Telair International will design, manufacture and supply the full Supplier Furnished Equipment cargo loading system for the A330-200, A330-300 and A340-300 lower deck. Installation is scheduled to begin by March 2008.
Recent high-profile incidents in which passengers were not allowed to get off parked aircraft for long periods have revived momentum in the US Congress for legislation outlining passengers' "rights" and governing airlines' actions in those situations.
Eurocontrol and DFS, the German air navigation services provider, contracted the Sofreavia/SITA consortium to supply the next generation of data link gateway systems known as the Data Link Front End Processor. All ANSPs in Europe will need to upgrade and/or complement their ATM infrastructures with DL-FEP equivalent functionality by circa 2010, as outlined in the Data Link Implementation Rule expected to be adopted by the European Commission under the Single European Sky initiative's Interoperability Regulation by year end.
Royal Jordanian selected IER to supply its Common Use Self-Service check-in platform. The project was initiated by RJ in cooperation with IATA, which selected Amman's Queen Alia International to launch the CUSS program in the Middle East. IER installed 15 IER 978 kiosks equipped with ATB, GPP and bag tag printers, a passport reader and a barcode reader at AMM and Aqaba. It also provided RJ with the full CUSS application.
Bmibaby will base an additional 737 at Birmingham, lifting its BHX fleet to nine. It will launch four-times-weekly service to Jersey and increase daily frequencies to Edinburgh and Glasgow International.
Skybus Airlines, a proposed low-fare startup, ordered CFM56-5Bs to power the 65 A319s it ordered last fall ( ATWOnline, Oct. 27, 2006). The deal is worth $750 million at list prices, according to Safran Group. Engines will be Tech Insertion models. Skybus expects to take delivery of its first aircraft in late 2008 and commence flying from Columbus, Ohio, the following spring.
Pegasus Airlines will start a twice-weekly Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen-Zurich service on March 20. The Turkish carrier said it will open new routes to Germany, Austria and Denmark this summer. It operates 16 737s, including 12 737-800s, to 16 destinations. It will take delivery of 12 new -800s through the end of next year. Spanair launched 12-times-weekly Girona-Madrid service. Armavia will start weekly Yerevan-Cologne service on March 29 using A320s.
Air Mauritania 737 that was hijacked in the northwest African country last week ( ATWOnline, Feb. 16) escaped harm in Las Palmas thanks to a quick-thinking pilot who braked hard then accelerated quickly on landing, knocking the hijacker down and giving flight attendants time to throw boiling water on his face. Passengers then helped subdue him, Spanish officials told the Associated Press. The armed hijacker reportedly demanded to be flown to France, where he hoped to seek political asylum.
Airbus announced that CIT Group signed a firm order in December for five A330s and 10 A320 family aircraft. To date, CIT has ordered 112 A320 family aircraft, 25 A330s and five A350s; 73 have been delivered.
Sabena technics signed a three-year contract with Martinair covering MRO on V2500-powered A320-200s. Sabena technics will provide full support as well as component repair services comprising pool access and consignment stock.
Frontier Airlines said the Frontier Airline Pilots Assn. ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with 67% of those voting approving the deal, which goes into effect next month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8).
Kuwait Airways is preparing for a major fleet renewal. According to the Arab Air Carriers Organization, KU is negotiating with both Airbus and Boeing to buy up to 34 aircraft and expects formal proposals from the manufacturers in the next few weeks. It currently operates three A320s, two A310-300s, five A300-600s, four A340-300s and two 777-200s.
Lufthansa flew 8.59 billion RPKs in January, a 7.4% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 5% to 11.86 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 1.7 points to 73.6%. US Airways Group airlines flew 4.87 billion RPMs in January, up 4.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity grew just 0.8% to 6.65 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.8 points to 73.3%. Cathay Pacific Airways flew 6.62 billion RPKs in January, down 0.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.8% to 8.6 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.4 points to 77%. CX's traffic now includes Dragonair.
Aeroflot is committed to phasing out its remaining Tu-134 and Tu-154 aircraft by 2010, according to press reports. Fourteen Tu-134s are scheduled to leave the fleet this year and be replaced by A320s and Sukhoi RRJs. The Tu-134 served the carrier for approximately 40 years. Aeroflot Chairman and CEO Valery Okulov told this website in November that Aeroflot's fleet plan calls for 65 A320 family aircraft and 30 RRJs on its short- and medium-haul network ( ATWOnline, Nov. 22, 2006). It currently operates 88 aircraft.
MTU Maintenance signed an open-ended contract with Cathay Pacific Airways for MRO on 15 CF6-50E2s powering 747-200Fs. Work will be performed at Hannover Langenhagen. Separately MTU Hannover named Uwe Blocker president and CEO, effective March 1.
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello assured the public that the A$11.1 billion ($8.7 billion) bid for Qantas by Airline Partners Australia will undergo intense scrutiny to ensure it falls within the national interest. Costello promised media last week that "scrutiny will be very vigorous" and the government intends to enforce the Qantas Sale Act, which prevents the airline from being majority foreign-owned.
Environmental pressures may influence Boeing to offer two solutions for the 737 replacement market, although the effort on that front still is relatively low-key. Speaking to ATWOnline late last week, Commercial Airplanes President Scott Carson suggested that environmental issues are a "top priority" at Boeing and that it may move the baseline for the 737 replacement higher than the current 90-200 seats to a 130/230-seat platform.
Boeing yesterday announced the finalization of UPS's order for 26 767-300ER freighters ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6) and said the aircraft, to be delivered from 2009 through 2012, will be powered by GE CF6-80C2s.
China Southern Airlines announced this week that it will launch international service to 10 destinations from its Guangzhou hub in 2007. New markets are Dubai, Luanda, Sendai, Sapporo, Kathmandu, Delhi, Siem Reap, Phuket, Yangon and Vientiane. Launch dates were not provided. The carrier plans to take delivery of 68 aircraft this year, increasing its fleet to 440.
Winter weather forced cancellations and delays throughout the US Northeast and Midwest this week, but it was JetBlue Airways that dominated the headlines thanks to incidents at New York JFK and Pittsburgh Wednesday. The airline said 10 flights were "significantly delayed" at JFK, with news reports detailing passengers who were stuck on the tarmac for up to 10 hr. At PIT, passengers sat on a New York-bound aircraft for 4 hr. before being allowed to leave.
Air France is increasing its presence at London City Airport and will launch eight new routes on March 26, bringing to 10 the number of destinations it serves from LCY. New services operated by AF subsidiary CityJet will be to Geneva, Madrid, Milan Linate, Nice and Zurich. The Dublin-based carrier already operates six daily flights to Paris Orly and five to DUB under a franchise agreement with AF. In codeshare with ScotAirways it will launch flights from LCY to Belfast City, Dundee and Edinburgh. With the additions, AF will have up to 70 daily flights from LCY.
EasyJet opened its 17th base yesterday at Madrid Barajas, where it will keep four new A319s that will operate three domestic, 13 European and two North African routes ( ATWOnline, Aug. 25, 2006). It expects to carry 2 million passengers through the airport this year. The LCC's MRO supplier, SR Technics, opened a line maintenance station at Barajas. New twice-daily services launched yesterday were to La Coruna and Asturias.
