All Nippon Airways and Hong Kong-based First Eastern Investment Group have signed an MOA to establish what the two are calling “Japan’s first low-cost airline” to operate both international and domestic routes from Osaka Kansai International.
SAS Group airlines flew 2.39 billion RPKs in August, a 7% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 4.2% to 3.07 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2 points to 78.2%. Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.19 billion RPKs, a 6.5% increase, against a 3.4% rise in capacity to 2.76 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2.3 points to 79.3%.
Boeing announced it has begun assembly of the 1,000th 767, a 767-300ER, at its Everett factory. Mechanics have loaded the wing spar into the assembly tool, it said. "This is an important milestone for the 767, which has continued to evolve and improve since entering service nearly 30 years ago," 767 Program VP and GM Kim Pastega said. "The 767 is a high-performing twin-aisle airplane that delivers nearly 99% dispatch reliability every day for more than 90 operators around the world."
The US Airline Pilots Assn. representing 5,200 US Airways pilots staged a protest yesterday at Philadelphia International to highlight the fact that their negotiations with airline management over a new, unified labor accord remain unresolved. In particular, the seniority lists of US and the former America West Airlines still aren't integrated five years after the carriers merged. USAPA President Mike Cleary said, "From the pilots' perspective, the carrier is operating as two separate airlines."
Air Berlin said it has begun levying a new fee through all booking channels for travel beginning Jan. 1, 2011, in order to cover the “ecological air travel levy” introduced by the German government last week.
Boeing, encouraged by the strength of developing markets, is sticking with its bullish aircraft demand forecast despite the uncertain nature of the economic recovery, Commercial Airplanes Marketing Director Drew Magill said Wednesday.
Virgin Atlantic Airways and the British Air Line Pilots' Assn. representing the carrier's cockpit crewmembers reached an agreement resolving their dispute concerning time off for pilots, averting the possibility of strike action.
US Dept. of Transportation yesterday tentatively decided to reject an application for antitrust immunity for services between the US and Australia from Delta Air Lines and affiliates of the Virgin Blue Group including Virgin Blue, V Australia and Pacific Blue units in Australia and New Zealand.
Air France KLM operated 19.09 billion RPKs in August, a 1.2% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 0.9% to 22.61 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.3 points to 84.5%. British Airways flew 10.55 billion RPKs in August, down 2.9% year-over-year. Capacity was cut 2.6% to 12.51 billion ASKs as load factor fell 0.3 points to 84.4%.
SAS Group announced it sold its remaining 19.9% stake in regional Skyways Holding to Largus Holding, which already owns the remaining 80.1% and is fully owned by the Salen family. The company noted that the transaction created a capital loss for SAS Group of approximately SEK40 million ($5.5 million) and is part of a number of divestments performed in line with its Core SAS strategy. SAS and Skyways said they intend to continue "close commercial cooperation." Skyways operates a fleet of 17 aircraft including 13 Fokker 50s.
Air France said it presently has "no concrete plans" to set up a new low-cost domestic carrier in a bid to win back market share in France, as reported in Les Echos last week. Dubbed "Air France Express," the newspaper reported the LCC could start service as early as next year from a series of bases across southern France, including Marseilles, Nice and Toulouse. According to the report, pilots would be based in the regions and operate up to 25% more hours.
International air cargo traffic growth is likely to slow for the remainder of 2010 and 2011 following the sector's rapid rebound from the recession, according to IATA.
International Airlines Group, which will become the holding company of the combined British Airways/Iberia if shareholders agree to the merger in coming months, has defined a list of 12 potential airlines to merge with or buy, BA CEO Willie Walsh said Sunday at a press conference in Mumbai.
[Corrected version] CAAC, which has been conducting widespread safety inspections of China's airlines in the wake of last month's Henan Airlines Embraer 190 crash that killed 42, confirmed that an investigation carried out in 2008-09 revealed that more than 200 pilots had falsified their resumes. Of these, 103 were employed by Shenzhen Airlines, parent of Henan Airlines. The regulator noted that the vast majority of the pilots had been suspended, however, it added that this did not mean the problem had disappeared which is why it initiated a new round of investigations into pilot qualifications.
US President Barack Obama said restoring runways and implementing a satellite-based ATC system are key components of his "comprehensive infrastructure plan" unveiled Monday that includes "a $50 billion upfront investment" to quickly spur projects.
New York JFK Terminal 4 expansion plans were unveiled last month Ryanair said it will close its Belfast City base Hanjin Group, parent of Korean Air, announced the opening of a new cargo terminal Aviapartner last month gained ISAGO certification
Shannon Airport said in late August that it will increase its "passenger charge" by €1.58 ($2.03) to €6.32 per passenger, the first pricing increase since 2004. All other aircraft-related charges including landing charges are "being frozen at current levels," the airport said in a statement. Ryanair, which bases one aircraft at the airport, threatened to "shortly announce further flight and traffic cuts" if the charges are not reversed.
Munich remains one of the fastest-growing airports in Europe. According to ACI, it handled 15.8 million passengers in the first six months of 2010, up 2.7% compared to the same period in 2009. "We enjoyed an unexpected growth rate," MUC CEO Michael Kerkloh told ATW's Airports Today. "The negative trend is broken; the crisis is over…Even though we had ash-cloud air traffic closures [in April], strikes, etc., MUC can expect a passenger growth of 5% for 2010."
Riga International and its largest customer airBaltic agreed to what the carrier called a "peaceful" solution to their dispute over ground handling and passenger charges. Both parties signed an MOU on Aug. 17 terminating the legal proceedings they had launched against each other and pledging future cooperation.
World airport passenger traffic rose 6.9% in July compared to July 2009 to 342.2 million arriving and departing travelers, according to Airport Council International's latest PaxFlash traffic report. Domestic traffic climbed 4.5% to 174.6 million passengers while international traffic increased 9.5% to 165 million. Airfreight also continued its strong recovery, with total traffic up 17.9% to 5.8 million tonnes. International airfreight leaped 23.3% to 4 million tonnes and domestic freight rose 7.6% to 1.8 million tonnes.
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol operator Schiphol Group reported a net profit of €69.2 million ($89 million) for the first half of 2010, more than three times the €22.4 million it earned in the year-ago period, despite the impact of the volcanic ash-related airspace closures in April and May.
