Airbus confirmed yesterday that it will ramp up A320 family aircraft production to 40 per month by the end of 2009, as previously reported by this website ( ATWOnline, April 30).
HNA Group, parent of Hainan Airlines, revealed that it is preparing to launch an aircraft leasing company with AVIC II, with which it reached a strategic partnership agreement ( ATWOnline, May 4). HNA noted that leasing is a "promising business" in China as few domestic companies have a foothold in the field.
Alitalia reported a pre-tax loss of €147.5 million ($199.9 million) in the first quarter, down slightly from a €156.6 million deficit in the year-ago period. Operating revenues, including income generated through Volare Airlines, rose 7.4% to €1.06 billion, with passenger revenue up 8% to €824.8 million. Operating expenses increased 5.3% to €1.11 billion and operating loss declined to €107 million from €129 million. RPKs grew 5.6% against a 2.7% increase in ASKs.
KLM named Executive VP-Corporate Center Jan Ernst de Groot as one of three MDs effective July 5. Other MDs are new President and CEO Peter Hartman ( ATWOnline, Nov. 28) and CFO Frederic Gagey.
Lufthansa confirmed its order for 15 CRJ900s, valued at $584 million, plus 15 purchase rights. It announced its commitment last month ( ATWOnline, April 18). The order increases to 109 the number of firm orders placed by LH and its regional partners for CRJs and brings to 196 the total number of CRJ900s sold, including a firm order placed last week by Tatarstan Airlines for six plus four options.
TUI Group, the German tourism company that owns six airlines, placed firm orders for 11 787-8s and 50 737NGs collectively valued at $4.7 billion, Boeing revealed yesterday. The aircraft, previously listed as belonging to an unidentified customer, will be operated by Netherlands' Arkefly, Belgium's Jetairfly, UK's Thomsonfly, Germany's TUIfly and Scandinavia's TUIfly Nordic.
US FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, in a speech before this week's ICAO Colloquium on Aviation Emissions in Montreal, defended aviation's environmental record. "Frankly, there are some strange portraits of aviation today," she said. "Some see it as a rogue industry on the order of tobacco, as a greenhouse dragon that needs to be slain. . .Even people who made their fortune in the travel industry now want to place surcharges of hundreds of dollars on all flights on the theory that people just fly to fly.
Airbus said construction began yesterday on its A320 family Final Assembly Line in Tianjin. The project will include the building of dedicated hangars, office buildings, a delivery center and related facilities, including electricity, gas, water and fuel supply systems. "This not only represents a new level of mutually beneficial industrial cooperation between China and Airbus, but also demonstrates our long-term commitment to the development of the Chinese civil aviation industry," Airbus COO Fabrice Bregier said.
EgyptAir Express took delivery of its first E-170. The new EgyptAir subsidiary ordered six E-170s in September plus six options and plans to use the regional jets in single-class configuration with 76 seats primarily for domestic services.
Bmi Group Chairman Michael Bishop confirmed the March transfer of 51 slots at London Heathrow to British Airways for £30 million ($59.4 million) but said the transaction was not a sale, as reported in the mainstream press, but a condition of bmi's acquisition of BMED. "They weren't our slots," Bishop explained. "The deal was that BA had a right to cancel their franchise with British Mediterranean and operate the routes themselves in the case of financial default, which is what happened, and they also had a preemptive right on the slots."
Lufthansa Systems said Spanair will implement its ProfitLine/Yield Rembrandt solution to optimize further its revenue management processes. It also said KLM extended its existing contract to support its flight planning processes with Lido OC for an additional five years. KLM also selected the Lido module LinTop to calculate single-point takeoff performances, replacing the paper-based charts it previously used.
Boeing said the composite wings for the 787 were delivered to its final assembly plant in Everett yesterday. Manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries in Nagoya, each wing is 98 ft. long.
Finnair said it will sell the last two MD-11s it owns to Aeroflot. The aircraft will be transferred in November 2008 and July 2009. Value of the sale is at least €30 million ($40.6 million). Finnair operates seven MD-11s, five of which are under leasing agreements that expire by the end of 2010, when it plans to have retired all MD-11s and operate a long-haul fleet of A330s and A340s.
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, celebrated this week in Copenhagen, Star Alliance endeavored to take some control over the increasingly volatile discussion concerning commercial aviation's impact on the environment, announcing a transport and marketing partnership with leading conservation organizations while acknowledging that more forceful and unified communication is needed to defend the industry's position.
Sabre Airline Solutions said Aerolitoral became the fourth airline to sign an agreement to use the Ramco MRO System provided by Sabre to maintain and engineer its fleet.
China Southern Airlines and Air France KLM have entered into exclusive talks to launch a joint venture cargo carrier in China, AF KLM Vice Chairman and KLM President and CEO Leo van Wijk revealed recently in Beijing.
Goodrich Corp. delivered its first set of 787 thrust reversers to be installed on Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engines used in the 787 flight test program scheduled to begin later this year. Goodrich said it will manufacture nacelles and thrust reversers for six flight test airplanes--three for the Trent 1000 and three for the GEnx--as well as a spare set for each engine variant.
Embraer's first-quarter profit, dragged down by ongoing problems with its supply chain and production capabilities, fell 60% to $26.2 million from $65.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The company delivered 25 aircraft in the quarter, slightly down from 27 in the same period last year. Revenue was up 4.3% to $843.4 million. Backlog reached a record $15 billion.
LAN Argentina pilots, maintenance personnel and ground employees staged a surprise strike beginning Monday that forced the cancellation of all of the carrier's domestic flights for the past two days. Labor leaders showed no signs of backing down yesterday. "The strike will continue," a pilots union representative told the Buenos Aires Herald. Management appeared to be caught off guard by the workers' absence and reportedly is seeking assistance from Argentina's Labor Ministry to resolve the dispute.
American Airlines yesterday said it will enhance its US-Colombia service with 14 additional weekly flights from Dec. 13, including launching daily Miami-Barranquilla service aboard 737-800s configured to carry 148 passengers in two classes.
Italy's Treasury Dept. yesterday cleared all three bidders for Alitalia to remain in the running. They will have access to Alitalia's financial books on May 24 and be able to submit binding bids at the end of June for the troubled airline. Remaining bidders are a consortium led by Texas Pacific Group and MatlinPatterson, a partnership between Air One parent AP Holding and Intesa Sanpaolo, and a recently formed tie-up between Aeroflot and UniCredit
ABX Air, the Ohio-based all-cargo carrier that supports DHL's US air network, reported first-quarter net income of $4.3 million, down 46.9% from $8.1 million earned in the year-ago quarter, on a 22% drop in revenue to $288.1 million.
