Sun Air 737 was hijacked yesterday afternoon after taking off from Nyala, Sudan. Aircraft was bound for Khartoum but landed at Kufra in southeastern Libya, according to press reports. Libyan authorities were in contact with the hijackers, Agence France Presse reported. Sun Air Executive Manager Mortada Hassan told AFP there were 95 passengers and seven crewmembers onboard. Further information was unavailable.
Ryanair yesterday dismissed reports that the oxygen masks onboard one of its 737-800s malfunctioned late Monday night when the aircraft suffered a sudden inflight depressurization on its way from Bristol to Girona and diverted to Limoges. "Ryanair's engineers have inspected the aircraft overnight and have confirmed that the oxygen masks which deployed were working properly," the LCC said, adding it would not comment further while the investigation into the incident is ongoing.
Air France KLM, Air China and Turkish Airlines joined Lufthansa and S7 Airlines in expressing interest in purchasing state holding company OIAG's 42.75% share of Austrian Airlines, according to press reports ( ATWOnline, Aug. 26).
Southwest Airlines said yesterday that it will cut 196 daily flights while adding just six when it launches its winter schedule on Jan. 11, a more than 5% reduction from its current schedule. The carrier cited traditionally lower demand and poor weather during winter months as well as a slow economy and high fuel costs. It said some flights potentially could be added back to the schedule in the spring.
Delta Air Lines said this week it has "borrowed" its $1 billion revolving credit facility, which was made available to the carrier when it emerged from bankruptcy last year. It also extended its Visa/MasterCard processing agreement through the end of 2011. President and CFO Ed Bastian told employees in a memorandum that the moves will "strengthen Delta's financial position" and help smooth its planned merger with Northwest Airlines. He said DL had $3.7 billion in cash on hand at the end of July and "will have more than sufficient [liquidity]. .
Spanish investigators are focusing on whether the Spanair MD-82 that crashed last week had reached adequate speed for takeoff and whether its flaps operated properly.
Etihad Airways yesterday signed a firm contract for the purchase of 25 A350 XWBs, 20 A320s and 10 A380s. Order was announced at the Farnborough Airshow ( ATWOnline, July 15).
Grupo Marsans' planned sale of Aerolineas Argentinas and its Austral subsidiary to the Argentine government ( ATWOnline, July 18) moved forward after the lower house of the national congress, the Chamber of Deputies, approved the renationalization last week. AR was privatized in 1991 and reportedly is carrying debt of around $900 million. The Chamber of Deputies approved the measure by a 167-79 vote, according to press reports.
S7 Airlines flew 8.48 billion RPKs through the first seven months of 2008, up 18.1% from the year-ago period. Passenger numbers rose 20% to 3.5 million and load factor slipped 0.2 point to 79.2%.
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson told employees Friday that while DL supports the proposed transatlantic joint venture among American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia "in principle," it will advocate that "AA and BA need to give up enough slots and gates so that everybody has unfettered access to Heathrow." The employee hotline message was cited by The Dallas Morning News. BA CEO Willie Walsh has gone on record saying that carrier will refuse to surrender slots at LHR.
Singapore Changi's 27-year old Terminal 1 is getting a S$500 million ($353.9 million) facelift to improve passenger flow and refurbish interior designs and finishes. The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore signed a contract yesterday with Takenaka Corp. for the improvements, with completion expected in the third quarter of 2011. The project includes a new departure curbside canopy spanning the length of the building and a 35-m. airside expansion.
Transavia.com flight schedule will operate normally today after a judge prohibited the carrier's pilots from striking and ordered management and Dutch pilots union VNV to continue negotiations to solve their pay dispute. VNV had called for industrial action between 2 a.m. and 5 p.m. today, which would have led to the cancellation of some 70 flights affecting more than 20,000 passengers. Separately, the Amsterdam-based LCC will abandon its twice-daily Rotterdam-Paris Orly service on Sept. 27.
Lufthansa, which has been considered the prohibitive favorite to become Austrian Airlines' strategic investor and savior, was the only carrier to confirm its participation in Austrian's privatization, although other airlines are thought to have registered their interest before Sunday's deadline. Austrian state holding company OIAG had given prospective investors until Sunday to declare their intentions to bid for its 42.75% stake, and possibly more. An LH spokesperson told Bloomberg News yesterday that the German company "have expressed our interest,"
Air Pacific carried more than 100,000 passengers in one month for the first time in July. Load factor was 72%. It flies to 18 destinations in 12 countries and last week launched its second-weekly Nadi-Funafuti flight, via Suva. Separately, it announced the promotion of Manager-Regulatory Affairs Jona Sevura to manager-government and industry affairs.
US FAA said it received a score of 91 out of 100 in a new ICAO audit conducted under the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program. It said average score is 56.
TAM Cargo yesterday opened a new 2,160-sq.-m. airfreight terminal in Manaus with 80 tons of storage capacity. The facility has exclusive areas for different types of cargo and cold storage for perishables, TAM said. "The new terminal can handle nearly 35% more freight than its predecessor in addition to allowing for expansion in coming years depending on market demand," according to the airline.
Kyrgyzstan officials said yesterday they had recovered the flight data recorder from the Itek Air 737-200 that crashed Sunday, killing 68 of 90 passengers and crew, and have established a commission to conduct an investigation into the accident. The aircraft was owned and operated by Itek and reportedly was chartered for the flight by Iran Aseman Airlines. It was en route from Bishkek to Tehran.
Qatar Airways will begin daily Doha-New York JFK on Oct. 26 aboard a 777-300ER. Six-times-weekly Geneva-Newark will end. Doha-Geneva will operate four-times-weekly aboard an A330. Jet Airways will commence daily Bangalore-Brussels on Oct. 31 aboard an A330-200. This weekend it launched daily -200 flights to Dubai from Mumbai and Delhi. Finnair will launch thrice-weekly Helsinki-Yekaterinburg on Sept. 2 aboard an A319. Ural Airlines will codeshare.
Wizz Air announced it will open a base at Timisoara in March 2009, its 10th overall. The LCC will base three A320s and employ more than 100 people at the Romanian airport over the next three years, it said, representing an investment of more than €100 million ($147.9 million). Wizz also operates bases at Bucharest Baneasa and Cluj. It will launch thrice-weekly service from Timisoara to London Luton, Rome Fiumicino and Dortmund on Dec. 17. On March 11 it will begin thrice-weekly flights to Bergamo, Barcelona and Treviso and twice-weekly service to Paris Beauvais and Valencia.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. last week entered into an agreement with Merrill Lynch to sell up to $300 million in common stock "from time to time" through transactions "made by means of ordinary brokers' transaction on the New York Stock Exchange at market prices," it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. AMR's capitalization was approximately $2.6 billion at Friday's closing.
B/E Aerospace subsidiary FSI won US FAA STC status for retrofit installation of its Door 3 Overhead Attendant Crew Rest on Continental Airlines' 777-200s. OHAR is 800 lb. lighter than the Lower Lobe Crew Rest it replaces and is expected to generate revenue through additional seat and cargo capacity. Installation will take place in Hong Kong.
CSA Czech Airlines may be put up for privatization before year end, Finance Ministry official Tomas Uvira told Reuters. "This may be one of the last chances to sell CSA, as the market situation could be much worse in coming years," he said, adding that an adviser should be secured next month ( ATWOnline, April 7). The Czech government holds 91.5% of the carrier.
NextJet of Sweden subleased three 68-seat ATPs from West Air Sweden, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft announced. West Air will provide maintenance and support. NextJet will use the aircraft, two of which already have been delivered, to link five smaller communities in the north to Stockholm Arlanda beginning Oct. 25. It was awarded a three-year PSO by Swedish authorities. NextJet currently operates B-1900Ds and Saab 340As on scheduled flights.
Published charges among Europe's 50 busiest airports by passenger volume have increased an average of almost 4% since 2007, with the biggest growth occurring at London Heathrow and Gatwick, according to RDC Aviation's Airport Charges Monitor.
Midwest Airlines has fallen behind on payments to General Mitchell Airport, owing some $1.1 million in gate fees, an airport spokesperson told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. It is the latest in series of downward turns for the financially beleaguered carrier that recently announced it would cut its workforce by 40% and ground its MD-80 fleet by September ( ATWOnline, July 22). Midwest pays an estimated $700,000 each month in gate fees, according to an airport official.
