Lufthansa Technik intends to invest close to €50 million ($70.1 million) to build a new engine MRO shop in Hamburg that is expected to boost repair capacity from 320 engines per year currently to 400. Construction of the facility, which will have 15,000 sq. m. of floor space, is set to begin next month with the first engine overhaul planned for early 2009. According to LHT Executive Board Chairman August Henningsen, "the new hall will make it possible to design engine overhaul production and processes so as to incorporate the latest thinking on these subjects.
Landing gear corrosion was found on 25 of 27 SAS Q400 aircraft, according to Danish magazine Ingenioeren, which reported that technical examinations revealed corrosion problems that could have contributed to the recent landing gear collapses that led to a worldwide grounding of the turboprops. "We examined all of the planes and 25 of them had corroded bolts in the landing gear," Helge Torp, Scandinavian airline inspection agency Skandinavisk Tilsynskontor technical director, told Ingenioeren.
Shanghai Airlines denied widespread speculation that Air China or China Eastern Airlines will merge with it to expand their market share in Shanghai, with one official insisting that SAL plans to "go its own way and become an international carrier."
Pemco Aviation Group closed the previously announced sale of Pemco World Air Services, its commercial division specializing in MRO and passenger-to-freighter conversions, to an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners for $43 million ( ATWOnline, July 12). The sale was approved by Pemco's stockholders earlier this week. As part of the transaction, Pemco Aviation Group changed its name to Alabama Aircraft Industries and said it will focus on defense work. PWAS will retain its name.
Air New Zealand is set to launch a series of measures to reduce its carbon emissions, including using biofuels. CEO Rob Fyfe told The Australian that the airline "has two or three projects underway looking at biofuels," with an announcement scheduled for late September. It also is looking at a range of measures such as improved descent profiles, reducing the flaps setting for landings and turning to ground power as soon as possible after arrival. It will acquire more ground power units.
Ryanair upheld its full-year profit guidance and said it expects net profits for the current fiscal year ending March 31 to rise 10% on the prior year.
Lufthansa and Deutsche Post World Net confirmed yesterday that they are launching a joint venture cargo airline based in Leipzig in which Lufthansa Cargo and DPWN subsidiary DHL each will hold a 50% stake.
Moscow Domodedovo announced two new services. Aviaprad commenced thrice-weekly flights to Khanty-Mansiysk in western Siberia aboard Yak 42s and VIM-Avia began operating two weekly flights to Khabarovsk using a 757.
British Airways will end daily service between London Heathrow and Detroit effective March 30 after 50 years of operating the route. "It's just that the nature of Detroit has changed," spokesperson John Lampl told ATWOnline. He said the automotive industry, a major economic engine for the area, has become fragmented over the years. "They give us almost no business. The premium-class passenger is just not there anywhere.
SAS, which grounded its fleet of Q400s after the landing gear on two separate flights collapsed last week, is under investigation by a Swedish prosecutor to determine whether passengers were placed at risk by the carrier, the Associated Press reported. SAS said it would cooperate with the investigation but called the prosecutor's assertion that it had endangered passengers "groundless." There were no serious injuries in either incident. SAS has been inspecting and replacing the landing gear on its fleet of 27 Q400s
Wizz Air will add a third A320 to its base at Gdansk in March, launch thrice-weekly service to Bournemouth, Coventry and Gothenburg and add frequencies on its existing routes. The LCC said it expects to grow the number of passengers traveling to and from its Gdansk base to more than 1 million in 2008. Separately, Wizz Air will introduce "comfort seats" with extra legroom in rows 12 and 13 on its A320s on Oct. 29. The extra legroom costs €5 ($6.98) if paid online concurrently with the booking and €10 if paid after the initial booking.
FedEx reported net income for its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31 of $494 million, up 4% over a net profit of $475 million in the year-ago period, on an 8% rise in revenue to $9.2 billion, but lowered its full-year earnings guidance owing to an uncertain US economy.
SITA added Eclipse as a new member to its Channel Partner Program. Under terms of the agreement, the French IT distributor is allowed to sell a select number of SITA's systems to about 100 small and medium-sized airports in France handling up to 5 million passengers per year. Average passenger growth at French regional airports last year exceeded 5% to almost 40 million. Solutions and services available under the Indirect Channels label include SITA's AirportConnect CUTE, AirportConnect Kiosk, Bag Manager, Bag Message and DCS in Application Service Provider mode.
After extensive deliberation, Southwest Airlines said yesterday it has decided to maintain its "legendary" open-seating policy but will change its boarding process to eliminate "the perceived cattle call" experience at gates in which its passengers "camp out in their boarding line."
Shanxi Aircraft Industry Group, a subsidiary of AVIC II, signed a framework agreement at the Beijing Air Show yesterday with Antonov to establish an aircraft engineering center in the Chinese capital by year end. SAIG MD Bai Songbai said that the center will be engaged mainly in retrofits of Y8 aircraft in its initial phase.
A J Walter Aviation will help Thales Training and Simulation support customers of its flight simulators by providing maintenance and spare parts supply of aircraft avionics and instruments fitted to the simulators. Initially, Thales will use the service to support its contract to maintain Qatar Airways' three C2000X simulators for the A320, A330 and 777.
Austrian Airlines Group CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline in Astana this week that talks are underway with government officials to open up new routes to destinations in Kazakhstan to augment the thrice-weekly Vienna-Astana service launched earlier this month. AAG also is looking to increase its presence in other Central Asia countries such as Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. "Every year, we see a potential to launch up to four new destinations. . .in a radius [a maximum of] six hours flying time from Vienna," Oetsch explained.
Gate Gourmet completed the purchase of deSter Holding BV of Amsterdam. According to Gate Gourmet, deSter is the world's largest provider of inflight hospitality items. It also owns Supplair, a supplier of packaged airline meals. The company was purchased from EQT, a private equity fund that bought deSter in 1999. Terms were not disclosed.
Lufthansa's supervisory board yesterday approved orders for nine A330-300s and 32 A320 family aircraft. All nine A330s and two A320s will be operated by Swiss International Air Lines, with deliveries starting in early 2009. The -300s will replace A330-200s that Swiss currently operates. Lufthansa will take delivery of 20 A321s, four A320s and six A319s beginning in 2011 to operate within Europe.
Honeywell was awarded a contract valued at $16 billion by Airbus to supply major mechanical systems and provide aftermarket support on the A350 XWB, including designing and building the APU for the aircraft.
Lufthansa and Deutsche Post are expected to announce the launch of a JV cargo airline today, The Financial Times reported. The new carrier is planning to start operations in the summer of 2009 and will have up to 11 777-200Fs based in Leipzig by 2011.
New ICAO strategy for "sustained improvements in aviation safety in Africa was endorsed by representatives of 40 States from the African Region and world aviation stakeholders" on the eve of the 36th Session of the ICAO Assembly, which began Wednesday and runs through Sept. 28. The "Comprehensive Regional Implementation Plan for Aviation Safety in Africa" was developed by ICAO in cooperation with the continent's civil aviation authorities and the air transport industry as well as bodies such as the European Commission, World Bank and African Civil Aviation Commission.
AVIC I will launch its new regional carrier with a fleet composed mainly of Chinese-manufactured aircraft "very soon," Senior VP Hu Wenming told ATWOnline yesterday at the Beijing Air Show. AVIC I and China Eastern Airlines revealed earlier this month that they will start a regional airline ( ATWOnline, Sept. 7). "We are quite optimistic about China's regional market though it takes time to fully develop it," Hu said. "According to our national plan, China will build 51 regional airports. .
