Airbus said Tuesday that LAN Airlines finalized a previously-announced order for 50 new A320 family aircraft. The order was initially announced as an MOU at the Farnborough International Airshow in July ( ATW Daily News, July 21). It represents the largest single airline order for Airbus in Latin America and brings LAN's total Airbus orders to 152 aircraft.
The New Zealand Ministry of Transport followed the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, giving the green light to the alliance between Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand.
The European Commission is investigating Hungarian government support measures for Malev Hungarian Airlines to determine if the financially troubled carrier received illegal state aid.
European Commission VP-Transport Siim Kallas on Tuesday strongly criticized airport operators in Western Europe for their failure to efficiently cope with the severe winter weather that has stranded thousands of passengers since Saturday, and said he is prepared to propose new regulations on minimum service requirements for airports.
OAG to provide data to hotel forecasting tool Decision imminent in Travelport-American hearing American expands Mileage Mutiplier U.S. airlines collect $2.56 billion in bag fees in first 9 months of 2010 IATA: 2D bar code boarding pass implementation is complete Price optimization: the new frontier in airline RM World news briefing
United Airlines rescinded a policy that restricted access of some travel agencies to the United merchant account. The carrier also waived retroactively any penalties that the agencies had accrued under the policy. “We have elected to rescind a policy that required a relative handful of the thousands of travel agencies that sell tickets for United to pay their own credit card merchant fees,” United said in a statement.
News from Travel Technology Update: United Airlines rescinded a policy that restricted access of some travel agencies to the United merchant account. The carrier also waived retroactively any penalties that the agencies had accrued under the policy. “We have elected to rescind a policy that required a relative handful of the thousands of travel agencies that sell tickets for United to pay their own credit card merchant fees,” United said in a statement.
The New Zealand Ministry of Transport followed the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission, giving the green light to the alliance between Virgin Blue and Air New Zealand.
KLM will launch a thrice-weekly 777-200ER Amsterdam-Xiamen service March 27, becoming the first airline to offer direct flights between XMN and Europe. Continental Airlines will launch 737-800 service to Hilo, Hawaii from Los Angeles (daily) and San Francisco (weekly) June 9.
Lufthansa's board and the Munich Airport board gave the green light to expand MUC's Terminal 2 at MUC. T2 is a joint venture between MUC operator FMG and LH. The new terminal satellite is expected to increase the airport's annual capacity by 11 million passengers. The investment will be €650 million ($856.8 million) and will be shared 60%-40% between FMG and LH. The extension will bring 52 additional gates; 27 will have direct access to the terminal via contact stands. The new facility is slated to be operational by 2015.
US Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that US airlines employed 0.4% fewer workers in October compared to the same month last year. BTS said five network carriers (American Airlines, US Airways, Alaska Airlines, Continental Airlines and United Airlines) decreased employment. The sixth network carrier, Delta Air Lines, reported 1% more workers in October than the combined totals of the former DL and Northwest Airlines in October 2009, according to the report.
China's airlines reported collective net income of CNY880 million ($132.4 million) for the month of November, a big reversal from a net loss of CNY1 million in the year-ago period, on a 23% increase in total operating revenue to CNY24.4 billion. Operating expenses rose 18.1% to CNY23.17 billion.
Boeing said Monday it will boost the 777 production rate to 8.3 per month in the first quarter of 2013, the second 777 production increase the manufacturer has announced this year.
IATA Director-Aviation Environment Paul Steele said that if the global air transport industry is to achieve its stated goal of a 1.5% improvement in fuel efficiency/carbon dioxide emissions annually through 2020, "we have to find 728 million tonnes in CO2 savings by 2020."
Persisting freezing temperatures and heavy snow disrupted air traffic in large parts of Europe for a third consecutive day Monday. Europe’s three largest airports—London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Frankfurt—remained significantly affected while smaller counterparts such as London Gatwick, Berlin Schoenefeld and Brussels have also been hit.
That word is a fair description of the 747 program, which has now been in service for more than 40 years. To put this into perspective, 40 years prior to the 747's inaugural service, the Boeing 247 was the prime airliner, albeit a twin-engined, piston-powered tail-dragger that carried 10 passengers, cruised at "three miles a minute", and couldn't cross the North American continent nonstop, much less fly across oceans.
Boeing said Monday it will boost the 777 production rate to 8.3 per month in the first quarter of 2013, the second 777 production increase the manufacturer has announced this year.
Boeing and information and communications solutions provider Fujitsu signed a strategic alliance aimed at helping airlines reduce errors regarding inventory and manual data entry without creating new processes. The two companies will jointly develop "a service to enable greater efficiency in aircraft maintenance operations," employing tools such as Radio Frequency Identification devices and Contact Memory buttons. It aims to launch the service in the first quarter of 2012.
Lufthansa said its fifth Airbus A380 will commence twice-weekly service Feb. 18 from Frankfurt to New York JFK, the fourth A380 destination the carrier has announced and its first US destination for the aircraft type. Initially operating on Mondays and Fridays, LH said it plans to increase the route's frequency to daily by mid-April. LH has ordered 15 A380s, all scheduled for delivery by 2015.
Airbus and CAAC signed an MOU to cooperate on air traffic management solutions. The MOU states that Airbus will assist CAAC with the introduction and implementation of new ATM technologies and best practices, sharing its experience in Europe as CAAC develops future ATM systems in China.
US airline passenger revenue rose 14.5% in November compared to November 2009, marking the 11th consecutive month of year-over-year increases, Air Transport Assn. reported. RPMs rose 6.5% while yield climbed 7.5%. Domestic passenger revenues climbed 11% while international revenues jumped 23% for the month. Data is based on reports from Alaska Airlines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue Airways, United Airlines, US Airways and their affiliated regional airlines, but not Southwest Airlines.
US Air Transport Assn. urged the US government and other parties to the OECD to conclude a new Aircraft Sector Understanding on export credits so as to "begin neutralizing" what it argues is an unfair advantage enjoyed by non-US airlines that can access aircraft funding guaranteed by the US Export-Import Bank ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 14). According to the organization, OECD is "on the verge of concluding a new ASU.”
