Qantas Friday became the latest customer to cancel and/or postpone orders for the Dreamliner, reaching an agreement with Boeing to drop orders for 15 787-9s scheduled for delivery in 2014-15, reducing its order book for the aircraft to 50, and also deferring 15 787-8s by four years.
Sabena technics and Al Wazzan Group will set up a joint venture to provide MRO services to operators in the Middle East from Kuwait City. The MRO facility will offer proximity services such as line, light and heavy aircraft maintenance, pooling and logistics support. The investment will include a new hangar that is expected to be operational next year. The JV's first customer will be Kuwait-based premium carrier Wataniya, which already is supported by Sabena technics.
Pratt & Whitney cut 200 salaried positions across its US-based operations (including approximately 170 in Connecticut) this week as part of a restructuring initiative announced in March by parent United Technologies ( ATWOnline, March 30). "It is clear that this is not a short-term economic downturn. Engine orders as well as maintenance, repair and overhaul activities are lower, requiring us to make difficult decisions," the company said.
International Aero Engines President and CEO Jon Beatty said the V2500, which had a "slow start" in China because it was not the first engine available for the A320, will gain traction now that it is powering nine of the first 10 aircraft assembled at the new Tianjin FAL. Its first was delivered Tuesday to Sichuan Airlines ( ATWOnline, June 24). "I see growing potential here in China," he told ATWOnline. The Chinese government has ordered 600 A320s for delivery in four blocks.
Goodrich Corp. opened a 50,000-sq.-ft. facility at Tianjin Airport Industrial Park to support nacelle and thrust reverser original equipment as well as MRO activities. In addition, it will support "engine buildup and podding work" for the new A320 family final assembly line in Tianjin. The facility will serve as an interim location until Goodrich opens a permanent 170,000-sq.-ft. complex directly across from the FAL.
British Airways said that 6,940 employees, about 17% of its total workforce, have agreed to either unpaid leave, part-time work or unpaid work in a move that will save the airline up to £10 million. CEO Willie Walsh called it "a fantastic first response." Unpaid leave/work was available for 1-4 weeks, with the pay deduction spread over 3-6 months.
Air China launched its Hubei branch company yesterday, officially abandoning its pursuit of East Star Airlines and opening service from Wuhan to Guangzhou, Hangzhou and Shenzhen. CA is basing six aircraft at Wuhan and plans to introduce another half-dozen by year end, by which time it will have launched service to Xi'an, Urumqi, Nanjing, Shenyang, Macau (July) and Taipei (August).
Air France said yesterday that the body of Flight 447's captain and that of a flight attendant have been recovered by search crews. So far, 50 bodies have been found from among the 228 passengers and crew aboard the A330-200 that crashed some 360 mi. off Brazil's northeast coast on May 31 ( ATWOnline, June 18).
Royal Air Maroc will pull its own low-cost brand Atlas Blue and launch a regional airline as part of its strategy to fend off competition from no-frills carriers that has increased since the 2006 signing of the open skies agreement between Morocco and the EU.
Aeroflot investor Alexander Lebedev told RIA Novosti that the Russian flag carrier faces significant challenges as a result of the financial crisis and has launched insolvency proceedings for Aeroflot Cargo and is evaluating elimination of Aeroflot Don and Aeroflot Nord. "After the order of six MD-11Fs and three 737 freighters, SU Cargo made a loss of $140 million," Lebedev said, adding that SU plans to dissolve the cargo subsidiary and reintegrate it into the mainline. Freight fell 35.1% in the first quarter.
Cameroon Transport Minister Gounoukou Haounaye told the National Assembly that the government plans to spend CFA100 billion ($210.5 million) for the "purchase of three planes from Boeing," Reuters reported. Aircraft were not identified and will be placed with the new Cameroon Airlines Corp., established to replace defunct Cameroon Airlines. "I cannot give you a precise date when the company will begin flights, but I can assure you that it will be very soon," Haounaye said, adding that a strategic partner will own 51% of the new carrier.
Worldwide Flight Services reached agreement with Continental Airlines to provide cargo warehousing, customer service, mail handling and ramp handling for 45 weekly passenger flights and two cargo flights to/from Honolulu.
Delta Air Lines' credit facility rating was downgraded yesterday by Fitch Ratings, which cited "the continued erosion of the airline's near-term cash flow generation" and the expectation that it will "report another year of substantially negative free cash flow in 2009 as the airline struggles to adjust capacity to a diminished level of demand."
Air India announced formation of a "turnaround committee" comprising management and union representatives who will "make presentations identifying areas where savings can be effected." The Indian government told the airline this week that aid will be tied to performance improvements ( ATWOnline, June 25).
IATA said yesterday that May passenger and cargo traffic figures revealed a stabilization in demand declines but warned that airline revenue is still falling sharply. "We may have hit bottom, but we are a long way from recovery," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said. "Capacity is not aligned with demand." He said that following a 20% fall in international passenger revenue in the first quarter, "we estimate that the drop accelerated to as much as negative 30% in May. This crisis is the worst we have ever seen."
Lufthansa said its Passenger Airlines segment will present details of "a new profit saving program" on July 30, when the company releases its first-half results. "The financial crisis and its repercussions pose major challenges for airlines worldwide. Lufthansa is also impacted by the persistently weak demand development in both the passenger and freight businesses, structural changes in passengers' travel behavior and rising fuel prices," it said. At an investors day yesterday, LH said it has cut capacity by 2.6% this year and removed 23 aircraft from its fleet.
Ambassador John Bruton, head of the European Commission Delegation to the US, is raising concerns about a proposal in Congress to charge foreign visitors at least $10 each to fund a new quasi-governmental corporation that will help promote travel to the US. Congress currently is considering the Travel Promotion Act of 2009 (S 1023), "which would establish a nonprofit corporation to better communicate US entry policies to international travelers and promote leisure, business and scholarly travel," according to a statement from Bruton.
Iberia and ST Aerospace officially commemorated the opening of Madrid Aerospace Services, their joint venture company created to carry out landing gear MRO on A320, A330 and A340 aircraft ( ATWOnline, June 2). The 50/50 JV has completed and delivered 10 landing gears since early April and received the first shipset from its inaugural third-party customer, SriLankan Airlines, with a target completion date of July. MAeS expects to employ about 100 technicians at full capacity.
US FAA announced this week that its New York/New Jersey/Philadelphia Metropolitan Area Airspace Redesign "cleared a key legal barrier" after a three judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia struck down a series of legal challenges. Decision means the agency can move ahead with the delay reduction plan, which had been opposed by the State of Connecticut as well as towns and counties in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Connecticut and a citizens group.
Nippon Cargo Airlines said this week that it will abandon expansion plans until 2012 at the earliest, deciding to forego adding 16 747 freighters by 2013 as previously planned.
Gulf Air removed one A320 and one A330 from service in response to the economic downturn, CEO Bjorn Naf told ATWOnline at last week's Paris Air Show. "The 'tsunami' hit the Middle East in February, with a drop in demand of 5%-15% depending on the market, and even more in other markets like India," he said. "We reacted quickly and adjusted capacity in April." Network changes include a strengthening of its Middle Eastern network and more careful capacity additions to certain long-haul destinations in the Asia/Pacific such as Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok.
Flydubai will launch Indian service on July 13 with a four-times-weekly flight to Lucknow. Thrice-weekly service to Coimbatore and flights to Chandigarh begin July 23. Wizz Air will launch thrice-weekly Prague-Treviso service Sept. 20.
Boeing and GE Aviation yesterday said they have "jointly developed a simpler method to implement condition-based maintenance systems on aircraft." Called Open System Architecture for Condition-Based Maintenance, the system will provide "a 10-fold increase in real time performance. . .making it practical for embedded health monitoring of aircraft systems," GE Aviation President-Avionics John Armendarez said.
Emirates will fly the A380 to Paris Charles de Gaulle beginning Feb. 1. EK President Tim Clark said the daily service "is a result of such encouraging sales" and that "our plans to introduce this exceptional aircraft have been accelerated by almost a year which, in the current economic climate, is a major achievement." The carrier currently operates 777s to CDG twice-daily and its five A380s to Sydney, Auckland, Bangkok, Toronto and London Heathrow.
US FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt said yesterday that the agency is initiating "an expedited review of flight and rest rules" and "will work rapidly to develop and implement a new flight time and rest rule." Babbitt said that "pilot fatigue [is now] a high priority" for FAA and called for US airlines and pilot unions "to respond [to FAA] by July 31 with specific commitments to strengthen safety at regional and major airlines." He said carriers must "obtain all available FAA pilot records, among other actions."
