Current members of Star Alliance and aspiring member Continental Airlines pushed back strongly against the US Dept. of Justice's opposition to the extension of antitrust immunity to CO when it joins in October, arguing in a filing with the Dept. of Transportation that DOJ favors a "myopic policy" that would "abandon almost two decades of highly successful international aviation policy."
Boeing said yesterday that it has reached agreement to purchase Vought Aircraft Industries' facility in North Charleston, S.C., that builds the 787's aft fuselage sections. It will pay Vought $580 million for the plant and relieve the company of its obligations to repay advances previously made by Boeing, which will take over all of the plant's assets and inventory and assume full control and operation of the site.
EU and Azerbaijan signed an aviation agreement yesterday granting all EU carriers the right to fly between any member state and Azerbaijan. More than 210,000 passengers flew between the markets in 2007, the EU said.
United Airlines flew 10.57 billion consolidated RPMs in June, down 7.5% from the year-ago month, while capacity fell 8% to 12.31 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 85.9%. Southwest Airlines said June passenger RASM decreased an estimated 9%-10% year-over-year. It flew 6.73 billion RPMs in June, down 2.1%, against a 3.8% fall in capacity to 8.46 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 1.3 points to 79.5%.
British Airways plans to cut summer and winter capacity by an additional 1%, ground six additional aircraft next year and defer its A380 deliveries, while some 2,000 employees represented by Unite have "overwhelmingly rejected" the airline's proposed job cuts ahead of Wednesday's talks mediated by the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary found himself in the headlines again yesterday after telling Sky News "We might take out the last five or six rows [of seats] and say to passengers, 'Do you want to stand up? If you do, you can travel for free'." O'Leary said he has asked Boeing to look at converting or producing aircraft with "vertical seating" and asked, "Why is this any different to what happens on trains where you see thousands of people who cannot get a seat standing in the aisles?"
American Airlines flew 10.89 billion system RPMs in June, an 8.1% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 7.8% to 12.79 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.3 point to 85.1%. Continental Airlines said June consolidated and mainline RASM fell an estimated 19.5%-20.5%. It flew 8.07 billion consolidated RPMs last month, down 6.5% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 7.8% to 9.51 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.1 points to 84.8%.
Mesa Air Group announced that the US Court of Appeals upheld an injunction against Delta Air Lines preventing it from canceling Mesa subsidiary Freedom Airlines' contract to fly 22 ERJ-145s for Delta Connection ( ATWOnline, Oct. 22, 2008). Delta cited operational problems, but the court ruled, "The evidence showed that Delta induced Mesa to agree to Delta's coordinated cancellations by promising not to count such cancellations against it," Reuters reported.
Air Jamaica's rumored sale to Spirit Airlines owners Indigo Partners and Oaktree Capital has not been finalized, airline and government officials told The Jamaica Observer. "We are still talking to interested parties and the matter has not yet gone to Cabinet," a JM board member told the paper, while a government official said, "There has been no sale as yet. The recommendation still has to go to the Cabinet and the board of Air Jamaica before a decision is taken."
Cargo B Airlines halted operations last week as it ran out of cash. The Belgian carrier launched in October 2007 and flew to Africa and South America with two new 747-400Fs. "Volumes held up well, but we could not secure sufficient financing to support the introduction of the second 747 which was delivered half May," President and CEO Robert Kuijpers said. Lessor Nippon Cargo Airlines repossessed the aircraft. The company will be liquidated.
Aon Corp. released a report warning that the commercial aviation industry "is likely to see insurance premiums rise significantly for the rest of the year and potentially into the next" as insurers suffer heavy losses related to the recent accidents near Brazil, Comoros and Buffalo. "If the rest of 2009 follows the 13-year average pattern for losses, and discounting 2001, the year will be the most expensive ever seen in the airline insurance market," it said, with claims potentially surpassing $2.2 billion.
Lufthansa plans to announce details of an expanded cost savings program by the end of the month that could extend the current €300 million ($419.2 million) target "to up to €1 billion," a source close to LH management told ATWOnline.
SkyEurope Holding last week announced the departure of SkyEurope Airlines Chairman and CEO Jason Bitter by "mutual agreement." He was replaced by former Vice Chairman and CFO Nick Manoudakis. The LCC is operating under creditor protection ( ATWOnline, June 24).
JetAmerica, a low-fare startup scheduled to launch flights from Newark and Toledo on July 13, said last week that it will postpone introduction of service until Aug. 14 "due to unforeseen complications with landing and takeoff time slots" at EWR. The airline has said it will offer seats starting at $9 each way ( ATWOnline, June 1) and claimed that the 6,486 passengers who booked flights from July 13 through Aug. 13 will receive full refunds, along with "special incentives" to rebook.
Gulf Air named former Royal Jordanian President and CEO Samer Majali as its new chief executive, replacing Bjorn Naf. Majali announced his unexpected resignation from RJ last week, telling ATWOnline that, "after 30 years at the airline and eight years as chief executive, I decided it was time for me to move on" ( ATWOnline, June 30).
SpiceJet reported a INR78 million ($1.6 million) loss in the fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31, narrowed from a INR1.24 billion deficit in the year-ago period. The New Delhi-based LCC did not provide its full-year result. It lost INR180 million in its fiscal third quarter ( ATWOnline, Feb. 26). Fourth-quarter operating revenue rose 4.4% year-over-year to INR3.99 billion on a 10.3% increase in passenger numbers to 1.4 million. It said "overall aviation demand" in India fell 13%.
Vueling Airlines and Clickair said they will complete their "merger of equals" on July 9. The new carrier will use the Vueling name and Iberia will hold 45.9%, Hemisferio/Planeta 14.3% and Air Nostrum parent Nefinsa 4.2% ( ATWOnline, June 30). VY will operate 35 A320s (18 former Clickair) on 92 routs to/from 42 destinations in 18 countries. "The new Vueling must deliver a three-year plan to the board in October and a zero-growth plan is unlikely to be acceptable," CEO Alex Cruz said.
French BEA said signals emanating from the flight data and voice recorders onboard the Yemenia Yemen Airways A310-300 that crashed in the Indian Ocean were detected Sunday. The accident near the Comoros capital of Moroni killed 152 of the 153 people onboard ( ATWOnline, July 3). Meanwhile, Yemenia said it is suspending its Comoros service indefinitely, according to press reports.
Arab Air Carriers Org. Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha estimated that inclusion of aviation in the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme will cost his member airlines around €200 million ($281.6 million) in 2012, the first year that carriers are scheduled to be included. "This is a conservative estimate and covers only the cost of offsetting the emissions. It does not include the expenditure needed to implement the systems to comply with the rules," Teffaha told ATWOnline during the SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Cannes this week.
The lead investigator examining the May 31 Air France A330-200 accident said yesterday that malfunctioning pitot probes were "one of the factors but not the only one" that led to the aircraft's going down in the Atlantic Ocean and declined to cite a cause of the crash.
Boeing delivered 125 aircraft in the second quarter led by 99 737NGs, it reported yesterday. It also delivered 21 777s, three 767s and two 747s. In the first half of 2009 it delivered 246 aircraft led by 190 737NGs.
