Special charges were the key contributor to Pinnacle Airlines Corp.'s $4.9 million loss in 2008, a reversal from a $34.6 million profit in the prior year.
US Air Transport Assn. wrote a letter to Senate Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), who recently introduced legislation targeting antitrust immunity among airline alliances ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6), saying that "the traveling and shipping public will suffer from a withdrawal of the immunity, which fosters the development of seamless networks of service so beneficial to airline customers." Oberstar's bill would require immunity to be renewed every three years.
Ryanair yesterday presented a "rescue plan for Irish tourism," part of its ongoing campaign to convince the government to scrap the €10 ($12.50) "tourist tax" set to kick in on March 30. The LCC cited the levy when announcing flight cuts at Dublin and Shannon ( ATWOnline, Feb. 13) and claimed its plan would grow air traffic and tourism to Ireland by 20% over the next two years.
Oman Air CEO Peter Hill said the carrier will continue to enhance its network despite the current industry downturn and expects to operate to up to 40 destinations by year end. It currently serves 27. Hill was speaking at this week's Aviation Outlook Middle East conference in Abu Dhabi. The airline plans to add Paris Charles de Gaulle, Frankfurt, Colombo and Male this year. It recently took delivery of a 737-800, bringing its fleet to 15 aircraft, and expects to take four more -800s and four A330-300s in the coming months.
TAAG Angola Airlines is targeting June for a resumption of services to the EU, from which it was blacklisted two years ago, an executive told state radio in comments cited by Reuters. "There will be a new EU inspection in May. . .and our goal is for TAAG to resume flights to the EU in June," Rui Carreira said ( ATWOnline, Nov. 17, 2008). TAAG reportedly lost $70 million last year.
Jat Airways said that just 288 employees accepted its €300 ($376)-per-year-of-service severance offer and that an additional 300 or so will be laid off, with more cuts to come, CEO Sasa Vlaisavljevic told the Tanjug news agency in comments cited by Reuters ( ATWOnline, Oct. 1, 2008).
US FAA Acting Administrator Lynne Osmus yesterday formally named Peggy Gilligan associate administrator-aviation safety, replacing the retired Nicholas Sabatini. Gilligan previously served as deputy assistant administrator-aviation safety. John Hickey, director of FAA's Aircraft Certification Service, will replace Gilligan. He in turn will be replaced by Dorenda Baker, formerly deputy director-Aircraft Certification Service.
TUIfly will cut winter 2009-10 capacity by around 100 weekly flights, or approximately 14%. Cuts will comprise both routes and frequencies, it said Wednesday, citing a drop in demand. Reductions in the upcoming summer schedule also are being considered.
US FAA amended an airworthiness directive pertaining to Trent 800-powered 777s to incorporate new procedures recommended by Boeing to prevent the fuel feed system icing that is believed to have caused both the uncommanded loss of thrust on a Delta Air Lines 777-200ER last November and the dual rollback that led to the January 2008 British Airways -200ER crash landing at London Heathrow ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5).
AirTran Airways flew 1.23 billion RPMs in February, a 13.6% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 9.1% to 1.66 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 3.9 points to 74.2%. WestJet said it is expecting first-quarter RASM to drop 10%-12% year-over-year, although that decline will be offset partially by falling fuel costs. The LCC flew 1.12 billion RPMs in February, up 5.5% year-over-year, against a 5.7% rise in ASMs to 1.35 billion. Load factor slipped 0.2 point to 82.6%.
EasyJet broke ranks with its European legacy counterparts and strongly condemned the move toward a temporary suspension of the EU's so-called "use it or lose it" slot rule, which dictates that carriers must use their slots at an 80% rate or return them to the pool.
Esterline CMC Electronics reached an agreement with Boeing for its PilotView Class 2 Electronic Flight Bag hardware to be made available for select aircraft types, starting with 737NGs.
A malfunctioning altimeter caused the autopilot system on the Turkish Airlines 737-800 that crashed last week on approach to Amsterdam to reduce power prematurely, and by the time the pilots reacted it was "too late to recover the flight," Dutch Safety Board Chairman Pieter van Vollenhoven said yesterday.
Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan said the carrier is targeting a 24% year-over-year increase in 2009 revenue to $3.1 billion as it takes delivery of 11 new aircraft, bringing its fleet to 53.
UK government appointed the Environment Agency to "police" the pending aviation emissions trading scheme in England and Wales, Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband announced yesterday. Each EU nation must appoint a body or institution to supervise the new scheme to cap aviation emissions that will come into force for flights arriving and departing EU airports on Jan. 1, 2012 ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27, 2008).
American Airlines flew 8.63 billion system RPMs in February, down 13.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 10.1% to 11.67 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 2.9 points to 73.9%. American Eagle flew 522 million RPMs, down 14.1%, against a 9.1% decline in capacity to 800.5 million ASMs. Load factor fell 3.8 points to 65.2%. United Airlines' February traffic plunged 15.2% year-over-year to 7.66 billion consolidated RPMs. Capacity was down 14% to 10.46 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 1 point to 73.2%.
Assn. of European Airlines asked the EU to ease or temporarily suspend the regulation requiring airlines to use their airport slots 80% of the time so they might suspend services during the global economic slowdown without losing them, Reuters reported. "One measure we would like them to look at is freezing the '80-20' rule," an AEA spokesperson said. "Airlines could then be encouraged to withdraw capacity without running the risk of losing specific slots." The slot rule suspension was part of a series of proposals contained in an AEA blueprint for navigating the current downturn.
Aeroflot will take delivery of its first Sukhoi Superjet 100 in December, 13 months behind the original schedule and one month later than the most recently promised date, Sukhoi Civil Aircraft's Viktor Subbotin told RIA Novosti ( ATWOnline, Nov. 26, 2008). SU reportedly said it will fill the gap with short-term leases on alternative aircraft.
Delta Air Lines indicated it is having second thoughts about committing fully to Northwest Airlines' 2005 order for 18 787-8s, eliminating the aircraft from its list of firm orders in the annual report released this week. "The Boeing Co. has informed us that Boeing will be unable to meet the contractual delivery schedule for these aircraft. We are in discussions with Boeing regarding this situation," DL said in the report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It has not canceled the order.
GE Aviation opened its new systems manufacturing facility in Suzhou about 50 mi. west of Shanghai. The 18,000-sq.-m. facility will produce autoclaved composite parts, mechanical fabrications, structure assembly and civil aircraft actuation systems and will employ 200 by year end.
US Bankruptcy Court judge invalidated the transfer of the Aloha Airlines brand to Mesa Air Group for use on its go! subsidiary because the sale by Aloha shareholder Yucaipa Co. was not public ( ATWOnline, Dec. 8, 2008). A second auction will be held.
