Safran Group announced that Snecma Services Chairman and CEO Jean-Lin Fournereaux, 55, will be nominated as chairman and CEO of Sagem Defense Securite at a board meeting scheduled for Sept. 27. He will replace Jean-Paul Herteman. Succeeding Fournereaux, who has led Snecma Services since early 2004, is Denis Vercherin, 54, currently senior VP of Hispano-Suiza.
United Airlines said yesterday in a government filing that third-quarter unit revenue will increase 7.5%-8.5% year-over-year while unit costs will rise 5.25%-5.75% compared to the same period last year. Capacity will be down 1.2% year-over-year in the quarter, UA added.
Alaska Airlines and sister regional carrier Horizon Air introduced a new online service that allows passengers to go to the carriers' websites to make changes to itineraries. "The Change Itinerary feature. . .is the first online tool in the industry that displays an easy-to-read matrix of 20 itinerary change options with corresponding adjustments to fares and taxes," the carriers claimed. "The new tool allows customers to change travel dates as well as departure and arrival cities, and can be used even after some of the itinerary's travel has been completed.
Qantas Group launched a comprehensive "carbon offset program" under which Qantas and Jetstar passengers can elect to offset their share of flight emissions by making monetary contributions through qantas.com and jetstar.com.
Bombardier said that 35 of 85 Q400s targeted for detailed inspection after the landing gears on two SAS flights collapsed last week have returned to service ( ATWOnline, Sept. 18).
ICAO projected that world airline traffic (RPKs) will grow at an average annual rate of 4.6% through 2025, half a point lower than the rate achieved over the 1985-2005 period, while the average annual growth rate for international RPKs over the period will fall 1.5 points to 5.3%, according to a forecast released yesterday.
Iberia Airlines and American Express signed a strategic agreement linking their rewards programs. From Sept. 17 onward, American Express card holders belonging to the Membership Rewards program in Spain will be able to transfer their accumulated points to the Iberia Plus program.
Rockwell Collins said it is adding several new features to its Airshow 4200 moving map display and flight information system. The additions provide passengers with an upgraded system with a complete new Atlas Style Map Set, more details on existing maps, and new features including a World Clock page and a Flight Deck Instrument Panel page.
Chinese carriers' share prices collectively are soaring as the nation's airline industry enters what analysts are predicting will be a period of robust growth driving demand for a large volume of new aircraft. Air China's share price jumped from CNY14.5 ($1.90) to CNY25.3 yesterday while China Southern's doubled from CNY13 to CNY26.77 and China Eastern lifted from CNY11 to CNY20.22. Shanghai Airlines grew from CNY12 to CNY18.36 and Hainan Airlines rose from CNY6 to CNY12.34.
Virgin Atlantic said it will nearly double the number of premium economy seats in its London Heathrow-based 747 fleet to 62 from 32 currently in response to "surging passenger demand."
Thai Airways' board will decide next month on a fleet expansion plan that could include as many as 65 new aircraft, with eight 747-8Is likely to be among the orders. President Apinan Sumanaseni told media in Bangkok yesterday that the board is looking at two options, one for 61 aircraft and the other for 65. Other aircraft mentioned were the 787, 737-900, A350 and A321. According to an airline source, the aircraft would be delivered over 10 years and likely would be valued at THB390 billion ($12.1 billion).
Lufthansa Systems launched Lido electronic Aircraft Performance Monitoring, a Web-based tool for determination of inflight performance levels of an aircraft and especially its propulsion and flight control efficiency. Separately, LHS said Condor chose it to support the airline's scheduling, operational flight planning and crew planning processes.
Qatar Airways upgraded the aircraft on its 10-times-weekly Doha-Kuala Lumpur route to A330s offering passengers in every seat fully interactive IFE. EasyJet launched twice-daily London Luton-Zurich service and said it expects to carry more than 160,000 passengers on the route over the next 12 months. Norwegian will start four-times-weekly London Gatwick-Stavanger service from Nov. 2. Silverjet will launch daily London Luton-Dubai flights from Nov. 19 aboard 100-seat 767s.
JetBlue Airways appointed Glenn Hipp to the position of VP-supply chain and fuel. He will be responsible for companywide sourcing efforts and corporate purchasing as well as JetBlue's fuel procurement strategy. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, named Jason Grant senior VP and CFO succeeding Michael Barna, who resigned from the post he has held since 2005 "to pursue other interests." Grant, 35, has been with the company since 2002 and most recently served as senior VP-network planning and business development.
Aloha Airlines, which has been battling for market share in the competitive Hawaiian Islands, posted a net loss of $18.7 million for the second quarter ended June 30, widened from a $2.8 million loss in the year-ago period, according to data it filed with the US Dept. of Transportation. Operating revenue declined 6.1% to $96.3 million.
Lancope Inc. said AirTran deployed its StealthWatch Network Behavior Analysis System to secure its financial transactions, protect passenger data and ensure that all information in its network is safe.
Airlines continued to inspect Q400 aircraft that were grounded last week after two separate incidents in which landing gear collapsed on SAS flights. Bombardier sent out detailed inspection guidelines to Q400 operators. Developed with Goodrich, manufacturer of the landing gear, the procedures spell out how to inspect, repair or replace the retract actuator, which showed signs of corrosion during preliminary investigation of one of the SAS accidents. "All procedures require a thorough application of corrosion-inhibiting compound," Bombardier said in a statement.
AirAsia X's first 396-seat A330 is due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur today for the carrier's service launch later this month. The A330 will be the first of three leased by the long-haul LCC to arrive with another 10 on firm order to be delivered next year. Air Asia X initially will launch flights from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne Avalon and London Stansted.
IATA yesterday boosted its forecast for full-year 2007 global airline industry earnings by 9.8% to $5.6 billion but lowered its projection for 2008 by 18.8% to $7.8 billion.
Aer Lingus said it will "assist" the European Commission in upholding the decision to block its takeover by Ryanair, arguing competition "would suffer" if the merger of Ireland's two largest airlines was allowed. Ryanair has appealed the EC's decision disallowing the takeover; Aer Lingus said it has "no doubt" its rival's appeal "will fail."
The official death toll from Sunday's One-Two-Go Airways MD-82 crash in Phuket rose to 89 as investigators focused on windshear as a possible cause. "It is possible that the plane crash was caused by windshear," One-Two-Go parent Orient-Thai Airlines President Kajit Habnanonda told reporters, according to the Associated Press. The aircraft attempted to land at Phuket in a heavy rainstorm and skidded off the runway ( ATWOnline, Sept. 17).
Northwest Airlines yesterday announced a reshuffled executive management team that it said better reflects its post-bankruptcy objectives. Among the most significant changes, which will take effect Oct. 1, were NWA Cargo President Jim Friedel's appointment to the newly created position of senior VP-strategic planning and VP-Network Planning and Revenue Management Tom Bach's promotion to president-NWA Cargo. VP-Fleet Planning Dan McDonald was named VP-strategy and fleet planning and will report to Friedel.
Bmi is applying to operate daily London Heathrow-Tel Aviv service beginning in spring 2008 following a UK-Israel accord that allows each government to designate a second carrier on the route. AirBridge Cargo, Volga-Dnepr Group's scheduled service operator, will launch weekly Amsterdam-Tel Aviv-Moscow 747F flights from Oct. 7. Earlier this month it started weekly Moscow-Tokyo-Krasnoyarsk service.
Air France KLM is studying a potential merger with either Alitalia or Iberia, Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said. In an interview with Financial Times, Spinetta confirmed that the group is exploring merger opportunities. He said AF KLM has held "informal" talks with potential Spanish financial partners, though it is not yet in official discussions with Iberia.
