Boeing, Honeywell's UOP and Mexico's Airports and Auxiliary Services agency, an arm of the Ministry of Communications and Transport, announced last week that they have formed a "collaboration to identify, research and further the development of a commercially viable market for Mexico-sourced sustainable aviation biofuels."
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China last week agreed to purchase a 48% stake in Sichuan Airlines subsidiary United Eagle Airlines in order to facilitate the sale of its ARJ21 and C919 aircraft. A COMAC source told ATWOnline that the manufacturer will invest CNY1 billion ($146.3 million) in Chengdu-based United Eagle, which under terms of the agreement will order 30 ARJ21s after the stake sale is concluded.
IATA reported that August premium passenger traffic was down 12% year-over-year, a marked improvement over May's 23.5% year-over-year drop that signified the "low point" of the decline. In was also improved from July's 14.1% fall. In its latest "Premium Travel Monitor" release, IATA said the sharp drop in premium fares also receded in August.
Responding to media speculation that its 787 program may suffer more delays because of the complex side-of-body modification, Boeing VP and GM-787 Dreamliner Program Scott Fancher issued a statement Friday claiming that the troubled aircraft is on schedule to fly this year.
Aeroflot said it earned a RUB3.5 billion ($119.2 million) first-half profit according to Russian accounting standards, representing a 55.6% increase over the RUB2.25 billion earned on the same basis in the first six months of 2008. Passenger revenue fell 12.1% year-over-year but market share rose 1.5 points to 26.2%.
Qantas will have to wait until December for the delivery of its fifth and sixth A380s after encountering flight stability problems with the fifth aircraft, which had been expected to enter service on US routes next month. QF confirmed to ATWOnline that the aircraft will require further testing in Toulouse to rectify a minor trim stability problem. However, it dismissed media rumors that the A380 was not flying straight while on autopilot.
Volaris intends to lease two new A319s next summer, CEO Enrique Beltranena said last week, according to Dow Jones. He also said the Toluca-based carrier has been operating in the black for the past 17 months. Flydubai took delivery of a fifth new 737-800, part of its order for 50 placed at last year's Farnborough Airshow. Aircraft seats 189 in one class and is financed by the $320 million sale/leaseback deal recently announced with GECAS ( ATWOnline, July 2).
EFIS Morocco won a cargo GSA contract from DHL Aviation to market capacity on 757 freighter flights from Casablanca to Paris Charles de Gaulle and Leipzig.
Airport Council International-North America launched a new database that will give airports access to information on successful programs and sustainability trends. "Airports across the country and around the world have undertaken or are in the process of implementing innovative sustainability programs to improve efficiency in aviation, but until today, there has been no central repository of this important information," ACI-NA President Greg Principato said last week in Austin.
Spanish government will lend domestic airlines up to €600 million ($895.8 million) in 2010-12 in order to "avoid possible restructuring or bankruptcies," it said in a statement cited by Dow Jones.
Japanese Transport Minister Seiji Maehara once again attempted to ease fears about Japan Airlines' weak financial prospects, saying at a Friday news conference that "there is no change at all in our policy that the government will back up" the airline if it is in imminent danger of collapse. JAL's share price hit a seven-year low Friday, driven by concern over the struggling carrier's effort to develop a viable restructuring plan ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14).
SriLankan Airlines will launch twice-weekly service from Colombo to Milan Malpensa on Dec. 16 and increase flights to London Heathrow, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Hong Kong, Tiruchirapalli, Male, Bangalore, Karachi and Bahrain. Frequencies to Doha and Dammam will rise on Oct. 25. Norwegian will launch service from Copenhagen to Malta, Zagreb, Dubrovnik and Sardinia at the beginning of May, as well as Oslo Gardermoen-Malta, Stockholm Arlanda-Athens and ARN-Palermo, which will start at the end of March or beginning of April. Bergen-Tromso service is set to begin in March.
EgyptAir Holding Co. Chairman and CEO Hussein Massoud told ATWOnline in Cairo that the airline has not been affected by the industry downturn as deeply as others and that it expects another profit in fiscal 2009-10.
Singapore Airlines flew 6.98 billion RPKs in September, down 7.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 12.5% to 8.63 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4 points to 80.9%.
The US House of Representatives this week overwhelmingly passed legislation to revamp regulations for hiring and training pilots, the result of Congressional concern sparked by the February crash of a Colgan Air Q400 that killed 50 people near Buffalo.
Qatar Airways A340-600 powered by Trent 556 engines flew from London Gatwick to Doha using a 50-50 blend of synthetic GTL kerosene and conventional oil-based kerosene Monday, which the carrier said was the world's first commercial passenger flight powered by fuel made from natural gas. The flight was the "latest step" for the consortium comprising QR, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Qatar Petroleum, Qatar Science & Technology Park, Shell and Qatar Fuel ( ATWOnline, Nov. 15, 2007).
Bmibaby and Germanwings will link their websites and list certain flights of both carriers, sending customers to the corresponding booking page after they select a flight. Bmibaby customers will have access to 37 Germanwings flights from Manchester, London Stansted and Edinburgh while Germanwings customers will be able to book 33 bmibaby services from Cardiff, Nottingham East Midlands, Birmingham and Manchester.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday officially inaugurated Lufthansa Technik Milan at Malpensa. LTMIL will offer component and maintenance services up to A checks, aircraft-on-ground support and troubleshooting. Initially, aircraft from the A320, A330/A340 and 737 families will be maintained, but "in case of an adequate market demand LTMIL will also extend its services to other aircraft types," LHT said. The new facility is an extension of Lufthansa Technik Component Services Milan, which opened in spring 2008.
Goodrich Corp. said it signed a research agreement with Rolls-Royce "to develop the next generation of fuel nozzles for 'lean burn' combustion technology systems." According to Goodrich, which also has been selected to supply the combustion system fuel nozzles for the A350's Trent XWB, lean burn technology allows for a more complete combustion cycle, "which reduces emissions and increases efficiency."
Boeing, Shanghai Airport Authority and Shanghai Airlines yesterday opened a new two-bay hangar at Shanghai Pudong to be used by their Boeing Shanghai Aviation Services MRO joint venture.
Caribbean Airlines promoted Executive VP and COO Ian Brunton to CEO, effective yesterday. He succeeds Philip Saunders, who tendered his resignation six months ago. Brunton formerly was chairman of the Trinidad and Tobago Civil Aviation Authority and the Trinidad and Tobago Airline Pilots' Assn. and was a member of the BWIA board. Global Aviation Holdings, parent of North American Airlines and World Airways, named Polar Air Cargo VP-Sales and Marketing for Europe, Middle East, Africa and India Hendrik Falk as VP-cargo sales.
Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen-based Pegasus Airlines has formed a joint venture with state-run Kyrgyzstan Airlines, Pegasus GM Sertac Haybat confirmed to ATWOnline. Pegasus will have a 49% stake in the venture to be named Kyrgyz Pegasus Airlines, which should become operational next month and will begin by offering low-fare flights from Bishkek to Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Turkey aboard 737NGs wet-leased from Pegasus. The number of aircraft has not been determined.
EasyJet will commence operations at Belfast City with a twice-daily service to/from London Luton on Jan. 7 as part of its plan "to assess if easyJet passengers find a benefit in flying to an airport closer to the City of Belfast when travelling on shorter routes." If successful, it will increase LTN-BHD frequencies and consider other destinations, although it stressed that the bulk of its Northern Ireland operation will remain at Belfast International, where it bases five aircraft and flies to 19 destinations.
Southwest Airlines posted its fourth quarterly deficit in the past five reporting periods, a third-quarter net loss of $16 million that was narrowed from a $120 million loss in the year-ago period, and announced that it likely will follow up its "no growth" 2009 with a flat 2010.
