American Airlines Senior VP-Human Resources Jeff Brundage told the carrier's nonunion employees yesterday that the company has decided to institute a hiring and pay freeze for the remainder of 2009. In a letter to workers, Brundage said AA is experiencing "a decline in revenue, a decrease in bookings, lower demand for cargo services and increasing costs for such items as pension expense and medical insurance." He added that it is "having a tough time borrowing money right now." AA has about 19,000 nonunion employees.
Blue Wings, a Dusseldorf-based scheduled and charter carrier that suspended operations on April 1 after the authorities revoked its operating license, plans to re-launch full service Friday.
Russian Technologies, the state-owned controller of the newly established, Moscow Vnukovo-based Russia Airlines ( ATWOnline, Oct. 24, 2008), plans to order 150-200 aircraft starting next year, RT head Sergei Chemezov said, according to Reuters. According to Chemezov, "Boeing has promised to help us find credit in the US. From next year we would like to start buying airplanes. . .The most important question is where [we can] get the money."
BOC Aviation announced a sale/leaseback transaction with Southwest Airlines covering six 737-700s that will be leased back to the carrier for 14 years each. The first tranche of three aircraft closed April 2 and the second is scheduled to close in the current quarter. The lessor closed a similar deal with SWA in January covering 10 aircraft ( ATWOnline, Jan. 15).
Delta Air Lines, including its Northwest Airlines subsidiary, flew 15.6 billion system RPMs in March, a 12.6% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 7.9% to 19.39 billion ASMs and load factor fell 4.4 points to 80.5%. JetBlue Airways said preliminary passenger RASM fell 12% in March. It flew 2.25 billion RPMs during the month, down 8.5% year-over-year, against a 5.6% fall in capacity to 2.83 billion ASMs. Load factor dropped 2.5 points to 79.3%.
EasyJet Chairman Colin Chandler will resign effective July 1 and be replaced on an interim basis by Senior Independent Director David Michels, the LCC announced. Chandler has held the post since 2002. British Telecom Chairman Michael Rake was named deputy chairman and will join the easyJet board prior to Chandler's departure.
ATR has had serious discussions with airlines and suppliers about producing a larger turboprop and has found "a lot of interest" in the manufacturer's building a bigger aircraft than the 70-seat ATR 72, Head of Sales John Moore told ATWOnline. "We are certainly looking at that market and have had some very positive feedback from airlines that they do see a need for a larger capacity turboprop," Moore said yesterday. "There are a growing number of routes where the 70-seat turboprop is too limited."
Delta TechOps finalized new five-year contracts worth more than $200 million with Global Aviation Holdings subsidiaries World Airways and North American Airlines. Under the contracts, which are extensions to previous deals, it will perform component repair, inventory exchange programs and drop-in A and C check support. It also will provide time and material engine maintenance for World's PW4000s and CF6-80C2s and be the exclusive provider of 331-200 APU repairs for NAA.
China Airlines announced a net loss of TWD32.35 billion ($968.9 million) for 2008, widened sharply from the $77.5 million deficit reported in 2007. Operating loss of TWD10.21 billion compared to $41.54 million the prior year. CI said fuel costs climbed 45% during the first three quarters of 2008 and falling demand offset declining fuel costs in the fourth. The company lost TWD21.05 billion on its fuel hedges.
US Export-Import Bank announced approval of some $1.08 billion in financing to support the delivery of up to 30 737-900ERs to Indonesia's Lion Air. The financing comprises $238 million in a first stage and a nonbinding preliminary commitment of $841 million. Ex-Im Bank said the transactions were its first in support of the -900ER.
Flybe announced that it will open a base at London Gatwick, its 14th, and launch 18-times-weekly flights to Dusseldorf on June 22. Flybe is the third-largest slot holder at LGW but has not based any aircraft there. It plans to operate "nearly" 500 weekly flights from the airport during the summer schedule. It recently opened a new lounge at LGW's South Terminal. The carrier said the move "reaffirms its ability to grow even in challenging economic times and that it also has "big plans to grow further in Germany."
Indonesian court jailed Garuda Indonesia Capt. Marwoto Komar, 45, the pilot who was in command of a 737-400 that crashed in Yogyakarta two years ago, killing 21.
Star Alliance said it plans to move current London Heathrow Terminal 2 tenants Austrian Airlines, Croatia Airlines, Lufthansa, Swiss International Air Lines and TAP Portugal to T1 this summer. At that point, the 21 Star members serving LHR will remain split between T1 and T3.
United Airlines flight attendants represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA announced yesterday that the union is "exercising the opportunity to negotiate for improvement for the first time since 1996" and is "seeking contract improvements after enduring huge cuts in pay, quality of work life, healthcare and retirement for nearly seven years." The current labor contract becomes amendable on Jan. 7, 2010. If negotiations have not concluded by Aug. 7, the parties will petition the National Mediation Board to begin mediation.
News from Travel Technology Update: Farelogix unveiled FLX Commando, a patent-pending agency reservations tool that simulates cryptic GDS command-line functions, and E-FLX, described as the travel industry's first "hub" for issuing, storing, managing and reporting Electronic Miscellaneous Documents. Farelogix has been busy: The new product announcements came on the heels of the debut of Project Hawkeye, Farelogix' open-source, Web-based travel management point-of-sale application whose source code is now available for free public download from the company's Web site.
Dermot Mannion's eventful tenure as Aer Lingus CEO, which featured privatization, two successful defenses against a Ryanair takeover and a reversal in fiscal fortunes leading to a €107.8 million ($145.3 million) loss last year, ended yesterday with his resignation after 3.5 years on the job. "It has been a privilege. . .to have led the company through a period of profound change," Mannion said in a statement. "My decision to step down will allow a new CEO to bring fresh thinking and new ideas to the business."
US airlines' customer service improved for the first time in five years in 2008, researchers from St. Louis University and Wichita State University said yesterday in releasing their annual Airline Quality Rating report. Improvement was across the board, with carriers scoring better on baggage handling, ontime performance, denied boarding and customer complaints, researchers said. The airline with the best overall AQR among the 17 graded was Hawaiian Airlines, followed by AirTran Airways, JetBlue Airways, Northwest Airlines and Alaska Airlines.
US Airways named former Eos Airlines Senior VP-Guest Experience Hector Adler VP- inflight services. Ryanair promoted Head of Scheduled Revenue Ken O'Toole to director-new route development. AirTran Airways named Transportation Security Administration Office of Strategic Communications and Public Affairs Deputy Assistant Administrator Christopher White director of public relations.
American Airlines flew 10.32 billion system RPMs in March, down 10.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.6% to 13.04 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 4.8 points to 79.2%. American Eagle flew 643.1 million RPMs, down 6.1%, against a 4.2% decline in ASMs to 894.2 million, lowering load factor 1.5 points to 71.9%. US Airways Group said March consolidated passenger RASM fell an estimated 17%-19% year-over-year, although total RASM dropped 13%-15% including ancillary revenue.
Aeroflot said last week that new CEO Vitaly Savelyev, named to replace the ousted Valery Okulov, will assume the position Friday ( ATWOnline, March 31). It also said an efficiency program implemented last summer will be worth $161 million in reduced costs this year and more than $400 million by the end of 2010. In addition, it announced establishment of a separate, Moscow-based charter division that will operate mostly Il-96s.
JetBlue Airways and Aer Lingus said bookings during the first year of their partnership exceeded targets by 50% and that JetBlue was able to connect more than 80 passengers a day from Ireland. The deal allows customers in both the US and Ireland to book a single connecting fare on EI's website and provides for baggage transfer. It originally involved connections between Dublin and Shannon, New York JFK and 25 JetBlue onward destinations but now includes flights via Boston as well. EI CEO Dermot Mannion said the companies will "continue to grow and develop new opportunities."
Qantas agreed to contribute an additional A$66 million ($46.7 million) over the next three years into the defined benefit divisions of the Qantas Superannuation Plan, in addition to current contributions, in response to the turmoil in the financial markets that has hit pension funds hard around the globe. It said the plan has assets of around A$5 billion and remains "in a strong financial position despite the challenging economic environment."
Airbus reported an order for 10 A320s on March 31 from Ireland's Aircraft Purchase Fleet, which combined with Korean Air's commitment for six A330-200s brought the manufacturer's order book for the month to 16 aircraft and it's year-to-date total net of cancellations to eight. It also has sold two A380s to KE and four A321s to Turkish Airlines this year but has seen orders for 14 A320 family aircraft cancelled ( ATWOnline, March 2).
