In what it called the largest fine "ever assessed against an airline … in a non-safety-related case," US Dept. of Transportation on Thursday assessed a $2 million civil penalty against Delta Air Lines for alleged violations of rules protecting air travelers with disabilities.
The European Commission is continuing its effort to bring the bilateral air service agreements between individual member states and Russia in line with EC policies while ending the practice of EU airlines paying Aeroflot for Siberian overflight rights. In its latest step, it has launched infringement proceedings against Cyprus, Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain over the matter.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp., the Memphis-based parent of regionals Pinnacle Airlines, Colgan Air and Mesaba Aviation, reported net income of $12.8 million in 2010, down 69.5% from a $41.9 million profit in 2009. A $4.3 million loss in the December 2010 quarter driven by severe winter weather, reversed from a $5.6 million profit in the 2009 fourth quarter, closed out a busy year in which the company expanded through acquisition.
United Continental Holdings ended speculation regarding whether United Airlines would retain its Economy Plus section following its merger with Continental Airlines last year, announcing Thursday that it intends to introduce the product into Continental aircraft beginning next year.
Qantas said it will acquire 28 aircraft and extend leases on others as it looks to boost its domestic, resources, charter and international fleets. It will also consider the Boeing 777 as a long-term option.
The US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday passed the FAA reauthorization bill introduced last week by Chairman John Mica (R-Fla.), sending it to the House floor for consideration.
Malev Hungarian Airlines announced it will begin offering customers in Amsterdam the option of online check-in for departures. Beginning Feb. 25, passengers will be able to input reservation and ticket info on the carrier’s website up to 36 hours before departure and select a preferred seat. Online check-in is now available at 25 airports in Malev’s network, it said.
Air Transport Assn. President and CEO Nicholas Calio, who took over from James May in January, continues to put his stamp on the trade group, announcing a shake-up on Tuesday that saw the departure of long-time Executive VP and COO John Meenan and Chief of Staff Patty Higginbotham.
The Assn. of German Airlines forecast the new eco-tax, which took effect Jan. 1, will prevent five million passengers from flying in 2011 and 2012, thus destroying the creation of 15,000 new jobs in the German aviation industry, BDF President Ralf Teckentrup said at the Aviation Press Club in Frankfurt on Tuesday.
United Airlines temporarily grounded its fleet of 96 Boeing 757s on Tuesday for emergency checks on air data computer systems, but said the fleet was nearly back to normal by Wednesday afternoon. The carrier said 15 flights were canceled on Tuesday owing to the checks but none on Wednesday.
Airbus announced that A&F Aviation, the ANA-First Eastern Investment Group low fare airline, selected the A320 to launch services from Osaka Kansai International beginning in the second half of FY2011 ( ATW Daily News, Feb. 2). According to Airbus, A&F will lease 10 CFM56-powered A320s from GECAS. Aircraft will be configured for 180 passengers in a single-class layout, Airbus said.
In an effort to counter Virgin Blue’s new business class product on domestic Australian services, Qantas announced it will deploy internationally configured Boeing 747s and Airbus A330s with lie-flat beds on transcontinental routes to Perth.
Ryanair will prune its base at Girona Airport at the end of this month, removing five aircraft, closing 18 routes and reducing frequencies on a further 17 routes, citing the refusal of the new government of Catalonia to honor the five-year extension agreement it reached with the outgoing government in December.
Norwegian Air Shuttle reported a net profit of NOK189 million for 2010 ($32.5 million), down 57.6% from the NOK446.3 million it earned in 2009 despite a 21.2% increase in passengers to 13 million and a 17.6% rise in revenue to NOK8.6 billion.
Southwest Airlines and its stock clerks, represented by International Brotherhood of Teamsters, announced Tuesday they have reached a tentative agreement for a new, five-year labor contract retroactive to Aug. 16, 2008. The accord, if approved, would run through Aug. 16, 2013. A previous tentative agreement was rejected by the 170 stock clerks ( ATW Daily News, Dec. 15, 2010).
Kenya Airways flew 2.3 billion RPKs in its 2010 fiscal third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2010, up 8.9% over the year-ago period, on a 5.2% increase in capacity to 3.4 billion ASKs. Average load factor improved two points to 69.8%. Passenger boardings rose 7.3% to 829,263.
US Dept. of Transportation’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that US airlines carried 58.1 million scheduled domestic and international passengers in November 2010, a 6.1% increase from November 2009, representing the largest year-over-year rise since August 2007. Traffic rose 7.4% to 62.5 billion RPMs on a 5.4% rise in capacity to 77.7 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 80.4%, up 1.4 points year-over-year. Load factors for domestic and international flights averaged 81.1% and 78.4% respectively.
China Southern Airlines plans to further explore the market potential in western China, saying it will double capacity in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region over the next five years. According to an agreement between the Guangzhou-based carrier and the Guangxi local government, CZ is expected to boost its flight frequencies on routes from Nanning to Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai by 2015. It will also open “air shuttle service” on Nanning-Guangzhou and Guilin-Guangzhou routes.
EgyptAir said its business is returning to normal following massive flight cancellations during the nearly three weeks of civil unrest in Egypt that led to President Hosni Mubarak's resignation Feb. 11.
US airlines' collective traffic will grow at an average annual rate of 3.8% to reach 1.71 trillion RPMs by 2031, well more than double the 786.7 billion RPMs operated by the carriers in 2010, FAA projected Tuesday in its latest long-term forecast.
