Airbus parent EADS CEO Louis Gallois said there will be only "a small difference" between the European aircraft manufacturer's 2007 orders and those of rival Boeing.
ATR signed an MOU with Lonrho Air for the purchase of eight ATR 72-500s in a deal valued at more than $150 million. Aircraft will be configured with 66 seats (12 in first class) and will be operated by Fly540, a Nairobi-based airline belonging to the Lonrho investment conglomerate. The PW127M-powered planes are scheduled for delivery this year and into 2009. The deal includes a comprehensive support and spares package.
Rolls-Royce said Friday it intends to reduce its managerial, professional and clerical staff by 2,300 positions as part of its "continuing program aimed at improving efficiency and competitiveness." The engine-maker said the reductions "focus on overhead and support functions" and that it will "continue to recruit graduates, apprentices and those required directly to deliver growth." It will seek reductions in the UK through voluntary means but said the initiative will extend to the US, Germany and Nordic nations. Rolls employs 39,500 in 50 countries, including 23,300 in the UK.
Chinese carriers enjoyed a fruitful 2007 as they earned a collective profit of CNY17 billion ($2.33 billion) in the first 11 months of last year, more than triple the CNY5.54 billion posted the same period of 2006, newly appointed CAAC Minister Li Jiaxiang said last week. Li credited yuan appreciation and fuel surcharges for the result but warned that "Chinese carriers still posted a collective loss if these two main contributors are excluded."
China Airlines will be announced as the next full member of the SkyTeam alliance this year, a source close to the carrier told ATWOnline. Talks between CI and SkyTeam members started last autumn.
Dublin Airport Authority said it welcomed the decision by the Irish High Court to reject Ryanair's appeal against the granting of planning permission for a second terminal at Dublin.
Lufthansa Technik announced the inauguration and first-phase completion of its widebody MRO hangar in Frankfurt with capacity for two A380s or three 747s in a 25,000-sq.-m. ground plan. Second-phase completion is slated for 2015, when four A380s will be able to be serviced simultaneously. Total capital expenditure is approximately €150 million ($220.4 million), LHT said. Lufthansa has 15 A380s on order, with first delivery scheduled for next year.
Singapore Airlines will start four-times-weekly Singapore-Moscow Domodedovo-Houston Intercontinental flights on March 20 aboard a 777-300ER. Blue1 will replace its current Helsinki-London Stansted service with a daily London Heathrow-Helsinki flight from March 30. Route will be operated with an MD-90. Etihad Airways will begin a four-times-weekly Abu Dhabi-Beijing service on March 30 aboard an A330-200 in two-class configuration.
Air China parent China National Aviation Holding Co. is preparing its own bid for China Eastern Airlines following the Tuesday rejection of the latter's stake sale deal with Singapore Airlines but is doing so with an eye toward cooperation rather than acquisition.
GKN Aerospace said it received FAA PMA authority and EASA STC authority for 737 No. 1 and No. 2 heated cockpit windshields. Separately, GKN reached a three-year, $1.5 million overhaul and repair deal with Prime Air to support Delta radomes on the 777, 767, 757, 737 and MD-80.
Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.99 billion RPMs in December, up 2.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.6% to 5.07 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 78.8%. SkyWest Airlines flew 1.39 billion RPMs in December, a 7.9% increase from the year-ago month, against an 11% rise in capacity to 1.89 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 2.1 points to 73.6%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 655.7 million RPMs in December, up 2% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.5% to 798.8 million ASMs and load factor dropped 2.1 points to 82.1%.
Boeing played down the danger related to "new kinds of passenger connectivity to previously isolated data networks" on the 787, which were specified in special conditions mandated for certification by US FAA released earlier this month. The concerns that people could inadvertently or deliberately access aircraft systems through the IFE/connectivity features of the 787 were published by FAA last April and the matter was raised by technical media during the Dreamliner rollout in briefings with Systems Director Mike Sinnett.
Singapore Airlines will add a fourth daily flight to Sydney beginning in April aboard a 777-300ER. JetBlue Airways yesterday started daily New York JFK-Puerto Plata flights aboard an A320. It will launch daily Boston-Jacksonville service on March 15, daily Orlando International-Santo Domingo flights on March 8 and daily MCO-Cancun on March 13 with E-190s.
Boeing kicked off its 2008 sales campaign with another 747-8I sold for private use plus one 777 for Turkmenistan Airlines. The 747-8I is the sixth sold to Boeing Business Jets.
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson is expected to ask the carrier's board of directors today for permission to enter into merger talks with both Northwest Airlines and United Airlines.
Australian aviation regulatory authorities are going to come under the spotlight after Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air announced its plans to launch domestic operations in Australia with six 737-900ERs. According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, the airline has "reportedly reached agreement with an Australian company to take a 49% stake and base six aircraft in Australia."
Comair, a regional subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, will eliminate up to 14 50-seat aircraft from its fleet of 131 regional jets. Delta previously announced it will cut its domestic flights by up to 5%, a reduction that is the equivalent of 10 mainline aircraft and 35 RJs. Delta Connection carriers will have up to 15% fewer scheduled block hr. as the company reduces flying and fuel consumption. At the same time, DL intends to increase international capacity by 15%.
Air Canada Flight 190, an A319 en route from Victoria to Toronto, was diverted to Calgary yesterday for an emergency landing following what was described as extreme turbulence that caused 10 passengers to sustain what the airline termed "non-life-threatening injuries." Emergency personnel met the aircraft following a smooth landing in Calgary and transported 10 of the 83 passengers to a local hospital. There were five crew onboard. AC said it was investigating an "incident" that created a "very stressful experience" for passengers and crew.
WestJet will start daily Toronto-Quebec City service on May 18 as part of a summer schedule that also will include new daily seasonal flights from Toronto to Regina, Saskatoon and Abbotsford as well as service from Ottawa to Edmonton and Halifax. Frequencies will be increased on nine current routes including seven from Toronto. The LCC flew 1.05 billion RPMs in December, a 17.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 15.2% to 1.32 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.3 points to 79.3%.
Continental Airlines field service employees comprising ramp, operations and cargo agents rejected representation by the Transport Workers Union, CO said. TWU filed an election application with the National Mediation Board last October.
Alitalia Chairman and CEO Maurizio Prato said early negotiations with Air France KLM "are going rather well," according to press reports, with the early buzz surrounding the recently launched talks ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3) centering on the amount of AZ that will remain with the Italian state once AF KLM takes over and a share swap is completed. Originally pegged at 3%, the stake may rise to 5% if Prato and the UGL union have their way, Reuters reported.
Embraer's 61 fourth-quarter aircraft deliveries boosted its full-year 2007 total to 169, up 30% year-over-year and a company record. The manufacturer said it "sought to adapt its industrial processes to the delivery schedule established with customers. Such actions as hiring new employees, implementing a third shift for some of the production processes and adopting a lean manufacturing concept" were key.
