IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani warned that air cargo is losing market share to ocean shipping and urged the industry to push for more efficient security, make the switch from paper to electronic document processing and work to minimize the environmental impact of airfreight operations.
AirMedia Group announced a 15-year JV with China Eastern Media Corp. to obtain concession rights for the management of digital TV and other media resources across China Eastern Airlines' fleet. AirMedia will hold 49% while CEMC takes 51%.
Bombardier delivered 361 aircraft in the fiscal year ended Jan. 31, a 10% increase over year-ago deliveries of 326, as new aircraft orders nearly doubled to 698 compared to 363 for the previous year.
US airlines' ontime performance deterioriated in January as the 20 reporting carriers achieved an ontime arrival rate of 72.4% compared to 73.1% in January 2007. Hawaiian Airlines and Aloha Airlines came in first and second as usual, while US Airways continued its operational turnaround with a 79.5% performance that was the best among mainland carriers. United Airlines' 62.1% was the worst, followed by SkyWest Airlines at 65.3%. Mesa Airlines had the highest cancellation rate at 6.5%, with American Eagle Airlines second at 5.6%. Frontier Airlines' 0.2% cancellation rate was the best.
Singapore Airlines will open a new front in the increasingly heated competition for premium travelers, announcing yesterday that it will reconfigure its five A340-500s with 100 lie-flat business class seats for use on transpacific routes to the US. Since the routes were launched several years ago, SIA has operated the A340-500s in a business class/premium economy configuration seating 181. Owing to range shortfalls, it never was able to incorporate a first class cabin into the aircraft. The all-business-class configuration will feature a 1-2-1 arangement.
US FAA generally concurred with the findings of a Dept. of Transportation Inspector General report released last week that called for the agency to modernize its oversight system for aviation manufacturers to account for the increasing reliance on parts suppliers from disparate locations around the world.
American Airlines flew 9.97 billion system RPMs in February, up 2.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2% to 12.98 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.3 point to 76.9%. American Eagle flew 607.7 million RPMs, down 2.4%, against a 1.9% decline in capacity to 880.6 million ASMs. Load factor slipped 0.4 point to 69%. United Airlines flew 8.15 billion system RPMs in February, down 0.5% from the year-ago month, against a 3.7% climb in capacity to 10.95 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 3.1 points to 74.4%.
Astar Air Cargo pilots "overwhelmingly ratified" a new four-year labor contract, the airline said yesterday ( ATWOnline, Feb. 12). "The contract provides increased wages, benefits and security for our pilots, while also providing Astar with a platform for future business growth in an increasingly competitive marketplace," Chairman, CEO and President John Dasburg said.
Sterling Airlines named JPMorgan executive Reza Taleghani as president and CEO succeeding Almar Orn Hilmarsson, who has held the posts for the past 2.5 years and is resigning. "We are very pleased to get Reza on board to lead Sterling to the next level on its future growth path. Reza's extensive experience within the airline industry, both from the strategic as well as the financial perspective, is very valuable for the company," Chairman Thorsteinn Orn Gudmundsson said.
Pratt & Whitney selected Hamilton Sundstrand to provide engine controls and accessories for engines covering Mitsubishi Regional Jet, Bombardier CSeries and Cessna Citation Columbus aircraft. Contract also includes fuel, pneumatic and thermal management systems.
Air China parent China National Aviation Holding Co. Saturday urged China Eastern Airlines to reconsider its rejection of CNAC's bid to raise its stake in the Shanghai-based airline from 12% to just over 26% and return to the negotiating table with the Beijing-based carrier. CEA formally rejected CNAC's proposal last week ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28) and accused CA of "lacking sincerity to make the cooperation happen," claiming CA had made no contact and conducted no negotiations following its bid submission.
US Air Transport Assn. yesterday came out against FAA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking to require aircraft to be equipped with ABS-B Out by 2020. Although ATA supported the proposal when it was announced last fall ( ATWOnline, Oct.
Enigma said Korean Air selected its InService MRO and Oracle Complex MRO solutions to streamline maintenance operations across its fleet of A300, A330, 737, 747 and 777 aircraft. Features include comprehensive airframe, engine and component maintenance data as well as troubleshooting, repair and reporting capacities.
SkyEurope posted a loss of €11.3 million ($17.2 million) in its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31, a 17.9% improvement on the €13.8 million deficit the LCC experienced in the year-ago period. Operating loss, however, widened 21.8% to €14.8 million from €12.2 million a year earlier. Revenue grew 32.2% to €53 million on a 44.1% increase in passengers carried to 857,953. Total operating expenses rose 30% to €59.6 million.
Surging passenger numbers and its entry into oneworld provided a significant financial boost to Royal Jordanian, which reported a JOD20.4 million ($28.6 million) profit in 2007 that represented a more-than-threefold increase from the JOD6.1 million earned the prior year. Operating revenue climbed 21.5% to JOD543 million, with operating profit nearly tripling to JOD33 million from JOD13 million in 2006. Passenger numbers rose 18% to 2.4 million and load factor was up 4 points to 71%.
Rolls-Royce won a $2.6 billion deal from Virgin Atlantic Airways for Trent 1000s to power up to 43 787s and announced an environmental partnership with the carrier to cut carbon emissions and identify opportunities to reduce aircraft fuel burn through enhanced engine performance. "Rolls-Royce engines will help us cut emissions per flight by nearly 30% and become the most sustainable airline in the world," Virgin President Richard Branson said.
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group in its FY2008-2010 Medium Term Plan raised its profitability target for its 2010-11 fiscal year to ¥96 billion ($932 million) from ¥88 billion in last year's Medium Term Plan. The decision to increase the target is owing to early successes in its ongoing restructuring program, which also contributed to its raising its operating profit forecast for the current year ending March 31 to ¥48 billion from ¥35 billion.
News from Travel Technology Update: Online travel agencies have done a great job of delivering flight search results based on price, number of stops and schedule.
CTT Systems and Satair A/S of Denmark signed a worldwide distributor agreement covering initial provisioning and aftermarket support of CTT Systems consumables for the 787. Satair also placed a large order covering initial provisioning of CTT Systems parts to the first 787 customers.
Boeing's plans to offer a new freighter variant of the 767 based on its KC-767 proposal are in doubt after Northrop Grumman and EADS won the USAF tanker contract Friday. The move, first flagged by this website a year ago ( ATWOnline, March 2, 2007), was an attempt to match the A330-200F's capability of carrying 69 tons over 3,200 nm. The current 767-300F can carry 55 tons over a similar distance.
Wizz Air will launch Sofia-Brussels Charleroi on July 24, bringing to eight the number of destinations served from the Bulgarian capital. American Airlines will begin daily Fort Lauderdale-Kingston on June 1 aboard a 737-800. ABSA Cargo Airlines of Brazil launched a weekly Viracopos-Valencia, Venezuela. It serves Caracas thrice-weekly.
Emirates unveiled its initial A380 schedule yesterday, announcing that the aircraft will enter service on its Dubai-New York JFK route Oct. 1. Flights to London Heathrow follow on Dec. 1 and service to Sydney begins Feb. 1, 2009. Aircraft on these routes will seat 14 in first class, 76 in business and 399 in economy. "While we are still debating our first commercial A380 route, it has always been our intention to fly the aircraft on capacity-constrained trunk routes. The cities that we have now scheduled for A380 services bring our plans to fruition," President Tim Clark said.
Porter Airlines exercised options for two additional Q400s for delivery in early 2009. Six Q400s from the initial order for 10 already are in service and four more are expected by year end. Porter operates out of Toronto City Centre and serves Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and Mt. Tremblant. It will fly to Newark from March 31.
