BAA yesterday announced the formal completion of the £1.51 billion ($2.51 billion) sale of London Gatwick to the Global Infrastructure Partners consortium ( ATWOnline, Oct. 22).
Bombardier reported a $168 million profit in its fiscal third quarter ended Oct. 31, down 25.7% from the $226 million earned in the year-ago period, but enjoyed an increase in commercial aircraft deliveries and yesterday announced that AMR Corp.'s American Eagle firmed options for 22 CRJ700s.
AeroLogic, the joint venture between DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, will add two more 777-200Fs this month, an LHC spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline. It already operates two of the freighters. The additional planes will be used to boost frequencies on current routes to Asia from Leipzig/Halle. Load factor is around 75%-80%. Two more 777-200Fs are expected in the spring and another two in the fall.
Wizz Air will begin serving Latvia next spring with flights from Riga to London Luton (thrice-weekly), Oslo Torp (thrice-weekly) and Turku (twice-weekly) launching on March 28. Twice-weekly Prague-Bari and Budapest-Turku flights will begin at the same time.
Finnair is expected to cancel more flights today as ground staff represented by the Finnish Aviation Union continue to walk off the job at Helsinki Vantaa in protest of the outsourcing moves announced Monday ( ATWOnline, Dec. 1). Around 20 flights were cancelled yesterday. Talks between the carrier and the IAU were scheduled for today.
IATA Director-Global Safety Chris Glaeser said this week that through the first 11 months of 2009 there were 73 airline accidents worldwide in which significant aircraft damage was recorded, meaning the industry is on pace for a 38% improvement from the 109 accidents in 2008. "This is the best accident rate we've seen," he told the FAA International Runway Safety Summit in Washington. However, it should be noted that there have been multiple accidents this year with high fatalities, including the May 31 Air France A330-200 crash that killed all 228 aboard.
American Airlines is partnering with TPG Capital to offer to invest $1.1 billion in Japan Airlines to assist with the ailing carrier's restructuring and ensure it remains in the oneworld fold.
US Airways pilots have petitioned the US Dept. of Justice to conduct a full antitrust investigation of the airline's massive Washington National/New York LaGuardia slot swap with Delta Air Lines, a transaction that reportedly will lead to job losses or transfers for 261 LGA-based US pilots.
Pratt & Whitney and Malaysia Airlines signed an MOU to establish an engine nacelle repair joint venture facility in Kuala Lumpur. Ownership will be split 50/50. It is expected to service nacelles, including for non-Pratt engines, from MAS's fleet and also to perform third-party repair work for Asia/Pacific and Middle East carriers. Pratt Global Repair Services VP Tom Hutton said the JV will allow the company "to strengthen our position in the Asia/Pacific region, where the aviation market is expected to see significant growth in the coming decades.
Shannon Aerospace will complete a D check on one Cyprus Airways A320 this month. Monarch Aircraft Engineering will support Edelweiss Air's Goa operation with line maintenance and technical handling for an A330.
Republic Airways Holdings promoted Director-Flight Operations Don Osmundson to VP-flight operations and Director-Human Resources Kathy Woolridge to VP-human resources and named Frontier Airlines VP-Planning and Strategy Daniel Shurz as VP-planning and strategy and Midwest Airlines VP-Planning and Revenue Management Greg Aretakis as VP-revenue production for Republic's branded airline operations.
Aer Lingus will "resort to other measures" in its pursuit of its required cost savings, with capacity reductions and immediate and "compulsory" redundancies in the pipeline, CEO Christoph Mueller said after negotiations with several unions broke down late Tuesday.
ExpressJet named board member T. Patrick Kelly as interim CEO following the resignation of Jim Ream, who left the regional carrier to join American Airlines as senior VP-maintenance & engineering ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2). Kelly has been on the board for two years and previously was an executive at both AA and Sabre. ExpressJet said it would be "considering candidates to fill the CEO role on a long-term basis."
Nigerian Eagle Airlines, formerly Virgin Nigeria, signed an MOU with Delta Air Lines "to explore areas of commercial cooperation that will expand travel options," the carriers announced yesterday. The agreement opens the door for loyalty program linkage and a codeshare on DL's New York JFK-Dakar-Abuja service. Nigerian Eagle also announced a "network-wide" codeshare and interline deal with Ethiopian Airlines.
Gol said all of its aircraft will be equipped with GPS Landing System capabilities and Vertical Situation Displays by next month. It ended the third quarter with 109 737s in operation.
Panasonic Avionics Corp. will provide Asiana Airlines with its eFX IFE system onboard two A321s. OZ already offers eFX on four 747-400s, seven 767-300s and two A330-300s.
News from Travel Technology Update: Since American Airlines told delegates to the Computerized Airline Sales and Marketing Association conference in October that it plans to move all indirect volume to direct connections, industry observers have wondered what such a world would look like and how it would change relationships among airlines, travel agencies, GDSs and customers. Jim Davidson, chief executive officer of Farelogix, shed some light on the issue during the recent PhoCusWright conference in Orlando. "It's not about eliminating the GDS channel," he said.
Both Delta Air Lines and Continental Airlines said year-over-year unit revenue declines are down to around 8%, providing some statistical indication that the US industry has weathered the worst of the demand storm.
Allegiant Air flew 350.5 million RPMs in November, up 25.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 24.6% to 387.9 million ASMs and load factor increased 0.6 point to 90.4%.
Air Canada will begin charging economy passengers C$30/$30 to check a second bag on flights to/from the US and C$50/$50 on flights to/from Europe and Israel on Jan. 19. A second piece of checked luggage will continue to be free on flights within Canada and to/from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia and Australia. Premium loyalty program members will be exempt.
ARINC announced a comprehensive technology replacement agreement with Avicom Japan, that country's service provider for airline and civil aviation communications, under which it will enhance Japan's ACARS data link infrastructure with "efficient ACARS multiple-service technology." New technology will allow for increased data link message traffic while enabling Avicom to prepare for eventual controller-pilot data link communications and aeronautical telecommunications network operations, according to ARINC.
AirTran Airways customer service, ramp and reservations agents rejected representation by the International Assn. of Machinists, the airline announced. The US National Mediation Board said there was an "insufficient showing of interest" from employees.
Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport announced an agreement with airline representatives regarding airport charges in 2010 and 2011. Charges will increase 4% on July 1 and an additional 3% on Oct. 1. On April 1, 2011, they will rise by another 3% and then by 2.5% on Oct. 1, 2011. In total, charges will rise 12.5% over the two-year period. The agreement is contingent on a deal setting a charge schedule in 2012-15 that must be reached by Feb. 19. In the absence of such a contract, charges will rise 8.4% on April 1.
