Air Berlin officials yesterday touted their strong third-quarter results, first reported Wednesday ( ATWOnline, Nov. 18), with CFO Ulf Huettmayer telling analysts and reporters that the more than doubling of its net income to €95.2 million ($142.4 million) "distances ourselves from other carriers" struggling through the economic downturn. CEO Joachim Hunold said AB's results "would be better by €10 million. .
US FAA yesterday issued a Notice of Proposed Rule Making "to put limits on airlines and other operators hiring FAA safety inspectors and their managers for two years after those employees leave the agency." It said the proposed rule "would prohibit air carriers, flight schools, repair stations and other certificated organizations from employing or contracting with former FAA inspectors and managers to represent them in agency matters if the former employee had any direct oversight of the certificate holder in the preceding two years."
American Eagle yesterday launched service from Miami to Charleston (daily using an ERJ-145, increasing to twice-daily April 6), Knoxville (daily, ERJ-145), Eleuthera (thrice-weekly using an ATR 72) and Treasure Cay (four-times-weekly, ATR 72) and today will begin four-times-weekly MIA-Governor's Harbour service aboard an ATR 72. JetBlue Airways launched daily San Francisco-Fort Lauderdale service aboard an A320. Finnair will operate five-times-weekly Helsinki-Toronto service June 6-Sept. 9.
Air Canada said it has begun trials of onboard Wi-Fi on select flights to Los Angeles from Toronto and Montreal using Aircell's Gogo Inflight Internet service. Initially the system will be available only while flights are over the continental US. AC said it plans eventually to extend it to other routes in North America, pointing out that development of appropriate infrastructure in Canada is required to allow air-to-ground wireless communications in that country.
US FAA's computer system that processes flight plans failed for about 4 hr. yesterday, leading to numerous flight delays and cancellations throughout the country, the second such glitch in the past 15 months.
GECAS delivered one new 737-700 to Aerolineas Argentinas and one new A320-200 to Tiger Airways as part of sale/leaseback deals. Avia Solutions Group received one ex-British Airways 737-300; it plans to acquire three more this year. BOC Aviation delivered one new 737-800 on long-term lease to Skymark Airlines of Japan, its first delivery to a Japanese carrier.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' Assembly of Presidents started on a sober note yesterday with DG Andrew Herdman telling media that the group of 17 Asia/Pacific carriers is expected to lose $4.8 billion this year owing mainly to the global economic downturn.
SR Technics' contract with Etihad Airways announced earlier this week in Dubai is worth up to $250 million. Under the 10-year Integrated Component Services contract, SRT will handle component exchange, MRO, engineering and logistics services, access to SRT's components pool and component management for Etihad's current Airbus fleet of more than 40 A320s, A330s and A340s as well as future deliveries. EY's separate agreement with International Aero Engines is potentially worth $200 million.
ARINC renewed its contract with Korean Air to continue to provide GLOBALink data and voice communications and AviNet wide-area network service. Terms were not disclosed. Lufthansa Systems won a five-year contract extension with Germanwings to continue to provide its Lido RouteManual navigation charts and will begin providing its electronic version, Lido eRouteManual.
The European Court of Justice ruled yesterday that passengers on flights delayed for more than 3 hr. have the same right to seek compensation from airlines as passengers on cancelled flights.
Teledyne Controls was selected by Dubai Aerospace Enterprise to supply its Flight Data Interface Management Unit as a standard option for DAE Capital's fleet of 70 new A320s.
ARINC announced that its vMUSE passenger system qualified as a CUPPS Certified Platform. ARINC installed vMUSE technology as a CUPPS platform at Las Vegas McCarran in "a live operational environment" in cooperation with WestJet on Jan. 15. It now has checked in "more than 70,000 passengers" for WS and Continental Airlines and handled as many as 20 flights per day, ARINC said.
Norwegian yesterday revealed its new loyalty program, Norwegian Reward, under which members will receive cash points worth NOK1 each at a 10% rate on full flex tickets and 2% on low-fare tickets for use as full or partial payment on future fares or services. Points can be used at any time, although the airline said that law prohibits individual passengers from earning points on domestic flights. The program is independent from credit card promotions and other schemes.
Claiming that the downturn "has led to behavioral changes among our customers which are likely to persist beyond the recovery," Air France KLM yesterday proposed an enlarged voluntary redundancy program affecting 1,700 jobs next year as it announced a €147 million ($219.3 million) loss in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, reversed from a €27 million surplus last year.
Lufthansa Technik signed a Total Component Support contract with Air Berlin Group and will manage component supply for AB's 737s, A320 family aircraft, A330s and Q400s. Germany's second-largest carrier will receive on-site service at its Berlin and Dusseldorf hubs and will have access to LHT's warehouses in Hamburg and Frankfurt. A significant portion of AB's inventory already has been transferred to LHT. LHT also announced a seven-year engine support contract with Yemen's Felix Airways.
ARC and American Airlines are developing what the pair described as "a revolutionary" revenue recovery tool that will enable participating airlines to identify duplicate bookings in virtually real time across multiple distribution channels. Although carriers do not disclose the amount of revenue lost through such activities, which typically occur when passengers deliberately make multiple bookings to cover more than one trip, the figure is very large, AA MD-Revenue Management Rick Elieson noted.
Flydubai will launch twice-daily Dubai-Bahrain service on Dec. 13. Arik Air will launch five-times-weekly Abuja-London Heathrow service on Nov. 27 aboard a 737-800.
IATA reported "an interruption" in the recovery in premium airline travel evidenced in July and August as international premium traffic declined 13.9% year-over-year in September, marking "a deterioration from the 12% August fall." In its latest Premium Travel Monitor, the organization stated, "The question is whether this setback is just the usual volatility--upturns are never smooth--or a change in the previously improving trend." It added that "most analyses" of recent dips in world trade and US consumer confidence, key indicators of passengers' willingness to purchase first-
China United Airlines, the Beijing Nanyuan-based subsidiary of Shanghai Airlines, plans to establish a second base in Foshan, Guangdong Province. It launched service to the southern city yesterday. Like Nanyuan, Foshan's airport largely is reserved for the military and has not handled commercial operations in seven years. SAL Chairman Zhou Chi said CUA plans to establish an airport management company in Foshan and will open more routes from the airport in the coming days. Owing to fierce competition, CUA's strategy is to serve secondary domestic markets.
Delta Air Lines revealed yesterday that it has made a comprehensive offer to Japan Airlines to switch from oneworld to SkyTeam that includes financial assistance and guarantees totaling $1 billion, saying it wants JAL to be "the face of Asia" for DL.
RDC Aviation said its fuel burn and emissions calculator "has been recognized by the UK Government as fulfil[ing] the approval requirements on specific emissions factors." According to the firm, "this is the first time that a standalone methodology has received such an approval in the UK, paving the way for RDC Aviation to offer its emissions calculator as an approved alternative to simple, generic calculators." RDC Aviation's flight emissions calculator is available at www.rdcaviation.com and on ATWOnline here.
Senegal order helps Airbus to 'better than expected' air show CFM, Pratt make progress on next-generation engines Fokker introduces comprehensive support program Additional stories Dubai News from Nov. 16, Nov. 17, Nov. 18.
Dunlop Aircraft Tyres opened its new Chinese retread and distribution facility in Jinjiang. The facility, operating as Dunlop Taikoo (Jinjiang) Aircraft Tyres Co., is a joint venture with Hong Kong Aircraft Engineering (28%) and Taikoo (Xiamen) Aircraft Engineering (9%). It has full site and product approval from CAAC and repair station approval from EASA. In addition to retreading, it will support Asia/Pacific customers by distributing new tires manufactured at Dunlop's Birmingham site.
Aer Lingus yesterday threatened to "proceed to implement an alternative means" of delivering the required €97 million ($144.7 million) in cost savings if it cannot reach an agreement with unions by Nov. 30 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 10). It said it accepted an invitation from Ireland's National Implementation Body to mediate negotiations.
AirTran Airways said it will outfit its entire 138-aircraft fleet with 2.5-by-9-in. seatback advertisements over the next two weeks. Ads will be "easily changeable" and the first advertising partner is Mother Nature Network. Atlanta-based OnBoard Media Group provides the FAA-approved, patent-pending system, AirTran said, adding that it will be the first US airline to use it.
