Scheduled flights across the Taiwan Strait are expected to more than treble to 357 per week from 108 in July following third-round negotiations between Beijing's Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and its Taiwanese counterpart, the Strait Exchange Foundation, according to Taiwan Aviation Bureau Director Li Longwen. China State Council-Taiwan Office spokesperson Fan Liqing said that both sides are preparing for the negotiations scheduled to start next month. Fan confirmed that increasing cross-strait flights will be discussed.
Ryanair continued its campaign against uncooperative authorities yesterday, announcing a summer capacity cut at Dublin that the LCC is blaming on "high and rising charges" at the airport and the Irish government's €10 ($12.91) "tourist tax" scheduled to be imposed from March 30. Last week, Ryanair said it would reduce the number of based aircraft and routes at Shannon owing to the tax, which it said will "decimate traffic and tourism" ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6).
AirAsia yesterday unveiled a new program called Pick A Seat that will offer assigned seating, pre-boarding and extra legroom beginning Feb. 17. The Hot Seat variation will cost MYR25 ($6.93) per segment and will grant access to seats in the first five rows and exit rows and pre-boarding. Standard Seat will cost MYR5 and allow passengers to pre-select their seats. Other passengers will continue to be assigned seats at random.
SITA announced that S7 Airlines will implement SITA Marketplace-Air, enabling sales agents, partner travel agents and customers booking on S7's website to access last-seat availability on 530 airlines through SITA Reservations. S7 is the first carrier to opt for the new service within SITA Reservations that provides real-time access to the inventory of an additional 400 airlines via a single booking solution through a partnership with Travelport GDS.
WestJet reported 2008 net income of C$178.1 million ($145.2 million), down 7.6% from C$192.8 million in 2007, hailing the performance in a "roller coaster year" in which nearly all North American airlines posted losses.
The European Commission opened its formal investigation into the privatization and restructuring of Austrian Airlines Group, including its sale to Lufthansa, saying that it "expresses doubts that the price to be paid by Lufthansa reflects the market price for what is being sold." Its "doubts" also centered on whether "the Austrian state has acted as private investor and whether the restructuring plan as notified is in accordance with the community framework for rescue and restructuring of firms in difficulty."
Malev Hungarian Airlines CEO Peter Leonov resigned, the carrier confirmed following Tuesday's extraordinary general meeting. COO Geza Fehervary will serve as temporary CEO while the company looks for a replacement, and Vneshekonombank Deputy Chairman Ballo Anatoly Borisovich was elected chairman. Malev shareholders also moved to reduce equity capital to HUF360 million ($1.6 million) because the carrier's new ownership structure is not finalized.
AAR Corp. was forced to shut down operations at its Miami landing gear repair station after FAA issued an Emergency Order of Suspension to the company's Landing Gear Services subsidiary, which generates about 6% of the MRO provider's revenue. AAR said it has been "in regular communication" with FAA since July 2008, when the regulator issued a "notice of alleged discrepancies" following an inspection of the Miami facilities. "The company was in the process of responding to that request when it received the order of suspension," AAR said.
Lufthansa Passenger Airlines flew 8.92 billion RPKs in January, a 6.2% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.1% to 11.95 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 2.4 points to 74.6%. Swiss International Air Lines flew 2.14 billion RPKs in January, up 4.3% year-over-year. Capacity climbed 6.3% to 2.96 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.4 points to 72.9%.
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation wrote to domestic airlines asking for an explanation for recent fare hikes across the industry, prompting several rollbacks and a stern warning from Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel.
CFM International signed a Memorandum of Agreement with Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi International to collaborate on developing a CFM56 maintenance training center. It is expected to offer advanced courses specific to CFM56-5B and -7B line maintenance and inspection.
Jazz Air, Air Canada's regional partner, reported a net profit of C$134.8 million ($109.9 million) in 2008, down 10.5% from the C$150.7 million earned in 2007, on a 9.4% rise in revenue to C$1.64 billion. Operating expenses were up 10.9% to C$1.49 billion and operating profit fell 3.2% to C$148.3 million. The airline said it earned 71% of the performance incentives available under its capacity purchase agreement with AC, totaling C$15.7 million. Fourth-quarter profit of $34.9 million was 0.5% lower than the year-ago period's while operating income climbed 10.3% to C$39.7 million.
Australian air traffic controllers represented by Civil Air are expected to take industrial action to press salary, sick leave and rostering claims following last month's breakdown in negotiations with Airservices Australia. The result of the strike vote is expected today and is on a "knife's edge," according to an Airservices spokesperson. In a worst-case scenario, Airservices said the nation's airline system would be cut to "just 25%" of its capacity, with international flights given priority due to treaty obligations. The domestic network would be virtually shut down.
US Airways told employees it will lay off 233 ramp workers and gate/ticket agents in 10 cities owing to capacity cuts and the loss of contracts to provide ground services to other airlines at affected airports. Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Tucson will see the biggest reductions. "These are uncertain times marked by less business flying, fewer family vacations and rising unemployment," US Chairman and CEO Doug Parker wrote in a note to employees cited by the Associated Press.
SkyWest Inc., parent of regional carriers SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, reported a $112.9 million profit in 2008, down 29.1% from the $159.2 million earned in 2007. Operating revenue rose 3.6% to $3.5 billion against a 7% increase in expenses to $3.24 billion. Operating income fell 25.9% to $255.2 million from $344.5 million. The company's fleet as of Dec. 31 comprised 374 Bombardier CRJs (234 with Delta Air Lines, 119 with United Airlines, 12 with Midwest Airlines and nine unassigned), 56 Embraer 120s (44 with UA and 12 with DL) and 12 ATR 72s (DL).
Alaska Airlines and the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA announced a tentative two-year contract extension covering AS's 2,830 cabin crew. Deal is subject to ratification by union members and would extend the current contract through April 2012.
Likely reflecting the impact of the severe economic downturn in the US, airline ticket sales through Airlines Reporting Corp. plunged nearly 25% in January, the airline-owned company reported.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expanded its investigation into cargo price-fixing and yesterday announced commencement of legal proceedings against Air France, KLM, Martinair and Cargolux Airlines International for colluding on fuel surcharges between 2003 and 2006.
AirTran Airways will increase its Milwaukee operation and expand the number of flights by 43% in the summer schedule. It will launch service to Minneapolis-St. Paul (twice-daily from May 5), Branson (daily on May 11), St. Louis (twice-daily on May 21). Formerly seasonal flights to Los Angeles (twice-daily), Boston (twice-daily) and Tampa (daily) will become year-round and it will operate daily flights to Denver May 21-Sept. 8.
Southwest Airlines began testing onboard Wi-Fi Internet connectivity in conjunction with Row 44 yesterday, deploying the technology on one 737. It also is partnering with Yahoo! to offer an inflight homepage. Service will be free during the test period, which will last "the next few months" and include three more aircraft that SWA is in the process of equipping. US Federal Communications Commission has not given approval for permanent inflight use and SWA said it will wait to evaluate the trial period before deciding whether to move forward with fleetwide equipage.
SITA said Singapore Airlines launched its upgraded AirportHub solution utilizing a communications platform with enhanced bandwidth to support services on demand at remote locations. IBS said SriLankan Airlines selected its iFly Loyalty technology featuring a "rules engine" as well as program, tier, partner and member management capabilities.
American Airlines will begin transitioning to cashless cabins this summer on domestic and Canadian flights, accepting only major credit/debit cards for onboard purchases. It is using GuestLogix's technology platform featuring the company's Mobile Virtual Store point-of-sale handheld device.
Ethiopian Airlines took delivery of its first MD-11 freighter. The used aircraft was purchased directly from Boeing and will serve Liege, Johannesburg, Lagos, Dubai, Hong Kong, Madras and Kinshasa. ET will take another MD-11F on lease in August. Its freighter fleet previously comprised two 757-200Fs and two 747Fs.
ATR received approval from London City Airport to operate the ATR 72-500 there following successful completion of steep-approach trials and noise tests. The aircraft joined the 42-300 and 42-500 in operation at LCY on Aer Arann flights to/from Isle of Man.
