China Eastern Airlines is considering joining a global airline alliance in an effort to improve its financial performance, according to Chairman Liu Shaoyong, who told reporters in Beijing that the Shanghai-based carrier is scheduled to evaluate the three global alliances in June in order to find the most "suitable" fit.
AirTran Airways said yesterday that it expects to return to the black in the current quarter and post a full-year profit. The carrier reported a $273.8 million full-year loss for 2008 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 29), but in materials presented at a Raymond James conference in Orlando it said it will be the "leading beneficiary" from lower fuel costs in the US because fuel comprises 46% of its costs, which it said is the highest percentage in the US industry.
Southwest Airlines yesterday launched service at Minneapolis-St. Paul with eight-times-daily service to Chicago Midway. SWA will operate from two gates at MSP's Humphrey Terminal ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2). Delta Air Lines will launch thrice-weekly Atlanta-Brasilia flights Dec. 17 aboard a 757-200ER. Finnair will suspend its four-times-weekly Helsinki-Mumbai service from May until mid-October due to "unfavorable economic conditions" and overcapacity.
News from Travel Technology Update: After wrangling with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Spirit Airlines last week reinstated a "Passenger Usage Fee" of $4.90 each way. Spirit began charging the fee last summer, along with a $2.50 "natural occurrence interruption fee" and an $8.50 "international service recovery fee." A natural occurrence is more commonly known as "weather." The recovery fee aimed to offset the costs of doing business with international destinations.
Air New Zealand was expected to operate a "tailored arrival" into Los Angeles yesterday as part of a trial to prove the procedure's viability into one of the world's busiest airports. NZ Flight 2, a 777-200ER, was due to complete the tailored arrival at 3 p.m. local time. It is approximately 30 mi. shorter than the conventional arrival and features a customized, efficient descent from cruise to runway, eliminating a stepped approach and saving time and fuel.
Alaska Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Assn. announced an agreement "in concept" on a new four-year labor deal covering 1,500 pilots. Meetings are scheduled this week "to finalize the agreement language," AS said. Negotiations have been ongoing since January 2007.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary late last week continued to insist he was serious about charging for onboard lavatory use but issued a rare mea culpa regarding the LCC's investment in rival Aer Lingus. Many observers believe that the outspoken O'Leary merely was stirring the pot when he suggested charging £1 ($1.41) to use the bathroom inflight ( ATWOnline, March 2), but in a press briefing on March 5 he claimed he already has been in touch with Boeing about modifying the lavatory doors on Ryanair's 737s.
Air France KLM flew 14.04 billion RPKs in February, down 6% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.5% to 18.92 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 1.2 points to 74.3%. Delta Air Lines flew 7.69 billion RPMs in February, down 9.2% year-over-year. Capacity fell 6.2% to 10.61 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 2.4 points to 72.5%. Northwest Airlines flew 5.14 billion RPMs in February, a 13.6% decline year-over-year, against a 10.2% fall in ASMs to 6.66 billion. Load factor dropped 3 points to 77.2%.
GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies announced a 25-year pressure sensor contract with Honeywell, which will use them on the A350 XWB's air management and conditioning system. Contract is expected to generate $80 million, GE said.
US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee last week approved a new FAA reauthorization bill that would provide $70 billion in funding for the agency through 2012 and includes a controversial amendment requiring the US Dept. of Transportation to renew airline alliances' antitrust immunity every three years. The bill also calls for ATC to continue to be funded largely by airline ticket taxes rather than user fees that would force business aviation to provide more system funding.
Lufthansa Cargo said Friday that it will ground two MD-11 freighters based at Leipzig/Halle and park two more aircraft at Frankfurt. The FRA pair will not fly but will be maintained so that they may resume operations immediately if demand dictates. "This reduction equals about 20% of the total capacity of our 19 MD-11F strong fleet. We transferred the [two] aircraft to Leipzig because we got a good offer from the airport [for long-term parking]," an LH spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline.
Finnair Technical Services and Iberia Maintenance signed a seven-year component support agreement under which Iberia will provide spares and related repair services for AY A330s and A340s. FTS in turn will perform component repairs on IB A320s and CFM-56B engines. The contract is expected to generate around €30 million ($37.8 million) in turnover. Work will commence in April, when IB is scheduled to send an A320 to FTS for heavy maintenance.
Frontier Airlines Holdings announced a firm commitment for $40 million in post-petition debtor-in-possession financing from Republic Airways Holdings, subject to bankruptcy court approval. The new facility refinances an existing loan scheduled to mature in April and increases available financing, Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke said. Frontier hopes to exit bankruptcy protection this year.
Air Astana carried 2.3 million passengers in 2008, up 8% on the prior year, at a 64% load factor. Capacity rose 16% to 7.5 billion ASKs, the Kazakh flag carrier said. It took delivery of three A320 family aircraft last year, bringing its fleet to 21 planes. It confirmed orders for an additional six A320s and plans to be operating 34 aircraft by 2015. It currently flies two 767s, four 757s, one A319, two A321s, seven A320s and five F50s to 25 domestic and 21 international destinations.
Teledyne Controls said German charter airline Blue Wings selected its Flight Data Interface Management Unit for 20 new A320s. First delivery is expected in August. Technology will perform flight data acquisition, aircraft condition monitoring and data recording. SunGard will provide Etihad Airways with its Kiodex Risk Workbench, a Web-based trading technology to manage the airline's fuel hedging program.
Korean Air, Asiana Airlines, Singapore Airlines and Air Canada began rerouting flights that normally pass through North Korean airspace after Pyongyang said it was "compelled to declare that security cannot be guaranteed for South Korean civil airplanes flying through the territorial air of our side."
Greek government selected domestic holding company Marfin Investment Group to purchase Olympic Airlines. "The government's legal and financial advisers informed us that the negotiations wth MIG's advisers for the sale of Olympic's flying operations and technical maintenance ended successfully," Development Minister Costis Hatzidakis said. MIG bid €45.7 million ($57.5 million) for OA's flight operations and €16.7 million for its MRO division.
Boeing booked three commercial aircraft orders in the week ended March 3, one 777 for Air New Zealand and two 777s for an unidentified customer(s). Gross year-to-date orders reached 22, compared to 190 in the year-ago period, although the 2009 net remained negative (-10) thanks to 32 787 cancellations. The other 19 orders this year were for 737s--13 from Ryanair, five from Southwest Airlines and one from Alaska Airlines.
