Naverus said Air China successfully completed its RNP validation flight into Lhasa from Chengdu on June 26 using an A330-200. "The flight clears the way for Air China's entire fleet of Airbus A330s to fly the Naverus-designed procedures at the Lhasa Gonggar Airport," Naverus said.
British Airways will launch daily London City-New York JFK all-business-class flights Sept. 29 aboard 32-seat A318s, increasing to twice-daily in October. Lufthansa Cargo will launch a weekly Frankfurt-Dallas/Fort Worth-Guadalajara-Frankfurt freighter service on July 22. CSA Czech Airlines said it will cease Prague-New York JFK flights in the coming winter season. Two A310-300s used for the service will be switched to charter operations. The move is part of the 2009 "action plan" to achieve overall cost savings of CZK300 million ($16 million).
Jazeera Airways appointed Stefan Pichler as its new CEO, replacing Andrew Cowen, who left the company after only five months. It also commenced thrice-weekly service from Kuwait City to Isfahan, its fourth destination in Iran, aboard an A320.
Alaska Airlines began testing continuous descent approaches into Seattle/Tacoma with a 737-700 using RNP technology on June 16 during a noncommercial flight. The carrier pioneered RNP in the 1990s for challenging approaches in Alaska. The current effort, dubbed Greener Skies, is being done in cooperation with the Port of Seattle, Boeing and FAA and also will involve regional affiliate Horizon Air. Horizon's Q400 fleet is being equipped for RNP as well. Alaska Air estimates the procedures will cut fuel consumption by 2.1 million gal.
Continental Airlines announced this week that simulator engineer employees represented by the Transport Workers Union ratified a new four-year labor agreement.
US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker told Reuters yesterday that the carrier has "no plans to reduce capacity any further" in 2009, adding, "If anything, we will have a modest expansion internationally." US this month launched daily Philadelphia-Tel Aviv flights using A330s.
Okay Airways Chairman Wang Junjin said the Tianjin-based carrier will add one or two new investors within two months that will provide a capital injection of CNY200 million ($29.2 million) to bolster the troubled airline.
UPS said it has adopted a plan to cut the carbon dioxide emissions of UPS Airlines by an additional 20% by 2020 to bring its cumulative reduction to 42% compared to 1990 levels. The company said its jet aircraft "are the source of 53%" of UPS's total CO2 output. The delivery giant also operates fleets of trucks and vans and manages warehouses.
American Airlines and Gol said they intend to enter a codeshare agreement "in the near future" and will initiate a frequent-flyer accord from Aug. 1 that will allow members of AA's AAdvantage and Gol's Smiles programs to cross-access benefits. Passengers from the two programs will be able to earn miles on each airline's flights and in the fall will begin to be allowed to redeem miles on each. Gol CEO Constantino de Oliveira Jr.
Airbus booked 58 new orders and delivered 49 aircraft in June, a month highlighted by Paris Air Show orders for 20 A320s from Qatar Airways, 10 A350-900s from AirAsia X and 16 A321s from Vietnam Airlines. Deliveries comprised 38 A320 family aircraft, four A330-200s, four A330-300s, one A340-600 to Iberia and one A380 to Singapore Airlines. Etihad Airways confirmed yesterday that it canceled one of its eight remaining A340-600 ordres, a spokesperson told Reuters.
Comair President John Bendoraitis informed employees this week that "additional furloughs among our crews will be unavoidable" and that the Delta Air Lines subsidiary will "continue to assess administrative staffing levels to ensure they remain appropriate with what is needed to support the operations," according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. Comair employs approximately 5,600.
Airline ticket sales through the Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. fell for a sixth straight month in June compared to the year-ago period, but the rate of annual decline slowed compared to May. Total sales including airfares, taxes and fees were $5.73 billion, down 20.3% compared to June 2008, following a 29.1% year-over-year decline in May. Total fares fell 21.3% to $4.86 billion after dropping 30.9% in May. Domestic fares fell 19.4% to $2.62 billion and international fares declined 23.5% to $2.24 billion.
Embraer delivered 35 commercial aircraft in the second quarter led by 16 E-190s. It also delivered seven E-195s, seven E-170s, three E-175s and two ERJ-145s. For the first half it delivered 67 commercial aircraft led by 33 E-190s and 13 E-195s.
China Eastern Airlines will benefit the most from the agreement reached in April to expand significantly the number of flights permitted across the Taiwan Strait, according to a cross-strait distribution plan released this week by CAAC. The Taipei-based Strait Exchange Foundation and the Beijing-based Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait signed the accord that increases from 108 to 270 the number of direct flights allowed beginning this month ( ATWOnline, April 20).
Air India parent National Aviation Co. of India Ltd. is expected to report a loss of approximately INR50 billion ($1.02 billion) for its fiscal year ended March 31, some 25% more than the figure targeted last month, Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel informed the national parliament's upper house yesterday. He wrote that NACIL's deficit is "largely due to high operating expenses, which have been compounded due to the present economic recession resulting in a drop in passengers," in addition to high fuel prices and debt servicing, the Press Trust of India reported.
Yemenia Yemen Airways yesterday threatened to "reconsider" its order for 10 A350-800s valued at $2 billion because it believes Airbus has been unsupportive following last week's A310-300 crash in the Indian Ocean that killed 152.
Austrian Airlines Group yesterday confirmed that its Tyrolean Airways subsidiary, which operates under the Austrian Arrows brand, will reduce its fleet from the current 55 aircraft to 41 over the next year ( ATWOnline, July 7). A spokesperson told ATWOnline that AAG will phase out 50-seat CRJs, which no longer are economical due to the decline in business demand, especially to Eastern Europe. All 10 CRJs and four of 14 Dash 8-300s will be removed. "This will affect a total of 400 fulltime employees.
European Court of Justice imposed a €2 million ($2.8 million) fine on the Greek government for failing to recover state aid illegally granted to Olympic Airways, the predecessor of Olympic Airlines, which was privatized in March ( ATWOnline, March 11). The penalty will be increased by €16,000 each day if Greece fails to recover the money within one month. The ruling relates to a longstanding dispute between the European Commission and Greece over state aid to its loss-making flag carrier.
SunExpress, the Antalya-based joint venture between Turkish Airlines and Lufthansa, ordered six 737-800s worth $460 million at list prices, Boeing announced yesterday. It currently operates 16 737NGs and three 757s. The manufacturer did not provide a delivery schedule. Meanwhile, Groupe Sonatrach subsidiary Tassili Airlines, based in Algiers, decided to order four 737-800s and three E-190s as part of a plan to add nine aircraft to its fleet. It also plans to order two 70-seat aircraft. Neither Boeing nor Embraer confirmed the orders.
Transaero Airlines reported a RUB109.4 million ($3.5 million) profit in 2008, a 7% increase over the prior year, on an 82.4% surge in revenue to RUB37.4 billion. Passenger numbers rose 50% to 4.9 million, boosting its market share by 3.6 points to 14.3%. Traffic was up 49% to 17.5 billion RPKs. It said it is "following through with its ambitious domestic route network expansion plans."
