Russian Finance Ministry is "ready" to issue RUB30 billion ($1.1 billion) in loans to airlines to cover fuel purchases, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told RIA Novosti. He also revealed that in the next couple of weeks the government will propose six-month deferments of payment of taxes and duties on foreign-made aircraft, engines and training equipment. Meanwhile, KrasAir, a former member of the failed AiRUnion alliance, cancelled all flights to/from its Krasnoyarsk hub and is operating only Moscow Domodedovo-Norilsk service, a spokesperson told Itar-Tass.
GE Aviation this month held a dedication event for its 91,440-sq.-m. composites factory in Batesville, Miss. Officially known as the GE Batesville Composites Operation, the facility will produce the fan platforms and fan case for the GEnx.
Gol and Condor Airlines reached an interline agreement allowing Condor passengers to purchase tickets from Condor destinations Recife and Salvador to Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Maceio, Natal, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Hawaiian Airlines reached lease agreements with AWAS that will add two more A330-200s to its fleet in the first half of 2011. The carrier already has six A330-200s and six A350 XWB-800s on order, plus purchase rights for six of each ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5). Hawaiian also announced a separate agreement with AWAS to extend leases on two 767-300ERs to 2011. The newly leased A330s will replace those 767s.
TNT reported a 32.3% drop in third-quarter net profit to €113 million ($142.5 million), with its Express unit's EBIT declining 23.8% to €99 million. Overall revenue grew just 1.5% to €2.69 billion while Express revenue rose 2.3% to €1.66 billion. The Dutch delivery giant revised its revenue outlook for full-year 2008 downward to "mid-single-digit" growth. CEO Peter Bakker said TNT's European Express business "significantly worsened in September and the first weeks of October. Air volumes in September were down an unprecedented 10%. .
DHL and Polar Air Cargo yesterday launched their transpacific partnership ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28) with a 747-400F flight from Hong Kong to the express operator's US air hub in Wilmington, Ohio. Polar, a subsidiary of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, now will serve as a DHL carrier by operating six 747-400Fs between US and Asian destinations. US flights will depart from Los Angeles, Wilmington and New York JFK and fly via Anchorage to Hong Kong, Shanghai, Seoul and Tokyo.
Norwegian reported a NOK414.4 million ($59.1 million) profit in the third quarter, more than five times greater than the NOK76.3 million posted in the year-ago period, which it called its "best result" in its six years as an independent European carrier. "The demand for tickets has so far not been affected by the turmoil in the global financial markets.
Emirates President Tim Clark expressed confidence that his airline will post a profit in the current financial year ending March 31, "but maybe we won't be as profitable as we might like," he said at last week's Arab Air Carriers Org. annual general meeting in Tunis.
VEM Maintenance & Engineering said it completed the first phase of its contract with Air Transat, delivering the first of four A310s in line for C checks.
Assn. of European Airlines said its 31 member carriers transported 31.4 million passengers in September, down 4.8% year-over-year. RPKs fell 1.1% to 68.47 billion against a 2.3% rise in capacity to 89.35 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 2.6 points to 76.6%. Alaska Airlines flew 1.43 billion RPMs in September, up 0.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5% to 1.89 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4 points to 75.8%.
Jet Airways reported a INR3.85 billion ($71.5 million) loss in its fiscal second quarter ended Sept. 30, reversed from a INR283 million profit in the year-ago period, as the grave conditions that forced it into an alliance with rival Kingfisher Airlines and prompted Jet's failed attempt to cut 1,900 jobs wreaked havoc on its P&L.
Emirates took delivery of its second A380 and 122nd aircraft overall Friday in Dubai. It is scheduled to enter service on Dubai-New York JFK today. It will seat 14 in first class, 76 in business and 399 in economy.
United Airlines launched daily Washington Dulles-Dubai Sunday aboard a four-class 777. Emirates SkyCargo began thrice-weekly Dubai-Los Angeles Sunday aboard a 777-200LR freighter.
Chautauqua Airlines, a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings, agreed to amend its service contract with American Airlines and reduce the number of ERJ-140s it operates to 13 from 15 beginning in June. It also will lower reimbursement rates by 3% from April 1. In exchange, the date on which AA can terminate the deal shifted to March 2012 from March 2009. Chautauqua will continue to be reimbursed for the two extra ERJs unless it is able to sell, sublease or place them.
UPS Friday started construction on its new intra-Asia air hub at Shenzhen International, a $180 million investment. The airport additionally will provide 150,000 sq. m. of ramp space dedicated to the delivery giant's operations. The 89,000-sq.-m. facility is slated to open in 2010 and initially employ 400.
SR Technics finalized a 10-year deal with South Korea's Eastar Jet for its Integrated Airline Solutions package offering technical management services and support for components, engines, APUs and landing gear on 737NGs.
The EU Council on Friday adopted the European Commission directive to include aviation in the EU emissions trading system. The decision was made "without discussion" at the Council meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, according to a statement. The EU's 27 member states now are required to transpose the new directive into national law within 12 months.
GE Aviation is working with NASA on a wind-tunnel test program to evaluate counterrotating fan-blade systems for an "open rotor" engine design that hearkens back to their joint efforts a quarter of a century ago. Testing will begin at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio in early 2009 and continue into mid-year, GE said. The company noted that "this is not a full engine test, but a component rig test to evaluate subscale fan systems using GE's and NASA's advanced computational tools and data acquisition systems."
Arab Air Carriers Org. Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha said he believes his member airlines are well-positioned to face the current industry and economic crises and that the turmoil might present opportunities for Arab carriers to emerge stronger and better developed. "There are some dampening elements that may soften the depth of the crisis on the Arab airlines," Teffaha noted during AACO's annual general meeting in Tunis last week.
Air France KLM said Friday that "it will be very difficult" to reach its €1 billion ($1.28 billion) full-year EBIT target "taking into account current economic conditions," but said its operating result "will remain comfortably in profit as long as market conditions do not deteriorate."
Amadeus announced the deployment of its e-Retail solution at Hainan Airlines. The booking engine allows customers to book their tickets in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese.
IATA reported that September international passenger traffic (RPKs) declined 2.9% compared to September 2007, the first monthly drop since the 2003 SARS crisis.
China Eastern Airlines received CAAC permission to resume operating from Kunming to Dali and Xishuangbanna yesterday, six months after its suspension resulting from a highly publicized incident in which disgruntled pilots returned outbound flights ( ATWOnline, April 21).
United Airlines flew 8.33 billion system RPMs in September, down 9.2% year-over-year. Capacity fell 8.6% to 10.46 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 0.5 point to 79.7%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 13.73 billion RPKs in September, up 5.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 8.3% to 17.15 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.9 points to 80.1%. Ukraine International Airlines transported 168,000 passengers in September, up 5% year-over-year. Load factor rose 7.4 points to 76.1%.
