Oneworld yesterday nominated American Airlines Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey to succeed Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon as chairman of the alliance's governing board for a two-year term beginning in February.
ANA said it is considering establishing Tokyo Narita and Haneda as dual international hubs as it looks to expand its international network in coming years with the expected shrinking of the domestic market.
Ryanair said it will not operate to Maastricht from Jan. 8, saying that "the Dutch government's ecotax [imposed during winter months] hinders the sustainability of the operations." It said it is in negotiations with the airport to return in the 2009 summer.
Mexicana has been hit by the current industry downturn like many carriers, but it remains in "adequate" financial health and is focused on a long-term plan that includes oneworld entry and the launch of its first European services early next year, CEO Manuel Borja said yesterday at the ALTA Airline Leaders Forum in Cancun.
Air France KLM reported a 96.2% drop in consolidated net income for its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30 to €28 million ($35.4 million) from €736 million earned in the year-ago period. The net profit was dragged down by a €373 million charge for potential future losses from its fuel and currency hedging programs. Adjusted for nonrecurrent and noncash items (including a €212 million gain from the Amadeus sale last year), net income fell 49.1% to €244 million.
American Airlines and the US Transportation Security Administration yesterday launched a paperless boarding pass pilot program at Los Angeles International. "It will allow passengers to receive boarding passes electronically on their cell phones or PDAs, which will then be scanned by TSA security officers at the checkpoint," AA said. The airline and TSA last week began allowing paperless boarding passes at Chicago O'Hare. Continental Airlines has been conducting electronic boarding pass trials at a number of US airports in conjunction with TSA since last November.
Ethiopian Airlines ordered eight Q400 NextGens plus four options. The deal is valued at $242 million, a figure that could rise to $366 million if all options are exercised. CEO Girma Wake said, "The aircraft's excellent range and payload capability will allow us to deploy it on domestic routes within Ethiopia, as well as on regional routes up to 1,000 nm. (1,850 km.) from Addis Ababa." Delivery dates were not disclosed. Bombardier said it has sold 330 Q400s with 210 delivered as of July 31.
Nine mainland Chinese carriers were selected yesterday to operate weekday flights across the Taiwan Strait and are expected to launch service on Dec. 15, according to CAAC. In addition to Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Xiamen Airlines and Shanghai Airlines, which all already operate weekend cross-strait flights, Sichuan Airlines, Shandong Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines were tapped to operate the weekday flights.
Skyways Aviation, acting on behalf of Largus Aviation, concluded five lease transactions with Air Baltic of Latvia. Largus purchased three F50s currently operating with the Latvian airline on an existing lease agreement with nine months remaining. As part of the deal, Largus signed a new lease agreement with Air Baltic for 4.5 years. Air Baltic also is taking two F50s operated by Skyways of Sweden, also owned by Largus. The first will be released this month and the second in April 2009. Skyways also arranged the sale of an F50 from Crescent air Cargo of India to Largus.
Malaysia Airlines and Air Mauritius strengthened their codesharing partnership yesterday with the signing of a new agreement that expands the previous accord covering the Kuala Lumpur-Mauritius route to beyond destinations in Australia and Asia. In a second stage, MAS will have the opportunity to add its code to Air Mauritius flights connecting in Mauritius to selected destinations in the Indian Ocean.
New runways at Chicago O'Hare, Washington Dulles and Seattle-Tacoma International opened yesterday in time for the busy Thanksgiving holiday travel period. According to the US Dept. of Transportation, the runways will allow "for an additional 330,000 takeoffs and landings each year." Cost of the runways was more than $2 billion, including $643 million in federal Airport Improvement Program funds. The opening of the ORD runway, 9L-27R, is a major milestone in the O'Hare Modernization Program and is expected to offer increased capacity when landing west.
Southwest Airlines said yesterday that it has submitted a $7.5 million bid to gain the rights to 14 New York LaGuardia slots--seven roundtrips--formerly used by ATA Airlines, which declared bankruptcy and shut down in April.
Ryanair is threatening to close all of its routes to/from Fuerteventura from Jan. 31 unless local tourism group AIE honors the commercial agreement it entered into with the LCC to promote Fuerteventura as a tourist destination. The airline confirmed ongoing legal action against AIE and its individual members for breach of agreement. Ryanair began flying to FUE in 2006 and currently serves nine international destinations from the airport: Birmingham, Bremen, Dublin, Dusseldorf Weeze, East Midlands, Frankfurt Hahn, Liverpool, London Stansted and Shannon.
Hong Kong Air Cargo Terminals won a deal with Star Airlines Macedonia to provide ground handling at Hong Kong International. The carrier offers once-weekly charter service between Istanbul, Almaty, Hong Kong, Sharjah and Lagos.
Assn. of European Airlines adopted "The Hague Declaration" at its Presidents' Assembly in The Hague last week, urging national governments and EU institutions to better value the airline industry and not unduly impose restrictions based on environmental concerns. "Aviation is a staple requirement for European mobility, prosperity and jobs. Especially now, in the current severe economic downturn, the sustainability of European aviation is at stake," AEA Chairman and KLM President and CEO Peter Hartman said.
International premium passenger numbers declined 8% in September compared to the same month in 2007, "reflecting the severity of the economic downturn," according to IATA. This followed a 1.5% year-over-year decrease in August. Routes within the Middle East plunged 13.8% in September. IATA said Middle East premium traffic "had been booming at a rate of 20% a year up to August on the back of the economic activity generated by strong oil revenues in the region." Premium travel within the Far East dropped 12.1%, following on a 7.8% fall in August.
Lion Air signed an MOU with ATR for 10 firm ATR 72-500s with options for 10 more. The deal is valued at more than $380 million including options. Deliveries are slated to start in 2009. The 72-seat turboprops will be operated by Lion Air subsidiary Wings Air, which is aiming to develop a low-cost network to feed Lion Air's major hubs.
BAE Systems announced a lease deal for three BAe 146-200s for operation with Air Congo Ltd., bringing to eight the number of 146-200s the Brazzaville-based airline will be operating.
Thales was selected by Airbus to supply the head-up display for the A350 XWB as a customer option. Thales said its HUD will support features such as Enhanced Vision Systems "and potentially Surface Guidance Systems and Synthetic Vision Systems." The new HUD has been redesigned with improved head clearance, "and the graphical generation is embedded within the Display Units, allowing a simplified architecture for the overall cockpit solution." This higher level of integration means a weight saving of around 16 kg. in a dual installation, it said.
Japan Airlines will launch daily 767 Osaka Kansai-Seoul Gimpo flights from Jan. 10 as it lowers from 21 to 14 the number of weekly flights it operates between KIX and Seoul Incheon. It additionally will add its code to daily A300 KIX-GMP Korean Air flights from Dec. 1.
US FAA issued an emergency airworthiness directive late Tuesday requiring inspection of all 737NG center wing tank fuel pump autoshutoff wiring systems within 48 hr., warning that "incorrect wiring" could lead to "localized overheating of parts inside the fuel pump [that] could produce an ignition source inside the fuel tank." The agency said it received a report of "failure of the left-hand fuel pump of the center wing tank to shut off after being selected 'off' by the flightcrew during flight" on a 737-700 and subsequently the failure was found on two additional 737NGs.
Kilfrost said Flybe selected its deicing fluid DFsustain featuring an eco-friendly Susterra Propanediol glycol capable of handling temperatures to -40ÚC.
Shenzhen Airlines plans to launch Kunming Airlines in January in the capital of Yunnan Province. Preparations for Kunming Airlines' launch have been underway since 2004 and the carrier gained CAAC approval in 2005. But for various reasons, the preparations were suspended for some time before being revived earlier this year when Shenzhen Airlines came forward to say it would be the controlling stakeholder. It also will provide aircraft and MRO support.
Qantas's A380 flights into Los Angeles International are going well, Los Angeles World Airports Executive Director Gina Marie Lindsay said yesterday in Washington. "We can handle the A380 now," she told the International Aviation Club. However, LAX has made certain adjustments owing to the size of the aircraft: "We do basically shut down [other] operations to have a takeoff or landing of the A380," she said, adding that each arriving and departing A380 flight also receives a ground escort to and from the gate.
Horizon Air revealed that it is in discussions with Bombardier about pushing back deliveries of the 15 Q400s it ordered in April 2007 that were originally scheduled to begin delivering last month. Parent Alaska Air Group said in a regulatory filing that it is interested in "retiming" deliveries owing to capacity cuts; its 2009 first quarter capacity is expected to be down more than 14% year-over-year and full year 2009 capacity is slated to be 9% lower.
