As expected, United Airlines, Continental Airlines and ANA filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation for antitrust immunity across their combined transpacific network, which the carriers argued would generate "substantial service and pricing benefits for consumers." The application was made possible by the US-Japan open skies agreement reached two weeks ago, implementation of which is contingent upon ATI approval ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15).
Two of the world's largest carriers, American Airlines and Ryanair, suffered 737-800 runway mishaps, with AA's Tuesday night overrun in Jamaica resulting in destruction of the aircraft and dozens of injuries.
NCR Corp. announced the purchase of 40 TouchPort kiosks by China Southern Airlines for deployment in Beijing, Shenzhen, Urumqi and Dalian. CZ already had installed a combined 30 of the CUSS kiosks in Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Changchun and Zhengzhou.
Naverus announced that China Eastern Airlines completed a performance based navigation 737 flight at Lhasa last week, marking the first RNP implementation of the aircraft at an airport located higher than 10,000 ft. It also announced the granting of an Instrument Flight Procedure Service Certificate by the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand authorizing it to design, certify and maintain RNP procedures.
Shenzhen Airlines earned net income of CNY500 million ($73.1 million) through the first 11 months of 2009, President Li Kun said, as it signed a financing agreement with the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China covering purchase of 15 737-800s worth CNY5 billion. The airline currently operates 33 -800s in its fleet of more than 130 aircraft and expects to introduce 10 aircraft annually over the next few years. Li Kun has been in charge since controlling stakeholder Li Zeyuan was arrested last month and yesterday vowed to maintain stability at the carrier.
Belgium initiated proceedings against Switzerland before the UN International Court of Justice regarding its longstanding dispute over the 2001 bankruptcy of Sabena, in which SAirGroup (formerly Swissair) and its SAirLines subsidiary held a 49.5% stake. Belgium claimed that Switzerland violated the Lugano Convention, "in particular in the judicial domain, [and relating to] the decision by Swiss courts not to recognize a decision by Belgian courts and not to stay proceedings later initiated in Switzerland on the subject of the same dispute," according to the filing.
China Cargo Airlines selected Boeing's Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag for six new 777 freighters, as well as multiple airplane health management modules for both the 777s and its two current 747-400Fs. The China Eastern Airlines and China Ocean Shipping joint venture will take delivery of its first 777 in the 2010 first quarter.
IATA unveiled several new safety initiatives, including a program called Fatigue Risk Management Systems designed to monitor flight crew fatigue and a Web-based Global Safety Information Center granting IATA members access to its internal safety databases. "The GSIG will enable airlines to benchmark their safety performance with other operators," Senior VP-Safety, Operations and Infrastructure Gunther Matschnigg noted at last week's press day in Geneva.
SR Technics named Titan Aviation President and CEO Raymond Sisson as chief commercial officer. Nexcelle, the GE Middle River Aircraft Systems and Aircelle joint venture, named Michel Abella director-programs. Abella was Aircelle's program manager for its A380 nacelles.
Welcome Air, an Innsbruck-based regional, acquired a 76% stake in financially troubled Air Alps, which also is based in Innsbruck but operates mainly out of Milan Malpensa and Rome Fiumicino in partnership with Alitalia. The new group will operate eight Do-328s and four business jets and focus on niche markets in Central Europe. Financial details of the transaction were not announced. The combined company will produce some €40 million ($57.1 million) in annual revenue and carry around 120,000 passengers.
Embraer announced the sale of two E-190s to Aircraft Asset Management of Germany, which already has agreed to place them with Augsburg Airways. Aircraft are worth $79 million at list prices and will count against the manufacturer's third-quarter backlog. Augsburg took delivery of the first in September and will take the second in 2010. Augsburg, a Lufthansa Regional partner, currently operates 16 aircraft to 21 destinations.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines yesterday said "It is time. . .to expand again" and announced the following new routes: Twice-daily Copenhagen-Vilnius starting Jan. 11 and daily CPH-Lyon beginning April 6; daily Stockholm Arlanda-Visby from June 6 to Sept. 5; six-times-weekly Oslo Gardermoen-Bardufoss from May 31 to Aug. 20. It also will add frequencies from CPH to ARN, OSL, Brussels and Bologna. Emirates will launch daily Dubai-Prague service July 1 aboard a two-class A330.
Boeing formally announced Air Austral's order for two 737-800s, which are worth $152 million at list prices and will replace one 737-300 and one 737-500. The manufacturer also said it delivered four 737-900ERs to Indonesian carrier Lion Air this month. Lion's 737 fleet now comprises 41 -900ERs, -300s and -400s.
LAN Airlines signed a contract for the purchase of 30 A320 family aircraft for delivery between 2011 and 2016. LAN said the aircraft are valued at $1.97 billion at list prices and "will be used for the renewal and growth of the company's short-haul fleet." It said it plans to sell five A318s in 2011 as part of the renewal effort. The LAN mainline and its affiliates currently operate 85 passenger aircraft and 11 freighters. The passenger fleet comprises 767-300ERs, A340-300s and A320 family aircraft.
Navtech said that Delta Air Lines completed its transition to its Preferential Bidding System rostering software. Pilots will use the tool beginning next month. PROS Revenue Management won a contract from Royal Jordanian Airlines to deploy its new suite of network revenue management systems, with implementation scheduled for the 2010 fourth quarter.
Iberia flew 3.72 billion RPKs in November, a 5.9% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity was cut 6.8% to 4.79 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.7 point to 77.8%. Norwegian's November yield fell 20% year-over-year to NOK0.55, while unit revenue dropped 21% to NOK0.41. The LCC flew 872 million RPMs last month, up 27%, against a 29% increase in ASKs to 1.18 billion. Load factor dropped 1 point to 74%. Germanwings transported 501,687 passengers in November, down 1.3% year-over-year. Load factor fell 5.8 points to 70.5%.
