Etihad Airways carried 4.6 million passengers in 2007, a 67% increase from the previous year, as it added 13 new aircraft to its fleet, launched service to nine destinations and increased frequencies on a number of key routes. Load factor averaged 69%. Networkwide it achieved loads of 71% in economy and 61% in business. It did not provide details on its first class load factor other than it rose by 75 points compared to 2006. "Our intense activity in 2007 resulted in another year of significant expansion.
Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya told Mint business daily that the airline, likely through its acquisition of Air Deccan, has "secured all necessary clearances for flying overseas" and that as a result it will convert its five A380 options to firm orders. Kingfisher already has five A380s on order. "We will be operating all nonstop flights to international destinations," Mallya told the paper. Indo Asian News Service quoted him as saying that the first long-haul flight will operate Aug.
Two months after declaring at the Dubai Air Show that "shrinking the airline was the wrong way to go" and that Gulf Air would embark on a major fleet renewal, the carrier this weekend announced its plan to order up to 24 787s and revealed that it is negotiating with Airbus for eight A320s.
Aegean Airlines reported an 18% increase in passengers last year to 5.2 million from 4.4 million in 2006. Domestic passengers climbed 10% to 3.4 million and international passengers rose 35% to 1.9 million. Aegean said it "aims at accelerating its re-fleeting process and at further expanding its network" in 2008. Iberia flew 4.25 billion RPKs in December, down 0.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.4% to 5.52 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.5 points to 77%.
Air Arabia announced that it will establish a new hub in Katmandu from where it will operate a low-cost subsidiary in partnership with Nepalese carrier Yeti Airlines. It said the new carrier "will provide affordable and convenient service to a broad range of international destinations" throughout Asia. Flights to Sharjah will start before the end of the month, with service to Doha, Kuala Lumpur and India to follow shortly.
After what were described as "wide-ranging and lengthy conciliation negotiations," the European Parliament and representatives from the 27 EU member states reached an agreement Friday on revision of the regulatory framework for aviation security.
Mesa Air Group, which operates as a regional partner for Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways as well as fielding its independent Mesa Airlines and go! operations, suffered an $81.6 million loss in the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2007, as legal wrangling in Hawaii and losses at its Air Midwest subsidiary took a heavy toll on a company that posted a $34 million profit the previous year.
El Al will invest $50 million in the purchase of a 14-year-old 747-400 currently leased from Wells Fargo Bank by Singapore Airlines, according to an El Al spokesperson cited by Reuters. SIA will return the aircraft this year and El Al will take delivery before year end.
Virgin Atlantic Airways announced it has scheduled a 747 biofuel demonstration flight for February. Unveiled in October ( ATWOnline, Oct. 16, 2007), the alternative fuels initiative will start with a flight from London Heathrow to Amsterdam with no passengers and using "a truly sustainable type of biofuel that doesn't compete with food and fresh water resources." Boeing and GE Aviation will participate in the test.
CAE said Kuala Lumpur will be the location of its new training center, which will be developed in partnership with AirAsia. In November, CAE signed a contract to manage AirAsia's TRTO at the AirAsia Academy and provide pilot training services. The center also will train technicians and cabin crew across Southeast Asia. Kuala Lumpur will serve as CAE's regional hub for MPL and Airbus OEM training.
Delta Air Lines continued to decline to comment on reports that its board is considering authorizing merger negotiations with Northwest Airlines and/or United Airlines, but NWA President and CEO Doug Steenland said his carrier is giving the issue "serious attention."
Moscow Domodedovo announced the end to its renovation project on Runway 1, which began in 2003 and was part of a modernization project costing approximately RUB12 billion ($492.2 million). A temporary third runway was opened in May 2006 to handle traffic during the work. The new Runway 1 will handle up to 45 operations per hr.
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters yesterday issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would allow airports to base charges assessed to airlines on "the time of day and the volume of traffic" rather than just aircraft weight, raising the possibility that "congestion pricing" could be imposed by airports. The proposal threatened to unravel the truce Peters reached with US airlines last month over managing congestion at New York JFK ( ATWOnline, Dec.
Airbus said yesterday that if the US Air Force selects Northrop Grumman over Boeing to produce next-generation aerial refueling tankers, it will establish its first US final assembly line in Mobile to produce both the tankers and commercial A330 freighters. Northrop's proposed KC-30 tanker is based on the A330. The defense firm is teamed with Airbus and parent EADS in its effort to win the tanker contract, which is valued at about $40 billion and is scheduled to be awarded on Jan. 31. The contract calls for 12-18 aircraft to be produced annually.
BOC Aviation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank of China, announced 10-year lease agreements for five 737NGs with India's Jet Airways. Aircraft will be delivered to Jet by Boeing between March 2010 and November 2011. BOC currently owns 76 aircraft flying with 29 airlines worldwide and has 40 more 737NGs on firm order, 37 of which already have been leased. Last month BOC announced deals to lease four 737-800s to Hainan Airlines, two -800s to Shandong Airlines and one -800 to Skymark Airlines.
Iberia's maintenance and engineering division won authorization from Airbus to train maintenance technicians to work on its equipment. The agreement grants Iberia EASA Part 147 and Airbus procedure certification. It also allows IB to adapt training services to Airbus technologies and practices using tools such as Computer Assisted Training and Virtual Aircraft.
Flybe announced a franchise agreement with Scotland's Loganair that will take effect when the latter's run as a British Airways franchisee ends on Oct. 25. Flybe said the deal, which it claimed is the "first of its kind ever for a low-cost carrier," will see Loganair operating in Flybe livery from Oct. 26. Loganair is based at Glasgow International and operates 13 Saab 340s, two Twin Otters and five BN Islanders. Separately, Flybe will launch thrice-daily London Gatwick-Aberdeen service on March 30.
Aer Lingus yesterday launched thrice-daily Belfast International-London Heathrow service aboard an A320. It is EI's fourth route from its new base ( ATWOnline, Dec. 11, 2007), from which it will start flights to Rome Fiumicino, Budapest, Malaga and Faro on Feb. 25 and Nice on April 1. Lufthansa CityLine launched twice-daily Berlin Tegel-London City flights. Horizon Air will operate a second daily Seattle-Santa Rosa flight April 6-Oct. 26.
Aer Arann announced a franchise agreement with Nex Aviation under which the latter will offer the first jet service sold as part of the Aer Arann network. Customers will have access to BAe 146-200 flights to Amsterdam, Bordeaux, Malaga and Faro from both Galway and Waterford beginning May 1. Aer Arann currently operates 14 ATR turboprops and will take an additional eight 72-500s by 2009. MD Garry Cullen said the partnership with Nex "underpins the Aer Arann strategy of connecting regional Ireland to the UK and mainland Europe."
Niki, the Austrian low-fare airline that is part of the airberlin group, converted 10 options on A320 family aircraft into firm orders as its profits continued to rise. "We will take delivery of the new aircraft from 2010 onwards. For every aircraft, a year ahead [of delivery] we decide if we need an A319, A320 or A321," founder and owner Niki Lauda told ATWOnline.
Transportation Safety Board of Canada launched an investigation into last week's incident in which an Air Canada A319 abruptly plunged and swayed, causing some passengers to "hit the ceiling" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 11). All 10 passengers/crew taken to a local hospital in Calgary, where the aircraft made an emergency landing, were released late Thursday. But the mystery of exactly what happened and why it occurred remained unsolved.
Air France KLM flew 16.61 billion RPKs in December, a 3.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.1% to 21.12 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.8 point to 78.6%. American Airlines flew 11.24 billion RPMs in December, down 1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.7% to 14.25 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 0.3 point to 78.8%. American Eagle flew 671.4 million RPMs, down 6.7%, against a 5.6% fall in ASMs to 967.7 million. Load factor dropped 0.8 point to 69.4%.
Canadian Transport Agency gave Air Canada, Jazz and WestJet one year to adopt a "one-person-one-fare" policy on domestic flights, forbidding the carriers from charging more than one fare for disabled individuals who require additional space or are accompanied by "an attendant for their personal care or safety in flight." CTA estimated the cost of implementation at 0.09% of AC's annual passenger revenue of C$8.2 billion ($8.12 billion) and 0.16% of WestJet's C$1.4 billion.
