Greater Toronto Airports Authority will reduce landing fees at Toronto Pearson by 0.4% next year and terminal charges by 0.6%, offering "projected savings" for airlines of C$28 million ($23.9 million).
China Eastern Airlines expects to report a significant loss for the first nine months of 2008 owing to the sharp decline in domestic market conditions and a CNY720-per-ton increase in third-quarter jet fuel prices. CEA posted a CNY212.5 million ($31 million) net loss in the 2008 first half and said it will deepen due to a "decline in domestic demand starting from the third quarter" that it said will continue for the time being as a result of the global economic slowdown.
Thales Training and Simulation and A J Walter Aviation added the A330 to a flight simulator support program under an agreement announced last week. Program also covers the A320 and 777 and includes maintenance and spare parts for instruments and avionics.
AirAsia X hopes to announce its first UK service from its base at Kuala Lumpur International's low-cost-carrier terminal next month and commence the route in March, CEO Azran Osman Rani told ATWOnline at the Routes Leaders Forum in the Malaysian capital.
B/E Aerospace yesterday announced a deal with Airbus valued at more than $1 billion to provide galley systems for A350 XWBs. Systems are designed to accommodate aircraft's "flex zones" and allow airlines to select various galley positions and configurations. Deliveries will begin in 2013.
Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, India's two largest private carriers, yesterday announced the formation of an "alliance" that will include codesharing on both domestic and international flights and a wide-ranging pooling of resources.
Airstream International Group announced the lease of four ERJ-145s to regional startup Athens Airways. Aircraft currently are operated by Flybe and will be delivered to Athens starting next month. Airline is scheduled to begin flying next April to "most of the basic regional Greek destinations," Airstream said.
Iberia flew 4.43 billion RPKs in September, down 6.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.4% to 5.5 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 4.2 points to 80.6%. TAM flew 1.91 billion domestic RPKs in September, up 15% year-over-year, against a 17.5% increase in ASKs to 2.95 billion. Load factor fell 1.4 points to 64.6%. International RPKs jumped 41.5% to 1.33 billion, capacity rose 25.4% to 1.66 billion ASKs and load factor was up 9.2 points to 80.4%.
Jetstar Airways announced plans to launch daily flights from Auckland to Sydney and Gold Coast on April 28. Its transtasman schedule currently comprises 28 weekly A320 return flights from Christchurch to SYD, OOL, Melbourne and Brisbane. The move increases competition on the AKL-SYD route, which currently is operated by seven carriers and will see Pacific Blue, Virgin Blue's low-fare international arm, launch service today with nine-times-weekly flights. It already operates daily AKL-MEL. On Feb. 1, Emirates will replace its daily 777-300ER AKL-SYD with an A380.
Australian investigators said there is no evidence linking the use of mobile telephones or laptops with last week's Qantas A330-300 inflight incident that injured more than 70 people ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9) as has been speculated. The aircraft remains grounded at Learmonth while Australian and French investigators, Airbus and QF staff examine its computers.
Embraer delivered 37 commercial jets, nine executive jets and two aircraft for defense/government use in the third quarter compared to 38 commercial and nine business aircraft in the year-ago period. The Brazilian manufacturer received 13 commercial orders during the quarter and its firm order backlog was valued at $21.6 billion, up 4.3% year-over-year. Nine-month deliveries totaled 145 aircraft, up 34%, and it reaffirmed its estimate that it will deliver 195-200 aircraft this year. Separately, LAM Mozambique Airlines signed a contract for two E-190s plus two purchase rights.
Continental Airlines' third-quarter result, scheduled to be released Thursday, will include $91 million in special charges, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alitalia investor group CAI will delay its formal offer to the airline's administrator by two weeks to Oct. 28, when it will hold a shareholder meeting to approve a charter and capital increase, Agence France Presse reported ( ATWOnline, Oct. 3).
Pratt & Whitney restructured and placed its Commercial Engines, Global Service Partners and Global Material Solutions operations into a new unit named Commercial Engines & Global Services that will be led by Todd Kallman as president. Kallman has headed the Commercial Engines business since 2006. Global Service Partners is Pratt's maintenance, repair and overhaul organization and Global Material Solutions is its engine parts business that is developing non-OEM parts for the CFM56-3.
Amadeus said Qantas completed migration to its Altea Customer Management System streamlining sales, reservations, inventory and departure control management capabilities. Migration "is an unprecedented milestone in the industry and makes Qantas the first to become fully operational on the entire Altea platform," the company said.
Radiant Power, a HEICO subsidiary, launched its Sentinel power supply unit featuring 10 min. of additional power for crash survivable cockpit voice recorders as required by US FAA on aircraft of 10 or more passengers. Unit is compliant with ARINC 777 and meets TSO-C155 certification standards.
Investigators probing the Aug. 20 Spanair MD-82 crash concluded that the aircraft's flaps were not extended as it attempted to take off and that no warning was sounded in the cockpit.
The European Regions Airline Assn. said that last week's vote by the European Parliament's Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety to auction 100% of emissions certificates by 2020 will cost the "typical" regional airline €6 million ($8.2 million) per year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 10).
China's new turboprop aircraft, the MA600, an enhanced version of the MA60, made a successful first flight at Xi'an Yanliang Thursday. The MA600 was designed to optimize the MA60's structure and avionics system as well as improve its cabin interior. It entered production in 2005 and rolled out on June 29 this year ( ATWOnline, June 26).
Dubai International Airport's Terminal 3 is scheduled to open Tuesday. The facility eventually will be able to handle 43 million passengers per year and will open in three phases, with flights arriving and departing to Doha, Muscat, Bahrain, Kuwait City, Jeddah, Dammam, Riyadh, New York JFK, Houston Intercontinental, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Sao Paulo Guarulhos and Toronto when the first phase launches next week. EK President Tim Clark said T3 is "geared for the phenomenal growth we have charted for the airline." It features a 4,500-sq.-m.
US Dept. of Transportation announced expanded aviation agreements with Vietnam and Armenia. Vietnam deal affects all-cargo carriers, removing route restrictions and allowing US airlines to carry freight between Vietnam and third countries without stopping in the US. Further liberalization, including on passenger flights, will be discussed at meetings to be held by October 2010. Deal with Armenia is a full open skies accord.
London Stansted received permission from Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon and Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Hazel Blears last week to increase the annual passenger cap to 35 million from 25 million on its existing runway.
TAM, which formally was invited to join Star Alliance last week, also hopes to play a major role in Latin American maintenance, repair and overhaul. The carrier's Technology Center is located in Sao Carlos, some 230 km. northwest of Sao Paulo. It has invested $185 million in the 4.6-million-sq.-m., six-hangar facility since it opened in 2001 at the site of a former truck factory.
Turkish Airlines released a statement Friday saying it has not received "any notice" regarding its bid for B&H Airlines. A Bosnian government official told media last week that THY had won the tender ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9). "If such notice is received we will inform the public accordingly," THY said.
Icelandair last week announced a series of enhancements including a premium economy cabin, new IFE-equipped seats, a flexible fare structure featuring six different categories, new aircraft interiors, new cabin crew uniforms and an upgraded website scheduled to go live on Nov. 1.
