Allegiant Air will launch twice-weekly Orlando Sanford-Plattsburgh flights and expand its twice-weekly Plattsburgh-Fort Lauderdale service to four-times-weekly on Feb. 1.
Megadata Corp. said Newark Liberty selected its PASSUR Portal and inSight software technologies offering Web-based operational information and flight following capabilities.
Exclusive negotiations between Air France KLM and Alitalia on a possible merger were scheduled to start yesterday following the official approval of Italian Minister of Finance Tommaso Padoa-Schoppia last Friday, according to widespread press reports.
Singapore Airlines on Monday began advertising its fares inclusive of all taxes, surcharges and fees. "In some markets, this may mean we look more expensive than our competitors at first glance. But we think consumers understand that there are a variety of extras that form part of the ticket price now," Executive VP-Marketing and Regions Huang Cheng Eng said. SIA has published all-inclusive prices on its website since November. Separately, SIA extended the contract of CEO Chew Choon Seng to December 2010, replacing a deal set to expire in June 2009.
Wizz Air and GECAS announced a sale and leaseback transaction covering six A320s scheduled for delivery in 2009 and set to be leased for 11 years each. The companies have similar deals covering eight additional A320s to be delivered over the next two years. Separately, Wizz announced summer schedule enhancements including 15 new weekly flights from Budapest (with new service to Gothenburg, Oslo Torp and Treviso) and a fifth A320 based at Katowice that will contribute to an expanded program scheduled to include new flights to Varna.
Alitalia announced the sale of three of its 13 slot pairs at London Heathrow for €92 million ($134.2 million). It called the slots "nonstrategic" and said it will report a €54 million gain on its 2007 balance sheet and a €38 million gain in 2008.
ABX Air, the Wilmington, Ohio-based airline primarily focused on transporting DHL cargo around the US, said it completed the previously announced $332 million purchase of Cargo Holdings International, the Orlando-based outsourced air cargo services provider that counts global logistics firm BAX/Schenker as its main client ( ATWOnline, Nov. 5). ABX created a new holding company, ABX Holdings, of which ABX Air and CHI are now separate wholly owned subsidiaries.
Vinci, a French construction and services company, confirmed the purchase of a 3.3% stake in Aeroports de Paris. ADP initiated an IPO in June 2006 but the French state still holds 68.4%.
Fischer Advanced Composite Components announced delivery of the passenger cabin for the ARJ21. Components include ceiling and sidewall panels, hat racks, cockpit dividers and other equipment. Final assembly will take place in Shanghai later this year.
Finnair Technical Services reached an eight-year, €200 million ($291.7 million) deal with Aeroflot Cargo to provide airframe, engine and component MRO services for its MD-11s. Aeroflot Cargo is FTS's largest customer outside Finnair Group. Approximately one-quarter of FTS's annual turnover comes from third parties. Finnair has sold its two owned MD-11s to SU Cargo, which will operate six of the type next year.
Air China parent China National Aviation Holding Co. said Monday that China Eastern Airlines needs to renew discussions with Singapore Airlines on the high-profile stake sale, arguing that the HK$3.80 price set for each of the additional shares tailored for SIA is inadequate.
LET THERE BE NO DOUBT: EUROPE'S HIGH-SPEED TRAINS are on a mission to increase their competitive clout over their counterparts in the air. Last summer, seven HST operators announced the formal creation of Railteam, a marketing partnership mirroring the well-established airline alliances (see box, p. 42).
Social networking was undoubtedly the hot trend of the year, at least according to the people who plan travel industry conference agendas. The travel industry is still grappling with how to monetize the huge and amorphous phenomenon. "Two-thirds of online customers use social media," Cindy Estis Green, managing partner of the Estis Group, said.
Commport Aerospace Services Ltd. displayed its fuel administration software, realTimeFuel, at IATA's fuel forum in Istanbul. Compatible with most hardware and management systems, the technology offers hands-on, real-time access to the fueling operation, eliminating costs associated with printed tickets, fuel sheets and data handling in reconciliation systems.
ACTS Aero Technical Support & Services, formerly Air Canada Technical Services, signed long-term material and repair contracts from GE and CFM valued at an estimated $2.5 billion. "This is the biggest contract we've ever signed with a supplier," ACTS told Airline Procurement. "It goes beyond the typical customer and supplier relationship. It is an alliance."
The fares will increase by €15 for one-way flights and €30 for roundtrips. Lufthansa will continue to offer its pre-hike fares, which it has dubbed "Lufthansa Preferred Rates," after July 1 for direct sales through its Web site, call center, ticket counter and its dedicated travel agent Web site, lufthansa-agent.com. Travel agents can book Preferred Rates through a GDS if they agree to pay a fee of €4.90 plus VAT per coupon. Otherwise, they will have access only to the higher fares in the GDS.
ENGINE CONDITION MONITORING is moving from diagnostics toward prognostics, pushing at least part way toward true condition-based maintenance. Sensors and systems have become very good at forecasting and thus preventing potential failures, saving money on delays and major repairs. But they cannot reliably predict success: How much longer a part or engine can stay on-wing.
But then, we'll guess that Lufthansa did not plunk down $300 million for 19% of JetBlue and a seat on the low-fare airline's board of directors because it's looking for a superior ROI or dividend yield that it can't get elsewhere. With all due respect to JetBlue (a fine airline that has hit some turbulence), there's only one US carrier that has demonstrated long-term equity appreciation and a reliable dividend stream and it is based in Dallas, not Queens.
GLOBAL AIR CARGO TRAFFIC growth rates have been disappointingly below average for the past three years, holding at 4%-5% for each of the last two years following growth of just 2% in 2005. That falls short of the 6.1% annual average growth over the long term projected by Boeing, Airbus and other observers, and well below the overall global cargo growth rate of 10% for all forms of transport.
A YEAR AGO, ATW PREDICTED that 2007 would be the peak year of the current airline earnings cycle. It appears we may have been correct. The good news is that barring a catastrophe the industry will enjoy a second consecutive year of profitability in 2008. The bad news is that it probably won't be as good as 2007. Measured against the losses of the first half of the decade, however, one reasonably may conclude that the bad news just isn't that bad. Expectations have been reset, not just owing to 9/11 and SARS but also because of $90/barrel crude.
Pratt & Whitney took a big step forward toward expanding its engine maintenance, repair and overhaul footprint in Europe and the Middle East with this month's agreement with Turkish Airlines Technic to build a 25,000-sq.-m. engine overhaul center at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen Airport.
MERE MONTHS AGO, MANY EXPERTS RELEGATED BIOFUELS for commercial jets to the realm of the quasirealisticsomething hovering just over the horizon. This magazine said as much in our May 2007 story "Fueling the Future" (ATW, 5/07, p. 38). Things have changed.
China Airlines said in December that its board approved the signing of a letter of intent with Airbus to purchase 14 A350-900s plus six options valued at $4.2 billion if all options are exercised. The aircraft will be delivered from 2015 to 2020, replacing the carrier's A340-300 fleet and expanding its mid- and long-haul capacity. The A350-900s will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent XWBs. Rolls placed the value of the engine deal at $800 million if all options are exercised.
