Kingfisher Airlines became a member-elect of oneworld after gaining approval from India's Ministry of Civil Aviation and completing a formal membership agreement, the alliance announced yesterday ahead of the IATA AGM in Berlin.
IATA yesterday forecast that the international airline industry will post a profit of $2.5 billion in 2010, a significant upgrade compared with its March prediction of a $2.8 billion loss.
in the UK launched a free iPhone app for passengers using its facilities. It features real-time flight information for arrivals and departures, Google maps of the terminal buildings and interactive maps of terminal building interiors to help passengers find the location of shops, cafes and other facilities.
unveiled June 1 a new self-service kiosk for passengers flying between New Zealand and Australia that aims to cut check-in times by 50%. Passengers scan their machine-readable passports at the kiosk and are issued a boarding pass and bag tags if necessary. Customers checking bags then take them to the bag drop area, where ANZ staff scan the piece of luggage and check the passengers' IDs. The airline said it will introduce the new kiosks progressively at its Wellington, Queenstown and Christchurch international check-in areas over the next nine months.
An Air China A319 successfully completed a Required Navigation Performance validation flight at Ali in China's Tibetan Autonomous Region, Airbus said. The high-altitude airport is expected to be opened officially for operations "soon," the manufacturer noted, adding that "CAAC has decided that the A319 will be the first aircraft to fly to and from" the facility.
Japan's Transport Ministry said Tokyo Haneda officially will begin handling international scheduled flights on Oct. 31 following the opening of its fourth runway and new international passenger terminal on Oct. 21. Japan Airlines said that from Oct. 31 it plans services from Haneda to San Francisco, Honolulu, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Bangkok and Taipei. It also will convert current charter flights from HND to Seoul, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong into scheduled passenger flights.
Northwest Florida Beaches International, located near Panama City on Florida's Gulf Coast, opened May 23, the first publicly owned commercial service airport to be built in the US in the last 15 years ( ATWOnline, Dec. 1).
Airspace closures owing to the eruption of the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in Iceland caused world airport passenger traffic to decline 1.2% in April compared to April 2009 to 268.9 million arriving and departing passengers, according to Airport Council International's PaxFlash traffic report. It was the first global decline since July 2009, according to the association. ACI noted that "at some points, over 300 European airports were closed, affecting nearly 10 million passengers" worldwide.
The US Transportation Security Administration's initiative to observe passengers' behavior at airport checkpoints, on which it spends more than $200 million annually, is coming under scrutiny following a somewhat critical government report issued last month that questions whether the Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques program is worthwhile.
The new UK government is reversing several elements of the former government's airport policy that included major capacity expansions in the southeast of England. As part of its pledge "to implement a full program of measures to fulfill our joint ambitions for a low carbon and eco-friendly economy," the new ruling Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition struck down plans for construction of a third runway at London Heathrow and second runways at London Gatwick and Stansted.
Hawaiian Airlines President and CEO Mark Dunkerley signed a new three-year contract to extend his time leading the carrier. He joined HA in 2003. JetBlue Airways named Guy Hocker to the new position of VP-strategic initiatives. Hocker joined the airline from RTS Partners, a strategic management consultancy he founded in 1999.
Allegiant Air will launch five-times-weekly Stockton-Long Beach service July 1 using an MD-80. Swiss launched six-times-weekly San Francisco-Zurich service aboard an A340. Emirates announced it will operate one additional roundtrip flight from Dubai to Cape Town and Johannesburg July 12 and July 13 respectively in anticipation of increased demand during the World Cup.
Brussels Airlines posted a net loss of €39.8 million in 2009, dramatically widened from a €6.8 million deficit in 2008, according to Belgium's Central Balance Sheet Office. Total revenue fell 16.1% to €849.2 million while operating costs decreased just 8.3% to €922.4 million. Operating loss came in at €73.1 million, reversed from a positive EBIT of €4.7 million the prior year. ASKs decreased 6.5% to 10.96 billion and passengers carried dropped 9.8% to 4.6 million, of which 0.5 million traveled on its African network.
The Transport Workers Union on Thursday suspended its tentative agreement with American Airlines covering the carrier's 10,600 fleet service workers. AA reached the accord with TWU on May 28, but even then union leaders indicated they accepted the deal only because it was a necessary step toward an eventual release from the National Mediation Board ( ATWOnline, May 31). TWU cast doubt on whether rank-and-file workers would vote for the agreement in July voting.
EasyJet will start trialing a new technology called AVOID (Airborne Volcanic Object Identifier and Detector) that it hopes will minimize future disruptions from volcanic activity. The system is "essentially a weather radar for ash" and uses infrared devices fitted on the aircraft's tail fin to provide images of ash clouds up to 100 km. ahead at altitudes of 5,000-50,000 ft. The images are sent to both the pilot and the airline's flight control center and will allow for adjustments to the aircraft's flight path to avoid any volcanic ash.
Sichuan Airlines is expected to increase its stake in troubled Dongbei Air to 97% from its current 33.5% holding, another example of the growing trend of China's few privately run airlines being taken over by state-owned carriers. Sichuan Chairman Lan Xinguo noted that the stake purchase still must receive government approval and "hopefully will be approved by relevant government organs soon." He didn't reveal how much Sichuan would spend to effectively take over Dongbei, but insiders estimated it would invest about CNY101.6 million ($14.9 million).
United Airlines planned to operate two "green corridor" transatlantic demonstration flights Saturday "using state-of-the-art flight planning to reduce environmental impact and save fuel."
In the latest step in its Core SAS program to "focus on the Nordic home markets," SAS Group announced it reached an "agreement in principle" to sell nearly all of its 49% holding in Tallinn-based Estonian Air to the Estonian government. Under a deal announced Friday, the government will provide approximately SEK205 million ($26.3 million) of new capital to its struggling national carrier via a rights issue and SAS will convert approximately SEK20 million in loans into new equity.
Includes: Top 20 Airlines World Airline Traffic Jet Fuel Prices World Airport Traffic IATA Fuel Prices Exchange Rates Aircraft Data Aircraft Values Aircraft Deliveries US Major and National Airline Traffic US Ontime Performance U.S. Fuel Cost and Consumption US Mishandled Baggage US Consumer Complaints
