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.
East Star Airlines was forced to suspend operations Sunday by CAAC owing to its heavy debt burden and the collapse of a stake sale deal with Air China parent CNAC. It is the second privately held Chinese carrier to suspend service in recent months. Okay Airways stopped flying in December ( ATWOnline, Jan. 19) but resumed operations the following month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 26).
Unisys extended contracts with Air Canada under which the airline will continue using its Hosting & Integration Services and Cargo Portal Services programs for cargo operations through 2015 and 2011 respectively. The HIS contract entails Unisys hosting AC on its Logistics Management System at its data center in Minneapolis. CPS is an Internet portal that brings together a range of carriers and forwarders in a neutral online forum.
SAS Group shareholders last Friday approved a rights issue expected to raise up to SEK6.06 billion ($704.9 million) before costs, in which each share held on March 18 will entitle the holder to subscribe to 14 new shares at SEK2.63 each. The company's share capital was reduced by SEK1.23 billion without redemption of shares "in order to enable and facilitate the rights issue," it said ( ATWOnline, Feb. 4).
Ryanair will reduce its operation at Dublin further from July in "response to the decision of the government-owned Irish Aviation Authority to increase ATC charges by 12% this summer, at more than 12 times the rate of inflation," the LCC said. It announced an initial cut at DUB last month and said Ireland's €10 ($12.92) passenger tax "and other government price hikes" contributed to a 12% fall in passengers at the airport in February ( ATWOnline, March 6).
Lufthansa said yesterday that it plans to implement short-time work for approximately 1,000 ground employees as an additional measure to counter falling passenger numbers. The reductions will not take place at its Frankfurt or Munich hubs and will affect those "mostly employed in service and support functions." The group transported 4.7 million passengers in February, down 9.3% year-over-year.
CSA Czech Airlines will wet-lease two 737-400s to Nayzak Air Transport of Libya. Aircraft will be based at Tripoli and will operate domestically and to Egypt through April 2010.
Worldwide Flight Services announced a two-year contract with American Airlines to provide cargo handling and cargo-related customer service at Toronto, taking over AA's 22,000-sq.-ft. cargo facility at the airport.
Emirates dismissed reports that the A380 has a laundry list of problems that have kept the jet grounded numerous times for repairs. Germany's Der Spiegel claimed over the weekend that the airline, the A380's largest customer, delivered a 46-page list of problems to Airbus that required rectification.
Indian airlines carried 3.3 million passengers on scheduled flights last month, about level with January. Kingfisher Airlines led with 904,000 (27.1% market share, 74.3% load factor), followed by Jet Airways at 597,000 (17.9%, 68.7%) and Air India at 574,000 (17.2%, 66.3%). Iberia flew 3.66 billion RPKs in February, down 10.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 7.6% to 4.79 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 2.7 points to 76.4%.
Delta Air Lines Executive VP-Human Resources and Labor Relations Mike Campbell said in a merger update sent to employees yesterday that "seniority integration has already been resolved for pilots, dispatchers, AMTs and meteorologists" and that progress is being made on "a fair and equitable integration for flight attendants." If Northwest Airlines flight attendants agree to recommendations made by their DL counterparts last week, "we would have seniority integration issues resolved for the vast majority of our combined employee groups," he said.
Airports Council International-Europe said it was "alarmed" by the European Commission's proposal for a temporary freeze of the 80/20 slot rule during the upcoming summer schedule, which would allow airlines to reduce capacity while retaining historic rights to slots at coordinated EU airports ( ATWOnline, March 11).
TUI Travel said it is holding "very constructive" negotiations with Boeing regarding the delivery schedule for the 23 787s it has on firm order. "We are not seeking damages from Boeing, although the delay in the program has heavily impacted our expansion plans," TUI Travel Aviation Director Christoph Mueller told ATWOnline.
Air New Zealand endorsed a government proposal to subsidize one work day over a two-week period to help national businesses through the economic downturn. CEO Rob Fyfe said ANZ would embrace the aid if it is forced to reduce capacity further and consider redundancies ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27).
Air Berlin CEO Joachim Hunold said during last week's ITB Berlin convention that the airline will operate 15 fewer aircraft during the upcoming summer schedule than it did last year. It currently has 125 in the fleet. He also confirmed AB's intention to investigate the possible sale of its LTU subsidiary ( ATWOnline, March 11) and said a dispute with LTU's pilots is a key factor.
Airline ticket sales through the Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. plunged for a second month in February as total sales (fares plus taxes, fees and charges) dropped 26.1% year-over-year to $5.32 billion while total fares fell 28.3% to $4.44 billion. The decline followed slumps of 24.7% and 26.6% in sales and total fares respectively in January ( ATWOnline, Feb. 12). International fares were down 29.9% to $2.09 billion while domestic fares decreased 26.5% to $2.36 billion.
Shanghai Airlines Chairman Zhou Chi told a shareholders meeting last week that the 787 does not "fully meet the quality that Boeing touted earlier" and said the carrier is considering cancelling and/or postponing some or all of its nine Dreamliner orders, according to Bloomberg News.
Finnair said it will furlough about 700 pilots for at least one week each beginning in the middle of next month as part of a €30 million ($38.4 million) cost-savings program in the company's flight operations division. Length of leave will depend on aircraft type. Finnair Catering also will place employees on unpaid leave of two weeks to three months as part of a €3.9 million cost-cutting initiative ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6).
Boeing's first 787 moved from the final assembly hall back into the paint shop to be repainted and washed prior to handover to the flight test department. The aircraft must complete a series of "gauntlet tests" that include power, systems and engine tests, each of which must be completed before the next can be started. The tests are expected to take two months. While they are being conducted, ship ZA002 should complete ground vibration testing and the static test airframe should conclude load testing. Meanwhile, the forward fuselage for ship ZA006 was delivered to Everett last week.
MNG Technic won a tender issued by the Turkish airports authority for construction of a new MRO hangar at Istanbul Ataturk. The 64,000-sq.-m. facility will be built in four phases. Construction of the 16,000-sq.-m. first phase will begin "as soon as possible," MNG said. The company provides line and heavy maintenance at its IST base and line maintenance services at airports in Istanbul and Antalya.
