TUI Travel is expecting annual savings of €40 million ($54 million) thanks to the new alliance between its TUIfly LCC and Air Berlin, TUI CEO Michael Frenzel said last week in Hanover. AB will take over 17 aircraft from TUIfly in order to operate scheduled shuttle services, while TUIfly will operate 21 aircraft on charter routes ( ATWOnline, March 31). Each company took a 19.9% share in the other and the cooperation is set to start on Oct. 1, pending approval from competition authorities.
Emirates said it was "surprised at the revelations" in the EU report last week regarding the online ticket sales "blacklist" on which it was named as one of 12 airlines not fully complying with all transparency and clarity requirements for selling tickets via its website. "As a responsible international company, Emirates adheres to all regulations and requirements of the countries in which we operate," Divisional Senior VP-Commercial Operations Worldwide Richard Vaughan told ATWOnline via e-mail.
Lufthansa Technik and eJet Services said they will expand their existing relationship offering comprehensive maintenance and operating support for private VIP-converted CRJ aircraft to include air transport CRJs operated by smaller airlines. Program will be expanded to other types as well. Launched in 2008, the joint program offers low-utilization and small-fleet operators "a comprehensive, global package of nose-to-tail maintenance and operating support."
Air Astana confirmed plans to expand significantly its Central Asia network including more cities in southern Russia and neighboring countries. Two leased E-190s scheduled for delivery in early 2011 will enable growth, President Peter Foster said, adding, "We identified enormous opportunities to expand further over the next five years with a new network." Air Astana currently operates to 22 domestic and 21 international destinations from its hubs in Almaty, Astana and Atyrau.
Turkish Airlines posted a 24% first-quarter net income increase to TRY155 million ($98.5 million) on a 17% rise in revenue to TRY1.28 billion. Passengers carried lifted 8% to 4.9 million and cargo transported rose 7% to 48,000 tons. Passenger traffic heightened 9% on a 15% lift in capacity. Load factor fell 3.7 points to 66.1%. THY said lower fuel prices are "a positive signal" and it believes it can "sustain positive results for the coming periods."
Boeing planned to start the Trent 1000 engines yesterday on its first 787 test aircraft and is finalizing a deal with Qantas to avoid Dreamliner deferrals. ZA001, which spent last week completing its fuel tests along with an APU start, was due to leave the fuel dock Saturday to be moved to the flight line. ZA002, the second flight test aircraft, was rolled out of the paint hangar last week in ANA colors, although ANA's first 787 is slated to be ZA007.
Gol reported first-quarter net income of BRL61.4 million ($29.1 million), reversed from a net loss of BRL20.5 million in the year-ago period, despite a 5.4% drop in revenue to BRL1.52 billion. The carrier said its profit resulted from lower fuel costs, "cost control and yield management" and synergies from Gol/Varig "operational consolidation" ( ATWOnline, Oct. 13, 2008). Expenses lowered 9.2% to BRL1.41 billion and operating income more than doubled to BRL105.1 million from BRL49.2 million last year.
Singapore Airlines blamed a severe deterioration in operating conditions in its fiscal fourth quarter ended March 31 and losses on fuel hedges for a 48.2% drop in its fiscal full-year net profit to S$1.06 billion ($722.9 million).
OAG Cargo Solutions signed an agreement with IBS Software Services to develop AFRA-2, its next-generation Air Freight Rates application. The application enhances interaction between airlines, GSAs and freight forwarders on the distribution, management and selection of real-time airfreight rates.
VivaAerobus will cease service June 1 at Austin-Bergstrom, where it operated flights to Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. Due to "the unfortunate outbreak of the swine flu virus," cancellations have risen to "unprecedented" levels, it said.
US Airways Group said last week that it expects to raise $234 million, up from $150 million, in aggregate net proceeds from the sale of common stock and convertible notes after underwriters exercised in full their options to purchase additional securities to cover overallotments ( ATWOnline,May 7).
US Air Transport Assn. forecast that US airline passenger traffic will decline 7% between June 1 and Aug 31 compared to the 2008 summer, amounting to a drop of about 150,00 passengers daily. It said domestic passengers carried will fall 7% while international passengers will dip 6%. "The main driver behind the anticipated drop in passengers traveling this summer is the ongoing global recession, which continues to crimp demand," President and CEO James May said.
The European Commission last week approved Lufthansa's proposed acquisition of bmi, stating that the transaction would not affect competition between airlines in the European Economic Area or within any substantial part of it. The EC noted that LH and bmi already cooperate on many routes because both are members of Star Alliance. It added that its investigation showed LH would be "unlikely" to start operating flights on those routes on which it currently only markets flights operated by bmi and vice versa.
The European Commission yesterday published a "blacklist" of 12 airlines including Aeroflot, Emirates, Northwest Airlines (now a part of Delta Air Lines), Olympic Airlines, Turkish Airlines and Royal Air Maroc that it said failed to address concerns about misleading customers on website ticket prices and breaching EU regulations.
CFM International President and CEO Eric Bachelet told ATWOnline that the Continental Airlines 737-800 that operated a test flight early this year with one of its CFM56-7B engines powered by a biofuel blend including algae oil and jatropha oil performed well and predicted that such blends "will be a significant component of the fuel used" by commercial aviation within 5-7 years ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9).
Airbus parent EADS reported first-quarter net income of €170 million ($232 million), down 40% from €285 million last year, as net commercial aircraft orders dropped precipitously year-over-year to eight compared to 395 in last year's first three months.
SR Technics appointed Andre Wall as COO. He also will become a member of the SR Technics Group executive board. SRT said that "the newly formed Operations Division will be home to all operating units within the group." Prior to joining SRT, Wall spent two years as COO of Jet Aviation in Zurich. Before that, he spent three years as president and CEO of MTU Maintenance in Berlin-Brandenburg.
Air China and China Eastern Airlines insisted that fuel hedging is a solid long-term strategy and pledged to continue with it to insulate them from price fluctuation despite huge hedging losses for full-year 2008 and the 2009 first quarter. CA and CEA reported CNY948 million ($138.8 million) and CNY916 million fuel hedge losses respectively in the first quarter, which followed hedging losses of CNY7.47 billion and CNY6.2 billion respectively by the two carriers for full-year 2008.
Greek air traffic was suspended for about 6 hr. yesterday when controllers joined a national public sector strike protesting the government's handling of the recession. Numerous flights were cancelled as no air travel within, to or from Greece was possible during the period.
CSafe said Continental Airlines Cargo selected its AcuTemp RKN air cargo container with both cooling and heating capabilities as part of its structured cold chain program.
CFM International today will move the first LEAP-X engine core to GE Aviation's testbed at its Evendale, Ohio, facility to begin testing within three weeks as the GE/Snecma joint venture aggressively develops the new-generation powerplant it is marketing to Boeing and Airbus for the eventual successor to the 737 and A320 families.
Ancra International signed a long-term agreement with Israel Aircraft Industries to supply 767-300 and 737-400BDSF Main Deck Cargo Loading Systems as buyer-furnished equipment.
