ASIG said it was selected by a consortium of 32 airlines at Washington Dulles "to provide operation and maintenance of the jet fuel facility which supplies all of the carriers serving IAD."
Finnair said it is proceeding with a restructuring that aims to achieve greater efficiency and save costs. The airline is in somewhat of a transitional state after President and CEO Jukka Hienonen announced his resignation following its fourth consecutive quarterly net loss ( ATWOnline, Aug 10), but he is staying in the post for the time being and the restructuring is slated to move forward.
Joy Air was expected to start formal operations over the weekend with a fleet of three Chinese-produced MA60 regional aircraft. The official launch of the Xi'an-based carrier comes after a one-month trial period. It is expected to introduce three more MA60s by year end and plans to acquire 50 of the type, plus 50 ARJ21s, over the next eight years.
Lufthansa Systems will run the most significant components of Swiss International Air Lines' IT infrastructure beginning in 2010, Swiss said. "By outsourcing central data center services to Lufthansa Systems, we can cut costs without compromising our high standards of quality, reliability and flexibility," the Lufthansa Group subsidiary said in a statement. The outsourcing agreement covers migration and operation of more than 100 business-critical applications on a variety of operating systems.
CSA Czech Airlines will commence seasonal twice-weekly Prague-Tashkent service Aug. 19 under a codeshare agreement with Uzbekistan Airways aboard an A319. Bahrain Air will launch twice-weekly Bahrain-Baghdad service from Aug. 28. American Eagle will launch service from Miami to Harbour Island (thrice-weekly), Treasure Cay (four-times-weekly) and Governors Harbour (four-times-weekly) Nov. 19 aboard 66-seat ATR 72s.
Belavia Belarusian Airlines acquired a 737-500 from ILFC, bringing its fleet to five 737-500s, three 737-300s, three CRJ100/200s, four Tu 154-Ms, and one Tu-134.
Delta TechOps won a $7 million, four-year contract from Canadian charter airline CanJet to provide component and inventory logistics support for its 737-800 fleet, including avionics, pneumatics and hydraulics. SR Technics said Edelweiss Air, a Swiss International Air Lines subsidiary, extended its existing full-support contract covering the carrier's fleet of A320s for an additional 39 months.
Boeing Friday confirmed to ATWOnline that it "determined that there were microscopic wrinkles in the skin plies of [787] fuselage sections produced by Alenia [Aeronautica]. . .We determined that a simple patch at two locations is required to restore full structural margins.
TAM Friday reported that it earned BRL788.9 million ($429 million) in second-quarter net income on BRL2.4 billion in revenue. It did not provide year-over-year comparisons in the preliminary figures it issued. ATWOnline reported last year that TAM posted 2008 second-quarter net income of BRL50.2 million on BRL2.51 in revenue. The Brazilian carrier said last week that its 2009 second-quarter RASK decreased 20.9% while CASK declined 10.4%.
JetBlue Airways announced last week that it will sell "all-you-can-jet" passes through Aug. 21 for "unlimited" travel aboard the LCC between Sept. 8 and Oct. 8. The passes cost $599 each and "will allow [holders] to visit any of the airline's 56 international and domestic destinations as often as they like" if seats are available during the month-long period, the airline said in a statement.
Air France KLM reported a 3.3% drop in July traffic on a 4.1% capacity cut. Load factor increased 0.7 point to 85.1%. Lufthansa Group posted a 6.2% increase in July traffic to 15.48 billion RPKs on a 5.7% lift in capacity to 18.63 billion ASKs, producing a load factor of 83.1%, up 0.4 point.
US FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. announced that an independent team of arbitrators released its decision on controller compensation yesterday, concluding "a challenging mediation process that has produced a landmark labor agreement." NATCA's 14,000 controller members will have 45 days to ratify the "many agreed upon issues." The five issues decided by arbitrators, including pay and benefits, are not subject to ratification.
Iberia's board asked the airline's new chairman and CEO, Antonio Vazquez, to look into alternatives to its merger with British Airways, elEconomista reported.
Southwest Airlines said late yesterday that its $170 million bid to acquire Frontier Airlines was "deemed unacceptable" by a US Bankruptcy Court after the two carriers' pilot unions were unable to reach an agreement on joint work rules and seniority, paving the way for Republic Airways Holdings to purchase Denver-based Frontier.
International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers said it asked the US National Mediation Board to declare that Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines are operating as a single carrier with respect to the 12,700 fleet service, flight simulator technician and plant protection employees at the combined airline. Such a declaration would clear the way for IAM to launch an organizing campaign among those workers.
Cathay Pacific Airways said it will park six passenger aircraft despite its better-than-expected half-year result announced last week. Thanks to fuel hedge gains and cost/capacity cuts, it posted an HK$812 million ($104.8 million) profit for the six months ended June 30 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 6). But Chairman Christopher Pratt told media in Hong Kong yesterday that CX does not see "signs of any pickup in business," Bloomberg reported. The parked aircraft will comprise four A340-300s and two 747-400s.
ASIG was selected by JetBlue Airways to provide cabin cleaning services at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International. ASIG also provides JetBlue with aircraft refueling services at FLL.
China Southern Airlines yesterday became the first Chinese mainland carrier to gain regulatory approval to launch a branch company in Taipei that will be allowed to sell tickets for cross-strait flights.
The fallout over last week's incident in which 47 passengers were stranded overnight on an ERJ-145 operated by ExpressJet Holdings continued yesterday, with House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (R-Minn.) claiming that more than 415 flights had "taxi-out times of three hours or more" in the US in the first half of 2009.
Jet Airways launched daily Mumbai-Jeddah flights using a 737-800. It now operates to seven cities in the Gulf region including Kuwait City, Bahrain, Muscat, Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. On Aug. 16 it will start daily service to Dubai from Hyderabad and add a second daily flight to its Mumbai-Bangkok route. Alaska Airlines will launch daily Portland-Chicago O'Hare service Nov. 16 aboard a 737. Flydubai will launch thrice-weekly Dubai-Djibouti service Sept. 1.
Airline ticket sales through Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. continued to be well down in July compared to the year-ago period, but the number of transactions was off less than 1% year-over-year and credit card sales transactions actually rose 2.6%. Total sales including airfares, taxes and fees were $5.65 billion, down 16.7% compared to July 2008, following a 20.3% year-over-year decline in June. Total fares sank 17.7% to $4.81 billion, slightly improved over the 21.3% decline in June.
Airlines PNG DH6-300 Twin Otter wreckage from Tuesday's crash was located yesterday at an altitude of 5,500 ft. in the Kokoda area of Papua New Guinea, according to a statement on the carrier's website. All 13 passengers and crewmembers were killed in the accident ( ATWOnline, Aug. 12).
Piedmont Airlines, a wholly owned regional subsidiary of US Airways, stands to lose the most in the slot swap agreement that was announced yesterday between US and Delta Air Lines (see story above). Piedmont, which operates a fleet of 56 Dash 8s, will end all service at New York LaGuardia and eliminate 300 positions when the reduced flight schedule begins. It also will close its pilot and flight attendant domiciles and line maintenance at LGA.
