Air Jamaica said it is ending its economy class meal service effective May 1 and will offer a "packaged snack" instead. Nonalcoholic beverages will remain free. A buy-on-board snack program will be launched in September.
News from Travel Technology Update: Travelport GDS will "temporarily" indemnify travel agents from new surcharges that Air France KLM intends to impose for bookings made through the Galileo and Worldspan systems. The carrier has said that it will assess a €4.50 surcharge for bookings made through the systems by travel agents in France beginning June 1 and in the Netherlands beginning in mid-July. Travelport's combined Galileo and Worldspan presence makes it the dominant GDS company in the Netherlands. Its agreement with Air France KLM expired in December.
Qantas declined to confirm a report in The Australian Financial Review that it intends to cut 100 senior executive positions. However, a QF insider suggested to ATWOnline that the report was true and that the airline would announce details mid-week. The reductions are in addition to the 1,500 announced last year and are not unexpected as new CEO Alan Joyce strives to streamline the carrier ( ATWOnline, July 21, 2008).
A FedEx MD-11 en route from Guangzhou to Tokyo Narita crashed yesterday on landing in high winds, cartwheeling on the runway and catching fire, killing the two pilots. Video of the crash shows the aircraft landing hard, lifting back into the air briefly and then bouncing on its front and then rear ends. The left wing hit the runway, starting a fire as the MD-11 rolled. The crash occurred at 6:50 a.m. and closed the longer of NRT's two runways, forcing Japan Airlines and ANA to cancel at least 40 flights combined.
GE Aviation said it completed its acquisition of Airfoil Technologies International-Singapore with the purchase of Teleflex's 51% stake for $300 million. ATI-Singapore employs some 535 and repairs more than 2 million compressor airfoils per year, GE said.
Lufthansa Flight Training opened a simulator center in Munich yesterday. Swiss Aviation Training will operate its own E-190/195 simulator initially, with an LFT A320 simulator scheduled to enter operation in the coming weeks. An A330/A340 simulator will be running by year end.
Ethiopian Airlines reported a ETB515 million ($45.8 million) profit in its fiscal first half ended Dec. 31, up 9% from the year-ago semester, on a 54.8% surge in operating revenue to ETB6.7 billion. CEO Girma Wake said the carrier "remains optimistic that its performance will be sustained going forward, considering the strategic cost reduction efforts and improved operating procedures we have put in place."
US Airways was granted tentative route authority by the US Dept. of Transportation to operate a daily Charlotte-Rio de Janeiro Galeao service. US will use a two-class, 204-seat 767 on the route and plans to launch in the fall. Jetstar Airways plans to operate four-times-weekly Cairns-Osaka Kansai service beginning in December aboard an A330. The airline said launch is subject to completing negotiations with KIX and that it has "alternative international capacity options" from Cairns.
United Airlines expects first-quarter consolidated passenger RASM to fall 11%-12% year-over-year, with mainline PRASM dropping 12.3%-13.3%, along with an $80 million cash loss on settled fuel hedge contracts.
Virgin America will begin charging passengers $15 for their first piece of checked luggage on travel booked from May 5. The second through 10th checked bags also will cost $15 each, replacing VX's old policy of $25 for the second bag and $50 each for subsequent pieces. First class passengers will be permitted to check two bags for free, and those purchasing VX's Main Cabin Select product will get one free bag. "Because we fly to primary airports, we mainly compete with the large network carriers, all of whom already charge this fee," VP-Planning and Sales Diana Walke explained.
Universal Air Repair of Tennessee, a subsidiary of Universal Asset Management, received FAA certification to operate its10,000-sq.-ft. facility as an approved repair station with Limited Accessories ratings. It marks UAM's first venture into commercial aviation maintenance.
Naverus will design performance-based navigation procedures for Air China's A330 fleet at Lhasa under a contract signed with the carrier. It already has implemented PBN procedures at the airport for CA's 757s and A319s.
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair flew 6.65 billion RPKs in February, a 4.9% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 3.7% to 8.68 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1 point to 76.6%. GM-Revenue Management Tom Owen said premium cabin demand is "persistently weak" and that yields are under "tremendous pressure." TAM flew 1.84 billion domestic RPKs in February, down 1.9% year-over-year. Capacity climbed 13.6% to 3.02 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 9.6 points to 60.9%. International RPKs rose 12.6% to 1.37 billion against a 16.9% lift in capacity to 1.92 billion ASKs.
Air India said it plans to maintain its policy of introducing 2-3 new aircraft to its fleet per month during the fiscal year beginning April 1, claiming that the global slump in demand "will be short-lived" and that traffic to and from India will rise "considering [the] improved business environment and the enormous potential" of India as a tourist destination. AI added 45 aircraft in the past 18 months and now operates more than 150. Thirty are scheduled to arrive during the upcoming fiscal year, including three 777-200LRs during the June-August period.
Austrian LCC Niki posted a profit of €7.1 million ($9.6 million) in 2008, up 103% on the prior year, President Niki Lauda told ATWOnline last week, on a 25% year-over-year increases in revenue to €229 million and passenger numbers to 2.1 million. "All in all, 2008 was a record year for us. And I also expect a good 2009," he said, adding that the airline will benefit from Austrian Airlines' struggles ( ATWOnline, Feb. 24).
Singapore Airlines has "no immediate plans" to defer any aircraft deliveries, including the four A380s scheduled to arrive this year, but said it does not "discount the possibility of deferring future deliveries as we consider the options for our fleet going forward," in a statement cited by Agence France Presse.
US airlines saw passenger revenue fall 19% year-over-year in February, the fourth straight month of declining revenue figures, the US Air Transport Assn. reported Friday. "12% fewer travelers paid 8% less to fly one mile on US airlines, with declines extending beyond the mainland US to transatlantic, transpacific and Latin markets," ATA said. Carriers also are taking a hit on the cargo front, ATA noted, reporting that RTMs lowered 21% year-over-year in January following 17% drops in both November and December. Transpacific cargo traffic sank 32% in January.
Malaysia Airlines Engineering & Maintenance said it is targeting a 15% year-over-year increase in 2009 revenue to MYR520 million ($142.4 million). Senior GM Mohd Roslan Ismail said third-party revenue has doubled in the past two years to MYR438 million in 2008 and that "there continues to be a high demand for our services." The company also said its MRO joint venture with GMR Hyderabad International is scheduled to be operational by the third quarter of 2010 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22, 2008).
Scheduled service airline passenger fatalities fell 25.2% to 439 in 2008 from 587 in 2007, though the actual rate of accidents decreased only "marginally," according to preliminary figures reported by ICAO last week.
Finnair said it will begin negotiations to furlough employees at Finnair Technical Services for 2-3 months each in an effort to save approximately €7 million ($9.5 million).
Air France will introduce a new premium economy cabin called Premium Voyageur that will be phased in gradually on all long-haul flights operated by 777s, A340s and A330s. First routes to offer the new configuration will be Paris Charles de Gaulle to New York JFK, Tokyo Narita and Osaka Kansai. Premium Voyageur will feature a new seat especially designed for AF and equipped with a fixed shell. Seats will be 48 cm. wide, have 97-cm. pitch and offer 123-deg. back recline.
Superjet International, which provides marketing and support for Sukhoi's Superjet 100, signed an agreement with Lufthansa Technik Logistik to provide global logistics services for the new regional aircraft. Sukhoi will have access to Logistik's Frankfurt facility, which provides parts and customer support.
Austrian Airlines Group executive board members Peter Malanik and Andreas Bierwirth confirmed to ATWOnline Thursday that the company does in fact possess sufficient liquidity to safeguard operations until its merger with Lufthansa is approved and completed. However, AAG does not possess the stability to survive long-term on its own, they said. AAG and LH officials hope that the tie-up will be finalized before summer ( ATWOnline, March 16).
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. said first-quarter consolidated unit revenue should fall 10.2%-11.2% year-over-year and mainline unit revenue is expected to decline 9.6%-10.6%. Consolidated CASM is expected to be 12.51 cents for the quarter and 12.34 cents for the full year.
Boeing said yesterday that the sixth and final 787 designated for flight tests has entered final assembly in Everett. It added that the first flight test Dreamliner, ZA001, "is getting its paint touched up this week before finishing factory testing."
