Fallout from A380 production delays continued Monday when Airbus removed Charles Champion as head of the next-generation aircraft program and promoted Mario Heinen, its Single Aisle Program chief, to senior VP and A380 Program head. The announcement came the same day as the A380's first passenger test flight. Alain Flourens, executive VP and head of Airbus's Centers of Excellence, will take over Heinen's role and Champion will remain as a special adviser to CEO Christian Streiff.
Siemens yesterday was awarded a $19.1 million contract to develop an inline baggage handling system at Detroit Metro's North Terminal, which is in the midst of a $418 million upgrade. Siemens will design, build and install a system that will include 9,577 ft. of conveyors routing checked baggage through inline EDSs.
Boeing yesterday operated the first 737-900ER test flight, taking off from Renton and flying for 45 min. over Washington and Oregon before landing at Boeing Field in Seattle, marking the start of a five-month test program aimed at securing FAA and EASA certification by early 2007 followed by delivery to launch customer Lion Air ( ATWOnline, July 20, 2005). The manufacturer has firm orders from five customers for 80 737-900ERs, designed to carry up to 215 passengers and fly up to 3,200 nm.
News from Travel Technology Update: Amadeus said it would reimburse subscribers for fees assessed by American Airlines and Northwest Airlines as an "interim relief measure" while it worked toward obtaining full-content agreements from the carriers. Meanwhile, Delta on Sept. 1 took the industry by surprise and announced that it, too, would impose fees of $3.50 for each segment booked through non-preferred channels beginning at noon the same day.
Flybe took delivery of its first 118-seat Embraer 195 last week in Sao Paulo. It is the launch customer, having placed a $950 million order for 26 of the type last year ( ATWOnline, June 7, 2005). Swiss International Air Lines will acquire a further two A321s and one A320 next spring for its European fleet. The extra capacity will enable the carrier to provide additional feeder services for its long-haul fleet, which will add two A330-200s in November.
AirAsia wants to operate up to 20 flights a day between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore, CEO Tony Fernandes told reporters Monday after a meeting with Singapore Transport Minister Raymond Lim, who reportedly indicated that the Singapore government is ready to open the doors to Southeast Asia's fastest-growing LCC, which has been blocked from the route. Its JV partner Thai AirAsia operates four flights a day to SIN from Bangkok.
British Airways yesterday revealed that the disruption at London airports caused by the terrorist bombing scare cost it an estimated $75 million, a figure it said includes lost revenue and costs associated with hotel accommodation, catering and baggage repatriation. BA said advance bookings have returned to year-ago levels but are "still weaker than the trend of the past few months." It cited a drop in transfer traffic owing to carry-on baggage limitations at London airports. During the week of Aug.
Ryanair will launch service from Dublin to Malta, Stockholm Skavtsa and the Canary Islands in February as well as double frequencies to Berlin Schoenefeld, Rome Ciampino, Malaga and Faro, the LCC announced yesterday. Separately, Ryanair said it flew 4 million passengers in August, an increase of 22.9% over the year-ago month. Load factor was steady at 91%.
Continental Airlines reported a 9.6% year-over-year increase in July consolidated RASM and anticipated August growth of 6.5%-7.5%. It flew 8.4 billion system RPMs in August, an increase of 9.3% over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 8.5% to 10.19 billion ASMs and load factor grew 0.6 point to 82.4%. Domestic traffic climbed 7.1% to 3.98 billion RPMs, capacity was up 5.5% to 4.65 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.2 points to 85.5%. International RPMs increased 11% to 3.46 billion against an 11.3% lift in ASMs to 4.31 billion, dropping load factor 0.2 point to 80.3%.
LCCs are driving global aviation growth, according to an OAG special report released in advance of the Routes Development Forum in Dubai and the World Low Cost Airlines Congress in London taking place later this month. Capacity on low-cost carriers has more than doubled in just four years. This month, budget airlines plan to fly more than 46 million seats on more than 323,000 flights compared with 22 million seats on 169,000 flights in September 2002.
Delta Air Lines yesterday received permission from the US Bankruptcy Court to terminate its pilot defined benefit pension plan. The carrier established Sept. 2 as the effective termination date but still must obtain approval from the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. Termination had been opposed by a group of 100 retired pilots, but that organization removed its objection over the weekend. DL will pay the group some $500,000 to cover legal fees and other expenses.
Mary Peters, a former director of the US Federal Highway Administration, yesterday was nominated as the next US Transportation Secretary by President George Bush. "She brings a lifetime of experience on transportation issues from both the private and the public sectors," Bush said of Peters at a White House ceremony, adding that her focus will be on developing a "state-of-the-art" transportation system to meet modern needs.
Lufthansa will make a long-awaited announcement on the purchase of long-haul aircraft before year end, a spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline. The decision could come soon: Der Spiegel reported the LH supervisory board will sign off on a deal at a meeting later this month. The carrier is in talks with both Boeing and Airbus and also has had discussions with Embraer and Bombardier about regional jets.
Boeing yesterday named Scott Carson president and CEO of Boeing Commercial Airplanes effective immediately, succeeding Alan Mulally, who left the company after 37 years to take over the top spot at troubled Ford Motor Co.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines DG Andrew Herdman assailed recent "unduly onerous" airport security changes as a "knee-jerk" reaction to the foiled transatlantic bombing plot.
An Iran Air Tours Tu-154M with 148 passengers and crew aboard crashed on landing Friday afternoon in Mashhad, where it skidded off a runway and caught fire, killing at least 29 passengers. It is believed that the flight crew and more than 100 passengers escaped or were rescued from the burning aircraft. The domestic flight, operated by the tour arm of flag carrier Iran Air, originated in Bandar Abbas.
Lufthansa remains in negotiations to sell its 50% stake in tourism firm Thomas Cook, including leisure carrier Condor Airlines, to co-owner KarstadtQuelle. Lufthansa board member Stefan Lauer confirmed discussions but told journalists last week in Frankfurt that "they are a long way from being finished." The German retailer has been after LH's holding in Europe's second-largest tourism company for some time. The unit returned to profitability last year, but LH has said Cook is not a core business.
FlyMe of Sweden will triple its fleet to 15 aircraft with the acquisition of 51% of Astraeus, a UK charter carrier, in a deal wroth SEK82.7 million ($11.4 million) expected to be completed within the next month. Astraeus transports 800,000 passengers each year, employs 391 and boasts annual revenues of SEK1.2 billion. It operates four 757-200s, four 737-300s and two 737-700s based at London Gatwick and Manchester and flies several routes to Africa. FlyMe has five 737-300s. "There are great synergy effects between FlyMe and Astraeus.
KLM will adjust its service to the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba over the next year in response to what it called "changing market conditions." From summer 2007, all flights will be aboard MD-11s instead of the present mixed fleet of 426-seat 747-400s and 282-seat MD-11s. The MD-11s will be "radically modernized" in the coming months to bring the product in line with the World Business Class and economy class standards of KLM's new 777s and A330s. Frequencies will be reduced. Aruba will be served four-times-weekly, twice in combination with Bonaire and twice with St. Maarten.
Air Berlin will begin six-times-weekly Oviedo-Palma de Mallorca service on Nov. 1. Oviedo will become the carrier's 12th Spanish destination. Qantas will increase its Adelaide-Perth service to 31-times-weekly from 27 from Oct. 29.
American Airlines flew 12.48 billion system RPMs in August, a 1.4% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 1.9% to 15.21 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.4 point to 81.9%. Domestic RPMs fell 4.1% against a 4.8% drop in capacity to 9.64 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 82.4%.
Alitalia, in which the Italian government still owns just under 50%, confirmed last week that it is reviewing and revising its business plan to counter rising fuel costs and adjust its targets. Business Plan 2005-2008 forecasts that AZ Fly, the airline entitity, will achieve a breakeven result this year and an EBITDAR margin of about 14% for 2007 and 2008.
