Emirates and Japan Airlines agreed to expand their existing codeshare agreement effective June 1 to allow JAL to place its code on new Dubai-Nagoya Emirates flights and Emirates to place its code on JAL domestic flights from Nagoya to Fukuoka and Sapporo. Separately, JAL said it will resume daily service from Tokyo Narita to both Bali and Jakarta on July 1 and from Osaka Kansai to Denpasar on July 13. It cut back on Japan-Indonesia services in October 2005 due to reduced demand that it attributed to the Oct. 1 terrorist bombing in Bali.
The harsh realities of the airline industry have created a new opportunity for ATR, which racked up a record 90 orders for ATR 42/72 turboprops in 2005 and sold a further 46 in the first four months of the current year. "The economics and pressure for airlines to reduce costs is certainly a driving factor," VP John Moore said this week at the Regional Airline Assn. conference in Dallas. Other factors are also at play, he said, citing the growth in Regional airline traffic and a "new wave" of LCCs adopting the turboprop for markets in Europe and Asia.
Regional jet manufacturers Bombardier and Embraer have made their intentions clear: Both will continue to focus primarily on marketing and development of aircraft in the 60/100-seat range.
Aeroports de Paris' IPO should take place before summer, French Finance Minister Thierry Breton confirmed yesterday. "The company is ready. It is opportune to give it the necessary means to support its expansion. It needs a capital increase to pursue its development," Breton told France 2 television. A decree authorizing the government to privatize a minority stake in the airport operator was published in the Tuesday edition of France's official journal.
Menzies Aviation completed its acquisition of Aeroground Inc., a San Francisco-based air cargo service provider. Menzies will create new operations at New York JFK, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Vancouver and Calgary while expanding services at Los Angeles, Seattle, Portland, Ore., and SFO.
Continental Airlines yesterday launched daily Newark-Copenhagen service aboard 757-200s. It plans to operate the route five-times-weekly during winter months and resume daily service in spring 2007. FlyBE launched a thrice-weekly Southampton-Angers service. It will commence thrice-weekly flights from SOU to Cherbourg today and to Avignon Thursday.
Lufthansa Technik signed an agreement with Bombardier to provide a Total Support Program for operators of 50/90-seat CRJs. LHT will offer support packages for APUs, landing gears, wheels, tires, brakes and rotables. Operators also have the option for a repair and overhaul program on CF34 engines from Lufthansa Technik Aero Alzey.
Although the Italian government reduced its stake in Alitalia below 50% in its recent recapitalization ( ATWOnline, Nov. 14, 2005), new Transport Minister Alessandro Bianchi felt justified in calling for a change in management at the struggling flag carrier, which reported a widened €156.6 million ($200 million) first-quarter loss last week that it attributed largely to the impact of protests by Alitalia Servizi workers.
Deccan Aviation, parent of LCC Air Deccan, struggled to attract investors for its IPO as India's stock market sputtered last week and has extended its deadline to Friday. Deccan issued the IPO on May 18, the same day India's stock market plunged in what many in the country are calling an unprecedented crash. The Bombay Stock Exchange Sensitive Index, known as Sensex, ended last week down more than 1,300 points, an 11% drop from the previous Friday's closing, sending shockwaves through the Indian economy.
BAA may be opposed to a takeover by Spain's Ferrovial Group but the European Commission will not stand in the way. The EC yesterday approved Ferrovial's potential acquisition of the UK airports operator, saying "the proposed transaction would not significantly impede effective competition." Ferrovial made an unsolicited £8.75 billion ($16.41 billion) takeover bid for BAA, which controls London Heathrow and six other UK airports and has management contracts at airports in other countries.
Northwest Airlines' 5,600 ramp service employees and stock clerks will see their hourly base wage rates reduced by 11.5% if they ratify a tentative five-year agreement reached between the airline and negotiators for the International Assn. of Machinists last week ( ATWOnline, May 22).
Aviation Refinancing Transaction awarded GA Telesis a five-year servicing contract to manage and remarket more than 50 Boeing aircraft and approximately 70 spare engines.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary will stand naked "in Warsaw's busiest street" if LOT Polish Airlines abolishes its fuel surcharge this month, the Irish carrier announced yesterday. A LOT spokesperson told Polish television last week that Ryanair would be willing to "walk naked down the street in front of TV cameras" in order to draw attention to the Polish airline's surcharges, Ryanair said. "We have no problem placing this wager with LOT because everyone knows that there is no chance whatsoever of LOT ever removing its fuel surcharges," Head of Communications Peter Sherrard said.
Indian Airlines signed an MOU with India's ICICI Bank for funding of the pre-delivery payments required for aircraft acquisition. Indian finalized a $2 billion deal for 43 A320 family aircraft in February ( ATWOnline, Feb. 22). Funding will come from a syndicated external commercial borrowing of $152 million spread from June 2006 to January 2010.
Air Transport Assn. warned of big crowds at US airports as the country observes Memorial Day Monday. ATA said US airlines will transport 21 million passengers from May 22 through May 31, or 2.1 million per day. It added that the passenger numbers are up 1.9% from the same week last year and advised travelers to arrive at airports 90 min. prior to departure for domestic flights and 120 min. prior to international departures and to be prepared for heavy traffic at security checkpoints.
Austrian Airlines will add a third daily Vienna-Moscow Sheremeteyvo service, operating Monday-Thursday, from June 5. It launched thrice-weekly flights to Ekaterinburg in April, bringing its weekly Russian service to 52 flights. Separately, Austrian said its Internet bookings for the January-April period rose 62% over the year-ago period thanks to a more user-friendly website featuring more languages.
US Dept. of Transportation said US airlines employed 5.4% fewer workers in March than in the year-ago month, the 15th consecutive year-over-year decline in the number of full-time equivalent employees. The carriers employed approximately 405,000 in March. Network airlines reported a 7.4% drop, low-cost carriers fell 3% and Regionals decreased 1.9%.
Significant capacity reductions at Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines, the disappearance of Independence Air and recent fuel-driven fare hikes gave US carriers their third consecutive month of double-digit year-over-year domestic yield growth in April.
Mesa Air Group's first go! aircraft, a CRJ200, arrived in Honolulu yesterday more than two weeks ahead of the inter-island startup's scheduled June 9 launch ( ATWOnline, March 24). The aircraft, acquired from defunct Independence Air, sported a livery featuring an ocean wave. "The arrival of this aircraft demonstrates our commitment to the launch," Mesa Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said. Go!
Lufthansa Flight Training subsidiary Aviation Quality Services is inspecting Dragonair for conformity with the IATA Operational Safety Audit. It is the 50th safety audit conducted by AQS out of a total of 150 IOSA audits, according to AQS. Lufthansa Systems also announced it will operate the global wide area network of LSG Sky Chefs and provide all WAN services for the catering company, connecting more than 140 LSG Sky Chefs sites worldwide.
