Fokker Services signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Goodrich Corp. covering future manufacture and supply of F70 and F100 main landing gear spare parts.
Southwest Airlines announced a series of schedule changes beginning next May that include the addition of the new airport in Panama City, Fla., to its network ( ATWOnline, Oct. 22). It will serve ECP twice-daily beginning May 23 from Nashville, Houston Hobby, Baltimore and Orlando International. Overall, the schedule from May 9 features 65 new roundtrip flights and 24 eliminated flights. Additional new services comprise twice-daily flights from St.
The Australian government will relax the ownership rules for Qantas, allowing the national airline to play a bigger role in consolidation of the global airline industry.
A UK High Court judge is scheduled to rule today on British Airways' claim that the strike ballot conducted by Unite flight attendants was flawed, a procedure that may constitute the desperate airline's only chance to avoid the 12-day strike called for Dec. 22 if emergency talks convened yesterday fail to produce an agreement.
Ryanair will open bases at Faro in March and Malaga next June, it announced yesterday. The LCC will base three 737s at Faro and invest $200 million at the airport, from which it will launch service to Bergamo (March 25), Birmingham (March 28), Billund, Derry, Kerry, Knock, Marseille, Oslo Rygge, Stockholm Skavsta (all March 30), Eindhoven, Madrid, Maastricht, Memmingen and Paris Beauvais (all April 27). It will serve 28 destinations from Faro following the expansion.
US Aerospace Industries Assn. forecast that US aerospace sales will increase slightly in 2010 before slowing in 2011, with already stagnant civil aircraft sales falling next year. In its annual forecast released yesterday, AIA said total US aerospace sales are expected to rise 4.1% year-over-year to $214.1 billion for full-year 2009 and then remain basically flat in 2010, barely growing to $214.4 billion. Civil aircraft sales are expected to rise 2.4% year-over-year for full-year 2009 before dipping 7% in 2010 to $76.7 billion.
Continental Airlines yesterday announced it will offer Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on 21 757-300s operating primarily on domestic routes beginning in the 2010 second quarter. Service cost will start at $4.95 and will be based on length of flight, CO said.
News from Travel Technology Update: Early next year, Amadeus will begin rolling out technical standards that it has developed in conjunction with ATPCO to enable travel agencies to sell airlines' ancillary fees through the GDS, David Jones, Amadeus chief executive officer, told TTU. The pace and urgency with which airlines have gone "charging in" to create new ancillary revenue streams is uncharacteristic of the industry, Jones said. The development of electronic distribution and the protocols of interlining required a shared set of technical solutions, he said.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani does not expect the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to start in 2012 as scheduled owing to legal challenges concerning its unilateral implementation. "I am convinced it will not happen," he told ATWOnline at the industry body's Global Press Day in Geneva. "You will see that many governments will legally challenge the unilateral approach of EU ETS in the coming years," he said, adding that he anticipates filings from the US, Japan, China and others.
Airlink said the South African Civil Aviation Authority decided not to ground the regional carrier following two recent accidents and confirmed its "status as a safe airline." CAA conducted an audit of Airlink's operation and still is investigating separate incidents in Durban, Port Elizabeth and George ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10).
British Airways said it is "commencing legal action" in an effort to forestall the 12-day flight attendants strike set to begin on Dec. 22 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15). It also claimed that "irregularities" in Unite's balloting of union members may render the strike vote invalid.
Delta Air Lines expects to report a $1.5 billion net loss for 2009, compared to an $8.9 billion deficit in 2008 that largely was the result of goodwill impairment, and an operating profit of $100 million, it said yesterday in a presentation to investors. Excluding special items, the 2009 loss is expected to be $1.1 billion. It expects December passenger unit revenue to fall just 1% year-over-year to 10.8 cents. The largest decline was June's 23%. Next year's consolidated unit cost excluding fuel is expected to be flat compared to 2009's 8.25 cents.
Etihad Airways joined the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, an airline-led industry working group established in 2008 to accelerate the commercialization and availability of sustainable biofuels.
Air France KLM flew 15.47 billion RPKs in November, down 3.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2.9% to 19.83 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 0.2 point to 78%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 13.59 billion RPKs in November, a 14.9% increase year-over-year, while capacity rose 16.2% to 18.1 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 0.9 point to 75.1%. Lufthansa Passenger Airlines flew 9.59 billion RPKs, up 0.2%, against a 1.3% lift in capacity to 12.81 billion ASKs. Load factor was down 0.9 point to 74.8%.
SpiceJet launched cargo operations in Kochi, the 14th city in its freight network. The LCC said it carries around 120 tons of freight per day aboard its 19 737NGs.
US Air Transport Assn. announced that 15 airlines have signed MOUs with either AltAir Fuels, Rentech or both expressing nonbinding commitment to support future biofuel supply. Air Canada, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, FedEx Express, JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa, Mexicana, Polar Air Cargo, United Airlines, UPS Airlines and US Airways signed with both providers. Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines went with AltAir only and AirTran Airways signed with Rentech. ATA said discussions with additional fuel producers "about other projects" have started.
While asserting that the industry downturn has reached bottom with load factors returning to pre-recession levels and yields experiencing a timid recovery, IATA has become less positive about prospects for 2010 and yesterday deepened its forecast for global industry losses to $5.6 billion from $3.8 billion owing to renewed pressure on passenger yields, higher fuel prices and low aircraft utilization. The organization maintained its forecast of an $11 billion net loss this year ( ATWOnline, Sept. 16).
Air France A380 was held at New York JFK Monday night because of a fuel transfer problem. Passengers scheduled to fly to Paris Charles de Gaulle on Flight AF007 were put on alternate flights yesterday. AF took delivery of the aircraft on Oct. 30 and it first flew from CDG to JFK on Nov. 20 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 2).
Boeing called yesterday's 787 first flight a success despite the inclement weather that cut it short, setting the stage for what the company hopes will be a smooth flight test program culminating with FAA certification and first delivery to launch customer ANA in the 2010 fourth quarter.
Aeronautical Engineers announced it has become a Boeing Licensed Third Party STC Provider for the 737-200SF, 737-300SF and the 737-400SF passenger-to-freighter conversions.
AerCap signed two debt facility agreements that will provide $127 million in funding, the lessor announced. The first, worth $67 million, was inked with Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale for two existing A330s on long-term leases. The second, worth $60 million, was signed with Natixis Transport Finance to finance AerCap investments.
OnAir said it is offering airlines the chance "to communicate directly with their passengers once onboard through personalized text messages." OnAir chose Halys to provide the SMS system that allows carriers to communicate with individual passengers during the flight.
AerData, which provides software and back office services for aircraft asset managers, said that DVB Bank acquired a 2% stake. Other shareholders are AerData Management and AerCap with 49% each.
