US Airways named former Northwest Airlines executive Robert Isom to the newly created position of executive VP and COO, effective immediately. Isom, 43, will be in charge of flight operations, inflight services, maintenance and engineering, airport customer service, reservations, cargo and the carrier's Express operation and will report directly to President Scott Kirby. Isom comes to US from GMAC, where he last served as chief restructuring officer.
American Airlines will conduct a test Sept. 10-30 on flights from San Francisco during which it will accept only credit or debit cards for onboard transactions. AA began accepting cards for purchases last year and said it is investigating whether passengers prefer that payment method. Separately, AA this week launched thrice-daily flights between New York LaGuardia and Minneapolis-St. Paul aboard MD-80s, added a third daily New York JFK-Chicago O'Hare service and launched daily JFK-Las Vegas flights aboard a 757.
Cathay Pacific Airways will increase Hong Kong-Sydney service to 25-times-weekly from 21 beginning Feb. 1. Flights are aboard A330-300s. Ethiopian Airlines will discontinue its Addis Ababa-Amsterdam service and double flights to Brussels to six-times-weekly from three from Oct. 28. Lufthansa will launch thrice-daily Frankfurt-Bordeaux service on Oct. 28 aboard CityLine CRJ200s and CRJ700s.
Aegean Airlines ordered six additional IAE V2500-powered A320s, bringing to 25 the number of A320 family aircraft, including two A321s, to which the Greek carrier has committed. The new order is valued at more than $1.5 billion at list prices and will be part of the airline's effort to replace 15 737 Classics. Aegean intends to grow its fleet by 2-3 aircraft per year. It has taken delivery of three A320s this year.
Caribbean Airlines appointed Star Alliance VP-Commercial Philip Saunders as its new CEO effective Oct. 1. He will replace Peter Davies, who will remain a strategic adviser to the board. Saunders previously held management positions at British Airways, SN Brussels Airlines and Deutsche BA.
Indian Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel yesterday informed the Lok Sabha (lower house of parliament) that the merged Air India's board voted to join Star Alliance, according to the United News of India news service and The Economic Times.
China Eastern Airlines this week confirmed its plan to launch a new regional carrier in partnership with AVIC I, continuing a recent trend that has seen several companies invest in China's long-neglected regional market.
Boeing yesterday confirmed China Southern Airlines' order for 55 737-700s/-800s that the carrier announced two weeks ago ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21). The order is valued at $3.8 billion at list prices, the manufacturer said. CZ currently operates 129 737s and has 14 more already on order.
Air New Zealand said it will shut down its Freedom Air low-cost unit next March 30, replacing many of its services with ANZ mainline flights, which the company said have similar fares to Freedom flights but offer better service. GM-Short Haul Airlines Norm Thompson, who soon will move to the newly created post of ANZ deputy CEO, said a review of short-haul Freedom services across the Tasman Sea to Australia revealed that passengers' "overwhelming preference was for us to focus on upgrading and enhancing our services."
Air Transat parent Transat AT reported a C$16.7 million ($15.9 million) profit in the third fiscal quarter ended June 30, nearly four times greater than the C$4.2 million posted in the year-ago quarter. it credited increasing revenue as well as the adoption of new accounting standards related to hedge accounting and foreign exchange gains, which combined to produce a nonmonetary gain of C$5.7 million. Third-quarter revenue rose 21.4% year-over-year to C$741.8 million. Nine-month earnings were up 22.9% to C$72.8 million.
CTT's Zonal Drying System will be installed on six First Choice Airways 767-300s this winter, the company said. FCA currently uses the system on its A320s.
GMF AeroAsia and MTU Maintenance Zhuhai entered into a three-year, $100 million partnership focusing on CFM56-3 MRO. Garuda Indonesia said that more than 200 units are in operation by Indonesian carriers. MTUMZ is a joint venture between MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Airlines.
Republic Airways Holdings will purchase 2 million shares of its common stock from WexAir, its former majority shareholder, for $38.4 million or $19.20 per share. Transaction is expected to close Friday. RAH last week announced a year-long, $100 million repurchase program.
TAM decelerated its A320 family fleet plan for 2008-11 based on lower "demand growth expectations in the domestic market" resulting from Brazil's ongoing ATC challenges. Its 2008 fleet will contain 98 Airbus narrow bodies, down from 103 originally planned. A320 family aircraft in TAM's fleet will total 101 in 2009, down from 106; 107 in 2010, down from 112, and 110 in 2011, down from 115.
US FAA issued a final decision on the redesign of the airspace over the US Northeast that it said will "reduce delays, fuel consumption, aircraft emissions and noise." The redesign involves a 31,000-sq.-mi. area over Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Delays are expected to fall 20% by 2011, when the redesign is slated to be completed.
Jordan Airline Training and Simulation, formerly the training subsidiary of Royal Jordanian but now a privately held company offering simulation and training to a variety of customers from its facility adjacent to Queen Alia International Airport outside Amman, inaugurated an A320-200 full flight simulator Sunday that is the first Thales FFS to meet Airbus Standard 1.4.0, allowing it to replicate a variety of A320 tail numbers.
Bmi will launch service to 14 international destinations on Oct. 28, increase service to two others formerly served by BMED and start flying daily to Cairo on Nov. 4 in what CEO Nigel Turner called "the single largest expansion of the bmi brand in the history of the airline."
United Airlines flew 10.84 billion RPMs in August, 2.3% more than in the year-ago month, against a 1% decline in capacity to 12.57 billion ASMs. Load factor increased 2.8 points to 86.3%. British Airways flew 10.33 billion RPKs in August, up 5.3% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 2.8% to 12.91 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.8 points to 80%. Southwest Airlines flew 7 billion RPMs in August, a 12.1% lift from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 8.1% to 8.75 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.9 points to 80%.
South African Airways said it will realize "significant cost savings" following renegotiation of several service contracts and grounding of two of its six 747-400s, with the remainder to follow in the coming months. "In just over three months since the approval of our business plan, we are beginning to realize some of its objectives which will place us on the road towards financial sustainability," GM-Operations Chris Smyth said ( ATWOnline, July 4).
Emirates took delivery of the first of 10 777-200LRs. The 266-seat, three-class aircraft will operate on the Dubai-Sao Paulo Guarulhos service scheduled to launch Oct. 1. Emirates' fleet now numbers 108 aircraft.
SkyEurope Airlines confirmed it will close its Budapest and Krakow bases, ceasing operations in both cities from Oct. 28 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 3). A combined 10 daily flights will be suspended and crews relocated to other sites within the company. The carrier will switch free capacity to Prague and Vienna. "We have decided after much research that the way to achieve long-term success is to build our operation around Slovakia, Czech Republic and Vienna.
The European Parliament yesterday called on the European Commission "to review urgently" the legislation restricting the amount of liquid passengers can carry onboard aircraft. "The need for high-quality security is unquestionable. However, security measures need to be 'realistically' designed to minimize the risk and may not be 'disproportionate'," MEPs said. They also recognized the "substantial inconvenience and disruption" caused to passengers, especially transit passengers.
Lufthansa Cargo and German mail and logistics group Deutsche Post plan to create a cargo airline, according to widespread domestic press reports. The companies have applied to set up a 50/50 joint venture. A source close to the deal told ATWOnline that an announcement concerning the cooperation will be made this month. Operations could start in 2009 with a base at Leipzig/Halle.
