Lufthansa asked the Austrian Takeover Commission to extend the deadline for its proposed acquisition of Austrian Airlines Group by one month to Aug. 31 because the European Commission has not yet cleared the tie-up, while the EC confirmed yesterday that it has received a new proposal from the German company addressing some of the competition concerns associated with the potential merger.
Honeywell announced that AWAS has selected an avionics suite and APUs under a contract covering up to 110 new aircraft deliveries and worth $77 million.
Air Europa launched daily New York JFK-Madrid service aboard an A330-200. AirAsia X will increase Kuala Lumpur-Taipei service to daily from five-times-weekly on Oct. 19. XL Airways France will operate seasonal twice-weekly New York JFK-Paris Charles de Gaulle service through Sept. 14 aboard an A330. Dragonair will operate its Hong Kong-Kathmandu service via Dhaka Oct. 1 (increasing to five-times-weekly from thrice-weekly) aboard an A330.
Ethiopian Airlines yesterday said it placed an order for 12 A350-900s from Airbus and five 777-200LRs from Boeing, a move it called "unprecedented," while Turkish Airlines added eight more 777-300ERs to its order book.
TNT reported second-quarter net income of €81 million ($115.3 million), down 60.5% from a €205 million profit in the year-ago period, but noted that the decline in volume at its Express segment that relies heavily on air operations "seems to be bottoming out." Operating income lowered 45.1% to €178 million on a 10% dip in revenue to €2.53 billion. TNT Express posted an 81% decrease in operating income to €29 million on a 15.5% fall in revenue to €1.45 billion.
Cargoitalia operated its first commercial flight with an 87% load factor, the reorganized airline said. The MD-11SF departed Milan Malpensa on July 25 for Hong Kong and returned via Almaty on Monday ( ATWOnline, July 21).
News from Travel Technology Update: United Airlines told a group of congressmen and senators that it would delay by up to 60 days the implementation of a policy that denies certain agencies the right to use the carrier's credit card merchant accounts to process credit card sales for United tickets. In response to a request from the group to reconsider or at least delay the move, United said it would "individually notify and assist the impacted agents that request more time to adjust to this change, providing up to sixty additional days to transition."
East Star Airlines' effort to re-launch operations with new investment is facing a significant obstacle as the team charged with its restructuring, composed largely of Wuhan government officials, is insisting that bankruptcy is the only option ( ATWOnline, July 22). "Generally speaking, it is impossible for East Star to accept a takeover offer as it lacks the basic conditions to do so," said Zhang Jie, an attorney who represents the team.
Ryanair launched a booking service on its website allowing passengers to purchase their seats up to 6 hr. before departure and check in online up to 4 hr. before the flight. Separately, it confirmed that it has lodged proceedings in the High Court in Dublin against German ticket tout Travelviva. Ryanair said it is the first of a number of High Court cases it intends to bring over the coming weeks against European "screenscrapers."
Airbus parent EADS reported second-quarter net income of €208 million ($296.1 million), a 76% increase over a €118 million profit in the year-ago period, and noted that "the negative [macroeconomic] trend. . .stopped or slightly reversed recently."
Safi Airways Chairman Abdul Rahim Safi said the Afghan airline "has progressed so quickly in the past four months" that it will "undergo a major renewal of its fleet with either Boeing or Airbus aircraft," according to the airline. It currently flies two 737-300s and one 767-200ER. It plans to use new aircraft to serve Jeddah, Beijing and Moscow within the next six months.
US National Transportation Safety Board swore in Deborah Hersman, a member for five years, as chairman. She succeeds Mark Rosenker, who announced his resignation last week ( ATWOnline, July 22). Before joining NTSB she was a senior professional staff member of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Air Mauritius appointed Kamal Taposeea chairman.
Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Northwest Airlines flight attendants, asked the US National Mediation Board to declare that NWA's merger with Delta Air Lines requires a representation election for all the new airline's cabin staff. DL flight attendants are not unionized.
European Commission yesterday described the number of mislaid, damaged or lost bags at EU airports as "excessive and unacceptable" and said it is considering ways to improve current legislation if the situation does not improve. "In order to protect passengers' rights adequately, we should provide citizens with the appropriate instruments. For the time being these instruments are not available," EC VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said.
AAR Corp. signed a letter of intent with SuperJet International to become a service center for the Superjet 100. AAR will provide heavy airframe maintenance, modifications, interior and exterior refurbishment, unscheduled maintenance service and will have field teams available for off-site support.
Singapore Airlines flew 6.46 billion RPKs in June, an 18.2% plunge from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 14.4% to 8.54 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 3.5 points to 75.7%. Air New Zealand flew 2.32 billion RPKs in June, down 10.1% year-over-year, against a 12.3% cut in capacity to 2.92 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2 points to 79.5%.
Rolls-Royce yesterday announced a series of investments including construction of a new wide-chord fan blade factory in Singapore and several new UK facilities. The Singapore factory will be a part of Rolls' "Facility of the Future" at its Seletar Campus, construction of which will begin in the 2010 first quarter and which will require an investment greater than S$700 million ($486 million).
SAS Group said June yield dropped an estimated 5.3% year-over-year. Group airlines flew 2.52 billion RPKs during the month, down 17%, against a 13.2% cut in capacity to 3.29 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 3.1 points to 76.7%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.32 billion RPKs, down 14.9%, against a 15% fall in ASKs to 3.01 billion. Load factor rose 0.1 point to 77.2%. Aer Lingus flew 1.6 billion RPKs in June, a 0.7% decline year-over-year. Capacity dipped 0.5% to 1.97 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 0.2 points to 81.3%.
Qatar Airways announced a 40% combined increase in capacity to Paris Charles de Gaulle, Madrid, Athens and Stockholm Arlanda. Doha-CDG service will increase to twice-daily from 11-times-weekly beginning Oct. 25, DOH-MAD will rise to daily from four-times-weekly on Dec. 2, daily DOH-ATH will be twice-daily from March 2010 and DOH-ARN will receive an extra weekly frequency on Oct. 25.
US House of Representatives today will unveil legislation that, if passed, will require more stringent screening and training for pilots flying commercial aircraft. The Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 is being introduced by bipartisan leadership of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the subcommittee on aviation including James Oberstar (D-Minn.), John Mica (R-Fla.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and Thomas Petri (R-Wis.). The proposed law follows a series of Congressional hearings on the February crash of a Colgan Air Q400 that killed 50.
Third prototype Sukhoi Superjet 100 flew for the first time Saturday at Komsomolsk. Aircraft will undergo cabin and avionics testing and will be the first fitted with passenger equipment and the certification-ready avionics suite. It then will be sent to Italy for its noise level, ILS, precision navigation and high-intensity radiated field tests. The first Superjet flight took place in May 2008 with the certification campaign commencing in October. The first two aircraft have accumulated more than 700 flight hr. over some 270 flights, said Sukhoi, which has sold 122 so far.
Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson will sink another A$80 million ($65.3 million) into Brisbane-based Virgin Blue as part of a deeply discounted (31%) A$231 million capital raising designed to bolster a balance sheet buffeted by one-off costs and souring hedges.
Embraer broke ground Sunday on a 15,000-sq.-m. facility in Evora that will be "dedicated to manufacturing complex airframe structures and components in composite materials." It is due to be completed at the end of 2011 and represents an investment of €48 million ($68.2 million), the manufacturer said.
OpenSkies said it will suspend its daily Amsterdam-New York JFK service on Aug. 16, citing a significant drop in demand due to the current economic environment. The British Airways subsidiary launched the route late last year and said it developed a 16% market share since then, but "it was not enough to sustain a profitable service at this time," CEO Dale Moss conceded.
