Amadeus reached a 10-year agreement with Air France and KLM for implementation and operation of its Altea Inventory system. The solution will replace the carriers' legacy inventory systems by year end and will be fully integrated with the Altea Reservation sales platform.
Rolls-Royce announced an order for Trent 700s to power 10 Virgin Atlantic Airways A330s. Contract, including TotalCare service support, is worth $720 million at list prices. Six of the aircraft were ordered directly by Virgin and the remaining four will be leased from AerCap. Delivery begins in 2011 ( ATWOnline, June 23).
Brussels Airlines is seeing a "very slight and progressive" improvement in the business environment, with higher load factors and a stabilization of the decrease in yield occurring thanks to solid sales of its business class and b-flex economy tickets, co-MD Bernard Gustin told ATWOnline.
Bmi suffered a €10 million ($14.8 million) operating loss in the first nine months of 2009, according to the interim report released last week by Lufthansa. The UK carrier reported €301 million in revenue during the period and EBITDA of -€14 million. Comparisons with the year-ago period were not provided. Lufthansa was scheduled to become bmi's sole shareholder Sunday following the purchase of SAS's 20% stake ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2).
US Dept. of Transportation Inspector General Calvin Scovel and US Government Accountability Office Director-Physical Infrastructure Issues Gerald Dillingham last week told Congress that FAA faces considerable challenges in implementing a satellite-based NextGen ATC system, ranging from delays in approving new procedures and technology to skepticism among airlines regarding investment in new equipment.
SAS Group currently operates nine A330s/A340s and will not continue to operate a long-haul network if it is forced to reduce that fleet to fewer than seven, President and CEO Mats Jansson told ATWOnline at last week's Star Alliance event in Newark. "The crisis hit SK in November/December 2007, at a time where we had actually been evaluating extending our long-haul fleet from 11 to 12 aircraft. But we eventually had to reduce the fleet," he said.
A Jetstar Airways A330-200 with 209 passengers and crew onboard suffered momentary erratic speed data indications from its computers in apparent bad weather and possible icing conditions on an Oct. 29 flight from Tokyo Narita to Gold Coast. The scenario bears similarities to that which investigators believe may have been a factor in the loss of an Air France -200 over the Atlantic Ocean five months ago ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1).
Lufthansa Friday refused to confirm press reports that it has decided to defer A380 deliveries. CFO Stephen Gemkow said last week during the company's interim results news conference in Frankfurt that LH was discussing deferrals with manufacturers for aircraft scheduled to arrive in 2010-13. A spokesperson told ATWOnline, "We did not give any specifics regarding which aircraft types could be affected.
Hainan Airlines parent HNA Group launched a business jet subsidiary in Shanghai last Friday in an attempt to tap the increasing potential of the high-end business and general aviation market. Deer Business Jet Co. has registered capital of CNY300 million ($43.9 million), with HNA subsidiaries Deer Air and Yangtze River Express the main stakeholders. The ownership structure has not been made public. It initially will operate two Hawker 800s. China currently has no more than 30 business jets, but it is estimated the country will need 600-1,200 over the next 10 years.
British Airway took a bold stand in late September, introducing a new premier business product targeting an exclusive group of passengers willing to pay top fares for all-business-class service between New York JFK and London City Airport, which serves the Canary Wharf financial district and east London. The twice-daily service is operated on new A318s with a range of 3,200 nm. and configured with just 32 lie-flat sleeper seats.
FAA denied an application from the Glendale-Burbank-Pasadena Airport Authority to institute a nighttime curfew on air traffic at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank. The authority had sought permanently to ban operations from 10 p.m. to 6:59 a.m. local time. Airlines currently observe a voluntary curfew during those times, according to the Los Angeles Times.
The dispute between Expedia.com and Choice Hotels International may seem like déjà vu to those who remember the battle between the online agency and InterContinental Hotels Group in 2004. But there is a key difference between the old fight and the new, according to observers close to the issue.
A coalition of US aviation and education officials is urging members of Congress to support extension of the Alternative Minimum Tax exemption for private activity bonds and allowing full refinancing of current debt. The coalition includes ACI-NA, American Assn. of Port Authorities and the Education Finance Council.
The strategy of Fraport AG to accommodate more widebody aircraft in order to increase airport volume and extend intercontinental traffic could put additional pressure on regional aircraft operators.
OAG, which has played an integral role in the history of commercial aviation, is marking its 80th anniversary this year. For decades, the Official Airline Guide, its flagship product, was essential for travel agents, tour operators, interlining carriers--anyone who needed to know which airline flew where and when. The OAG brand is venerable. That's a nice word for "old." In May, OAG's parent company, United Business Media Ltd., appointed Peter von Moltke chief executive officer of its UBM Aviation division.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines DG Andrew Herdman expressed his frustration with the current system during his organizations' Presidents Assembly meeting in Singapore last week: "If Nokia was operating under the same framework as the airline industry, you would have to have a Finish passport to buy one of its phones. [Regarding the automobile industry] you could only buy a Japanese car in the US if you were going to drive it on roads outside the US."
UK airports operator BAA completed an agreement to sell its 100% interest in London Gatwick to a group controlled by Global Infrastructure Partners for £1.51 billion ($2.48 billion), of which £55 million is conditional on future traffic performance and the buyer's future capital structure. GIP, which was founded jointly by Credit Suisse and GE, owns 75% of London City. "We wish Gatwick well for the future and are confident that the airport will flourish under new ownership," BAA CEO Colin Matthews said, adding, "BAA will focus on improving Heathrow and our other airports."
The air transport community went into last month's ICAO High Level Meeting on the environment in a rare state of unity behind a set of proposals with which it hoped to seize the high ground and first-mover status in the debate over the industry's responsibility toward reducing its greenhouse gas emissions.
World airport traffic rose 1.6% to 261.95 million arriving and departing passengers in September compared to September 2008, according Airport Council International's PaxFlash traffic report. Domestic airport traffic climbed 4.4% to 136.69 million while international passengers dipped 1.1% to 123.31 million.
