Boeing's 787 suppliers continue to fall short in completing work correctly and in a timely manner, the manufacturer admitted yesterday, forcing it to push first flight back another three months to "around" the end of the second quarter--nearly a year after rollout--and creating considerable uncertainty regarding the Dreamliner's delivery schedule and entry into service.
Thai Airways plans to lease 20 A320s to replace its 737s and 14 787s to replace its A300s and A330s, according to sources at the airline. The 787 deliveries are thought to start from 2014.
Midwest Airlines announced that Skyway Airlines, which provides regional lift as Midwest Connect, will cease flying this spring, resulting in 380 layoffs, as operations are transferred to SkyWest Airlines under terms of a five-year agreement that took effect last April ( ATWOnline, April 3, 2007). The latter will use 50-seat CRJ200s as opposed to the 32-seat Fairchild-Dornier 328s used by Skyway, and frequencies will decline in Skyway markets.
Air New Zealand will launch six-times-weekly Wellington-Whakatane service on May 19 aboard an Eagle Air Beech 1900D. United Airlines and Austrian Airlines expanded their codeshare agreement to cover 20 domestic UA flights from Chicago O'Hare.
Norwegian plans to offer onboard wireless Internet and mobile phone services in the fourth quarter, according to a company statement cited by press reports. An independent subsidiary, Call Norwegian, will be established to provide the services.
Sabre Airline Solutions and Saudi Arabian Airlines signed four separate agreements for advanced technology business solutions covering network management, operations, ground handling and cargo revenue management. Sabre will work with the airline over the next two years to deliver the tools.
China Southern Airlines flew 6.52 billion RPKs in December, a 21.8% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 11.6% to 8.94 billion ASKs, driving up load factor 6.1 points to 72.9%. AirTran Airways flew 1.42 billion RPMs in December, up 16.6% over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 13.1% to 1.96 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.3 points to 72.7%. LAN Airlines flew 2.2 billion RPKs in December, up 13.8% from the year-ago month, against a 13.6% climb in capacity to 2.89 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 0.2 point to 76%.
Airbus recorded another blockbuster year with deliveries of 453 aircraft, 19 more than in 2006 and 12 more than Boeing, and a record 1,341 net orders worth $157.1 billion. While slightly less than its rival's 1,413 net orders ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7), the difference largely is academic as both manufacturers have the sobering challenge of delivering, ontime, what they have sold ( ATWOnline, Jan. 14).
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. reported full-year 2007 net income of $504 million, more than double the $231 million earned in the prior year, despite a fourth-quarter net loss of $69 million that it attributed largely to "record fuel prices."
ACE Aviation Holdings yesterday said it will sell 13 million units of its Jazz Air Income Fund to West Face Capital and Sunrise Partners Ltd. Partnership for approximately $96.9 million, Reuters reported. ACE's stake in the regional will drop to 9.5% from 20.1%.
Alenia Aeronautica and Sukhoi Civil Aircraft announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin signed off on the Italian firm's acquisition of a 25%-plus-one-share stake in the Russian OEM ( ATWOnline, Sept. 12, 2007), which is designing and producing the Superjet 100 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 12, 2007).
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines have launched formal merger negotiations, US Rep. and House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Chairman James Oberstar (D.-Minn.) told the Star Tribune. "Northwest sees a benefit to them of a merger with Delta," Oberstar said, adding that NWA executives said "there is little route overlap and not a significant effect on competition, which I disagree with." The Congressman confirmed DL is looking at United as well ( ATWOnline, Jan.
Philippine Airlines said it will continue to operate flights to the US despite FAA's downgrading of the country to a Category 2 safety rating. PAL said it will be restricted by FAA to the 33 weekly flights it currently operates to the US and will not be able to change aircraft types used on the routes, meaning that six 777-300ERs scheduled to begin delivering next year will not be able to be deployed as planned unless FAA upgrades the country's status.
China Eastern Airlines has begun to soften its stance on a possible investment by Air China and now says it plans to take seriously a cooperation with CA if Singapore Airlines, whose bid for a stake was rejected by minority shareholders last week, remains involved.
SunExpress, the JV between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, will open a third base in Turkey at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen. It will base two aircraft there starting with the new summer schedule, operating flights to Eastern Anatolia and Western European destinations. It currently operates from Antalya and Izmir. It carried 3 million passengers last year, up 27.3% from 2006, as revenue rose 23.6% to €300 million ($445.4 million). Come summer the carrier will operate 14 737-800s and three 757-200s.
Airberlin said Saudi Arabian investor Kamal Abdullah purchased 3.1% of the carrier through Moab Investments. Vatas is AB's largest shareholder at close to 18.6%.
ANA Aviation will provide cargo management services to Tui Travel, formed recently from the integration of Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways. Fleet totals 82 aircraft comprising 737s, 757s, 767s, A320s and A321s. Viking Freight, First Choice Airways' in-house cargo team, will transfer to ANA when services under the new provider begin Feb. 4.
UK Dept. for Transport yesterday announced it intends to de-designate Manchester Airport because it "does not have, and is not likely to acquire, substantial market power," but that London Stansted will continue to be regulated. The decisions follow advice from CAA and two public consultations. In July, CAA recommended to DfT that STN also should be de-designated.
Vietnam Airlines, which is state-owned, plans to launch an IPO for about 20% of the carrier ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3, 2007). Shares will be offered first to employees and Vietnamese investors, according to numerous media reports, with international investors to be offered remaining shares. The Vietnamese government made it clear that it will maintain about an 80% holding in the airline. The IPO may not occur for some time.
Jazeera Airways began trading on the Kuwait Stock Exchange Monday ( ATWOnline, April 17, 2007). The Kuwaiti LCC is the third Arab carrier to list shares on a regional stock exchange. Air Arabia staged an IPO in March and is listed on the Dubai Financial Market and Royal Jordanian launched an IPO in December and is listed on the Amman Stock Exchange.
VEM Maintenance & Engineering received EASA certification for maintenance services on A310 aircraft and components. The certificate follows similar certification from US FAA.
Rockwell Collins said Southwest Airlines selected the GPS-4000S for RNP operations. In May, Southwest told FAA it will equip its entire fleet for RNP, including retrofitting its 737 Classics ( ATWOnline, May 18, 2007). Installation will begin this year.
Fiji's Air Pacific converted three 787-9 options into firm orders for delivery in 2016 and 2017. The new aircraft add to the five 787-9s the airline ordered in 2006 that are scheduled to arrive in 2011-12 ( ATWOnline, April 27, 2006). Air Pacific also added three purchase rights to its commitment, Chairman Nalin Patel said in a statement. Those aircraft will be available after 2019. The GEnx-powered 787-9s will replace the airline's two 747-400s and one 767-300ER.
