Boeing yesterday pushed back first flight of the 747-8 freighter to "early next year" and first delivery to the 2010 fourth quarter and said it will report a $1 billion charge on the program in its third-quarter earnings.
Japan Airlines announced that it will conduct an ASPIRE (Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) flight on Oct. 10. ASPIRE is a joint venture among US FAA, Airservices Australia and Airways New Zealand. Three previous ASPIRE flights were conducted by United Airlines, Qantas and Air New Zealand ( ATWOnline, Nov. 17, 2008). JAL's flight will be from Honolulu to Osaka aboard a 747-400.
Turkish Airlines and Asiana Airlines will extend their codeshare agreement to include TK's network beyond its hub at Istanbul Ataturk and Asiana's network beyond Seoul Incheon from Oct. 25. Separately, TK inked a six-year leasing agreement with Celestial Aviation Trading 66 for two 737-700s.
Delta Air Lines reached agreement with the City of Atlanta yesterday to extend its lease at Atlanta Hartsfield International, its headquarters hub, through 2017. The pact is subject to finalization of definitive documents and approval by the Atlanta City Council and DL's board.
Ryanair requested that Aer Lingus Chairman Colm Barrington provide a list of all noncurrent employees and board members who have an entitlement to free flights on EI and to explain why the entitlement exists. Ryanair, EI's largest single shareholder with just under 30%, argued that the free flight deals "are inappropriate and unjustifiable" at a time when EI is contemplating significant cuts. It is expected to announce a major cost reduction program this week.
British Airways said it has accepted voluntary redundancy from 1,000 flight attendants and will allow an additional 3,000 cabin crew to down-gauge to part-time. It is seeking to cut 3,700 fulltime-equivalent positions by March 31. It said the latest flight attendant cuts/moves to part-time comprise 1,700 fulltime-equivalent position reductions.
Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe lashed out at governments for their "money-grabbing" emissions taxes and criticized ICAO for "its paralysis" on forging an agreement on limiting emissions from aviation.
Austrian Airlines Group CEO Peter Malanik predicted that the carrier will encounter "several difficult situations" over the next two years as it endeavors to return to profitability, but said it must push forward with reforms.
News from Travel Technology Update: The unbundled fare is the airlines' new best friend, enabling them to boost revenues through fees for checked bags, seat assignments and other items that used to be included in the fare. And while the airlines know that the fees can be a lifeline -- the industry collected $669.6 million in baggage fees in the second quarter, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics -- they have difficulty pinpointing which flights are ancillary revenue generators.
Libyan Airlines signed a contract with ATR for the purchase of two ATR 42-500s valued at $35 million. The aircraft, to be delivered later this year, will be configured with 48 seats and powered by PW127M engines.
Verizon Business signed a six-year agreement with JetBlue Airways to manage the airline's IT data center and network needs as well as provide security and IT consulting services. A newly built IP-based voice and data network will support airport kiosks, wireless Internet access and an advanced reservation system. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
TAM signed agreements with Austrian Airlines and bmi that allow members of its frequent-flyer program to accumulate and redeem points on flights operated by both airlines.
US Dept. of Transportation's "Air Travel Consumer Report" said the nation's largest airlines had a higher ontime performance rate in August (79.7%) than in both July (77.6%) and the year-ago month (78.4%). BTS data showed carriers canceled 1% of their scheduled domestic flights in August, down from 1.6% in August 2008. Hawaiian Airlines led US carriers with an ontime arrival rate of 94.7%, followed by Alaska Airlines at 85.8%. Comair was last at 65.9%.
Swiss International Air Lines will launch a twice-weekly service between Geneva and Manchester Dec. 20. Jet2.com announced four new routes from Manchester: Four-times-weekly to Prague starting April 1 and twice-weekly to Dubrovnik (April 29), Split (May 8) and Reus (May 25). The LCC will operate 28 routes from MAN in the 2010 summer, including nine new routes.
LTU reached a settlement with ver.di, the service workers' union representing its 1,400 flight attendants, on a new labor contract. The Air Berlin subsidiary now has concluded collective bargaining negotiations with all its unions. The flight attendants' agreement is subject to ratification by Nov. 13 via a secret ballot vote to be conducted by ver.di.
AirBaltic launched four-times-weekly flights from Lappeenranta to Tallinn continuing to Riga using 737s. It also started Turku-Tallinn service. Flydubai will launch its first intra-Gulf States route Oct. 18 with twice-daily flights between Dubai and Doha. SilkAir will take over Singapore Airlines' daily service between Singapore and Penang from Dec. 1. As a result, the SIA regional affiliate that already offers twice-daily service on the route will up its offering to thrice-daily.
Aviareps expanded its agreement with Asiana Airlines to represent Asiana in Italy, Spain and Portugal. It now serves as GSA for the Korean carrier in 10 European countries.
Transaero Airlines and Austrian Airlines reached a codeshare agreement on the Moscow Domodedovo-Vienna route in which Transaero will add its UN code on Austrian's thrice-daily service and Austrian will put its OS code on Transaero's daily DME-VIE flight.
Pilots from European airlines held an "action day" yesterday at 22 airports across the continent and various sites in Brussels, including the European Parliament and European Commission, protesting EU flight/duty-time rules that they claim are "potentially dangerous."
GECAS delivered two new A320-200s to Air Berlin. Acquired through a purchase/leaseback transaction with the airline, the aircraft are part of an existing order agreement.
Midwest Airlines pilots and flight attendants likely will find themselves out of work when the carrier, acquired over the summer by Republic Airways Holdings, begins to return its nine remaining 717s to Boeing next month.
AirAsia said it will defer eight A320-200s scheduled for delivery in 2011 to 2014, bringing to 16 the number of 2010-11 deliveries it is pushing back. It originally had 48 A320s slated for delivery in 2010-11 but now will take only 32 during the timeframe. It also plans to terminate leases with GECAS on nine 737s and return them ahead of schedule in 2010. The moves were confirmed by CEO Tony Fernandes to Malaysia's The Star. He added that the LCC is considering selling two 737s to Mexican carrier VivaAerobus.
