Cebu Pacific noted this week that it is now the Philippines' largest airline based on number of passengers flown on domestic and international routes. According to Civil Aeronautics Board data, CEB flew 2.45 million total passengers in the first quarter, nearly 110,000 more than Philippine Airlines, which carried 2.34 million systemwide during the period. CEB became the No. 1 domestic carrier last year when it captured just over 50% of the market and it held a 51% domestic share in the first quarter.
While claiming he did not want to make yet another controversial comment, Qatar Airways CEO Akbar Al Baker did just that at the IATA AGM this week when he said there is no need for consolidation among Persian Gulf airlines because the majority will "just disappear."
New Air India COO Gustav Baldauf told ATWOnline on the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Berlin that the carrier should return to profitability in 2-3 years. The merger between AI and Indian Airlines will be completed this year, he said, adding that the carrier will become a full member of the Star Alliance in 2011. AI units such as maintenance, catering and ground operations will be spun off as separate entities but will remain under the "Air India Group" umbrella, he said, explaining that "the system [will be] similar to Lufthansa."
Boeing said Jade Cargo selected its Airplane Health Management system to cover its fleet of six 747-400 freighters. Jade Cargo will incorporate all three modules of the solution, which assists airlines in managing unscheduled maintenance events, consisting of Real-Time Fault Management, Performance Monitoring and Custom Alerting and Analysis. Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance reached a two-year renewal of its contract with AeroMexico to maintain its fleet of four 777s.
"Governments should be careful how quickly they take the punch bowl away from the party," warned IATA Chief Economist Brian Pearce when discussing the dilemma facing governments withdrawing stimulus packages. Responding to a question from ATWOnline at IATA's 66th AGM in Berlinon the significant gap between soaring business confidence and stagnating consumer confidence, Pearce conceded that business confidence, and thus the rebound in premium air travel, has been fed by government stimulus programs and not consumer demand.
AirAsia X will be spun off into a standalone, publicly traded company with an IPO targeted for the second half of 2011, subject to market conditions, AirAsia Group said yesterday. The long-haul arm was launched in November 2007 "and is now reaching sufficient scale economies to stand on its own instead of relying on services provided by AirAsia," the company stated. AirAsia also will seek separate listings for its Thailand- and Indonesia-based affiliates.
News from Travel Technology Update: Since last fall’s rollout of Affinity Shopper, the application that allows travelers to search airline websites for destinations based on their interests, budgets and other criteria, the Amadeus team has been working to put more speed into the searches.
TAM yesterday signed an MOU with Airbus at the Berlin Air Show for 20 new A320 family aircraft and five additional A350-900s. If finalized, the deal would bring TAM's total number of A320 family aircraft on order for future delivery to 64 and its A350 orders to 27. It also has three A330-200s on order. The five A350-900s will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWB engines. TAM did not select an engine for the 20 A320s.
Germany announced a new airline ticket departure tax that it believes will raise €1 billion ($1.19 billion) annually, but the airline industry led by IATA slammed the proposal and vowed to fight it vigorously.
Emirates' ambitions to build Dubai into "a central gateway to worldwide air travel" took another major step forward yesterday as it ordered 32 additional A380svalued at $11.5 billion at list prices, the single biggest order for the aircraft to date and bringing EK's total orders for the type to 90. The order agreement was signed in a ceremony yesterday at the Berlin Air Show witnessed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EK Chairman and CEO Ahmed bin Saeed Al-Maktoumand Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders.
Since last fall’s rollout of Affinity Shopper, the application that allows travelers to search airline websites for destinations based on their interests, budgets and other criteria, the Amadeus team has been working to put more speed into the searches.
TripAdvisor creates B2B division, plans Asia expansion Ruba team moves in with Google Travelport, Rearden to offer combined solution Amadeus looks at new deployments for Extreme Search TRX releases revamped version of online booking solution Special report: China Online World news briefing
Blue Bird Airways launched service from Moscow Domodedovo to Rhodes(twice-weekly), Thessaloniki(weekly), Heraklion (weekly) and Korfu (twice-weekly) May 30 aboard MD-83s. S7 Airlines launched twice-weekly Moscow Domodedovo-Abakan service aboard an A319. AirBridgeCargo launched weekly Moscow Domodedovo-Frankfurt freighter service.
Southwest Airlines flew 6.66 billion RPMs in May, up 3.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 0.05% to 8.63 billion ASMs while load factor rose 2.6 points to 77.2%. Delta Air Lines operated 16.28 billion system RPMs in May, up 2.7% year-over-year. Capacity rose 0.6% to 19.39 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 1.6 points to 83.9%.
Turkish Airlines, one of Europe's fastest-growing carriers, does not intend to slow its pace of expansion anytime soon, CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline. Speaking on the sidelines of the IATA AGM in Berlin, he said, "The demand is very strong and that's why we are searching the market for additional wet-leased aircraft." The carrier recently took delivery of a wet-leased A330 and as many as four additional A330s could join the fleet during the summer season, he said.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani, who yesterday announced that he will step down at the organization's next AGM in Cairo in June 2011, outlined his "Vision 2050--Shaping Aviation's Future," a program that aims "to build an industry that is even more successful at serving its customers, so successful that our customers will be our biggest advocates."
