Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva yesterday fired Defense Minister Waldir Pires, who oversaw the country's military-operated ATC system, while extensive flight delays and cancellations showed no signs of abating as the nation attempted to recover from last week's fatal TAM A320 crash.
Gulf Air COO Bjorn Naf yesterday was named acting president and CEO, replacing Andre Dose, who resigned suddenly Monday ( ATWOnline, July 24). The carrier said the search for a permanent replacement "has begun."
BOC Aviation, formerly Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise, selected the CFM56-5B to power seven firm and 10 option A320 family aircraft ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9). The engine order is valued at $95 million.
Oneworld partners American Airlines, Iberia, Finnair, Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian filed a request for antitrust immunity with the US Dept. of Transportation effective March 30, 2008, the day the US-EU open skies agreement becomes active. The five carriers said they wish to cooperate on codesharing, loyalty programs, route and schedule planning, advertising and marketing, pricing and yield management, revenue allocation, ground handling, cargo, IT and distribution and other areas.
Flight delays and cancellations continue to be pervasive throughout Brazil, particularly at Sao Paulo Congonhas, where the main runway has been closed since last week's TAM A320 crash and major restrictions on future operations are being mandated by the government.
Qantas unveiled a radical overhaul of its international long-haul inflight product ahead of the delivery of its first A380 in August 2008. A new premium economy class ( ATWOnline, July 24) featuring 42-in. pitch, a new Panasonic IFE system, enhanced connectivity in all cabins and upgraded lie-flat business class beds are the main features of a makeover that will be offered on the A380s and QF's 747-400s starting in February.
Djibouti Airlines An-26 crashed Monday near Shinile, Ethiopia, killing one passenger. There were 13 passengers and six crew onboard the cargo flight, which departed Dire Dawa, Ethiopia, and was on its way to Djibouti City, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. The aircraft reportedly suffered engine problems and was attempting an emergency landing when it crashed.
Qatar Airways confirmed this week that it is preparing to announce a 787 order. After refusing to do so last week ( ATWOnline, July 23), CEO Akbar Al Baker said in Washington Monday, "very soon, we will be announcing a huge order for Dreamliners."
JetBlue Airways' recovery from its operational meltdown in February and its overly aggressive expansion continued with a $21 million second-quarter profit that represented a 50% increase over the $14 million earned in the year-ago quarter and supported CEO Dave Barger's claim that "slowing capacity growth will allow us to strengthen our balance sheet and facilitate earnings growth."
Finnair announced the sale of four 68-seat ATR 72s operated by its Aero subsidiary to ATR Leasing. The airline said the profit of approximately €5.5 million ($7.6 million) will be spread between the second quarter (around €4.5 million) and the third (more than €1 million). Aero will continue to operate three ATR 72s primarily on routes from Helsinki to Tallinn, Tampere and Turku.
United Airlines reported second-quarter net income of $274 million, more than double the $119 million earned in the year-ago period, on a 2% rise in revenue to $5.21 billion. "Our fundamental performance this quarter was quite strong," Executive VP and CFO Jake Brace said. He cited "good cost control" and "excellent" capacity management as keys to the positive result.
WestJet Chairman and CEO Clive Beddoe, the charismatic founder of the Calgary-based LCC, will relinquish the CEO role to President Sean Durfy on Sept. 4. "I will continue to play a key role within WestJet as the company's executive chairman by establishing and supporting the strategic direction of the company," Beddoe said.
Canada and Iceland signed an open skies agreement that replaced an MOU signed in 1995 and will allow Icelandair, which currently serves Halifax, to launch a Toronto service next spring. It said flights will operate 5-7 times per week. The carrier said additional Canadian destinations "are under consideration for future development."
SkyEurope Airlines will launch flights from Vienna to Treviso (thrice-weekly) and Lisbon (four-times-weekly) on Oct. 23 using 737-700s. The Slovakian carrier then will offer flights to 15 destinations from its Austrian base.
UTair Airlines reported a 40% year-over-year increase in revenue to RUB9 billion ($354.3 million) for the first half of 2007, Russia's AK&M reported. Passenger numbers climbed 21% to 1.3 million and traffic was up 25% to 1.93 billion RPKs.
Emirates announced the opening of a $120 million, 526,400-sq.-ft., purpose-built catering facility in Dubai capable of producing 115,000 inflight meals per day. The new kitchen will serve EK exclusively while the existing facility will serve third-party customers. Emirates Flight Catering has a current asset value of $2.45 million, which is expected to rise to $4.36 million over the next seven years.
ABX Air yesterday "unanimously rejected" Astar Air Cargo's proposal to acquire it for more than $450 million in cash. ABX and Astar are DHL's primary subservice carriers in the US and the latter late last month issued an "indication of interest" to purchase the former and merge their air operations, which both are based at DHL's Wilmington, Ohio, hub ( ATWOnline, July 2).
Amadeus said Qantas became the first airline to roll out the Amadeus-developed "next generation load control system" known as Altea Departure Control. Qantas CIO John Willett said the new system receives data direct from the airline's load planning, freight, fueling and airport information systems, removing existing manual processes.
Goodrich will provide asset management services, including component and system maintenance and technical support, on Goodrich-made components and systems onboard 19 A380s ordered by Singapore Airlines. SIA takes its first A380 in October.
The EU said its General Affairs and External Relations Council, comprised of member states' foreign ministers, yesterday approved the agreement reached last month with the US covering the transfer of passenger name record data.
Gulf Air's board of directors yesterday accepted the resignation of CEO Andre Dose, effective immediately, ending the former Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines CEO's tenure less than four months after he joined the Bahrain-based carrier and unveiled a major restructuring program.
International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Assns. said "numerous warning signs, multiple risks and relevant safety reports were ignored" by the Brazilian government prior to last week's TAM A320 crash at Sao Paolo Congonhas ( ATWOnline, July 23) and that air safety in Brazil "is currently compromised and is a danger to the traveling public." Citing ongoing ATC problems leading to extensive flight delays and cancellations, IFATCA President Marc Baumgartner yesterday encouraged civilian authorities to take
SITA and CarTrawler agreed to integrate CarTrawler's car rental distribution platform within the SITA Horizon portfolio of passenger management solutions, allowing SITA to offer it to its airline customers and enabling the customers to increase ancillary revenue through car rental sales, according to SITA.
Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines yesterday jointly launched SkyCorp Direct, an online travel management tool designed to provide companies with a "one-stop solution" for corporate travel needs. "The site allows employees to easily book their own flights, hotels and rental cars while providing corporations with the ability to track and manage employee travel costs," said John Slater, Continental MD-distribution planning and e-commerce.
