Cargoitalia received its AOC from Italian civil aviation authority ENAC allowing for the start of operations with its recently delivered MD-11F. The carrier, which relaunched under the new ownership of ALIS (66.7%) and Intesa SanPaolo (33.3%), will take delivery of a second MD-11F in the coming weeks and a third before year end. It has orders for eight A330-200Fs that will enter service beginning in 2012.
US National Transportation Safety Board Member Kathryn O'Leary Higgins has resigned effective Aug. 3. She joined the five-member board in January 2006.
US airline passenger revenue plunged 26% year-over-year in June, the eighth consecutive month of decline, while the 20.7% drop in yield was the "sharpest" this decade, the Air Transport Assn. said yesterday. The findings were based on data collected from 28 mainline and regional carriers. Passenger numbers fell 6.5% year-over-year. ATA also said May cargo traffic was down 20%, fueled by a 26% drop in the Pacific. June data was not available.
Air Canada said it received approval from retirees, managers and administrative, technical and support employees for a 21-month moratorium on pension fund contributions and fixed payments for the 2011-13 period similar to the deals ratified last week by its five Canadian unions ( ATWOnline, July 17).
Gol flew 2.07 billion RPKs in June, a 7.1% decline year-over-year. Capacity fell 4.9% to 3.25 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 1.6 points to 63.8%. Austrian Airlines flew 1.44 billion RPKs in June, down 17.9% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 15.9% to 1.97 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 1.8 points to 73%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 701.6 million RPMs in June, up 7.4% year-over-year, against a 3% rise in capacity to 825.3 million ASMs. Load factor rose 3.5 points to 85%.
Netherlands Competition Authority rejected a complaint by easyJet that the difference in tariffs at Amsterdam Schiphol between origin/destination and transfer passengers is discriminatory and puts the LCC at a competitive disadvantage.
Shanghai-based Juneyao Airlines is targeting CNY50 million ($7.3 million) in net earnings this year, a result that would dwarf the CNY11.5 million profit reported in 2008, according to Chairman Wang Junjin.
JetAmerica canceled its plan to operate ultra-low-fare service based largely out of Newark, Toledo and Melbourne, Fla. It originally intended to begin flying last week but postponed launch until mid-August owing to slot concerns ( ATWOnline, July 7). On Friday, CEO Jon Weikle said, "Finalizing the slots required to support our charter program at Newark has taken longer than expected and we have decided to suspend our operations in order to refocus on different markets.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt moved to ease tension with the agency's 15,000 air traffic controllers yesterday at a time when the agency and the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. are in arbitrated talks over a new labor contract ( ATWOnline, May 1).
British Airways said Friday that it plans to raise £600 million ($985 million) in cash "to ensure it has strong liquidity" to enable it to manage through "the current difficult trading conditions." CEO Willie Walsh, who has said several times recently that the airline is in a "fight for survival" ( ATWOnline, July 15), told reporters that the increased liquidity "puts to bed any suggestion that BA is in any sort of risk short term."
Lufthansa last week shared with the European Commission a revised offer for its proposed takeover of Austrian Airlines Group, but it was unclear whether the German carrier had made enough concessions to satisfy EU antitrust regulators.
Lufthansa Systems said AeroLogic, the cargo airline owned by DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, will use the Lido eRoute Manual for its navigation charts. It also chose the Lido FMS navigation database service for the flight management system and will calculate crew rotations with NetLine/Crew. In addition, AeroLogic will use NetLine/Sched for schedule management, NetLine/Ops for all operational control processes and Lido OC for flight planning via DHL Express.
Emirates will operate one of its two daily Dubai-Birmingham flights with an A380 on Sept. 9 to celebrate Birmingham International's 70th anniversary. "We hope that many travelers from around the region will take advantage of this opportunity to fly on the superjumbo for the first time," President Tim Clark said.
US federal judge ruled against defendants including Boeing and five US airlines on a pre-trial motion relating to 22 9/11 lawsuits that are likely to start later this year. The judge stated that the defendants will not be allowed to question the FBI and other government agencies during the trials.
Aer Lingus on Friday named Christoph Mueller CEO, replacing Dermot Mannion, who stepped down in April. Mueller, 47, most recently served as TUI Travel's aviation director, a position that gave him responsibility for the company's seven airlines. He joined TUI in early 2006 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 1, 2008). Prior to that, he was DHL Worldwide's CFO and a member of Duetsche Post's executive committee. EI said he also has held senior positions with Daimler Benz Aerospace, Lufthansa and Sabena.
Germania will launch weekly 737-700 flights between Dusseldorf and Zonguldak, Turkey, on July 21. Turkish Airlines is adding a stop in Jakarta to its five-times-weekly Istanbul-Singapore service from Aug. 30. Route will be flown IST-SIN-JKT-SIN-IST. World Airways extended its contract with Allied Air to operate an MD-11 freighter on a fulltime basis through December 2011 on an Ostend-Lagos-Nairobi-Ostend routing. It has been operating the MD-11F on the route for Allied since October 2008.
Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said the government is strongly considering providing a INR25 billion ($512 million) capital injection to Air India.
Bombardier said Friday that Transport Canada, US FAA and EASA granted final approval to adjust the line maintenance intervals for CRJ700/705/900 NextGen and Q400 aircraft from 400 flight hr. to 600 flight hr. "Previous schedules required CRJ700/705/900 and Q400 aircraft to undergo line maintenance checks every 2.2 months on average," the company said. "Under the new revisions, the intervals are extended to 3.3 months." It said that as a result, operators will experience reduced direct maintenance costs over the life of the aircraft.
Travelport GDS signed an agreement with Afghan carrier Safi Airways to provide travel agents worldwide access to fares and routes from the carrier as well as the ability to e-ticket bookings. It said Safi will be the first Afghan carrier to participate in the GDS channel.
WestJet and Air France KLM launched their interline partnership, allowing AF KLM passengers to connect to Calgary-Vancouver WS flights as well as flights from both cities to Edmonton. In February the airlines said they had signed an MOU signaling their intention to codeshare by late 2009 or early 2010 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5).
Delta MEC of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said yesterday that 215 pilots have opted to take advantage of the carrier's Pilot Retirement Incentive Program, which ended Wednesday night.
