US airports approached normalcy on Friday, which was "just like any other summer day," according to an Air Transport Assn. spokesperson, as UK Home Secretary John Reid said authorities now believe all the main players in the alleged plot to bomb aircraft flying transatlantic routes to the US have been arrested.
Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic Airways launched interline e-ticketing last week. The airlines already codeshare and have linked loyalty programs and a joint lounge arrangement. Separately, Virgin launched a route-specific inflight magazine called DXB available to passengers on flights between London Heathrow and Dubai.
Zoom Airlines last week signed a five-year, €5 million ($6.4 million) contract with KLM Engineering and Maintenance for the performance of C checks on its 767s. The Canadian carrier has four 767s with two more scheduled for delivery next year.
Buoyed by a 39.6% increase in second-quarter net profit to C$236 million ($210.4 million), Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings announced Friday its intention to launch an IPO of a minority stake in the mainline and to "monetize" Air Canada Technical Services later this year.
Origin Pacific Airways suspended passenger service on Aug. 10, saying that a "hoped for capital injection" did not occur but that its "profitable" freight business would continue, albeit with a "fraction" of its 260 employees. It announced Friday that it let go all passenger service staff and was unable to offer any assistance to stranded passengers. The nine-year-old airline said Air New Zealand reneged on an agreement to assist those passengers following comments made by a Member of Parliament from Nelson, OPA's home city. It served 11 destinations.
Delta Air Lines will launch twice-daily Boston-Newport News service on Nov. 15 aboard Comair 50-seat CRJs. Separately, Delta and China Airlines expanded their codeshare agreement to include DL flights from Los Angeles to Hartford, Raleigh/Durham and Columbus and CI flights to Taipei from six US cities and onward to five Southeast Asian destinations. Wizz Air will extend its twice-weekly service from Katowice to Girona-Costa Brava, originally scheduled to end next month, to Oct. 28.
United Airlines flew 11.07 billion system RPMs in July, a 3.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.9% to 12.62 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.3 points to 87.7%. Copa Airlines flew 372.9 million RPMs in July, a 14.2% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 12.1% to 449.3 million ASMs and load factor was up 1.5 points to 83%. LAN Airlines reported a 4.7% increase in July system traffic and a 6.9% rise in capacity that dropped load factor 1.6 points to 77.5%.
Air traffic at UK airports recovered from last Thursday's security alert, with the number of cancellations already easing drastically by Friday. British Airways operated a "near normal" schedule, with 70% of its scheduled short-haul and domestic services to and from London Heathrow departing as well as all long-haul flights with the exception of six services to the US. Most of its London Gatwick services and nearly all of its regional flights under the BA Connect banner were completed, albeit with some delays.
Relief that a major terrorist plot had been foiled tempered passenger irritation with delays lasting as long as 3 hr. at check-in and security screening locations around Asia and Australia. Flights to the US were the most affected because of bans on fluids and gels, while flights to the UK suffered less as the basic ban on carry-on luggage did not apply to inbound flights. However, security for all flights including domestic was stepped up, with a much greater presence of police, military personnel and sniffer dogs at major airports.
Sabre Holdings signed a five-year, full-content distribution agreement with JetBlue Airways. Expedia signed a five-year contract with US Airways, making the carrier's inventory and services available on Expedia.com and its affiliated sites.
Boeing announced a 50/50 joint-venture agreement with VSMPO-AVISMA of Russia for the machining of titanium forgings for the 787. The companies have been working together since 1997 and signed an MOU on the titanium JV in April. VSMPO-AVISMA will perform rough machining in Verkhnaya Salda before final machining and processing is completed by Boeing in Portland, Ore.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants announced Friday that the deadline for commencement of targeted unannounced work actions against the carrier was extended to Aug. 25 from Aug. 15 as a result of last week's terrorist threat. "In order to devote our full attention to the immediate security situation and to reduce the stress level for flight attendants until the initial reaction of the security news subsides, we have decided to extend our strike deadline by 10 days," Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA Interim Master Executive Council President Mollie Reiley said. The union set the Aug.
Quali-audit, an Air France Consulting subsidiary, launched operation as an IATA Operational Safety Audit Organization. It will employ 18 auditors from major airlines.
Thai Airways will launch service at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport on Sept. 15 with thrice-daily flights to Phitsanulok, four-times-weekly service to Ubon Ratchathani and thrice-weekly flights to Chiang Mai. Other domestic services will continue to operate from Bangkok International Airport for the time being. Thai is transferring its operation center to Suvarnabhumi on Sept. 28, the day the airport becomes fully operational after a host of delays.
Air France-KLM reported revenues of €5.8 billion in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, an increase of 11.9% on the year-ago period. "This very good performance was driven by all sectors and especially by the passenger business," the carrier said. Passenger revenues increased 12.6% to €4.34 billion with traffic rising 7.7% to 49.59 billion RPKs against a 5% hike in capacity to 60.84 billion ASKs. Load factor improved 2 points to 81.5%. Yield rose 4.5% to €8.76 cents including a favorable currency effect of 1.6%.
Middle East Airlines resumed a four-times-weekly service to London Heathrow as it attempts to rebuild its network temporarily from Damascus. The Arab Air Carriers Organization reported that MEA also is operating charter services, some of which are being used to transport foreign nationals out of the Middle East. It is flying to Paris, Frankfurt, Dubai, Riyadh, Jeddah, Kuwait and Cairo. It secured an agreement with Syrian authorities to use Damascus until Beirut reopens. MEA operates six A321s and three A330-200s.
UK officials late yesterday raised the number of arrests in the airline terror bombing conspiracy to 24 from 21 reported early in the day. Official statements remained sketchy amid reports that the plotters intended to blow up as many as 10 US commercial aircraft en route from the UK to the US. ( ATWOnline, Aug. 10). Authorities added that all those arrested were UK citizens and said most were of South Asian descent and several of the suspects reportedly traveled to Pakistan recently.
Boeing has identified more of the 737 customers listed on its website. The orders are part of the 150-aircraft commitment from China ( ATWOnline, April 12). China Eastern Airlines took 16 aircraft, China Southern Airlines 10, Shanghai Airlines eight and Shenzhen Airlines five.
AirTran Airways will increase service to Florida with daily flights from Detroit Metro to Tampa from Nov. 7, Fort Lauderdale from Nov. 15 and Fort Myers from Dec. 21 and daily services to TPA from Dayton from Nov. 15 and Milwaukee from Dec. 5. It also will launch seasonal daily 737-700 services from Boston to FLL and Fort Myers, both from Nov. 15, and to Orlando from Dec. 21. Northwest Airlines announced the following new and expanded seasonal services for the winter timetable: New weekly flights from Detroit Metro to St. Thomas from Jan. 6 and to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo from Jan.
Aviapartner signed a joint venture agreement with Are Handling of Italy to offer handling operations under the Aviapartner name at Rome Fiumicino and Milan Malpensa. The new company, in which Aviapartner will hold a majority share, represents an annual turnover of €24 million ($30.8 million).
B/E Aerospace announced the acquisition of Draeger Aerospace of England for approximately $80 million. Draeger supplies components and systems for oxygen systems in civil and military aircraft.
Spanair flew 743 million RPKs in July, up 19.1% over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.2% to 966 million ASKs and load factor increased 8.3 points to 77%. AirBaltic flew 163 million RPKs in July, up 28.5% over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 27.7% to 239 million ASKs, lifting load factor 0.4 point to 68.2%.
Korean Air posted a second-quarter profit of KRW15 billion ($15.4 million) compared to a loss of KRW43 billion in the year-ago quarter thanks to strong international traffic and stable growth in its cargo operations. Operating revenue increased 8.7% to KRW1.94 trillion. KE attributed the turnaround to implementation "of cost control measures across the board" and focusing service on routes with strong potential. International passenger revenue jumped 14.2%, with both ASKs and RPKs growing 5.4% to 1.37 billion and 1.02 billion respectively. Yield was up 4.6%.
