American Airlines' September system traffic decreased 3.5% to 9.52 billion RPMs on a 6.9% cut in capacity to 11.98 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 79.4%, up 2.8 points. Continental Airlines' September consolidated traffic lifted 7% to 6.95 billion RPMs on a 0.5% increase in consolidated capacity to 8.53 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 81.5%, up 5 points. LAN said system passenger traffic for September increased 11.9% as capacity rose 9.3%. Load factor gained 1.8 points to 78.8%.
Iberia introduced cell phone boarding for passengers flying from Madrid's Terminal 4. The new service is available on all mainline flights except the Madrid-Barcelona Shuttle.
LOT Polish Airlines said it will reduce its workforce from 3,500 to 3,100 by March and has secured agreement from its unions to eliminate bonuses, moves that it claimed will save €2.4 million ($3.5 million).
Ryanair called on the Irish government to explain why it rejected its December 2008 offer for Aer Lingus that it maintains would have led to the doubling of EI's short-haul fleet and created 1,000 new jobs over a five-year period. The request followed Wednesday's announcement by EI of its restructuring plan that seeks to reduce annual operating costs excluding fuel by €97 million ($142.7 million) before the end of 2011 and cut its workforce by 17% ( ATWOnline, Oct. 8).
European Regions Airline Assn., which represents 66 European carriers operating intra-Europe flights, recorded a collective drop in passenger traffic of 7.2% for the first six months of 2009.
Emirates said yesterday that it issued a $413.7 million US bond offering guaranteed by the US Export Import Bank to finance the delivery of three 777-300ERs. The secured notes are due Aug. 21, 2021, and payable in installments of principal and interest on a quarterly basis, the airline said. "This transaction is very important for the industry as it represents the first offering of its kind directly into the global public capital markets," Senior VP-Corporate Treasury Brian Jeffrey stated.
Assn. of European Airlines warned that Europe's network carriers are facing not a "crisis" but "a paradigm shift with far-reaching and irrevocable consequences" as it forecast that its member airlines will post a combined full-year 2009 operating loss of €2.9 billion ($4.3 billion).
Denver and the state of Colorado are offering an incentive package aimed at preventing nearly 25% of Frontier Airlines' workforce from being relocated, while new parent Republic Airways Holdings apparently does not plan for the carrier to have a CEO.
Bmi appointed Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as its new CEO effective Dec. 1, succeeding Nigel Turner. The appointment is part of broader management shakeup following Lufthansa's acquiring control of the loss-making UK airline ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2). Jet, meanwhile, selected Senior VP-the Americas Nikos Kardassis as its new CEO effective Oct. 15.
Colombia's Avianca and El Salvador-based Grupo TACA announced yesterday that they have reached agreement to merge under a single holding company, creating an airline group that will serve more than 100 destinations with a fleet of 129 aircraft. Avianca parent Synergy Group will control two-thirds of the unnamed holding company while TACA will control the remaining third, with TACA Chairman and CEO Roberto Kriete serving as chairman and Avianca CEO Fabio Villegas as CEO.
Saudi Arabian Airlines announced an agreement to install SwiftBroadband Mobile OnAir and WiFi Internet OnAir communications technology on its fleet of A330s that fly international routes.
ICAO yesterday commenced its three-day High Level Meeting on Aviation and Climate Change in Montreal, with nations aiming to come together under UN auspices to reach agreement on measures to manage aviation's carbon dioxide emissions.
Travelport acquired Galileo Polska from Galileo Distribution System. The entity will become the second wholly owned direct operation for Travelport in Poland. The former Galileo Polska employees will have new roles working for Travelport, it said.
Aer Lingus yesterday revealed a two-phase "transformational" restructuring plan to reduce annual operating costs excluding fuel by €97 million ($142.7 million) before the end of 2011 and remove "legacy work" practices from its operation.
Lufthansa plans to re-launch onboard Internet service, which it suspended in late 2006 when Connexion by Boeing shut down ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18, 2006). German news service dpa reported that LH and Panasonic Avionics will hold a press conference next week announcing the new service. Panasonic's solution will be able to use some of the Connexion infrastructure onboard the nearly 70 aircraft that LH previously equipped for Internet access.
Assn. of European Airlines pushed back against European pilots who earlier this week held protests across the continent calling for changes to EU flight/duty-time rules. At an "action day" Monday, pilots unions lobbied for "concrete legislative changes. . .to ensure passengers and crews are protected against fatigue-related safety risks" ( ATWOnline, Oct. 6).
US Dept. of Transportation yesterday issued a safety advisory regarding the shipment of lithium batteries in passenger and cargo aircraft, warning that battery-caused "fires in aircraft can result in catastrophic events presenting unique challenges not encountered in other transport modes."
Rockwell Collins was selected by Condor Berlin to supply its Airshow 4200 moving map and inflight information system for its new fleet of A320s. Upgrades are scheduled for between 2009 and 20011.
Embraer delivered 57 jets during the third quarter: 29 for commercial aviation, 27 for executive aviation and one for defense. It has delivered 153 jets this year. Its backlog as of Sept. 30 totaled $18.6 billion, a 6% drop from the $19.8 billion recorded on June 30.
SITA signed a five-year contract with Norwegian Air Shuttle to provide ACARS services for the carrier's fleet of 58 737-800s, the last of which is due for delivery in 2014. The ACARS service will allow Norwegian to meet the EU's Single European Sky requirements for all new aircraft supplied after 2011.
EU and US negotiators commenced the fourth round of Stage 2 open skies talks in Washington yesterday, focusing on liberalization of traffic rights and foreign investment, state-aid, security and the environment. The Stage 1 agreement now in effect requires the conclusion of a Stage 2 accord by October 2010 ( ATWOnline, May 6).
