Bmi discontinued its daily London Heathrow-Mumbai service because of a problem with the landing gear on the A330 it uses on the route, The Times reported. "We have tried without success to locate a suitable replacement unit but the uncertainty of the length of time we will be without the aircraft has also not helped the situation," CEO Nigel Turner told the paper. Repair work will not begin until Oct. 30 at the earliest and bmi said it is not sure when it will relaunch service.
Consorcio Aeromexico, the holding company for Aeromexico and Aeroliteral, reported third-quarter net income of MXN124 million ($11.4 million), narrowed from earnings of MXN263 million in the year-ago quarter, according to Reuters. Revenues were down 0.7% to MXN5.61 billion.
Swiss International Air Lines will increase its service from Geneva starting Dec. 15. It will launch a daily service to Prague and boost frequencies to London City to six-times-daily from four. Both services will be aboard Avro RJs. Separately, Swiss is installing new lighter seats from Recaro on its four A321s and seven A319s. A321 capacity will increase to 200 from 186 and A319 capacity will go to 138 from 126. It already has put the seats on its 14 A320s.
US FAA needs to find an equitable and long-term funding solution that will provide for needed modernization of the ATC system as well as pay for next-generation technologies, Horizon Air President and CEO Jeff Pinneo said yesterday at the Aero Club in Washington.
Air Berlin will establish its own pilot training school in cooperation with Technic Flight Consulting Kaufer. Future flight cadets can earn their commercial pilot licenses in 24 months.
JetBlue Airways will launch daily flights from Newburgh, NY (about 55 mi. north of New York City) to Fort Lauderdale and Orlando from Dec. 15, becoming twice-daily on Jan. 5. It also will start a daily Newburgh-West Palm Beach service on Jan. 5. All flights will be aboard A320s. Thai Airways will introduce service from Bangkok Suvarnabhumi to Johannesburg, Hyderabad, Gaya and Varanasi for its winter schedule starting Oct. 29. The Johannesburg flight will be operated thrice-weekly aboard an A340-600 and the Hyderabad service will be thrice-weekly aboard an A300-600.
Aeroflot is forging ahead with its fleet renewal plan, announcing Tuesday in Moscow that it will pull its nine IL-86s from service next month and revealing yesterday that it has finalized a lease agreement for the seven A321s ordered a year ago.
Cathay Pacific Airways will launch a twice-weekly 747-200 freighter service to Beijing on Nov. 15, it announced yesterday. Flights will depart Hong Kong on Wednesdays and Thursdays. CX currently operates 14-times-weekly passenger service to Beijing and a 12-times-weekly cargo service to Shanghai.
Lufthansa Group today will report third-quarter net earnings of €329 million ($412.8 million), a figure calculated based upon its half-year result and yesterday's announcement that it posted a €414 million profit through the first nine months of 2006. The three-month result is down 20.9% from the €416 million earned in the third quarter of 2005. Revenues for the quarter ended Sept. 30 rose 11.5% to €5.35 billion and operating profit increased 61.9% to €353 million from €218 million, based on ATWOnline calculations.
ExpressJet Holdings, which operates as a Regional partner of Continental Airlines, established a subsidiary that will offer corporate aircraft services. ExpressJet Corporate Aviation will launch in December with ERJ-145XRs and will dedicate 10 planes to the service by May, flying them under the ExpressJet CFR 121 operating certificate. CO informed its partner in January that it would remove 69 ERJs from its network following the two companies' failure to reach a new financial agreement.
Hurt by charges related to the closure of its Connexion inflight Internet service, Boeing reported a 31% drop in third-quarter net income to $694 million from $1.01 billion in the year-ago quarter. The earnings fall overshadowed the continuing strength of the commercial aircraft unit, which enjoyed a 45% increase in revenues to $6.7 billion and upped deliveries by 61% to 100. The company yesterday also announced the establishment of a joint venture MRO facility in Shanghai as it intensifies focus on the growing Chinese market.
German President Horst Koehler surprised the airline industry yesterday when he said he refused to sign a law allowing the sale of a stake in the Deutsche Flugsicherung air traffic control provider ( ATWOnline, Dec. 23, 2005). German media is reporting that the bill was approved by parliament in April and the government had hoped the sale would generate €1 billion. Koehler's office said the law was not consistent with the German constitution.
Delta Air Lines yesterday confirmed that it will be the US launch customer for the 777-200LR. It will take delivery of two of the type in early 2008, having converted two dash 200ERs it had on order from Boeing, according to a Delta spokesperson. "These aircraft will enable us to fly nonstop to ultra-long-distance destinations across Asia and the Middle East as we continue our international expansion," said Mel Fauscett, MD-fleet planning and acquisition. The aircraft will be powered by GE90 engines.
European Commission authorized two state aid measures for Air Caraibes, enabling it to cut operating costs for its regional services. The aid will permit the airline to lease a new Embraer 190 for use between Guadeloupe, Martinique and French Guiana and a new ATR 72-500 for use between Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Martin at a reduced rate owing to tax credits received by the lessors. One of the measures replaces aid approved in February but cancelled by French authorities.
Alaska Air Group, parent of Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, reported a third-quarter net loss of $17.4 million, reversed from a net profit of $90.2 million in the year-ago quarter.
Wizz Air announced it will add from its Warsaw base thrice-weekly flights to Oslo Torp and Durham Tees Valley from July 28. It will launch weekly services to Bourgas from June 2 and Corfu from May 29. The carrier will base a third A320 in Warsaw.
Mesaba Airlines won a reprieve late Monday when a US Bankruptcy Court judge denied unionized employees the right to strike against the bankrupt carrier. Unions representing pilots, flight attendants and mechanics had threatened to walk off the job if the company moved forward with its plan to impose pay cuts as part of its restructuring plan.
Airbus is moving toward another radical rethink of its A350 XWB that may include a composite fuselage that will combat the 787 and leapfrog the 777-200ER. According to Airbus insiders, the latest revision will push the A350's entry into service to at least 2014.
Snecma Services signed a 10-year time and material engine maintenance contract with Travel Service covering the CFM56-7s powering its 737NGs. Snecma also will provide on-wing maintenance within the scope of its Engine Maintenance On-Site service. Separately, Air Berlin signed a 10-year contract with Snecma covering MRO on the CFM56-5Bs powering its A320s. The Berlin Tegel-based LCC eventually will deploy a fleet of 100 A320s.
Air Berlin said joint check-in facilities with dba will be available from Nov 2. "The integration of dba into our company is completed. Now we have to repaint the aircraft," Air Berlin CEO Joachim Hunold said in an statement. AB acquired dba two months ago ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18) Separately, AB announced the launch of a thrice-weekly Nuremberg-Moscow Domodedovo service from Dec. 21 using 737-700s.
Faced with lagging aircraft orders, Bombardier is reducing production of its CRJ700/900 line and eliminating some 1,330 jobs, with the cut in the larger regional jet program offset somewhat by an increase in production of Q400 turboprops.
Hamilton Sundstrand signed a new agreement with KLM Engineering & Maintenance to expand its On-Site Support program. The deal extends the contract through 2015 and includes point-of-use consigned Hamilton Sundstrand inventory (primarily electric power generation equipment) to support additional aircraft applications. HS also will have an expanded role in supply chain management at KLM E&M.
JetBlue Airways will cut its A320 and Embraer 190 fleets over the next three years and said it is on the verge of reaching one or more codeshare arrangements with international airlines as it strives to return to the black following its third loss-making quarter out of the past four. The carrier yesterday announced a $500,000 loss in the three-month period ended Sept. 30 compared to a $2.7 million profit in the third quarter of 2005.
