Delta Air Lines flew 13.57 billion system RPMs in November, a 7.1% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 8.4% to 17.06 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.1 points to 79.6%. American Airlines flew 9.49 billion system RPMs in November, down 0.5% year-over-year. Capacity fell 4.2% to 11.92 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3 points to 79.6%. American Eagle flew 634.6 million RPMs, up 11.7%, against a 6.8% increase in capacity to 901.2 million ASMs. Load factor was up 3.1 points to 70.4%.
FAA announced Friday that it is soliciting bids for NextGen support contracts with a combined value of around $7 billion, which it said will be "the largest award in the agency's history." It said it will issue as many as five separate contracts "for research and development and systems engineering work that will help the agency deliver NextGen." They will come under an umbrella program called System Engineering 2020.
Batavia Air 737 Classic failed to take off from Denspasar on Dec. 3 owing to an engine failure that produced smoke, reportedly leading three passengers to jump 2 m. from the aircraft's emergency door to the runway surface, sustaining injuries. According to media reports from Indonesia, six other passengers also were injured.
Korean Air became the second airline to order Boeing's 747-8 Intercontinental passenger jet, placing an order for five of the aircraft last week. The new planes are worth some $1.5 billion at list prices, Boeing said, while the airline indicated it expects delivery between April 2013 and May 2015, according to press reports from Korea.
US Airways will launch daily Charlotte-Rome Fiumicino service on May 13 aboard an A330-300. AirTran Airways ceased its Charleston, S.C., service on Dec. 3. The LCC had served the airport since mid-2007. It also announced the start of twice-weekly Orlando International-Des Moines service on March 6. Delta Air Lines will operate flights to Honolulu from both Detroit (thrice-weekly from June 2) and San Diego (daily beginning June 3) using either 757s or A330s.
Azul Linhas Aereas Brasileiras, the year-old Campinas-based LCC, plans to increase passenger traffic 50% next year and "will continue to grow significantly faster than the overall market," CEO David Neeleman told Dow Jones last week. Azul currently operates 14 aircraft to 16 domestic destinations and plans to add seven planes and three new airports in 2010, he said, "but we could still expand much faster than that."
Airbus said Friday it has manufactured an all-composite A350 center wing-box panel, the first structure on the next-generation aircraft it has completed and the largest "monobloc" composite panel it has produced.
London Gatwick owner Global Infrastructure Partners, which completed the acquisition from BAA last week ( ATWOnline, Oct. 4), plans to sell a stake in LGW to an institutional investor. GIP said it would seek an "equity syndication" similar to the 25% London City share it sold to Highstar Capital, Bloomberg News reported.
Boeing confirmed Friday that it issued a service bulletin Nov. 25 to operators of 777s powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 800s recommending a thrust reverser fix to address concerns related to overheating. The issue has not led to any accidents, but the manufacturer said damage associated with overheating has been discovered on the thrust reversers. It said 225 777s are affected. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the SB and Boeing later confirmed its existence to multiple media outlets.
Air China Senior VP Fan Cheng was named Communist Party Secretary at Shenzhen Airlines last week, increasing speculation in China that CA will seek control of Shenzhen following the arrest of controlling shareholder Li Zeyuan ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2). Fan reportedly will oversee day-to-day operations at Shenzhen, in which CA currently holds 25%.
Dublin Airport Authority said Ireland's Commission for Aviation Regulation has determined that the average maximum passenger charge will increase to €9.97 ($15.04) in 2010-15, more than 33% higher than the current period, although the commission's report "contains many variables." DAA said charges "in real terms" have fallen 30% over the past 20 years and that the increase still compares favorably to European "peers" that charge an average of €12.50 per passenger.
ANA last week told ATWOnline that it is "definitely very interested in deepening our relationships with partner airlines" but would not comment on press reports that it plans to seek transpacific antitrust immunity with both United Airlines and Continental Airlines once an expanded air service agreement is signed by the US and Japan, which could happen as early as this week. "At this point, it's premature for us to talk publicly about plans, timetables, etc.," an ANA spokesperson said.
Boeing's new Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Jim Albaugh has brought together several former top Boeing executives in a senior advisory group to aid him in reshaping the aerospace giant's troubled commercial division. Albaugh took over from Scott Carson in September after a career spent on the space/defense side of the aerospace business ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1).
As the domestic cargo market recovers, China Southern Airlines is boosting capacity on routes from Shanghai Pudong and moving toward making the airport its cargo hub. The Guangzhou-based carrier introduced two new 777 freighters last week, adding to the pair of 747-400Fs it already operated from PVG. A new 747 service to Frankfurt launched last week and the 777s are expected to fly to Chicago O'Hare starting this month. CZ also operates a 747F to Amsterdam.
CFM56-7B powering a 737NG operated by TUIfly has logged more than 40,000 hr. on wing without a single removal, setting a new record for the engine model, CFM announced. It was installed in February 1999 and has logged 40,654 flight hr. and more than 14,000 flight cycles to date.
Aeroflot announced the sale of a controlling stake in its Aeroflot Plus charter subsidiary to Jet Alliance of Austria. Aeroflot Plus operates out of Moscow Sheremetyevo's business terminal with three Tu-134s and two Yak-42s. Terms were not disclosed. Separately, SU launched the following A320 services Wednesday: from Vladivostok to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk (thrice-weekly), Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (twice-weekly) and Khabarovsk (twice-weekly) and from KHV to UUS (thrice-weekly) and PKC (twice-weekly).
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said regulators, airports and airlines have "picked off all the low-hanging fruit there is to pick" to improve runway safety and now must focus on gathering "more detailed information" that can be analyzed to preemptively identify airfield risks.
It turns out that a "better than expected" Dubai Airshow that featured an order for 12 A350-900s from Ethiopian Airlines was not the highlight of Airbus's November, which featured an order for 52 A320s from an undisclosed customer that pushed the manufacturer's total to 74 new aircraft for the month.
Dnata announced a deal with Go-Ahead Group under which the Dubai-based company purchased certain ground handling operations at London Heathrow and Manchester. The deal, valued at £15 million ($24.9 million), comprises Plane Handling, which provides cargo and ramp handling at LHR and cargo handling at MAN, and Aviance's passenger and ramp handling operation at LHR's Terminals 3 and 4. Transaction is scheduled to be complete on Jan. 30 and marks Dnata's entry into the UK market. It currently operates at 17 airports in seven countries.
Seabury Group completed its merger with Minneapolis-based Organizational Concepts International, a global advisory and investment management firm. Terms were not disclosed. Seabury made a minority investment in OCI in 2008. The firm will use the Seabury name and add Minneapolis to its global office locations, with former OCI President and CEO Marty Kuehne serving as CAO and MD-human capital. John Kuehne, who was executive VP and partner at OCI, will become CFO and MD.
Niki plans to increase capacity by more than 30% next year as it endeavors to fill the void left by SkyEurope Airlines and a restructuring Austrian Airlines. "This is my chance and I'm going to take this opportunity," President Niki Lauda told ATWOnline. On Feb. 1 the LCC will begin daily flights from Vienna to Belgrade, Sofia and Bucharest Otopeni and on March 26 it will launch daily services to Barcelona and Nice and a six-times-weekly flight to Copenhagen. Its fleet will grow from the current 11 aircraft to 17 A320 family jets and E-190s next year.
Southern Air Holdings, parent of Connecticut-based ACMI freight carrier Southern Air, announced the appointment of DHL Express Asia/Pacific CEO Daniel McHugh as CEO effective Jan. 1. He succeeds Southern founder James Neff, who is retiring but will remain a board member. Southern operates 16 747 freighters and plans to introduce its first two 777-200LRFs in the 2010 first quarter. It will operate the aircraft for Thai Airways.
Aerowing patented what it described as a "new technology to enhance and improve the leak detection market." According to Nevada-based Aerowing, the portable HyTracker Leak Detector hydrogen tracer gas detector can detect fuel leakage down to "bacteria size."
