AVIC I Commercial Aircraft Co. revealed its ambition to explore the US as a potential market for its ARJ21 regional jet, with VP Chen Jin noting that a new FAA office in Shanghai, established last month, will help CAAC to conduct airworthiness certification of the aircraft this October.
Australian Communications and Media Authority yesterday approved an inflight cellular communication trial on one Qantas aircraft for up to 12 months and said it will consider "the potential for permanent regulatory arrangements for the service" once it collects and analyzes results from the evaluation program ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29, 2006). "The granting of permissions for the evaluation service is the culmination of many months of work aimed at facilitating an industry need," ACMA Chairman Chris Chapman said.
US FAA yesterday announced that Indonesia "does not comply with international safety standards set by ICAO" and lowered the country's safety rating to Category 2, ruling that it is "no longer overseeing the safety of its airlines in accordance with international standards." The US State Dept.
ARINC's AviNet Airport global IP network service was chosen by China Southern Airlines to connect its Beijing computer system to passenger systems in Australia, Korea and Japan.
Claiming it "is assuming again the leadership in fleet modernization," Lufthansa yesterday announced a commitment for 15 CRJ900s and took over commitments for 30 Embraer regional jets from Swiss International Air Lines, now an LH subsidiary.
EADS Elbe Flugzeugwerke of Dresden delivered an A300-600 converted freighter to China Eastern Airlines ( ATWOnline, Feb. 17, 2006). The conversion started in late December. A second A300-600F for CEA is undergoing conversion with the third scheduled for September.
IATA released safety statistics yesterday that marked 2006 as the "safest year on record" for commercial air transport, although it criticized Russia and other CIS states as well as Africa for far exceeding the accident rate of the rest of the world.
CSA Czech Airlines took delivery of its 11th A320 family aircraft, an A320, Tuesday. It will take three A320s and two A319s this year. Next year four A319s will join the fleet.
VLM Airlines yesterday reported a full-year profit of €3.2 million, a 143% increase over its 2005 earnings and its ninth consecutive year in the black. Revenue rose 12.5% to €99.6 million and operating costs climbed 10.9% to €95.3 million. VLM said it was able to offset rising fuel expenses with "a number of initiatives" including foreign currency hedging. Passenger numbers were up 9% to 681,751 and are forecast to grow to 900,000 this year.
Aviall reached an agreement last week to acquire "certain assets" of Sisu Services of Indiana, which supplies aircraft brake and wheel services, parts and technical information. Sisu now operates as an independent business unit of the Boeing subsidiary.
DHL is ramping up operations at Leipzig/Halle, to which it started flying in 2005, and intends to turn it into a European hub with an investment of €300 million. It currently operates 14 daily frequencies at LEJ, most recently to Hamburg and Ljubljana, and handles approximately 160 tons of freight per day. Next year it plans to land 50 aircraft at the airport each night. It said the expansion will create around 3,500 jobs by 2012.
British Airways cabin staff voted by a 76% majority to accept the labor deal reached in January that averted a two-day strike ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30), the Transport and General Workers Union announced.
Flight attendants from American Airlines, United Airlines and Southwest Airlines are joining forces to protest executive compensation they consider unfair when measured against the benefits and wages lost by front-line employees over the past few years. While the pay packages of airline CEOs have made headlines, employee groups are coming forward to ask Congress to bring more transparency to executive compensation, according to James Little, international president of the Transport Workers Union. Rep.
Airbus yesterday announced its first commercial aircraft sale in Israel with an order from Israir Airlines for three A320s. Israir will fly the 174-seat, all-economy aircraft on routes to Europe. No engine choice was announced. Launched in 1996, Israir accounts for nearly 40% of the domestic travel market in Israel, according to Airbus. It currently operates 767-300ERs, 757-200s and ATR 42s.
China Southern Airlines returned to profit for the first time in four years in 2006, reporting CNY188 million ($24.3 million) in net earnings under international accounting standards, a reversal from a loss of CNY1.85 billion in 2005, according to a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange cited by press reports.
Admitting it is losing more than $1 million daily, Gulf Air yesterday released details of an extensive $825 million restructuring that will see it transition from a mixed fleet of 34 aircraft to an all-Airbus fleet comprising 28 aircraft and refocus its long-haul international network to one centered mostly on serving the Middle East.
Singapore Airlines flew 7.82 billion RPKs in March, a 9.8% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed just 0.9% to 9.49 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 6.6 points to 82.4%.
Embraer delivered 25 jets in the first quarter and had a record order backlog valued at $15 billion, the company reported yesterday. Deliveries comprised five business aircraft and 20 jets from the E-170/-190 family. Embraer maintained its forecast of 165-170 deliveries this year, with nearly 40% occurring in the first six months.
Mesa Air Group Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said hiring enough employees to keep pace with growth, much of which is within his own company, will be one of the most significant challenges facing regional airlines this year.
Jet Airways, whose agreement last week to acquire Air Sahara will give it control of about half of India's domestic market ( ATWOnline, April 13), yesterday unveiled major re-branding initiatives for both carriers, including a fleet expansion to support Jet's international services that eventually will incorporate an order for 10 787s valued at $1.6 billion.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, suffered what the union called a "shocking and swiping blow" last Friday when a US Bankruptcy Court judge upheld a Circuit Court ruling that the airline had a right to reject its collective bargaining agreement with cabin staff despite its economic recovery, as well as NWA's effort to deny AFA's two proofs of claim worth $1.2 billion. The former "has no basis in law," Judge Allan Gropper wrote, and the claim is invalid as NWA's abrogation of the CBA was lawful.
Sun Country Airlines named Champion Air President and CEO Stephen Spellman as its new CFO and COO. Flybe named Group Finance Director Andrew Knuckey as CFO, replacing Chris Simpson.
Airline Partners Australia's plan to pay itself approximately A$4 billion ($3.33 billion) in the first year following its proposed takeover of Qantas ( ATWOnline, April 13) has thrust the deal back into the headlines, with the move being slammed by politicians, unions and pundits. Outspoken Sen. Barnaby Joyce (National-Queensland) led the political charge, telling The Sydney Morning Herald that APA is "not playing with their money.
