Boeing unveiled its first 777 freighter yesterday at its Everett facility just north of Seattle. The aircraft, which has attracted 78 firm orders from 11 customers, is capable of carrying 113 metric tons over 4,885 n.mi. The manufacturer plans to complete eight 777Fs this year, with two involved in flight tests. That pair is destined for launch customer Air France. The 2.5-month certification program will involve 350 flight test hr. and 700 ground test hr.
SR Technics reached a three-year deal with Quikjet Cargo for component management, maintenance and repair on the carrier's 737s. Contract includes access to a consignment stock in Bangalore and Chennai. Services extend from SRT's Integrated Component Solutions offering.
Grand Xinhua Express this week became the first Chinese mainland carrier to introduce the E-190. Launched in March 2007, GXE is a regional subsidiary of HNA Group, which placed an order for 100 regional aircraft with Embraer in August 2006 ( ATWOnline, April 2, 2007). The E-190 will seat 106 in a single-class layout. Since last September, Tianjin-based GXE has taken seven ERJ-145s and is expected to introduce the remaining aircraft, including 49 E-190s, over the next five years.
3M Aerospace and Aircraft Maintenance Dept. yesterday said it will construct a factory in Wroclaw to increase manufacturing capacity for structural bonding adhesives and surface protection products. Facility is scheduled to open in late 2009.
ARINC won a five-year renewal and upgrade on its contract with CUTE Club to provide its iMUSE common-use platform for passenger check-in and boarding as well as its BagLink baggage messaging system. Deployable on desktop workstations and handheld terminals, iMUSE supports IP and legacy host systems. BagLink technology features intelligent routing and messaging capabilities.
British Airways yesterday announced a $30 million, 18-month initiative to "enhance its premium ground facilities" at New York JFK. Scheduled to launch next month, the project will involve creation of a new premium check-in "pavilion" with dedicated curbside drop-off for first and Executive Gold Club customers, an enhanced and dedicated check-in area for Club World and Executive Club Silver customers and renovation of Terraces, First Class and Concorder Lounges to the Galleries specification now operating at London Heathrow's Terminal 5.
Investigation into the Jan. 17 crash landing of a British Airways 777 on final approach to London Heathrow has not revealed an anomaly that could have caused the flow of fuel to the engines to be reduced as the pilots called for more power, according to the UK Air Accident Investigations Branch, although restricted fuel flow was certainly the cause of the nonfatal accident ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20).
Southwest Airlines and AirTran Airways yesterday announced the addition of chairman to the titles of their respective CEOs. SWA CEO Gary Kelly was elected chairman yesterday and will succeed the departing Herb Kelleher. He also will assume the title of president, taking over from Colleen Barrett when her contract expires on July 15 ( ATWOnline, July 20). Kelleher and Barrett will remain with the airline through July 2013.
American Airlines yesterday said it will retire "at least" 75 aircraft, including 40-45 mainline jets, this year and begin charging $15 for the first piece of checked luggage on North American flights as it tries to cope with oil prices that reached more than $130 per barrel Wednesday. "We are facing an extraordinarily difficult environment," Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said in announcing the cutbacks. "The US airline industry was not built for $125 or $130 barrel oil. . .[and] will not and cannot continue in its current state."
Lufthansa's CityLine, Germanwings and Eurowings subsidiaries cancelled at least 62 flights yesterday owing to a morning wildcat pilot strike by members of Vereinigung Cockpit. An additional 36 flights were delayed, according to press reports. "Because employers haven't presented a negotiable offer in negotiations that have been going on for months, personnel representatives of all three airlines see no alternative but to declare talks a failure," VC said in a statement cited by the Associated Press.
Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced the following policies that will take effect when Tokyo Haneda's fourth runway opens in 2010, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported: Night curfew will be reduced to 10 p.m. from 11 p.m. to "allow more convenient schedules for US and European flights," international slots will be restricted to 30,000 until October 2010 and eventually will increase to 60,000, with new slots going to "expansion of Asian city routes where business need is strongest," and domestic slots will double to 20,000 annually.
Malaysia Airlines cited "higher operating expenses mainly from the increase in fuel costs" for a 9.5% dip in first-quarter profit to MYR120.5 million ($37.1 million) from MYR133.1 million earned in the year-ago period.
Great Wall Airlines will be represented by Wallace Air Cargo Group for 747-400 services in North America under a GSA agreement. Routes include Chicago O'Hare and Seattle to Seoul and Shanghai.
Aegean Airlines' net loss widened to €4.4 million ($6.8 million) in the first quarter, traditionally its weakest period, from €2.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Revenue climbed 23% to €98.8 million on the back of international network expansion and a 6% rise in sectors flown. Fuel costs jumped 57% to €24.4 million and operating loss plunged to €6 million from €2.6 million.
JetBlue Airways flew 2.28 billion RPMs in April, a 0.8% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 7.4% to 2.87 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 5.2 points to 79.5%. Gol and VRG flew 2.31 billion RPKs in April, up 17.8%, against a 25.1% increase in capacity to 3.65 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 3.9 points to 63.2%. Aer Lingus flew 1.38 billion RPKs in April, up 9.3% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 25.7% to 1.95 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 10.6 points to 70.5%.
Following the formation of an alliance with five other logistics companies in January, Shanghai Airlines took a further step toward strengthening its position in a city that commands 70% of the Chinese freight market through the injection of CNY260 million ($37.2 million) into its SAL Cargo International subsidiary.
Porter Airlines has been advised by the US Dept. of Transportation that it must reduce its Toronto City-Newark schedule less than two months after launching the seven-times-daily service ( ATWOnline, March 27). The cutback is part of DOT's effort to reduce congestion at New York area airports ( ATWOnline, May 19). Porter will eliminate one flight each weekday from June 20.
Spirit Airlines reported a $3.8 million loss in 2007, a significant improvement from its $79 million deficit in 2006, according to US Dept. of Transportation figures cited this week by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. A $14.2 million loss in the fourth quarter pushed Spirit into the red, the paper said. Full-year revenue climbed 41% to $761.6 million. Despite increased fuel costs, the low-fare carrier continues with its expansion plans, adding 20 new flights this summer. It operates A319s and A321s on 200 daily flights to 39 destinations.
Ryanair will begin charging passengers who check in online the same £4/ €5 for its priority boarding service as those who check in at the airport effective June 3. It previously had been free of charge for Web check-in customers. The LCC makes 40% of its seats (80) available for priority boarding on each flight. Separately, it will launch thrice-daily Dublin-Kerry on July 22.
Turkish government is planning to build a third airport in Istanbul, which already is the home of Ataturk International and Sabiha Gokcen. Plans soon will be announced for the facility, which will be located on the European side of the Bosporus like IST.
US FAA named Air Traffic Organization VP Vicki Cox as senior VP-NextGen and operations planning. "Given the aviation community's increasing need for faster modernization of our air traffic control system, we must implement NextGen at a quicker pace," Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell said. "The FAA is putting an emphasis on near- and mid-term implementation, while the Joint Planning and Development Office continues its focus on long-term research and development and cross-agency cooperation."
Turkish Airlines plans to announce a major fleet renewal program later this year and is considering the A340-600, 777, A350 XWB and 787 for its widebody orders, CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline yesterday in Istanbul, where the carrier celebrated its 75th birthday.
Martinair suffered a €68.9 million ($107.2 million) loss in 2007, a steep fall from its €7 million deficit in 2006 on level revenue of €951 million, as operating loss deepened to €71 million from €5 million.
SAS Norge will pay NOK132 million ($26.3 million) in damages to Norwegian following a district court ruling in the nearly three-year-old proceeding into SAS's alleged misuse of information contained in Norwegian's Amadeus reservation system. SAS was acquitted in a 2005 criminal trial but was found to have misused confidential information ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20, 2006).
