American Airlines announced the recall of 60 employees to full aviation maintenance technician positions at its Tulsa MRO base. Plans to backfill those workers' vacated positions will raise the number of employees receiving recalls or reassignments to more than 100. AA said the additional work required to operate more 757 winglet modification lines prompted the recalls.
IATA reported a 6.1% year-over-year rise in industry RPKs in January and a 5.6% increase in capacity. Load factor was 74.9%. All regions posted traffic growth save Latin America, with the Middle East the highest at 18.9% and Africa next at 7.9%. Load factor was highest in North America at 77.3%.
Boeing named Integrated Defense Systems VP-Europe Ian Thomas as VP-Boeing International and president of Boeing India succeeding Anil Shrikhande, who is moving to IDS.
VLM Airlines said yesterday it will introduce a BAe 146-300 into its previously all-F50 fleet from April 16 and use the jet on four of its 10 weekday Rotterdam-London City flights. "Increasing numbers of business travelers are utilizing our network and, in particular, our London City-to-Rotterdam service, and this larger, faster aircraft is essential to meet this growing demand," MD Johan Vanneste said. The new aircraft will "release some Fokker 50 capacity" for increased frequencies on unidentified routes.
Oneworld is discussing membership with China Eastern Airlines, alliance Managing Partner John McCulloch announced in a briefing with reporters cited by Reuters. Oneworld has yet to recruit a member from mainline China, while SkyTeam is preparing to welcome China Southern Airlines and Star Alliance will admit Air China and Shanghai Airlines.
UPS said Friday it will cancel its order for 10 A380Fs, expressing doubt that Airbus can maintain the delayed delivery schedule agreed to last month and leaving the manufacturer with no orders for the freighter version.
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) introduced passenger rights legislation in the US House of Representatives last week that would require airlines to allow passengers to leave aircraft if a ground delay lasts longer than 3 hr. "We must find a way for airlines to conduct business without holding passengers on planes for hours on end," he said. His bill makes exceptions only when pilots "reasonably determine" the flight is within 30 min. of taking off, but after two such determinations without departing the passengers must be allowed to leave.
Sweden's FlyMe abruptly suspended all flights Friday and announced it will file for bankruptcy "as soon as possible" following notification from the bank that handles the airline's online transactions that sales were suspended that morning and that more than SEK60 million ($8.5 million) in payments would be held as security.
Pinnacle Airlines, a Northwest Airlink partner, reached a four-year labor agreement with its flight attendants represented by United Steel Workers Local 772.
Ethiopian Airlines will increase Addis Ababa-Washington Dulles service to six-times-weekly from four from June 1. Iberia today will launch twice-weekly Madrid-Bucharest service onboard 170-seat A320s, becoming thrice-weekly from March 28.
SkyEurope reduced its operating loss in its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, but nonoperating charges and taxes wound up pushing the Slovakian LCC deeper into the red.
Prospects for the creation of an Open Aviation Area between the EU and US improved late Friday when negotiators from both sides announced a tentative agreement had been reached in Brussels. Terms were not released, but the deal does allow the EU to tighten foreign investment limits on EU carriers to match the 25% limit in place in the US. At the same time, the US will ease nationality clauses to make it easier for EU carriers to invest in third-country airlines without those airlines losing US traffic rights.
Gulf Air grounded its nine 767-300ERs Friday after detecting traces of corrosion on one plane during a routine maintenance check. The airline said there was no immediate risk to the aircraft but that it opted to order a thorough check of the entire -300ER fleet. It expects significant delays as it repositions aircraft throughout its network but said the 767s should return to service within days.
Delta Air Lines reported a January net loss of $109 million, narrowed from $300 million in January 2006. Loss before reorganization items was $115 million compared to $213 million in the year-ago month. Operating loss declined to $65 million from $146 million. Passenger RASM rose 3.7% to 9.69 cents and mainline unit costs fell 4.8% to 10.09 cents, or 7.1% to 7.19 cents excluding fuel. The airline said it "remains on course" to emerge from bankruptcy protection in the spring.
Increased competition from low-cost carriers has resulted in a drop in the percentage of US airports served exclusively by regional airlines, according to a new report from Velocity Group. During the first quarter of 2007, regionals exclusively served 257 of the 434 airports that handle scheduled traffic in the lower 48 states, representing 59.2% of the airports receiving scheduled air service, a drop from 65.1% in the year-ago quarter. This represents the first decrease "in nearly two decades," Velocity said. "I expect this trend to continue," the company's Doug Abbey said.
Indian government, at a cabinet meeting last week chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave final approval for the merger of Air India and Indian Airlines ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). The two state-owned carriers will become a single entity when all legal formalities are completed, a process that is expected to take no longer than 16 weeks. Full operational integration is expected to take about two years. The combined airline will operate a fleet of about 120 aircraft and employ some 30,000 workers.
Icelandair Group reported a ISK550 million ($8.3 million) loss in the three months ended Dec. 31, its first quarter since splitting from investment company FL Group.
ExpressJet Airlines reached a capacity purchase agreement with Delta Air Lines to operate 10 Embraer 145XRs, the only aircraft that remain from the 69 that Continental Airlines cut from the service agreement with ExpressJet in January 2006.
US Airways announced yesterday that its proposed Shanghai service, scheduled to launch in March 2008 if approved by the US Dept. of Transportation, will originate in Philadelphia ( ATWOnline, Feb. 12). It would be both the airline's and the airport's first service to Asia. US said it is "close to making a decision on acquiring aircraft suitable" for the route and that it has "ample time and financial resources to do so."
Bmi is taking a partial U-turn on the paid-for inflight catering service concept introduced in August 2005 on short-haul mainline operations at London Heathrow, announcing reintroduction of complimentary food and drink for certain loyalty program members. Diamond Club members also will benefit from priority seating. The change will apply from April 2. "The airline industry has been through a period of massive change in the past five years, a process that continues today," bmi CEO Nigel Turner said. "By developing and evolving our products and services we can ensure we continue to. .
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission gave the green light to Airline Partners Australia's proposed A$11.1 billion ($8.74 billion) buyout of Qantas. ACCC Chairman Graeme Samuel said yesterday that there were some potential issues but "there was no likely substantial lessening of competition in each of these cases, having regard to restrictions on related party transactions under the [APA] consortium and the level of competition in the relevant markets."
AirTran Airways yesterday responded to Midwest Airlines' accusation that "AirTran's business is deteriorating" ( ATWOnline, March 1), saying that its "record speaks for itself." AirTran told this website that "Midwest's comments are out of line and inconsistent with the reality of the market.
