Boeing said it completed the first engine runs on the Trent 1000s powering the first 787 yesterday. Engines ran for 40 min. According to the company, "the occasion marks the first all-electric start of a commercial jetliner engine on a commercial jetliner." Engines already had been started electronically in test facilities, it noted. Engine runs began with the Hamilton Sundstrand APS-5000 APU providing power to start them.
Seabury Solutions announced that Southwest Airlines implemented its Airline Performance Analysis System, a decision-support tool that measures the operational and financial performance of individual flights.
US FAA yesterday said it proposed a $1.3 million civil penalty against Gulfstream International Airlines, alleging "improper scheduling of flight crew duty time" and installing unapproved air conditioner compressors on its fleet of 27 1900D turboprops.
Lufthansa may "walk away" from its acquisition of bmi unless current shareholders inject more capital, CFO Stephan Gemkow told the Financial Times. "What we want to have is the company in its contractually agreed state and that means the company has the licenses it needs to operate and the funds it needs to operate," he told the paper. "We have a situation in which, to our understanding, the conditions have not been met. .
In a closed-door session at the Regional Airline Assn. annual conference in Salt Lake City that extended late into Tuesday evening, CEOs of a number of US regionals focused primarily on safety issues raised after the Feb. 12 Colgan Air Q400 crash that killed 50 people outside Buffalo, while the US Senate promised to conduct its own examination of regional safety.
CEOs of Air France KLM Group and Delta Air Lines signed a profit/loss-sharing joint venture agreement yesterday in Paris covering a wide network around 10 hubs representing more than 200 flights and approximately 50,000 seats per day. The airlines said their venture, which will concentrate on service to/from Amsterdam, Atlanta, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York JFK and Paris Charles de Gaulle as well as Cincinnati, Lyon, Memphis and Salt Lake City, represents about 25% of the industry's total transatlantic capacity.
Alaska Airlines pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. ratified a four-year labor agreement that includes pay increases, retirement options for current employees and "work rules that provide increased flexibility for pilots and improved productivity for the airline," the parties announced. Deal covers 1,455 pilots and is effective as of April 1, 2009. The company's defined benefit pension plan will be closed to pilots hired following ratification; those pilots will participate in a 401(k) program. Negotiations began in January 2007 and the contract was finalized one month ago.
Mitsubishi Aircraft Corp. is on schedule to deliver the first MRJ90 by 2013 to launch customer ANA, which has firm orders for 25, Executive VP Junichi Miyakawa said yesterday at the Regional Airline Assn. conference in Salt Lake City. The company completed its preliminary design review in April with critical review scheduled to be finished by year end. First flight is anticipated in 2011.
Virgin America said it has completed installation of the Gogo inflight Internet service on its fleet and as of yesterday is offering the service on each of its 100 daily flights ( ATWOnline, Dec. 3, 2008). Cost is $12.95 for daytime flights longer than 3 hr., $9.95 for shorter daytime flights, $5.95 on redeye flights and $7.95 for handheld devices.
US National Transportation Safety Board wrote to American Airlines this week recommending that the carrier evaluate its maintenance program's Continuing Analysis and Surveillance System "to determine why it failed," contributing to a September 2007 MD-82 inflight engine fire during a departure climb from St. Louis ( ATWOnline, April 8). "Then, make necessary modifications to the program to correct these shortcomings," NTSB told AA.
ICAO yesterday said it "intensified efforts" to assist member states in developing effective and harmonized national contingency plans in the event of a global H1N1 influenza (swine flu) pandemic.
Worldwide Flight Services inked a three-year contract with LTU International to provide cargo handling services, warehousing and customs clearance in Miami.
Regional Express Holdings of Australia reported a A$7.5 million ($5.8 million) pre-tax profit for the fiscal third quarter ended March 31, down 6.3% year-over-year. Revenue fell 7.8% to A$57 million on a 19.8% drop in passenger numbers to 292,386. Load factor slipped 4.1 points to 63.2% on a 15% reduction in ASKs. Fiscal year-to-date pre-tax earnings of A$21.9 million were up 1.9% from the year-ago period, although Rex said its full-year net may be down as much as 10%. It flies 40 Saab 340s.
Southwest Airlines announced yesterday that it will start service in November or December at Milwaukee, a market targeted for growth this year by rival AirTran Airways.
Boeing said yesterday that it completed assembly of the first 747-8 freighter's forward fuselage. "The 89-ft., 2-in. fuselage section, featuring the airplane's signature upper deck, was moved from the final assembly installation tool for sealing and testing before beginning systems installation," the manufacturer said. The 747-8's fuselage is stretched by 18 ft. 4 in. compared to the 747-400 and more than 13 ft. of that stretch is located in the forward fuselage.
SuperJet International said yesterday that it is taking a hard look at its original plan to build a 75-seat regional jet and likely will go for an aircraft in the 100/115-seat range to complement the existing 95-passenger SSJ 100 platform.
Clickair will operate all London routes out of Heathrow from June 1, switching its Vigo and Seville service to LHR from Gatwick. It already operates daily Bilbao and La Coruna flights to/from LHR.
The US Air Transport Assn. said yesterday that US airlines' passenger revenue dropped 18% year-over-year in April, the sixth consecutive month of declining passenger revenue. The number of passengers traveling on US airlines fell 6.3% for the month while the average per-mile price to fly declined 12.6%. "Revenue declines extended beyond the mainland United States to the transatlantic, transpacific and Latin markets," ATA said, noting that April results partially reflect the shift in the Easter holiday from April last year to March this year.
Qantas withdrew first class from sale for flight departures between July 6 and Oct. 31 on three routes due to the downturn in premium traffic. The flights are Sydney-San Francisco, Sydney-Buenos Aires and Melbourne-Hong Kong-London Heathrow.
Lufthansa Systems signed a seven-year contract with Freebird Airlines of Turkey, which will use Lido eRouteManual and Lido FMS data from Lufthansa Systems' aeronautical database.
Swiss WorldCargo plans to implement short-time work starting June 1 for around 100 employees. In the first four months of this year, cargo load factor dropped 18.4 points-year-over-year to 66.8%. In April it fell 20.6 points. Separately, Swiss International Air Lines named Holger Hatty to the management board as CCO effective July 1. He previously served on the executive board of Lufthansa Passenger Airline and was in charge of strategy, alliances and holdings, network management, IT and purchasing.
Singapore Airlines reported an 18.2% year-over-year plunge in passenger numbers last month to 1.2 million. Traffic fell 17.7% to 6.27 billion RPKs against just a 12.9% cut in capacity to 8.68 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 4.2 points to 72.2%. On the cargo front, FTKs were down 21.6% and load factor fell 3.7 points to 58%. SIA has cut flights to Los Angeles, Osaka Kansai, Vancouver and Amristar and grounded 17 aircraft.
