Jat Airways transported 1.4 million passengers in 2008, up 4% from 2007, while cargo fell 13% to 2,829 tonnes. Passenger load factor rose 2 points to 64%.
American Eagle and the Transport Workers Union agreed to seek US federal mediation if the two sides cannot reach a labor agreement by Jan. 17. Key issues in the negotiations include compensation, benefits and contract duration. TWU represents 3,550 grounds workers at the regional carrier.
As was widely expected, Air France KLM will become the relaunched Alitalia's international partner and will take a 25% stake in the restructured carrier through a capital increase of approximately €323 million ($435.1 million). The decision ends months of speculation and uncertainty and came on the last day of the flag carrier's operation as the "old" Alitalia. The AF KLM board approved the investment Friday ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9).
Zambian Airways suspended operations over the weekend, citing an inability to handle rising costs. The carrier also reportedly owed National Airports Corp., which controls the nation's airports, more than $2 million. Government officials indicated they would meet with the airline's executives to discuss a potential state-assisted reorganization.
AirTran Airways plans to recall 60 furloughed pilots and hire additional flight attendants, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. AirTran cut 180 pilots and 300 flight attendants in September ( ATWOnline, July 8, 2008). The 60 recalled pilots, which are in addition to 35 recalled last month, are anticipated to be needed for increased summer flying.
Snecma Services won a seven-year Engine Services per Operation contract with CSA Czech Airlines to provide MRO support for CFM56-3s. Snecma will furnish remote engine monitoring services and Snecma Services Brussels will handle shop visits.
Pratt & Whitney yesterday signed two 10-year contracts with Delta Air Lines to provide engine maintenance, material and aftermarket support. Pratt's Commercial Engines & Global Services unit will cover material replacement and parts repair for more than 80 PW4000s in DL's fleet under an Inventory Logistics Program agreement.
Iberia promised to cooperate fully with an inquiry by Spain's Public Works Ministry into alleged mistreatment of passengers during a major winter storm in Madrid that caused hundreds of cancellations last Friday and Saturday. "We've had reports of [IB] conduct toward its passengers that is unacceptable," Public Works Minister Magdalena Alvarez told reporters, according to Reuters.
Embraer delivered a record 204 jets in 2008, 20.7% higher than the 169 reported in 2007, comprising 162 commercial aircraft, 36 executive jets and six for government use. Year-end backlog was valued at $20.9 billion and included 426 commercial aircraft. Commercial aircraft deliveries during 2008 comprised six ERJ-145s, nine E-170s, 55 E-175s, 78 E-190s and 14 E-195s.
News from Travel Technology Update: GDS executives are calling for the development of technical standards for the booking and processing of airlines' unbundled fares, ancillary revenue and other sales innovations. "Standards are good, but let's all keep in mind that this is about differentiation," Suzanne Rubin, American Airlines' managing director of merchandising and distribution strategy and president of AAVacations, said. "We don't want something that puts us right back into the same box of commodity product."
Austrian LCC Niki's partnership with S7 Airlines continues to be delayed by Russian regulators, CEO Othmar Lenz told ATWOnline. "S7 needs traffic rights between Moscow Domodedovo and Vienna. If S7 gets these rights, then we can implement codeshare operations," Lenz said. Bilateral talks should be completed next month ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17, 2008).
Virgin Nigeria said it will suspend flights to London Gatwick and Johannesburg on Jan. 27, citing a need to review "our entire long-haul operations including our product offerings on these routes." It said it would resume long-haul service "with a truly competitive offering" following the review and will concentrate on its domestic and regional routes in the meantime. VK serves seven domestic and seven continental destinations.
American Airlines flew 10.32 billion system RPMs in December, an 8.2% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.6% to 13.03 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.4 point to 79.2%. American Eagle flew 588.1 million RPMs, down 12.4%, against a 13.5% fall in capacity to 837.3 million ASMs. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 70.2%. Alaska Airlines flew 1.48 billion RPMs in December, down 5.2% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 10.9% to 1.84 billion ASMs and load factor was up 4.9 points to 80.7%.
Wizz Air will begin serving Prague on Feb. 19 with flights to London Luton (four-times-weekly), Rome Fiumicino (four-times-weekly), Bergamo (four-times-weekly), Brussels Charleroi (thrice-weekly), Paris Beauvais (thrice-weekly) and Eindhoven (thrice-weekly). Frequencies to LTN, BGY and CRL will increase on July 25. Wizz CEO Jozsef Varadi said the carrier intends to become the "leading" LCC in the Czech Republic "in the coming years." It carried 5.9 million passengers in total last year, up 41% from 2007, and launched more than 40 new routes.
Chinese government decided to grant domestic airlines a three-year tax break on fuel charges retroactive to Jan. 1, 2008, as part of its effort to mitigate the impact of the global economic downturn on the country's commercial aviation industry. The tax relief is expected to save Chinese carriers about CNY2.5 billion in operating costs, but local industry analysts argued that it will do little to improve airlines' financial performance since the tax rate on fuel surcharges is only 3%.
China Eastern Airlines is taking a series of measures to curb rising operating costs and try to engineer a turnaround from what it expects to be a significant 2008 loss.
Air France KLM flew 16.83 billion RPKs in December, up 1.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.9% to 21.32 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.3 point to 78.9%. Southwest Airlines flew 5.79 billion RPMs in December, up 1.1% from the year-ago month, against a 1% decline in capacity to 8.32 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 1.5 points to 69.7%. LAN Airlines flew 2.44 billion RPKs in December, up 10.7% year-over-year. Capacity rose 12.6% to 3.26 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 1.3 points to 74.7%.
United Airlines dropped plans to furlough an additional 250 flight attendants because it needs more cabin staff for its international network ( ATWOnline, Sept. 29, 2008), according to a memo from Senior VP-Onboard Service Alex Marren cited by the Associated Press. UA also decided not to furlough up to 205 customer service and ramp employees at Chicago O'Hare because a sufficient number took voluntary leave and 43 will shift to part-time from fulltime.
FlyLAL Lithuanian Airlines has been purchased by SCH Swiss Capital Holdings for $1 million plus an agreement to cover debt of some €1 million ($1.4 million). "We were looking for an airline to purchase, and this is a good company to invest in. . .FlyLAL can be a very strong regional carrier," SCH CEO Jan Erik Jansson told the Associated Press, adding that the firm does not "see these debts as a big problem." The sale will take effect on Jan. 23, according to reports.
SkyEurope Airlines announced that GECAS terminated leases on six 737s effective Jan. 8 and the aircraft have been returned to the lessor. The LCC said the capacity has been "replaced" and that all scheduled flights are being operated, although it provided no further details. It also said that Longstock SAPO, a Greek/Portuguese investor ( ATWOnline, Dec.
French investigators now have access to data from the flight data and voice recorders salvaged from an Air New Zealand A320 on lease to XL Airways that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in late November, killing all seven onboard ( ATWOnline, Dec. 5, 2008). The data were extracted successfully in the US, raising hopes that France's Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses will gain insight into the accident, as the crew had given no indication of any problem to air traffic control.
Lufthansa Technik announced the establishment of Lufthansa Technik Maintenance International, a 100% subsidiary integrating the former Condor/Cargo Technik it previously acquired. LTMI will be based in Frankfurt and will assume responsibility for airline third-party MRO business previously handled by LHT. It will continue to maintain Lufthansa Cargo's MD-11s as well. The unit has some 1,000 employees.
Metropolitan Airports Commission, which manages Minneapolis-St. Paul International, last week declined to approve a tentative agreement reached in December with Delta Air Lines that would have allowed DL to retain many of the financial benefits subsidiary Northwest Airlines received for basing its headquarters at MSP.
Aer Lingus CEO Dermot Mannion and CFO Sean Coyle agreed to waive a controversial new clause in their contracts that provided for a €2.8 million ($3.8 million) parachute payment for Mannion if they left EI following its acquisition. Ryanair, which has offered to buy its rival, claimed the payments proved that EI did not foresee a future as an independent carrier ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8). The amount of Coyle's prospective payment was unclear.
