Sun Country Airlines will limit taxi time to 4 hr. on all flights following a 5 hr., 45 min. delay to a flight scheduled to depart New York JFK for Minneapolis-St. Paul on Aug. 21. Under the new policy, after 4 hr. Sun Country will return the aircraft to the gate area and disembark the passengers.
Aeroflot and Vnesheconombank subsidiary VEB-Leasing signed an agreement under which SU will have the option to return its first 10 Superjet 100s after 12 years, with delivery financing arranged through loans by the bank to VEB. SU has 30 SSJs on order.
Finnair Group subsidiary Finnair Facilities Management announced a deal with NV Property Fund covering the sale and leaseback of an aircraft hangar, the ground handling fleet center, the ground equipment maintenance unit and the training center at Helsinki Vantaa. Sale price was €77 million ($110.3 million)
Rockwell Collins said China Southern Airlines selected its MultiScan weather radar, GLU-920 Multi-Mode Receiver and advanced sensors for 10 A330s, with deliveries scheduled to start in March 2010. EgyptAir selected its Multiscan Hazard Detection System, TTR-2100 Traffic Avoidance System and a full communications, navigation and surveillance suite including the GLU-925 Multi-Mode Receiver for five A330s plus three options scheduled for delivery from August 2010 through 2012.
Garuda Indonesia CEO Emirsyah Satar told reporters yesterday that the carrier intends to raise $300-$400 million through an IPO in the first half of next year, Dow Jones reported. He said earlier that the offering would comprise 15%-20% of the company.
Bombardier took delivery of the first fuselage test barrel for the CSeries at its Saint-Laurent facility. The 7-m.-long, 3.7-m.-wide barrel was built by Shenyang Aircraft Corp. The new aircraft's final design phase is scheduled to begin next year. Shenyang is set to manufacture "just over 10%" of the CSeries, Bombardier said.
Turkish Airlines reported a net profit of €48 million ($68.7 million) through the first six months of 2009, down 64% year-over-year, implying a second-quarter loss of approximately €25.6 million. THY earned TRY155 million ($105.4 million/€73.6 million) in the first quarter ( ATWOnline, May 18) and said the sinking bottom line was the result of "the fall on tangible assets caused by the global recession and its effects on the global aviation sector."
Gulf Air CEO Samer Majali said Sunday that the carrier's mandate to cut costs may include revisions to its aircraft order book. "We do not yet know what size or shape Gulf Air will take following this review; however, as a result it may be necessary for us to look at our fleet orders with our suppliers and to adjust them according to the airline's newly defined requirements," he said in a statement to Dow Jones. Gulf has 15 A320s scheduled for delivery between this year and 2012 and 20 A330-300s set to arrive beginning in 2012.
WestJet yesterday announced a revised fleet plan featuring deferred delivery of 16 aircraft and purchase of an additional 14 737-700s that will see the Canadian LCC operating between 112 and 135 planes at the end of 2016. The 14 new aircraft will be delivered in 2015-16. The airline, which currently flies 81 737s, also has 23 leases with Aviation Capital Group up for renewal between 2013 and 2016.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew a combined 7.72 billion RPKs in July, down 8.2% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 7.5% to 9.25 billion ASKs and load factor was down 0.6 point to 83.5%. Iberia flew 4.73 billion RPKs in July, a 3.7% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 3.8% to 5.58 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.2 point to 84.8%.
Air New Zealand strongly denied a report from Australia's Fairfax Media that ANZ staff, including Deputy CEO Norm Thompson, colluded with Emirates on fixing cargo rates between Australia and New Zealand. The Fairfax report, citing court documents presented by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in relation to its ongoing investigation of Emirates, alleged that Thompson and Emirates SkyCargo Senior VP Ram Menen discussed prices to be charged in October 2003.
Qantas yesterday took delivery of its fourth A380. It will use the aircraft to increase its thrice-weekly Sydney-Singapore-London Heathrow service to five-times-weekly and to operate a fourth weekly Sydney-Los Angeles flight from Sept. 7. QF's fifth and sixth A380s are due to arrive by year end, at which point flights to LHR and LAX will be daily and Melbourne-LAX will increase to thrice-weekly from twice.
Air Berlin announced a €7.1 million ($10.2 million) second-quarter profit, down 9% from the €7.8 million achieved in the year-ago period, in a preliminary earnings statement released yesterday. Second-quarter revenue fell 3.8% to €836.2 million as the airline reduced capacity and operating profit rose 33.3% to €17.6 million from €13.2 million. The company expects to announce detailed results today.
Allegiant Air yesterday said it expects third-quarter ASMs to increase approximately 40% year-over-year on a 35% lift in departures and fourth-quarter capacity to rise some 18% on a 12% increase in departures. Separately, it said it has given 120-day notice of its intention to cancel its Cuban charter service, which, although profitable, is "exposing the airline. . . to operational complexity inconsistent with our operating philosophy," according to CEO Maurice Gallagher Jr.
Kenya Airways said a three-day strike last week by its employees cost it KES600 million ($7.6 million). Workers agreed to return to work after the carrier promised pay increases, reportedly 10% this year and 10% next year.
China Equity Group plans to re-launch Wuhan-based East Star Airlines, which is going through bankruptcy reorganization, with a CNY200 million ($29.2 million)-CNY300 million investment, according to CEG Chairman Wang Chaoyong. Wang revealed that the group plans to raise the money to restart the troubled carrier in conjunction with seven other companies, including Shanghai YuField. He said CEG has "submitted the reorganization application" to the appropriate court. "Hopefully we can get the result in the next two or three weeks," he commented.
SkyEurope Airlines is still banned from Vienna International, but the airport and the troubled carrier have started talks again. "No solution" has been found thus far, VIE CEO Herbert Kaufmann told Austrian media. SkyEurope was forced to suspend all operations from VIE after missing an Aug. 14 deadline to pay outstanding fees believed to total around €4 million ($5.7 million) ( ATWOnline, Aug. 17).
Alaska Airlines in a filing Friday with the US Dept. of Transportation renewed its request for the US government to review "Virgin America's current and prospective citizenship status." VX has insisted it is in compliance with US ownership and control laws, which require that US airlines be 75%-owned by US citizens.
Southwest Airlines announced Friday that it plans to begin a fleetwide rollout of Wi-Fi Internet connectivity in conjunction with Row 44 in the 2010 first quarter. The LCC said it "has received fantastic customer feedback" from passengers who have used the Row 44 satellite-enabled service on four 737s on which it has been tested since February. "We have concluded our testing for inflight Wi-Fi and are very happy with both the technical performance of the system and the response of customers who have used it," Senior VP-Marketing and Revenue Management Dave Ridley said.
American Airlines said Friday that it will start charging economy-class passengers a $50 fee for a second checked bag on flights to/from or through India and to/from Belgium, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Spain and Switzerland. First checked bags will remain free. The policy takes effect for tickets purchased on or after Sept. 14. On flights within the US, the carrier already charges $20 for a first checked bag and $30 for a second checked bag.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce told The Australian that Boeing informed him that the 787's first flight will take place by year end, the newspaper reported Friday. Boeing declined to comment, saying a revised flight test program schedule will be issued by the end of September.
AirBaltic CEO Bertold Flick confirmed to ATWOnline Friday that the Latvian government is providing financial assistance to the carrier, but he declined to comment on media reports that the airline is on the verge of bankruptcy. "It is true we [are getting] a capital increase from the government," he said.
ExpressJet Holdings' flight crew "was not at fault" for the Aug. 7-8 incident in which passengers were stranded overnight on an ERJ-145, US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said Friday, instead pinning the blame on a Mesaba Airlines local representative at Rochester (Minn.) International who "improperly refused" to allow the passengers to deplane.
GECAS delivered one new A320-200 to Wizz Air. The aircraft, acquired through a purchase and leaseback transaction with the airline, is part of an existing order agreement. Separately, Wizz Air will launch twice-weekly Gdansk-Bergen service Dec. 18.
Japan Airlines and Nippon Cargo Airlines parent Nippon Yusen said Friday that the carriers are in talks to merge JAL's cargo operations with NCA, according to widespread press reports. The two cargo operations reportedly could operate as a merged entity as early as April 1, 2010.
