WestJet said it expects its third-quarter unit revenue to be down 16%-18% year-over-year. It flew 1.33 billion RPMs in August, down 4.7%, against a 0.4% fall in capacity to 1.57 billion ASMs. Load factor dropped 3.9 points to 84.5%. Aer Lingus flew 1.72 billion RPKs in August, a 2.3% increase year-over-year. Capacity fell 0.7% to 2.07 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.4 points to 83%. Gol flew 2.03 billion RPKs in August, a 6.9% year-over-year increase, against a 4.2% hike in capacity to 3.43 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 1.4 points to 59%.
US President Barack Obama announced his intention to nominate Erroll Southers as assistant secretary, Dept. of Homeland Security-Transportation Security Administration. Southers is assistant chief for Los Angeles World Airports' Office of Homeland Security and Intelligence and associate director of the University of Southern California's Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events. Lufthansa CFO Stephen Gemkow was named chairman of the supervisory boards at Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Technik, LSG Lufthansa Service Holding and Lufthansa Systems.
Air France KLM is preparing an in-depth restructuring of its cargo business including a further reduction of its freighter fleet, transfer of all remaining freighters to its Martinair subsidiary and a 20%-30% increase in rates, according to Les Echos. When contacted by ATWOnline, AF KLM said it would not comment on the substance of the report while contradicting several figures used by the newspaper.
Avient, the Zimbabwe-based DC-10 freighter operator, said it has moved its European hub from Vatry to Liege. It said services are uninterrupted by the abrupt move and that it will continue to specialize in Europe-Africa flights.
US Congressional staff expressed optimism Friday that FAA reauthorization legislation can be passed this year but conceded that several contentious issues, in particular regarding FAA inspections of foreign repair stations, remain unresolved.
Virgin Atlantic Airways introduced a new baggage policy based on what it called a "piece system." Economy passengers will be allowed to check one bag weighing up to 23 kg. free of charge, premium economy passengers will be entitled to two bags weighing up to 23 kg. each and business class passengers can check up to three. Any additional bags will cost £32 ($52.87) per item when booked online or £40 at airport check-in. Economy passengers travelling between London Heathrow and Nairobi or Lagos will be able to check a second bag at no charge.
Southwest Airlines and negotiators for the Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn. reached a new tentative labor agreement, though the union's board has not decided whether to endorse the accord. In June, the LCC's pilots narrowly rejected ratification of a prior deal ( ATWOnline, June 4). The agreement reached yesterday would last two years before becoming amendable.
Federal Aviation Administrator Randy Babbitt warned yesterday that "the national and international trends for fatal accidents and accidents. . .are no longer pointing downward, in fact they may be up slightly," and said the biggest requirement for all of aviation is the need to "step up the professionalism in the workplace."
TAM said its Technological Center MRO unit was certified by US FAA to work on aircraft registered in the US, including C and D checks. TAM's 4.6-million-sq.-m. maintenance center is located in Sao Carlos.
Lufthansa will hold 95.4% of Austrian Airlines Group following the Wednesday expiration of its offer to free-float shareholders, it announced yesterday. Approximately 8.9% of those shareholders accepted LH's offer of €4.49 ($6.52) per share ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4). Separately, LH announced a 40% increase in capacity to Nigeria beginning Oct. 25. It will continue to operate daily Frankfurt-Lagos flights and will increase its FRA-Abuja service to daily from thrice-weekly.
IATA and Flight Safety Foundation yesterday jointly issued a "Runway Excursion Risk Reduction" toolkit. The organizations said the package includes "an in-depth analysis of runway excursion accident data, a compilation of significant risk factors and. . . recommendations for operators, pilots, airports, air traffic management, air traffic controllers and regulators to assist in addressing this challenge.
AirBaltic said it "very much appreciates and welcomes" a meeting between the transport ministers of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia and their discussions regarding a pan-Baltic flag carrier, while claiming that it already fits that profile. The Riga-based airline plans to expand its Tallinn operation with flights to Turku beginning Oct. 1 and is "prepared to become involved in future negotiations," according to President and CEO Bertolt Flick. "If the airline's capital base is expanded, airBaltic will expand even more rapidly than before in the Baltic states," he said.
WestJet announced an offering of 13.4 million common and variable voting shares, with an overallotment option of up to 2 million shares, which it expects to produce proceeds of C$150-C$172.5 million ($139-$159.9 million). A syndicate of underwriters led by CIBC will sell the shares at C$11.20 each, and the offer is expected to close on Sept. 30. Frontier Airlines Holdings said its plan of reorganization, which includes its purchase by Republic Airways Holdings, was confirmed yesterday by the US Bankruptcy Court.
Amadeus announced what it called a "groundbreaking partnership" with AirAsia that will enable the more than 102,200 travel agencies that subscribe to the GDS to book travel on AirAsia and its affiliates "in the same way they would for a full-service carrier." In addition to AirAsia the partnership covers Indonesia AirAsia, Thai AirAsia and AirAsia X. Amadeus said the enabling technology is its Amadeus Ticketless Access solution "that allows real-time fare and flight information" for AirAsia "to be displayed alongside that of full-service airlines on a travel agent's Amadeus screen."
A wealth of information is available on aviation safety, but improvement is needed in coordinating and sharing the best safety practices that could benefit the entire industry, ICAO Secretary General Raymond Benjamin said yesterday at the annual FAA International Aviation Safety Forum in Washington.
Korean Air launched the second phase of its $200 million fleet upgrade and this month will begin installing new seats and an on-demand inflight entertainment system across all classes in its 777s and A330s. Work on 70 aircraft is expected to continue through April 2011. New deliveries will come with the product already installed. By 2014, all 96 of KE's mid- and long-haul aircraft will feature the upgrades.
Panasonic Avionics Corp. signed an agreement with SIA Engineering Co. covering maintenance of inflight entertainment and communication systems on the Singapore Airlines fleet. Panasonic is providing IFEC MRO services for the entire SIA fleet over 10 years. It said that under the agreement with SIAEC, the two will work together "to provide a 'one-stop-shop' solution covering all on-aircraft labor, logistics, spares, repairs and media loading."
Air Transat parent Transat A.T. reported net income of C$30.5 million ($28.3 million) for its fiscal third quarter ended July 31, reversed from a net loss of C$895,000 in the year-ago period, on a 4.7% decline in revenue to C$819.4 million. The primary driver of the improved result was a C$44.4 million noncash fuel hedge gain in the period compared to a C$4.7 million hedging loss in the 2008 quarter.
LAN Airlines is feeling the effects of the industry crisis but said it expects to report a profit this year thanks to its domestic strength in Chile, Argentina, Peru and Ecuador and a robust cash position. Company officials in Santiago said the company generated $248 million in net income in the 12 months ended June 30 and they expect some $4 billion in revenue in 2009 on a 15% increase in passenger numbers to 15 million. LAN claimed its cash position is strong, with $700 million in cash and equivalents. It was $69.2 million in the black through the first six months.
Jet Airways and the National Aviators Guild representing the carrier's 760 pilots will meet in New Delhi at the behest of top government labor officials in an effort to resolve the dispute that has led to nearly half Jet's pilots calling in sick for the past three days, severely disrupting its flight schedule. Jet Chairman Naresh Goyal, who has accused the pilots of holding the airline "hostage" with an "illegal" work action ( ATWOnline, Sept. 10), met yesterday with Indian Labor Minister Mallikarjun Kharge.
Bmibaby yesterday announced a "massive" expansion at Nottingham East Midlands next year in the wake of easyJet's decision to withdraw from the airport ( ATWOnline, Sept. 4). Bmi's LCC subsidiary will base three additional aircraft at EMA and launch new service to Alghero (weekly May 29-Sept. 25, 2010), Barcelona (four-times-weekly March 28-Oct. 30, 2010), Bastia (weekly May 30-Sept. 26, 2010), Cork (four-times-weekly Dec. 18-Oct. 30, 2010), Dubrovnik (twice-weekly May 30-Sept.
ARINC was selected by Japan's Tokyo International Air Terminal to deploy more than 200 check-in and departure workstations equipped with its vMUSE common-use technology at Haneda's new international terminal. ARINC also will provide 20 SelfServ common-use self service kiosks. New terminal is scheduled for completion in July 2010, the same year in which HND's fourth runway is expected to become operational.
