 5.8% to CNY6,340 ($963.56) per ton, putting added cost pressure on the country's airlines.
Asiana Airlines posted 2010 net income of KRW236 billion ($211.3 million), reversed from a net loss of KRW266.3 billion in 2009, as annual revenue surged 30.5% to a record KRW5.07 trillion.
Is the current distribution war finally cooling down, or have the opponents gone back to their foxholes to regroup? American Airlines reversed its plan to charge travel agents outside the U.S. and the Caribbean a “booking source premium” for booking the carrier through Travelport GDSs. In turn, Travelport dropped the increases in segment fees it imposed on American as part of its response to the carrier’s tussle with Orbitz, Travelport’s largest customer for GDS services.
Amadeus sells Opodo to private equity firms eRevMax acquires Lunar Logic Travelport earns Air Astana’s ‘approved’ designation Travelport adds AA’s Kayak discount to its lawsuit Concur to make TripIt its standard mobile travel solution Conference talk: The first annual MindTree Travel & Transportation Summit World news briefing
News from Travel Technology Update: Is the current distribution war finally cooling down, or have the opponents gone back to their foxholes to regroup? American Airlines reversed its plan to charge travel agents outside the U.S. and the Caribbean a “booking source premium” for booking the carrier through Travelport GDSs. In turn, Travelport dropped the increases in segment fees it imposed on American as part of its response to the carrier’s tussle with Orbitz, Travelport’s largest customer for GDS services.
Bmi will launch London Heathrow service to Bergen and Stavanger April 1 (daily) and to Casablanca April 2 (four-times-weekly). It also will take over three of the four daily Lufthansa flights from Birmingham and Manchester to Frankfurt from March 27. Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Skopje-London Luton service June 20. Canadian North will increase weekly Yellowknife-Edmonton Boeing 737 service to four-times-weekly from April 2.
ICAO said 14 Middle East and south Asian member states attending a regional conference on air transport security in New Delhi last week agreed to a "roadmap" for taking collective action. "Among the measures included in the roadmap are actions that states will take to strengthen security screening procedures by ensuring that professionals are appropriately trained and equipped," the organization said in a statement.
Ferrovial last week successfully completed the previously announced sale of aviation ground handling firm Swissport International to private equity firm PAI Partners for €695 million ($943.7 million). Swissport, which will continue to be led by President and CEO Per Utnegaard, said it "will now continue to pursue its growth strategy."
US Dept. of Transportation said that the nation’s largest carriers recorded an overall on-time arrival rate of 79.8% for 2010, an improvement over 2009’s 79.5% on-time arrival rate, citing it as further proof that April’s tough tarmac delay rule has been effective ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 13, 2010).
Hainan Airlines on Friday signed a strategic cooperation agreement with China Telecom Co. to develop inflight mobile phone and Internet service aboard the carrier's aircraft, pending CAAC approval. If approved, HNA would become the first Chinese carrier to offer inflight voice and Internet services. Shenzhen Airlines tried to get approval for a similar agreement with Swiss OnAir Co. in September 2007 but CAAC rejected the deal.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings is "in a transformative phase" in which it is solidifying profitability and is poised to escalate earnings further when new Boeing 747-8Fs begin delivering, President and CEO William Flynn told investors last week. Speaking to the Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Transportation and Logistics Conference, available via webcast, he noted the company's record annual net profit of $143 million for 2010 reported last week, representing an 86% improvement over 2009 net income of $76.2 million.
The US Senate late Thursday passed a two-year, $34.5 billion FAA reauthorization bill by an 87-8 vote, and now waits on the House of Representatives to act on the proposed four-year, $59.7 billion bill approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday.
The US's eight largest airline companies (counting United Airlines and Continental Airlines as one) earned collective 2010 net income of $2.32 billion with all but American Airlines profitable for the full year, ATW calculated.
The US Senate late Thursday passed a two-year, $34.5 billion FAA reauthorization bill by an 87-8 vote, and now waits on the House of Representatives to act on the proposed four-year, $59.7 billion bill approved by the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday.
American Airlines will launch daily Boeing 777 New York JFK-Tokyo Haneda service Feb. 18, in codeshare with Japan Airlines. It will be the only airline to fly between NY and HND “in more than 30 years,” the carrier said. AirTran Airways on Wednesday launched daily Atlanta-Punta Cana service.
The Dublin Airport Authority on Thursday said that negotiations with Ryanair ended after the carrier rejected DAA’s offer of more than €60 million ($81.1 million) worth of discounts on airport charges to stimulate increased traffic into its three Irish airports. Instead, DAA said, Ryanair insisted it be paid more than €100 million in discounts, with no guarantee of any additional traffic.
Kenya Airways confirmed it intends to raise additional capital “to finance its strategic future growth and expansion plans” and retained CFC Stanbic Bank as its financial adviser. KQ did not say how much it would raise or how. “At the moment we are unable to provide any additional information but the appropriate regulatory and shareholder approvals will be requested once decisions on the way forward are made,” said KQ Group MD and CEO Titus Naikuni.
