Mexicana Airlines said in a statement Sunday that its "financial situation has deteriorated substantially in the last week" and announced it is suspending 15 international routes effective yesterday and today.
Japan Airlines, undergoing bankruptcy rehabilitation, plans to cut 19,133 jobs from its workforce of 47,000 by the end of March 2015, according to documents cited by Kyodo News.
Air France announced that Bruno Delile was promoted group VP new aircraft and fleet planning,. Delile has spent most his career with AF, primarily at Air France Industries, the company's MRO arm, including serving as AFI KLM E&M VP Operations for the Americas. He also worked for Safran Group's Hispano-Suiza subsidiary. He succeeds Pierre Vellay.
Korean Air's Aerospace Division delivered the first prototype cargo door for the A350 to Eurocopter. Korean Air Aerospace is a program partner and is responsible for three of the doors on the A350. Eurocopter is responsible for all the aircraft doors on the aircraft under a contract signed July 13.
ANA said it will resume service to Jakarta in January from Tokyo Narita with daily 767-300ER service and will launch new daily service to Manila from Narita in March, also with a 767-300ER. It additionally announced that it will suspend its daily A320 Nagoya Chubu-Shanghai Pudong route from October 31 "owing to adjustments" in its winter schedule. Rusline, operating under the brand Air Volga, last month launched thrice-weekly CRJ200 service from Moscow Domodedovo to Voronezh.
Iridium Communications announced that it received "in excess of $1.8 billion of commitments from a syndicate of preeminent international banks" in connection with the credit facility that will be used to finance the construction of the company’s next-generation satellite constellation, Iridium Next. Thales Alenia Space is the prime contractor for the project, which consists of 81 low-earth orbiting communications satellites with first launch in early 2015. Iridium expects to sign the credit facility in September and close shortly thereafter.
ST Aerospace said it acquired the remaining 30% equity in ST Aerospace Training Academy it did not own, through its ST Aerospace Engineering subsidiary. The stake was acquired for S$4 million ($3 million) in cash from Aviation Training Academy (Singapore).
Flybe concluded an agreement with Finnair to “cooperate on the delivery of regional services in the Scandinavian and Baltic Sea area.” Initially, the UK carrier will wet-lease three Q400s to Finnair, which will operate services from Helsinki to Tampere, Turku and Tallinn as of Oct. 31. The service provision is expected to grow “beyond” three aircraft in the summer of 2011, Flybe said, but the carrier declined to tell ATW how many aircraft or routes it could cover and if the cooperation could evolve into a codeshare or franchise agreement.
Following Air Berlin’s announcement last week that it intends to join oneworld, Austrian LCC Fly Niki President Niki Lauda told ATW the airline has started talks with AA and AY to pursue codeshare agreements. Lauda said Niki is eyeing "big passenger potential in the worldwide market" as it carries passengers to eastern and southeastern Europe via its hub in Vienna ( ATW Daily News, July 27).
Malev Hungarian Airlines CCO and Deputy CEO Karim Makhlouf resigned from the carrier last week. Makhlouf, who joined Hungary's state-owned national carrier in January 2009, said it had been a “great experience to restructure this airline until this stage.”Before joining Malev, he was CCO of SkyEurope and director of Network Management at Hapag-Lloyd Express. He also was member of the founding
Japan Airlines, in the midst of a bankruptcy restructuring, announced it will sell its 79.6% stake in JAL Hotels and additionally will merge four sales subsidiaries into one unit.
Tiger Airways Holdings reported net income of S$1.9 million ($1.4 million) for its first fiscal quarter ended June 30, much improved over a loss of S$6 million for the year-ago period.
European Commissioner for Home Affairs Cecilia Malmstrom on Friday criticized the decision by the US Dept. of Homeland Security to move forward with an interim rule that will assess a $14 biennial fee on travelers visiting the US from countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program beginning Sept 8.
Lufthansa Techniksaid it will build a new three-bay aircraft maintenance hangar at the future Berlin Brandenburg International airport for maintaining short- and medium- range Lufthansa aircraft from 2012. Monarch Aircraft Engineeringsigned a line maintenance technical handling agreement with Air Finland covering support services at London Gatwick, Luton, Birmingham and Manchester.
LOT Polish Airlines expects to make a decision soon on a replacement for some of the 13 ATR-42/72s operated by its EuroLot subsidiary. “First we [will] look for a [direct] ATR-72 replacement. For example, the Q400, which can fly faster and has more range. But this order also depends on our future network,” a LOT spokesperson confirmed to ATW. The first new turboprop delivery could arrive as early as next May.
The Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey yesterday approved Delta Air Lines' proposal to move its international service into a new space at privately-owned Terminal 4 at New York JFK.
Operating lessor AerCap Holdings reported net income of $48.9 million for the second quarter ended June 30, down 13.6% compared to income of $56.6 million in the year-ago period. Excluding the impact of mark-to-market interest rate caps and share-based compensation, however, net income jumped 52.4% to $59.6 million from $39.1 million last year.
China Southern Airlines announced plans to add 800-900 flights for the upcoming Asian Games, hoping to boost its financial performance in the second half of the year. General Manager Tan Wangeng said CZ would introduce more than 10 aircraft in the next three months to operate its Asian routes. “We estimate the Asian Games [scheduled to be held in November in CZ base city Guangzhou] would attract more than 50,000 people," he said.
Mexicana Airlines suspended all ticket sales late Wednesday but insisted it would continue to operate flights "as scheduled" to carry passengers that have already booked tickets, and Air Canada confirmed it seized two of four aircraft that it leases to MX.
WestJet reported C$21 million ($20.6 million) in second quarter net income, more than double the C$9.2 million profit in the year-ago period, citing improved demand and higher commissions from its WestJet Vacations business.
Philippines Airlines is facing the prospect of major flight disruptions owing to pilots resigning for better paid positions with other airlines and flight attendants threatening strike action over an age 40 retirement requirement.
Etihad Airways will reconfigure several of its A320s to an all-economy class cabin fitted with 162 seats, with the first two aircraft set to re-enter service in October.
Air Canada reported a second-quarter net loss of C$203 million ($198.7 million), reversed from a C$155 million profit in the year-ago period, despite being profitable on an operating level.
