Chengdu-based United Eagle Airlines, a privately held carrier, agreed to merge with Sichuan Airlines through the sale of a 56% stake for CNY200 million ($29.2 million).
Republic Airways Holdings said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing this week that Hawaii's Mokulele Airlines "is currently in default of its loan and codeshare agreement" and revealed that it is "contemplating" taking a 50% stake in the struggling airline.
Lufthansa Group's summer capacity will be up 0.6% year-over-year owing to Lufthansa Italia, which will compensate for a 0.5% reduction on the rest of the network ( ATWOnline, March 5). The March 29-Oct. 24 summer schedule will feature 14,038 weekly flights to 206 destinations. European capacity will rise 1.5% and intercontinental ASKs will climb 0.2% owing to the addition of 22 additional economy seats on LH's 747-400s.
Armavia took delivery of its first new A319 in Hamburg. Aircraft is on lease from ILFC, will seat 134 passengers across two classes and is powered by CFM56s. Armavia already operates two A319s and two A320s.
EC Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas reiterated yesterday that aviation and maritime, which were left out of the Kyoto Protocol, should "be discussed and made part of the [climate] agreement" at the UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December. Speaking yesterday to media in Washington, Dimas said that if ICAO "takes the right actions, we shall get a solution for the world and a level playing field for everybody. . .
Honeywell said Qantas received approval from Australia's CASA to use the Honeywell SmartPath Ground-Based Augmentation System at Sydney for satellite-based landings on QF's A380s. The airline previously had been approved to fly GBAS approaches with its 737s, recording more than 1,600 GBAS landings at Sydney to date.
Emirates will remove the two A380s operating its twice-daily Dubai-New York JFK service in April and use one to operate its thrice-weekly DXB-Toronto beginning June 1 and the second on one of its twice-daily DXB-Bangkok flights. A 777-300ER will replace the A380 on the DXB-JFK flight. President Tim Clark said the airline would like to fly to Toronto daily on the A380 and that there was enough demand to support a second daily 777 flight. EK said it also is interested in serving Calgary and Vancouver.
Singapore Airlines reported a record decline in passengers for February, a 20.2% year-over-year plunge to 1.2 million. RPKs fell 17% to 5.86 billion against just an 8.5% cut in capacity to 8.41 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 7.1 points to 69.7%. Cargo declined 15.2% to 473.7 million FTKs on a 7% fall in capacity to 835.1 million ATKs, dropping load factor 5.5 points to 56.7%.
European Court of Justice ruled last week that the EU's list of articles prohibited onboard aircraft, which is attached to the European regulation on aviation security, cannot be enforced because it has never been published in the Official Journal of the European Union and thus passengers cannot know exactly what is banned. An Austrian passenger brought the case after security staff at Vienna ordered him to leave an aircraft because his cabin baggage contained tennis rackets, which were considered prohibited.
Southwest Airlines said yesterday that it recently operated a 737 demonstration roundtrip between Dallas Love Field and Houston Hobby using Required Navigation Performance procedures, yielding 904 lb. of carbon dioxide savings, part of its $175 million program to implement RNP fleetwide that was announced last June at the Eco-Aviation conference presented by ATW and Leeham Co. ( ATWOnline, June 20, 2008).
Ryanair pilots voted "overwhelmingly" to accept a 12-month pay freeze and productivity increases in lieu of the 10% pay cut originally sought by the airline. "We are still lowering air fares, which means we will suffer losses in both our third and fourth quarters of the current year," Director-Flight Operations and Ground Operations David O'Brien said ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3). "Our pilots have recognized the difficulties we face and are making their contribution."
Nav Canada and Sensis Corp. were selected by Airservices Australia to participate in Airservices' National Tower Program Technology Project, intended to "provide controllers with immediate access to flight data and voice communications and to monitor the airfield and surrounding airspace." Under the agreement, Nav Canada and Sensis technology will be used to upgrade ATC towers at Melbourne, Adelaide and Rockhampton, "with the potential for additional towers." The solution also will be installed at the Airservices Melbourne Air Traffic Centre and Learning Academy.
Delta TechOps announced an eight-year, $55 million power-by-the-hour contract extension with Star Air covering MRO on the 22 CF6-80A2/C2 engines powering the Copenhagen-based cargo carrier's 11 767-200SFs. Deal also includes APU and component support.
US Airways President Scott Kirby said in a Monday conference call with investors that March ticket revenue has improved over the first two months of 2009 and that the carrier has "been cautiously optimistic the last couple of weeks" even though leisure fares are falling. Demand is stable and ancillary revenue initiatives are mitigating the impact of falling yields, he said. CFO Derek Kerr said US has arranged financing for 20 of the 25 deliveries scheduled for this year, excluding five A330s.
Air New Zealand will incorporate fuel surcharges into all fares from March 30 as a lure for travel agents to book clients on the carrier. The practice of excluding surcharges, which have been substantial, has caused significant rifts between travel agents and airlines around the globe. ANZ GM-Australia John Harrison said he expects the decision to have a "positive effect" on sales.
Premium traffic continued its dive in January, with passengers flying on first or business class tickets declining 16.7% year-over-year, a drop that followed a 13.3% dip in December, IATA said yesterday, warning that "the bottom for the decline in premium travel numbers is not yet in sight."
European Commission VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said the EC's DG-Transport and Energy plans to ask for information from Airports Council International, Assn. of European Airlines "and other parties concerned" in order to investigate the "lost luggage phenomenon" reported in a study released yesterday by London-based, UK CAA-established Air Transport Users Council. The study revealed that airlines mishandled 42 million bags worldwide in 2007, up 40% from 2005, and that "passengers often struggle to get reasonable redress from airlines after the event," the AUC said.
Shanghai Airlines is expecting a "difficult" 2009, although a turnaround is possible if it can maintain its passenger load factor of 72% and the airline industry shows signs of recovery in April or May, Chairman Zhou Chi said. SAL announced in January that it expects to report loss for 2008. In response, it announced a 20% cut in senior management salaries and said it would not lay off any employees.
Air Berlin and TUIfly confirmed that they are in discussions regarding a long-awaited alliance. AB said yesterday that negotiations regarding a cross-shareholding with the TUI Travel subsidiary are well under way ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14, 2008), while a TUI spokesperson in Hanover told ATWOnline that talks are in an advanced stage.
Singapore Airlines Sunday launched a four-times-weekly Singapore-Abu Dhabi-Kuwait service aboard a 777-200. Wizz Air will launch flights from Prague to Liverpool (thrice-weekly on July 11) and Oslo Torp (four-times-weekly on July 12). Royal Jordanian will launch twice-weekly Amman-Benghazi flights on June 1. A fourth weekly Amman-Tripoli flight will begin on April 1. Turkish Airlines Sunday launched thrice-weekly Istanbul Ataturk-Mashad service.
UK government's proposal to grant the Environment Agency the power to fine airlines that do not comply with the EU's aviation emissions trading scheme and fail to report emissions data--with fines rising from £5,000 ($6,998.55) and potential seizure of aircraft for nonpayment--could open a legal can of worms, according to Christopher Norton, who heads the environment and climate change practice at international law firm Lovells.
Oneworld carriers American Airlines, British Airways, Finnair, Iberia and Royal Jordanian yesterday jointly filed answers to the US Dept. of Transportation's request for additional information regarding their transatlantic antitrust application and expressed confidence that a decision will be made by DOT in the second half of 2009.
