Virgin America this week asked the US Dept. of Transportation to reconsider its ruling that CEO Fred Reid must have his employment with the airline terminated within 90 days of receipt of its certification.
Iberia filed a €2 million ($2.7 million) lawsuit against Ryanair over a Barcelona marketing stunt last fall in which the Irish LCC offered free tickets to people willing to carry signs through the city expressing their preference for Ryanair over IB, according to press reports. Ryanair said the suit was IB's "latest tactic to contribute to protect its dominance in the Spanish market" and that it expects to transport 9 million passengers to and from Spain this year.
Rolls-Royce said Guggenheim Aviation Partners selected the Trent 700 to power up to six A330-200 freighters in a deal worth approximately $200 million at list prices. Deliveries will begin in 2010. It is Rolls' first order for the recently launched aircraft type.
Nok Air announced a codeshare and branding partnership with regional carrier SGA Airlines under which Nok passengers will have access to SGA's Cessna 208B Grand Caravan flights from Chiang Mai to Chiang Rai, Pai and Phrae and from Bangkok to Hua Hin. SGA aircraft will be repainted in Nok colors.
Skybus Airlines, which expects to launch service later this spring, yesterday unveiled an A319 displaying the logo and slogan for the Columbus-based Nationwide insurance company as part of its livery. The carrier said it is "believed to be" the only US airline currently selling ad space on aircraft exteriors. It also is making interior advertising available and said Nationwide will be featured on tray tables, overhead bins and restroom doors. "Our goal is to provide outrageously low fares to our passengers," Skybus CEO Bill Diffendorfer said.
Gulf Air continued its restructuring under new CEO Andre Dose ( ATWOnline, April 5), announcing approval this week of a plan "aimed at significantly reducing company losses over the next few years." Details will be revealed next week, but the carrier said the plan does include a fleet reduction from 34 to 28 aircraft.
Airbus named Executive VP-Customer Services Patrick Gavin as executive VP-engineering, replacing the retiring Alain Garcia. A380 program head Charles Champion will succeed Gavin.
TAM flew 1.77 billion domestic RPKs in March, up 26.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 26.3% to 2.56 billion ASKs and load factor lifted 0.1 point to 69%. International RPKs grew 68.7% to 807 million against an 85.9% increase in ASKs to 1.15 billion, dropping load factor 7.2 points to 70.5%. Alaska Airlines flew 1.53 billion RPMs in March, a 0.5% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 2.3% to 1.99 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.4 points to 76.8%.
AirTran Holdings, parent of AirTran Airways, expects to report a "small" first-quarter profit when it releases its results on April 25, it said yesterday. The company suffered a $4.6 million loss in the first three months of 2006. It cited RASM that is expected to be "slightly better" than the latest guidance of a 1%-2% year-over-year decline, nonfuel CASM that will drop "in excess" of the forecast 3% and fuel costs of $2.00-$2.03 per gal. for the improved outlook in this year's quarter.
Cirrus Airlines, a Lufthansa regional partner, has established an Austrian subsidiary based in Salzburg called Cirrus At. The new entity will launch operations with thrice-daily flights to Zurich in codeshare with Swiss International Air Lines starting June 4 aboard Do 328 turboprops. Cirrus At is evaluating further services to second-tier Austrian cities like Graz and Linz.
Northern Lights Airlines is the name of a new charter carrier being established in Canada, led by majority investor ICBS Ltd., which will own 50%. ICBS said the airline will launch in October and "exploit a gap in the long-haul international travel market that exists in low-cost, high-comfort and high-quality service originating in Montreal and Toronto." It said the market remains underserved despite the presence of Skyservice Airlines, Zoom Airlines and Air Transat. No information was provided regarding equipment.
American Airlines and AeroSvit Airlines reached an interline ticketing accord. AeroSvit serves New York JFK five-times-weekly from Kiev. Gol launched a daily Rio de Janeiro Galeao-Sao Paulo Guarulhos-Lima service. Kingfisher Airlines launched a Bangalore-Tiruchirapally service. Japan Airlines and Thai Airways expanded their codeshare agreement to include Thai's twice-daily Bangkok-Krabi service.
ANA said four unions representing 541 pilots--Air Nippon Crew's Assn., Air Nippon Network Pilot Union, Air Next Crew's Assn. and Air Central Pilots Union--launched a 24-hr. strike yesterday "to express dissatisfaction with the management stance on training." The carrier said 136 of 888 flights operating under ANA's code would be cancelled, with another 42 facing delay. No international operations and no domestic flights in or out of Tokyo Narita were affected.
British Airways yesterday began selling tickets for the first 380 scheduled flights to depart or arrive at London Heathrow's new Terminal 5, which will open March 27. The first scheduled departure is BA302 to Paris Charles de Gaulle. BA's move to its new facility is planned in four phases. Initially, more than 70% of its flights will transfer to T5, followed by an additional 20% at the end of April 2008. In June and October certain short-haul and BA/Qantas codeshare flights will move to Terminal 3 in order to collocate with oneworld partners.
AirTran Airways voiced its support for US FAA's initiative to raise the mandatory retirement age for commercial pilots to 65 from 60. FAA expects to issue a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking by year end ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31). The National Pilots Assn., which represents AirTran's 1,400 pilots, recently voted unanimously to allow pilots an additional five years of flying. Meanwhile, the Air Line Pilots Assn.
The regional joint venture between Shenzhen Airlines and Mesa Air Group, announced last December, will be called Kunpeng Airlines and will launch operations in Xi'an with three CRJ200s at year end. The new carrier is expected to be approved soon by CAAC. The news came shortly after Hainan Airlines parent HNA Group unveiled its own regional subsidiary, Grand Xinhua Express, which also will fly to Xi'an. HNA said it intends to capture two-thirds of China's regional market by 2012 ( ATWOnline, April 2).
Texas Pacific Group reportedly is considering raising its bid for Iberia from €3.60 per share to €4.03, which would lift its valuation of the Spanish carrier to €3.8 billion, according to airline sources cited by El Mundo. The IB board is scheduled to decide this week on TPG's approach and request for information ( ATWOnline, April 2).
GE Aviation said yesterday that a new derivative of the CF34-8C5 engine, the CF34-8C5A2 providing 5% more thrust on normal takeoff, will be available for the CRJ1000, the 100-seat RJ launched by Bombardier in February ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21). The CF34-8C5A2 will be rated at the same 14,510 lb. thrust as the original CF34-8C5 but will produce 5% more thrust for normal takeoffs and up to 3% more for maximum takeoffs at low-altitude airfields.
Hawaiian Airlines led US carriers with a 93.8% ontime percentage in March, according to data compiled by FlightStats. Among continental carriers, Horizon Air (86.8%) and Southwest Airlines (84.4%) were the most punctual of the 39 measured. Worst ontime rates belonged to Midwest Connect (13.3%) and US Airways (56.6%). Sun Country Airlines was the only carrier not to cancel a single flight, while Midwest Connect cancelled 8.7% and Northwest Airlink 4.9%.
