British Airways said it has asked the UK Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service to mediate talks with its labor unions to help it reach agreement on pay reductions and job cuts ( ATWOnline, June 19).
US military personnel from the Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa have been deployed to assist with search-and-rescue operations for the Yemenia Yemen Airways A310-300 that crashed Monday in the Indian Ocean with 153 aboard ( ATWOnline, July 2).
SITA said its "2009 Airline IT Trends Survey," released this week, revealed that carrier investment in information technology "is set to reach a new low this year as aircraft operators cope with unprecedented financial losses." According to the survey, IT and telecommunications spending as a percentage of airline revenue is forecast to be just 1.7% in 2009, the lowest level since 2002.
Delta Air Lines launched its first service to Australia this week with a daily Los Angeles-Sydney 777-200LR flight. DL joins United Airlines, Qantas and V Australia on the route. AirTran Airways launched service from Allentown to Orlando (four-times-weekly) and Fort Lauderdale (thrice-weekly) and will launch four-times-weekly Flint-Fort Lauderdale service Nov. 4. It will resume once-weekly seasonal Flint-Tampa flights from Oct. 6, and re-launch Akron Canton service to Fort Lauderdale (four-times-weekly) and Fort Myers (five-times-weekly, increasing to daily Nov. 18) from Nov.
Austrian Airlines Group said yesterday that it will need to cut an additional €200 million ($281.6 million) in costs and will slash 1,000 jobs to help it achieve the savings target.
French military aircraft and boats are continuing to search the Indian Ocean near Comoros for debris and survivors from the Yemenia Yemen Airways A310-300 that crashed late Monday, while the European Commission demanded that the airline "urgently provide" information on its maintenance program to avoid being placed on the EU's list of banned carriers.
GECAS and flydubai reached a sale-and-leaseback agreement covering four 737-800s scheduled for delivery in the second half of this year (two this month, one in October and one in December). Aircraft are worth $320 million. Flydubai CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said the financing is the first secured by the startup from outside the UAE. The airline expects to operate six aircraft to "around" 14 destinations by year end. Flydubai ordered 50 -800s at last year's Farnborough Airshow ( ATWOnline, July 15, 2008).
Lufthansa CEO-Group Airlines and Corporate Human Resources Stefan Lauer was appointed chairman of the six-member board of directors at bmi effective yesterday. He succeeds founder Michael Bishop, who is leaving the board. LH Manager-Hub Development and Capacity Management-Frankfurt also was named to the board, joining Lauer, CEO Nigel Turner and Deputy CEO Tim Bye as executive directors. Lufthansa's takeover of bmi was approved last week ( ATWOnline, June 23).
The European Commission extended the deadline of its investigation into the takeover of Austrian Airlines Group by Lufthansa by at least 14 days, or up to a maximum 90 days although a decision is expected to come in about two weeks. Sources close to both AAG and the Austrian government told ATWOnline that a 20% reduction in Austrian's capacity may be a condition for approval and would be acceptable. The airline is considered to be too large for its home market, with or without Lufthansa.
GE Aviation said it "successfully completed a customer trial of its ClearCore engine wash effluent collection system" on a Virgin Atlantic Airways CF6-80C2-powered 747-400 at London Heathrow. According to GE, ClearCore will be offered as either an effluent collection system working with "existing front-end wash equipment" or as a complete wash and collection system.
Virgin Atlantic Airways CEO Steve Ridgway said yesterday that the carrier will cut its winter capacity by 7% year-over-year, putting up to 600 jobs in jeopardy. "The outlook for the industry is as bleak as ever and all airlines are having to shrink their businesses," he said, according to press reports. "We will look to minimize the number of compulsory redundancies and ensure we treat our staff as fairly as possible." VS's London Heathrow-Chicago O'Hare service will be suspended, while flights to Hong Kong will be halved.
Air Canada said technical, maintenance and operational support employees represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers rejected the tentative pension funding moratorium and contract extension agreement reached last month by a 50.8% margin ( ATWOnline, June 17). Clerical and finance workers ratified by 93.2% and 87.7% margins respectively. AC and IAMAW "will meet promptly to discuss next steps," the airline said.
AirBridgeCargo Airlines added Milan Malpensa to its network, launching twice-weekly 747F flights to/from Moscow Sheremetyevo. ABC already operated 31 weekly flights to/from Sheremetyevo and Domodedovo linking Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Budapest and Zaragoza with Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo Narita and Hong Kong ( ATW, May 2009). The Volga-Dnepr scheduled services subsidiary also operates flights to Krasnoyarsk. ABC appointed Kales GSA as its general sales agent in Italy.
Eleven member airlines of the Arab Air Carriers Org. will be the first users of SITA's new Aircraft Emissions Manager when the solution becomes available commercially in October, AACO and SITA revealed yesterday at the latter's Air Transport IT Summit in Cannes.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh said he remains committed to the A380 and "could make a case to take this capacity earlier than scheduled." BA placed an order for 12 A380s in September 2007 as part of its long-term fleet modernization, with deliveries beginning in 2012. "There is a big cost reduction compared to the 747s [we currently operate]," he said yesterday. "With fuel prices over $70 and maybe heading to $100 a barrel the difference in unit cost becomes even more distinct," he told ATWOnline during a press conference at the SITA Air Transport IT Summit in Cannes.
Shanghai Airlines hopes to maintain its membership in Star Alliance even after its merger with China Eastern Airlines, which most likely will join SkyTeam, Chairman Zhou Chi said. He noted that Shanghai needs to discuss the matter with Star airlines. "Also, whether we can maintain it or not will be up to which global airline alliance CEA joins," he said. CEA Chairman Liu Shaoyong has said internally that the carrier prefers SkyTeam, which already includes China Southern Airlines.
ANA raised its firm 787 commitment to 55 aircraft from 50, according to a document released yesterday detailing the company's plan to issue 575 million new shares worth an estimated ¥182.62 billion ($1.9 billion) that will be used largely to finance new aircraft.
US National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating two runway incursions that occurred in Cleveland last month, the most recent being a June 26 incident in which the tower cleared an ExpressJet E-145 to cross Runway 24L and then approximately 19 sec. later cleared a CommutAir Dash 8 for takeoff on Runway 24L. "The ExpressJet flight crew saw the departing airplane and advised the tower controller they would not cross the runway," NTSB stated.
Austrian Minister of Finance Josef Proell said this week that "the situation facing Austrian Airlines Group is too serious to delay a decision from the EU regarding the takeover by Lufthansa," Der Standard reported as speculation increased that the EU may postpone its ruling.
News from Travel Technology Update: United Airlines told some travel agencies that they would "no longer have continued access to United's credit card merchant agreements," effective July 20. United said agents who received the notice but continued to process transactions using United's merchant facilities would receive $75 debit memos.
Kuwait Airways should be fully privatized by year end, Kuwaiti Minister of Communications Mohammed Al Busairi said, according to the Arab Air Carriers Org. The government will keep 20% while 35% will be made available to a single investor, 5% to airline staff and 40% to the public.
Continental Airlines and United Airlines told ATWOnline yesterday that they remain "confident" their application for antitrust immunity will be approved despite the vehement objections raised recently by the US Dept. of Justice.
Indonesia Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda said the EU will lift its ban on Garuda Indonesia, Mandala Airlines, Prime Air and Air Fast this month, according to The Jakarta Post. "The EU judge[s] that our local airlines have fulfilled 62 out of the 69 requirements to fly to the continent," Hassan said during a hearing with the House of Representatives Commission for Foreign Affairs. Indonesian carriers have been on the EU's blacklist for two years ( ATWOnline, July 6, 2007).
The G8 Summit that took place this week in Italy reaffirmed support for ICAO's role, in cooperation with the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, in addressing emissions reductions targets and policy for the international airline industry post-2012. The G8 comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US, together with the European Union.
