Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 6.67 billion RPKs in June, down 14.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 9.1% to 8.67 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 4.5 points to 76.8%. Iberia flew 4.34 billion RPKs in June, down 5.1% year-over-year. Capacity fell 7.3% to 5.23 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.9 points to 83%. EasyJet transported 4.1 million passengers in June, up 0.8% year-over-year. Load factor dipped 0.6 point to 86.3%.
Innovata signed a long-term contract to supply its worldwide schedules data, minimum connect time and "full range of reference support files" to Sabre Holdings to support Sabre's GDS business.
Pet Airways, a pets-only airline operated by Omaha-based Suburban Air Freight, operated its inaugural flight Tuesday on a New York Republic-Baltimore-Chicago Midway routing with 35-40 pets onboard. The airline's Beech 1900 has had the seats and overhead bins removed, leaving space for pet carriers in the main cabin. It also will serve Denver Rocky Mountain and Los Angeles Hawthorne.
AirBaltic CEO Bertolt Flick will be one of just a few airline heads to regard 2009 as a success, despite the fact that the "whole Baltic market has been affected by the [economic] crisis," he told ATWOnline, because the carrier has "found our niche with less competition and is expecting a very profitable year."
OAG said global airline passenger capacity cuts "are starting to stabilize," evidenced by 315 million seats on offer for this month, down just 1% from July 2008. VP-Market Intelligence David Beckerman said the figures, "show a clear and very welcome upward trend from the dramatic [capacity] declines we have seen in recent months. We can only wait and see if this outlook bears financial fruit in actual passenger numbers and airline load factors."
Singapore Airlines will begin operating the A380 to Melbourne on Sept. 29. The Victoria capital will be the second Australian city, and sixth overall, to which SIA flies the aircraft. Daily service will replace an existing 747-400 frequency, increasing seat capacity by 10% on the 21-times-weekly service. SIA currently has nine A380s in operation.
Nordic Aviation Capital, a lessor of turboprop transports, is opening an office in Singapore. It will be headed by VP-Sales and Acquisitions Mats Ericson, who joined NAC in May from Avion Aviation.
Aircell yesterday unveiled two new pricing options for its Gogo inflight Internet service. Access on flights shorter than 1.5 hr. on AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America will cost $5.95, while a 24-hr. pass on either AirTran or DL will cost $12.95. Aircell also offers a 30-day pass on FL, DL or VX for $49.95. Standard rates of $9.95 for flights of 1.5-3 hr. and $12.95 for flights longer than 3 hr. still apply. Individual airlines had the option to adopt the various pricing plans.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. said a "very difficult revenue environment" drove a second-quarter net loss of $390 million, narrowed 73.3% from a $1.45 billion deficit in the year-ago period when heavy noncash impairment charges dragged down the bottom line. But the loss actually was widened from a $298 million deficit last year absent special charges. The quarter was "obviously disappointing," Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said. "We've got to continue to anticipate a tough environment."
Virgin Atlantic Airways is asking passengers to register their disapproval of the planned increases in the UK's Air Passenger Duty, set for November 2009 and 2010 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 25, 2008). "The UK government has been quietly increasing APD by huge amounts and claiming it is an environmental tax. Yet, there's not a shred of evidence to suggest the £2 billion-plus currently raised is going towards environmental or sustainable projects," Virgin President Richard Branson said.
A Caspian Airlines Tu-154M crashed yesterday morning shortly after takeoff from Tehran, killing all 156 passengers and 12 crew onboard in the fourth major fatal commercial accident this year and the third in just a little over six weeks. Caspian Flight 7908 was on its way to Yerevan but slammed into the earth near Qazvin some 16 min. after takeoff, creating a 10-m.-deep crater, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. The 22-year-old aircraft "exploded on impact and disintegrated," it said.
Continental Airlines will record $44 million in special charges for the second quarter, $43 million of which comprises noncash impairments on owned 737-300/-500 aircraft and related assets ($31 million) and noncash charges related to the disposal of three -300s ($8 million) and "certain obsolete spare parts" ($4 million). CO decided one year ago to retire all -300s and a "significant portion" of its -500 fleet by January 2010 ( ATWOnline, June 6, 2008).
Air China expects its first-half profit to jump by more than 50% year-over-year from the CNY1.28 billion ($187.3 million) reported in the first six months of 2008. CA credited "stable growth of the domestic market" and lower fuel prices for the improvement. It transported 13.9 million passengers in the first five months of 2009, up 13.7% year-over-year, which included an 18.2% surge in domestic passenger boardings to 11.2 million. It also cited "favorable policy" from Beijing, cost control and gains on its fuel hedges.
US Air Transport Assn. took exception yesterday to a provision in the Senate FAA reauthorization bill introduced this week ( ATWOnline, July 15) that would require airlines to return flights to gates when tarmac delays reach 3 hr. to allow passengers wishing to leave the aircraft to deplane. "A hard-and-fast, inflexible timeframe for returning to the gate will have unintended consequences for customers, including the likelihood of more cancellations and inconvenience," ATA said.
Austrian Airlines Group yesterday said it agreed with all works councils to reduce personnel expenses by 5% from 2010 to 2015, saving the company €150 million ($209.6 million). "The details of the package are rapidly being negotiated by the social partners. It will not include any extra job cuts beyond the 1,000 posts already announced," AAG said ( ATWOnline, July 3).
Air Arabia Maroc will commence thrice-weekly Casablanca-Amsterdam service Aug. 3 aboard an A320, becoming four-times-weekly Aug. 24. Lufthansa and Brussels Airlines implemented a codeshare agreement under which SN will add its code to LH's five-times-weekly Frankfurt-Libreville service while LH will add its code to SN's four-times-weekly Brussels-Entebbe service. SN said the pair will enhance their African cooperation "in the future."
Japan Airlines' loss for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2010, originally expected to be similar to the ¥63.1 billion ($681.2 million) lost last year ( ATWOnline, June 16), may double if retirees do not approve pension reductions exceeding 50%. According to Bloomberg News, two-thirds of the approximately 9,000 pensioners must agree to the cuts, and a website operated by JAL's retirees said that 2,900 already have registered their disapproval.
Sensis said its Low Cost Ground Surveillance was selected for evaluation by US FAA as part of the agency's LCGS Pilot Program aimed at reducing runway incursions at small- and medium-size airports. Sensis will be deploying its initial system at Long Beach.
US Airways will cut 600 ground positions at nine airports in response to declining revenue and the falloff of business demand, it said yesterday. Work will be outsourced to contractors at airports served primarily by regional partners operating as US Airways Express. US also said it will ask 400 flight attendants to take voluntary furloughs in order to prevent layoffs. "Today's economy demands we continue to look for ways to control costs," COO Robert Isom wrote in a memo to employees provided to ATWOnline.
US National Transportation Safety Board is investigating an incident in which a Southwest Airlines 737-300 flying Monday from Nashville to Baltimore made an emergency landing in Charleston, W.Va., owing to "a 1 ft. hole. . .discovered in the top of the fuselage" that caused cabin depressurization. There were no injuries reported. SWA said yesterday it had inspected its more than 180 -300s following the incident and found no similar structural problems.
Austrian Airlines Group will need €1 billion ($1.39 billion) in new capital if its pending acquisition by Lufthansa falls through, Chairman Peter Michaelis told shareholders yesterday at a Vienna meeting. The company has spent two-thirds of the €200 million loan from the Austrian government and is carrying more than €1 billion in debt, Reuters reported.
News from Travel Technology Update: If you disappoint your passengers, "it will be public, and it will live forever," Forrester Research analyst Henry Harteveldt said at the recent SITA IT Summit in Cannes, France. Harteveldt was talking about social media phenomena such as Facebook, YouTube, Flickr and Twitter, which allow travelers to broadcast their experiences immediately to hundreds, thousands, even millions of people.
