Emirates said it will make a "massive. . .multimillion-dollar" investment in upgrading cabins on its 777 long-haul fleet, including an enhanced version of its first class private suites, lie-flat massage seats in business class, economy class seats with extra legroom and "the industry's largest personal TV screens in all classes."
AviIT and Phantom Media announced the formal launch of their 50/50 joint venture bluebox Avionics to develop inflight entertainment systems for the airline industry. Under the JV, "AviIT is responsible for all software and infrastructure design and development whilst Phantom Media provides its expertise in content provision." The companies claim their bluebox system "could remove up to 1.5 tonnes of weight from a typical widebody aircraft compared to a conventional AVOD system."
Boeing projected that 28,600 new commercial aircraft valued at $2.8 trillion will be required to meet demand through 2026, an increase of 1,400 aircraft over last year's forecast and 5,900 more than Airbus projected in its most recent guidance. According to Boeing's "Current Market Outlook" released yesterday, the new airplanes will make up 80% of the 36,400 commercial aircraft in service in 2026. Over the 20-year period, the manufacturer predicts 5% average annual growth in passenger traffic and 6.1% in cargo traffic.
Kingfisher Airlines Chairman and CEO Vijay Mallya said that "the days of discounting and cut-price ticketing are over" in India. "Airfares are going to reflect the actual costs of operation. All of them," he told the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation's annual Aviation & Tourism Investor Summit in Mumbai. He signaled that fares soon may be rising at LCC Air Deccan, in which Kingfisher parent United Breweries Group recently acquired 26% ( ATWOnline, June 4).
Goodrich was selected by TUI Group to provide MRO nacelle system services and support across its group of airlines. In total the carriers operate a fleet of approximately 120 aircraft.
Royal Jordanian Cargo will shift its five-times-weekly A310F service to Brussels from Maastricht-Aachen. Saudi Arabian Airlines will add two frequencies to its Brussels cargo schedule on June 20, bringing to 20 the number of weekly flights it operates at the airport with MD-11Fs and 747-200Fs. Saudi Arabian is the largest freighter operator at BRU.
London Heathrow's new £50 million ($98.6 million) air traffic control tower was opened officially yesterday by UK Secretary of State-Transport Douglas Alexander. Controllers have been operating at the 87-m.-high tower for the past seven weeks. It has a 360-deg. view of the entire airfield and handles up to 90 arrivals and departures per hr. on two runways.
Seabury Group announced that Airbus Executive VP-Procurement Henri Courpron will join the investment banking and advisory firm effective in July as president of its newly formed Aerospace Division and regional head for Europe, Middle East and Africa for Seabury's broader transportation advisory practice. Courpron spent 20 years with Airbus. Seabury said it acquired a global cargo, freight and logistics advisory group along with a proprietary cargo/trade database.
Cape Air, which grounded its fleet of 49 Cessna 402s late Tuesday after discovering an engine problem, expects to have nearly half of the aircraft flying by the weekend. Five were back in service yesterday after necessary repairs were completed and it expects 12-15 to be in operation today. "We did pull the plug on everything," President Dan Wolf told ATWOnline.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly said the carrier will "prototype inflight wireless connectivity next year" ( ATWOnline, April 20). Speaking at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York yesterday, Kelly also said the carrier's 8% growth this year "is too high" in the face of the soft demand environment. "We don't need to be growing at 8%," he said.
Avionica won orders from Continental Airlines to outfit nine 737-800s with its new satLINK Iridium system. Avionica said the initial installations will provide an Iridium phone handset in the cockpit, which is expected to be augmented by a wireless cabin handset and integration with the aircraft's communications management unit.
Ryanair yesterday claimed that it now is the world's largest international airline in terms of passengers, based on IATA statistics. The LCC carried 40.5 million passengers on international flights in 2006 compared to Lufthansa's 38.2 million, Air France's 30.4 million and British Airways' 29.5 million. Low-cost rival easyJet was sixth with 21.9 million, with American Airlines the largest non-European carrier--and seventh overall--at 21.2 million. "Just 10 years ago most of the other airlines on this IATA ranking carried 10 times more passengers than Ryanair," the airline said.
Air Canada Jazz said a Federal Court judge reversed a previous order denying the carrier the right to appeal its eviction from Toronto City Centre Airport last year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 24, 2006). Porter Airlines now is operating from the airport. ACJ said it was "gratified that the case will be heard based on the merits and will proceed with this action expeditiously."
Four years after DHL parent Deutsche Post World Net sold its 25% stake in Astar Air Cargo to ease concerns that the carrier was in violation of US foreign ownership rules, DHL this week announced it has acquired a 49% minority equity interest and a 24.9% voting interest in Astar, one of its primary US subservice fliers.
SAS Group yesterday unveiled a new mid-to-long-term strategy that will focus on raising annual pre-tax profit to SEK4 billion ($566 million) and boosting passenger traffic by 20% by 2011 through divestment of noncore assets and a renewed focus on "flying to, from and within Northern Europe."
Delta Air Lines announced an amendment to its Visa/MasterCard processing agreement that will eliminate the previously required $1.1 billion holdback comprising an $800 million cash reserve and a $300 million letter of credit. The cash was returned to DL and the LOC was terminated, with no future holdback required "except in limited circumstances," the airline said. It will end the current quarter with $4.2 billion in liquidity, including a $1 billion revolving line of credit.
The European Commission yesterday proposed the creation of a €1.6 billion ($2.14 billion) "Clean Sky" Joint Technology Initiative, which it called a "major public-private research partnership to reduce the environmental impact of aviation." The JTI's objective is to reduce the industry's carbon dioxide emissions by 40%, nitrous oxide emissions by 60% and noise by 50% through the delivery of "innovative technologies and solutions" developed in time to be incorporated into "the major airline fleet renewal cycle" projected for 2015.
Royal Jordanian President and CEO Samer Majali was elected incoming chairman of IATA's board of governors during the 63rd AGM last week. He will assume the role at the next AGM in June 2008.
Airbus will bring a pair of A380s and an A330-200 to next week's Paris Air Show. A380 MSN009, powered by Engine Alliance GP7200s, will take part in the daily flying displays and a second A380, MSN007 fitted with a demonstration cabin and Trent 900 engines, will be on static display throughout the week. The A330-200 will be on loan from Qatar Airways.
Three years after Air France and KLM completed their merger, all the slots that the two airlines agreed to surrender in order to obtain clearance from the European Commission remain available, ATWOnline has learned. The carriers yielded slots on five intercontinental and nine short-haul city-pairs from Paris and Amsterdam so as to allow competitors to operate 31 new daily return flights on those routes. To facilitate distribution, a new entrant was to receive a short-haul slot within 30 min. of its requested time and a long-haul slot within 90 min.
United Airlines is implementing a new ground-hold policy to help avoid extended delays during what is expected to be a challenging summer travel season in the US.
Austrian Airlines Group CEO Alfred Oetsch said Austrian is facing growing competition on its routes to Eastern Europe ( ATWOnline, May 2) and that in order to defend its critical Focus East strategy and "keep our position strong," it will "consider whether to buy or take shares in one of the carriers in Eastern Europe." He did not provide further details, but airlines from countries like Romania, Bulgaria or Moldova may be among the most likely targets. "You don't buy an airline, you buy the market," he said.
CHAMP Cargosystems said 28 "of the world's leading cargo carriers" are switching over to the new Web-enabled and Java-based version of ULD Manager. Among them are Air China, Finnair, Icelandair and Saudi Arabian Airlines.
Sudan Airways this week announced that it will be partially privatized. The government will keep 30% while Kuwait's Aref Investment Group will take 49% and Sudan's Faiha Holding will have 21%. The move is part of a privatization program launched by the government in 2004. "The three parties are expecting a successful cooperation and a historic boost for the airline in all aspects," the carrier said, adding that its "final destination. . .is the transformation of Sudan Airways into a stock market company."
