News from Travel Technology Update: An Airlines Reporting Corp. executive challenged the Computerized Airlines Sales & Marketing Association to take the lead on "fulfilling the promise" of ancillary revenues and merchandising. The chief executive of a technology company wondered why travel agents aren't "kicking down the doors" of their GDS providers to demand that they enable them to sell airlines' differentiated products. An airline executive bemoaned the legacy technologies that "don't necessarily keep up with our marketing brilliance."
An Airlines Reporting Corp. executive challenged the Computerized Airlines Sales & Marketing Association to take the lead on "fulfilling the promise" of ancillary revenues and merchandising. The chief executive of a technology company wondered why travel agents aren't "kicking down the doors" of their GDS providers to demand that they enable them to sell airlines' differentiated products. An airline executive bemoaned the legacy technologies that "don't necessarily keep up with our marketing brilliance."
Sabre acquires revenue integrity firm Travelocity goes public with opaque hotel listings CASMA wrap: Speakers had a lot to say about ancillary revenues WestJet upgrades Travelport agreement, joins ARC and BSP Canada InnLink develops solution for hotel properties in transition In Focus: TripWare aims to take the complexity out of trip planning. World news briefing
BOC Aviation reported a $137 million profit in 2009, up 28% from the $107 million earned the prior year. The lessor's portfolio comprised142 aircraft at year end compared to 92 at the close of 2008. The Bank of China subsidiary owned 118 and managed an additional 24 on behalf of third-party investors. It took delivery of 17 planes last year and acquired 31 on sale/leaseback deals. It has 49 more on order and four on committed sale/leaseback deals through 2012.
B/E Aerospace said nine unidentified airlines and aircraft lessors have selected its new Pinnacle main cabin seating platform in deals worth more than $250 million combined. Contracts cover economy seating in new 737, A320 and 787 aircraft, with deliveries expected to start before year end. B/E said Pinnacle seats will save 15% in operating costs owing to "greater use of composites, an integrated lightweight comfort suspension system and a new design methodology that reduces parts by more than 25%."
Carpatair will launch flights from Bucharest Otopeni to Bergamo (five-times-weekly), Venice (six-times-weekly), Bologna (thrice-weekly) and Verona (thrice-weekly) on May 17.
Serbian government is looking at ways to make money-losing flag carrier Jat Airways more attractive to investors, such as assuming debt or funding redundancies, Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said. The government intends to launch a tender next month in an attempt to revive the airline, Reuters reported. It is hoping to sell a 51% stake. Jat lost €23.5 million ($31.5 million) last year ( ATWOnline, March 23).
Wataniya Airways took delivery of its fifth 122-seat A320 Sunday and will use it launch thrice-weekly Kuwait City-Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen service on May 2. Istanbul will be Wataniya's ninth destination overall and first in Europe. The sixth A320 is scheduled to arrive in June.
US Army Maj. Gen. Robert Harding (ret.) withdrew his candidacy to lead the US Transportation Security Administration Friday, just three weeks after his nomination by President Barack Obama. He follows Los Angeles World Airports security chief Erroll Southers, who took himself out of the running in January. Both faced congressional opposition.
Continental Airlines will lay off a combined 150 ground workers at seven US airports where it operates only regional services, a spokesperson told the Associated Press. Those jobs will be outsourced. Affected airports are Providence, Greensboro, Richmond, Norfolk, Pensacola, St. Louis and Kansas City.
Jazeera Airways reported a net loss of KWD8.2 million ($28.2 million) in 2009, reversed from a KWD4.5 million surplus in 2008, as it navigated what Chairman Marwan Boodai called "a year of contradictions." Revenue slipped 5.5% to KWD46 million. Boodai said the LCC "chose to stay the course" last year as it negotiated the economic downturn and increasing capacity in the region by focusing on boosting its market share. He claimed that by the third quarter it was the largest operator in Kuwait.
US Airways announced the launch of Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on five A321s and plans to offer the service onboard all 51 A321s by June 1. A Wi-Fi symbol on the outside of the aircraft will alert passengers that Gogo is available, US said, and beginning in late June passengers will be able to check service availability when booking travel on the carrier's website. The airline will offer passengers who create a user profile one free inflight session March 29-June 1 and will offer the service free June 1-8.
Boeing completed the ultimate-load wing up-bending test on the 787 static test aircraft over the weekend. "During the testing, loads were applied to the airframe to replicate 150% of the most extreme forces the airplane is ever expected to experience while in service," it said. "The wings were flexed upward by approximately 25 ft. (7.6 m.) during the test. The initial results of the ultimate-load test are positive.
OnAir yesterday announced its intent to terminate its inflight phone service contract with Ryanair following 13 months of a "proving period of service operation" on 50 737s. "The two companies did not reach a mutual agreement on the process and timing leading to the full deployment" onboard Ryanair's fleet of more than 230 aircraft, OnAir said, calling the inability to reach an agreement "disappointing." It did not provide a timeline for termination of the service.
El Al reported a $76.3 million net loss for 2009, widened from a $41.9 million net loss in 2008, and new President and CEO Elyezer Shkedy vowed to "ensure" this year is "a turning point" by focusing on cutting costs and developing new revenue sources. VP-Finance Nissim Malki blamed "many factors" for the company's lackluster performance last year, including "the influence of the war in the southern border" in December 2008/January 2009, the global financial crisis and "a severe slowdown in cargo markets."
Viva Macau's air operator's certificate was revoked by the Macau Civil Aviation Authority Sunday owing to continuing flight delays and cancellations resulting from the carrier's inability to handle its fuel expenses. The LCC suffered at least 10 delays or cancellations Friday and Saturday, leaving hundreds of passengers stranded at Macau International.
British Airways said yesterday that the second flight attendants' strike, scheduled to run through Tuesday, cost the carrier £11 million ($16.4 million) over the weekend but will have no impact on its full-year earnings. BA estimated that the Unite union's March 20-22 walkout had a £21 million impact on its bottom line ( ATWOnline, March 23).
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 member carriers transported 14.2 million international passengers in February, a 16.9% increase year-over-year. Traffic measured in RPKs rose 14% to 46.8 billion against a 2.4% increase in capacity to 65.87 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 8.1 points to 79.2%. Cargo demand in FTKs grew 29.8% to 4.35 billion while capacity was up 10.2% to 6.35 billion, resulting in a 10.3-point jump in load factor to 68.5%.
Malev Hungarian Airlines' summer schedule launches today and features flights to 50 destinations in 35 countries, including new service from Budapest to St. Petersburg (four-times-weekly starting next month), Malaga (weekly from May), Split (four-times-weekly from May, increasing to five-times-weekly in June) and Dublin (daily, start date undetermined). Continental Airlines launched daily Newark-Munich service Saturday aboard a 767-200ER. Cathay Pacific Airways will launch thrice-weekly Hong Kong-Moscow Domodedovo service on July 13 aboard an A340-300.
ANA blasted Japan Air Lines over plans to use public funds to update its fleet and raised concerns over unfair competition. ANA President Shinichiro Ito told
Hawaiian Airlines has long-range expansion on its radar as it prepares to take delivery of the first of nine A330-200s next month. CEO Mark Dunkerley told
Shandong Airlines reported net income of CNY302.3 million ($44.2 million) in 2009, nearly quadrupling its prior-year earnings of CNY81 million. Operating revenue rose 6.3% to CNY5.37 billion and expenses were up just 2.6% to CNY5.1 billion. The carrier said "cost savings" and "improvement of efficiency" were key to the improved result.
US Congress on Friday passed a 30-day extension of FAA funding to April 30 and moved toward a Senate-House of Representatives conference that will attempt to reconcile disparate reauthorization bills passed by the two chambers. The Senate passed its version last week
