Alaska Airlines launched daily San Diego-Maui service. Cathay Pacific Airways said it will begin codesharing with WestJet for travel beginning Oct. 20. Under the agreement, Cathay's "CX" code will be placed on WestJet flights between Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa and Winnipeg, plus the Hong Kong carrier's two Canadian gateways, Toronto and Vancouver.
AirTran Airways operated 1.39 billion RPMs in September, up 1.7% year-over-year. Capacity increased 0.6% to 1.79 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.7 points to 77.7%. Monarch Airlines carried 464,697 passengers in September, an 8.26% increase year-over-year. Its load factor jumped 4.7 points to 93.35%. Ryanair transported 6.84 million passengers in September, up 12% year-over-year, while load factor rose 1 point to 86%
Citing the economic downturn, Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines has announced it will reconfigure its four A320s, which have a dedicated business class cabin installed for its Middle Eastern routes.
AirAsia X hopes to add two more Japanese airports to its international service by 2012 after it launches flights to Tokyo Haneda in December. CEO Azran Osman Rani told Kyodo News in Tokyo that the airline "was interested in other airports in Japan…I have always said Japan is a market where we can operate at three different airports, including Haneda." On the airline’s radar are Osaka, Sapporo and Fukuoka.
JetBlue Airways founder and former Chairman and CEO David Neeleman, in conjunction with New York investment group Acadia Woods Partners, purchased Los Angeles-based JetSuite, a private jet operator. Price was not disclosed. Neeleman and JetSuite CEO Alex Wilcox worked together at JetBlue for several years, and Wilcox subsequently was closely involved in the launch of India's Kingfisher Airlines.
Travelport released its Universal API, a technology interface that will enable third-party developers, online travel agencies, travel agencies and consolidators to aggregate content from a variety of sources.
Pratt & Whitney Canada announced Monday it opened the company's global flight test operations center, the first phase of its Mirabel Aerospace Centre at Montreal Mirabel.
Turkish Airlines, which has plans to become one of the 10 biggest carriers worldwide by 2016, is now ready to invest in other carriers, CEO Temel Kotil told ATW in Istanbul.
The world's airlines posted a cumulative second-quarter net profit of $4.4 billion, reversed from a $620 million loss in the year-ago period and improved over a $1.9 billion loss in the 2010 first quarter, IATA reported.
The US Air Transport Assn. on Monday said it was "business as usual" for US carriers operating transatlantic services despite the issuance of a "travel alert" by the State Dept. warning of "the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe."
The US State Department on Sunday issued a "travel alert" warning US citizens of "the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe," but a department official emphasized that it is "absolutely not" telling Americans to avoid traveling across the Atlantic.
Wataniya Airways took delivery of its seventh A320. The 122-seat aircraft is the third new A320 the Kuwaiti airline has added to its fleet this year. Airstream International arranged the delivery of one (of two) ex-BA Connect and Flybe ERJ-145 to Semeyavia in Kazakhstan. It is the first western-manufactured aircraft for the carrier, who operates a fleet of Yak 40s. The new aircraft will operate domestic scheduled services predominantly between Almaty and Semipalatinsk.
Kris Urs will succeed John Byerly as the US's top international aviation negotiator. Byerly has announced his intention to retire from government service on Oct. 31. Urs will assume Byerly's position as Assistant Secretary of State for Transportation Affairs on Nov. 1. For the past year Urs has served as Director of Aviation Negotiations for the State Dept. LOT Polish Airlines named Zbigniew Mazur as its temporary CEO, the Polish Press Agency reported.
Cargolux told ATW it "will not suffer any capacity shortages," as the result of the latest delay to the 747-8F program ( ATW Daily News, Oct. 1). The carrier said that Boeing's previous announcement of a possible delay to the program enabled it to make preparations to cope.
Air Mauritius last week appointed Soobhiraj Bungsraz CEO, replacing Manoj R K Ujoodha, who resigned. According to Mauritius's Independent Daily newspaper, Ujoodha was employed on a month-to-month basis as his contract had expired earlier this year. The carrier reported a net loss of €6 million ($7.4 million) for its fiscal year ended March 31, narrowed from an €85.3 million deficit in the prior year ( ATW Daily News,June 18).
Rolls-Royce named John Rishton CEO to replace John Rose, who will retire at the end of March 2011. Rishton has been a non-executive director of Rolls-Royce since 2007 and chairs the board's audit committee. He was CFO of British Airways for four years until 2005 and was appointed CEO of the Dutch retail group Royal Ahold in 2006. Rose has been Rolls's chief executive since 1996, having joined the company in 1984.
Vietnam Airlines confirmed to ATW it has converted its 16 787-8 orders to the 787-9 "due to unexpected performance limitations on the original model," it said, though on its Orders and Deliveries website Boeing still lists the carrier's order as eight 787-8s.
Luxair Luxembourg Airlines ordered a 737-800 for delivery in January 2015 to support the growth of LuxairGroup's tour operator LuxairTours. It previously ordered a 737-800 in June for delivery in December 2012. Both aircraft will be equipped with Blended Winglets.
American Airlines on Friday filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation for authority to launch Los Angeles-Shanghai Pudong service from April 5, 2011. "These new flights would be the only nonstops between Los Angeles and Shanghai operated by a US airline," AA Senior VP-Government Affairs Will Ris said. "Los Angeles-Shanghai is the largest US-China market for air travel and we believe it is in the public's interest to offer more air service between the two cities."
Turkish Airlines, which last week took delivery of its first A330-300 and A330-200F, expects to be operating 10,000 weekly flights by 2015, nearly double the 5,500 currently being flown, CEO Temel Kotil told ATW in Istanbul.
Kenya Airways, facing a new strike threat by its employees represented by the Aviation & Allied Workers Union, appealed to the country's Central Organization of Trade Unions to "intervene and ensure AAWU does not deviate" from the terms of an agreement reached following a two-day strike in August 2009.
