European Commission released the fifth update of its list of airlines banned in the European Union. Two new carriers appeared: Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines and Mahan Air of Iran. "This latest update illustrates once more that the black list is a dynamic instrument which the Commission can use whenever necessary, without having to wait for the quarterly reviews," VP-Transport Jacques Barrot said.
EasyJet announced it will operate its Bucharest service from Otopeni rather than Baneasa through at least Sept. 23 owing to the latter airport's inability to meet "operational requirements at this time." It also announced the launch of daily services from Madrid to Lanzerote and Lisbon on Nov. 1, thrice-weekly MAD-Fuerteventura on Nov. 3 and twice-weekly Geneva-Gran Canaria from Oct. 31. The LCC transported 3.7 million passengers in August, up 17.8% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 1.9 points to 87.4%.
Superjet International, the new joint venture between Alenia Aeronautica and Sukhoi Holding focusing on worldwide after-sales support and marketing and sales of the Superjet 100 regional aircraft family in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Japan, is targeting approximately 300 orders by 2010.
Mesa Air Group yesterday said it is restructuring the CRJ fleet it operates under contract for United Airlines. Mesa will replace eight 50-seat CRJ200s with two 66-seat CRJ700s, which will be added to its existing contract and will enter service next spring. It then will fly 22 CRJ700s on behalf of UA.
Sukhoi does not intend to follow the example of Airbus with its A380 or Boeing with its 787 and stressed this week in Venice that its SSJ program is proceeding according to schedule (see story above). The prototype Superjet 100 is in final assembly at Komsomolsk and rollout of the 95-seat variant is scheduled for Sept. 26. First flight will take place by year end and first delivery to Aeroflot is expected in November 2008.
Kuwaiti government accepted the resignation of Kuwait Airways' board, which made the move following the government's cancellation of a 19-aircraft order with ALAFCO ( ATWOnline, Sept. 11), according to press reports.
Air China announced an expansion of its international network comprising 12 new routes to Europe and the US in 2008 and 2009, as well as more frequencies on nine additional routes to the West. According to the long-haul routes distribution program released yesterday by CAAC, Air China will begin serving Berlin, Istanbul and Warsaw from Beijing in 2008. The following year it will begin flying daily from the capital to Toronto, Washington Dulles, Manchester, Zurich, Dusseldorf, Vienna and Milan and from Shanghai to San Francisco and Rome.
Air France KLM flew 19.35 billion RPKs in August, up 6.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.7% to 22.7 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1 point to 85.3%. Lufthansa Group carriers flew 13.12 billion RPKs in August, a 30.2% increase from the year-ago month, against a 24.6% rise in ASKs to 16.43 billion. Load factor rose 3.5 points to 79.9%.
Southwest Airlines said just 609 employees accepted the company's buyout offer ( ATWOnline, July 18), which included a $25,000 payment as well as benefits such as SWA travel privileges. The airline said the program's intention was to lower costs by encouraging senior high-paid employees to take voluntarily leave. It said staff totals will stay relatively static as it plans to replace nearly all of the bought-out workers with younger employees earning lower wages.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host a meeting of EADS shareholders on Sept. 18 to discuss Airbus's Power8 restructuring program, a German government spokesperson told media. DaimlerChrysler, which owns a 15% stake in EADS, will be a key player at the meeting, which is expected to focus on Airbus's German plants at Nordenham, Laupheim, and Varel and EADS' plant in Augsburg, all sites that EADS/Airbus is considering selling outright or turning over in part to investors ( ATWOnline, Aug. 14).
Kuwait Airways board offered its resignation in the wake of the government's cancellation of its 19-aircraft deal with ALAFCO ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29), according to widespread press reports. The airline had planned to purchase 12 787s and seven A320s from the lessor rather than OEMs in order to ensure earlier delivery, Reuters said.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines Q400 was involved Sunday in an accident at Aalborg when the right main landing gear collapsed upon landing, breaking the propeller and sending it slicing into the cabin, according to reports. A fire in the right engine was extinguished and all 69 passengers and four crew were evacuated safely, the airline said, adding that five passengers were "lightly injured" during the procedure. SAS canceled flights to/from Aalborg and several to/from Copenhagen as a result.
News from Travel Technology Update: Lufthansa Systems said it is dropping all further development of its Future Airline Core Environment passenger management platform. The company cited "commercial reasons" for the decision. FACE was intended to support the core processes of passenger airlines, such as schedule distribution, reservations, inventory, ticketing and departure control. The next-generation system was touted as more flexible and more cost-efficient than traditional reservations systems.
EVA Air sold an MD-11 freighter to Wells Fargo Bank for $55 million, booking a gain of TWD50 million ($1.5 million) on the deal, Dow Jones reported. EVA now operates nine MD-11Fs, but will continue to sell the aircraft as it converts nine 747-400 Combis into freighters, an EVA spokesperson told the news service. Separately, the carrier took delivery of its seventh 316-seat 777-300ER and will operate it on Taipei-Los Angeles service. An eighth -300ER will be serving LAX by year end. EVA flies the route 17-times-weekly.
Singapore Airlines is promising a new class of premium travel that it calls "beyond first" for its A380 scheduled to be handed over in Toulouse the morning of Oct. 15. Unlike Qantas, which unveiled its A380 product in July ( ATWOnline, July 25), SIA has been tight-lipped on the details except to say that some elements are the same as its 777-300ER interior.
Etihad Airways will lease two Trent 772B-powered A330-200s from CIT Aerospace, with delivery scheduled in January and March 2009. Etihad CEO James Hogan said the aircraft will have a "major impact" on both its short- and long-haul networks.
ANA, Shanghai Airlines and Air China will codeshare on flights between Tokyo Haneda and Shanghai Hongqiao beginning Sept. 29. The flights, operated by ANA and Shanghai, will be introduced from the mostly domestic airports to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the normalization of diplomatic ties between the countries, ANA said. Japan Airlines also will operate the route, flying daily from Sept. 29 aboard a 767, switching to a 747-400 on Oct. 28. China Eastern Airlines will codeshare on those flights and also operate its own daily service.
Air France will pilot a program by year end that will use biometric information encrypted on a small card to enable a passenger to obtain a boarding pass from a kiosk in the terminal and will provide access to a boarding portal. The so-called "smartboarding personal card" is one of a number of new technologies AF is developing to improve the entire passenger processing system. "All people are aiming for more autonomy," Deputy VP-Marketing Michel Teychene told ATWOnline. "If Air France can provide this autonomy, it creates a loyalty to the brand."
CAAC plans to open some secondary airports near larger domestic markets and relax its control of airfare and route licensing in an attempt to boost the growth of Chinese LCCs. As one of the country's few profitable LCCs, Spring Airlines welcomed the regulator's move. "Currently our airports cost accounts for 10% of our total operating expenses. If CAAC can open some secondary airports for us, it will be conducive to our cost [control]," spokesperson Zhang Lei said.
WestJet President and CEO Sean Durfy said that based on the LCC's current growth strategy, it could control as much as half of the domestic Canadian market by 2013. The carrier currently holds about a 35% share compared to Air Canada's 65%. Durfy told a Raymond James investors conference in London yesterday that with 50 737NGs set to be added that will bring its total fleet to 118 by 2013, in addition to market share gains of 2-3 percentage points annually, WestJet expects a share in the range of 40%-50% within five years.
Ryanair yesterday said it submitted its appeal against the EU's "unlawful and politically motivated" decision to bar the LCC's acquisition of Aer Lingus to the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg. "We are confident that the CFI will overturn this decision in the interests of consumers and the competitiveness of the industry.
Alenia Aeronautica and Sukhoi Co. yesterday unveiled their new Superjet International joint venture, which will concentrate on after-sales support and marketing and sales of the Superjet 100 regional aircraft family in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Japan. Alenia holds a 51% share of the new company, with 49% held by Sukhoi. Amedeo Caporaletti was named chairman and Alessandro Franzoni is CEO. The venture will be headquartered in Venice.
