Amadeus announced that Finnair deployed Amadeus Ticket Changer, which enables the airline to automate the ticket change and reissue process from any location in any currency.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani called on China to look urgently at the cost of overflying the country, which at the current rate of $1 per mile is "not acceptable." He also urged Beijing to look at the cost of operating into China's airports, which aside from Japan are the world's most expensive.
Ryanair is offering to build a €250 million ($319.5 million) "low-cost, efficient" new terminal at Dublin Airport, operated by itself or an independent operator, and is calling on the Dublin Airport Authority to "scrap" its proposal to build a €760 million terminal that would increase passenger ticket taxes by as much as 25%.
All Nippon Airways recently took delivery of its fourth 767-300F and plans to use it to launch a six-times-weekly Nagoya-Chicago cargo service via Anchorage.
Alitalia trade unions have called for 24-hr. strikes on both Sept. 29 and Oct. 9, according to Il Sole 24 Ore. The announced work stoppages follow a 4-hr. strike by unions representing pilots, flight attendants and ground staff on Sept. 18 and will add further pressure on the carrier, which remains in a precarious financial situation. It reported a loss of €221 million ($282.4 million) in the first half of 2006, widened from a loss of €125 million in the year-ago period.
Gulf Air confirmed that President and CEO James Hogan will complete his tenure at the carrier Sept. 30, earlier than anticipated, fueling speculation he will move to another airline in the Middle East. VP-Finance Ahmed Al Hammadi will take over as acting president and CEO from Oct. 1.
Aerospace Products International, a subsidiary of First Aviation Services, received FAA approval to perform aircraft wheel overhaul services, enabling it to do MRO work on aircraft wheels manufactured by Aircraft Braking Systems and Goodrich.
Royal Jordanian will move its Bangkok operations and airport services from Don Muang to Suvarnabhumi tomorrow. The carrier operates five weekly nonstop flights to the Thai capital using A340s.
Continental Airlines signed a five-year, $258 million contract with the US Postal Service to carry priority, first class and express mail within the US and Puerto Rico. "We have made substantial investments in our postal facilities, employees and technology," said VP-Cargo Jack Boisen.
CAE said it was awarded three contacts for full flight simulators with a combined value of C$45 million ($40.3 million). The contracts are with Continental Airlines for a 737NG, Lufthansa Flight Training for an A320 and UPS for a 747. The 737 FFS for CO will feature CAE's Tropos II Enhanced visual system. SAS Maintenance Training will establish a new facility in Riga during the fourth quarter to perform training for 737 Classics and NGs for customers in the Baltics and Eastern Europe.
Amadeus appointed Arnaud Debuchy director for its Airline Business Group, giving him responsibility for airline account management and sales in Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America. BAA announced further management changes related to its takeover by Ferrovial Group, appointing Jose Leo CFO to replace Margaret Ewing. Ian Hargreaves, corporate and regulatory affairs director, will leave the company.
FedEx said this week it will invest $2.6 billion to acquire and modify up to 90 757-200s to replace its 727-200 freighters. The FedEx Express airline unit is expected to bring the new aircraft into service from 2008 to 2016.
IBM signed a 3.5-year agreement with Prague Airport to implement, maintain and manage a new IT system. Based on the mySAP Business Suite product, the integrated information system will be used by 350 airport staff, IBM said.
Canadian Transportation Agency yesterday issued licenses to startup Porter Airlines to operate domestic and nonscheduled international services using medium aircraft. The carrier plans initially to operate 10 daily flights between Toronto City Centre Airport and Ottawa using 70-seat Q400s and later will expand to destinations in Canada and the US within about 300 mi. of Toronto. A precise startup date has not been announced but operations are expected to commence within weeks.
The US National Mediation Board yesterday rejected Northwest Airlines flight attendants' request to be released from mediated talks ( ATWOnline, Sept. 22 ) and ordered union leaders and airline management back to the negotiating table. The two sides will meet today in Washington. The flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, twice have voted down tentative concessionary agreements that call for nearly $200 million in annual givebacks.
Finnair plans to add a fifth daily flight from Helsinki to Paris CDG from Nov. 1 and a fifth daily service to Copenhagen from Jan. 1. JAL and Korean Air are expanding their codeshare agreement from Oct. 29 by 40% from the current 133 flights per week over nine routes to 186 flights a week over 11 routes. Under the new agreement, the number of daily codeshare flights from Seoul Incheon to Tokyo Narita increases to seven, to Osaka Kansai to five and to Nagoya Chubu to three. Flybe will launch a four-times-weekly Southampton-Nice service from March 25.
The US Transportation Security Administration is easing its ban on liquids and gels in carry-on bags effective today, allowing passengers to carry 3 oz. or less of toiletries through checkpoints in a clear plastic bag and to purchase liquids from airport shops to take aboard aircraft once they pass through security checkpoints. TSA imposed the ban following last month's disclosure of a plot to explode US-bound aircraft over the Atlantic ( ATWOnline, Aug. 10).
Avion Group reported a $69 million net loss for the nine months ended July 31 and warned of a "difficult" fiscal fourth quarter, forcing it to lower its forecast for its fiscal year ending Oct. 31. "The fourth quarter will be difficult because of challenging market conditions in the UK due to terrorist threats, delays and an unusually hot summer," the company said. "Additionally, currency changes will result in $10 million reduction in EBITDA than forecasted initially.
Boeing is offering just one fuselage length for the 747-8 Freighter and Intercontinental models, according to two airlines that attended a 747-8 briefing earlier this month in Hong Kong. Last month, ATWOnline revealed that the manufacturer was close to standardizing the length both to meet airline requirements and to take advantage of wind tunnel gains that gave the aircraft an additional 300 nm. of range ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22).
SR Technics announced that Tim Talaat, executive VP-Integrated Airline Solutions and Integrated Engine Solutions and CEO of SR Technics Switzerland, will leave the company Dec. 31 to pursue other opportunities "in conjunction with a planned reorganization at Group Level." SRT said the reorganization, details of which will be announced next month, is unrelated to the ongoing sale of the company to a consortium of UAE investors announced earlier this month ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8).
Qatar Airways ordered 40 high-thrust GE90 engines to power 20 777s ( ATWOnline, Sept. 13) it has on order for delivery beginning next year. The engine order is valued at more than $750 million. The carrier ordered 14 777-300ERs, which will be powered by GE90-115Bs, and six 777-200LRs, which will be powered by GE90-110Bs. "There is a strong working relationship between" Qatar Airways and GE, CEO Akbar Al Baker said.
Cathay Pacific Airways plans to launch daily Hong Kong-Shanghai Pudong service from Dec. 1 pending government approval. It would mark the return of Shanghai to Cathay's passenger network after a 16-year hiatus. The carrier currently operates 12 weekly freighter flights on the route. KLM will increase its 777-200ER Amsterdam-Chengdu service to thrice-weekly from twice-weekly on May 28. Korean Air launched twice-weekly Seoul-Miami cargo flights using 747-400Fs. Belavia Belarusian Airlines launched weekly Minsk-Frankfurt Hahn service.
