Japan Airlines took delivery of the second 747-400BCF Sunday in Xiamen. JAL has orders for eight conversions and four options. The first dash 400BCF was redelivered to Cathay Pacific in December.
Chinese airlines posted a consolidated first-quarter loss of CNY1.34 billion ($166.9 million), according to a CAAC report cited yesterday by Xinhua. Revenues increased 21.5% over the year-ago quarter to CNY47.43 billion and expenses climbed 26.4% to CNY48.47 billion. China's airlines transported 35.13 million passengers, a rise of 20%, and 749,000 tons of cargo, an increase of 12.5%.
Flyglobespan will add seven Boeing aircraft, nearly doubling its current fleet of one 767 and nine 737s, with an eye toward expanding its long-haul services, according to press reports. The Edinburgh-based LCC will lease two more 767s, two 757s and three 737s. "We would like to be recognized as Scotland's national airline.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft said it covered the placement of an Avro RJ100 to FaroeJet of the Faroe Islands, two ATP freighters with MagicBird Airlines of the Netherlands and four Jetstream 41s with Yeti Airlines of Nepal.
Less than two weeks after establishing a foothold in China with the addition of Shanghai Airlines, Star Alliance yesterday solidified its presence with the addition of Air China, the country's most profitable carrier. Once the two airlines become full members, Star will have bases in both Shanghai and Beijing, giving it a leg up on rivals SkyTeam, which signed an MOU with Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines in 2004, and oneworld, which still is without a member based in mainland China and eventually may look to Shanghai's China Eastern Airlines.
Boeing said yesterday that it has completed 25% of the releases required for the 787 that allow purchases to be made, tools to be developed and parts to be built. All releases for the Dreamliner program are digital. "We have seen tremendous progress by our international partners and the Boeing team working on the detailed design of this airplane," said Mike Bair, VP and GM of the 787 program.
Air Malta last week introduced a voluntary redundancy system "following extensive consultation and negotiations with the four unions representing Air Malta's employees." The option will be available for four months and is open to workers with at least seven years at the airline. Details were released on its website. The deal is part of the 2004 Rescue Plan agreement that the carrier said "has paved the way for a restructuring exercise without the airline engaging itself in forced redundancies."
SkyWest Airlines flew 1.27 billion RPMs in April, a 112.8% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 101.7% to 1.64 billion ASMs and load factor increased 4.1 points to 77.6%. Separately, SkyWest renewed its multiyear deal with ARINC for data link services, including GlobaLink/VHF service enhanced with high-capacity VDL Mode2 protocol.
Air Canada Technical Services signed a $2.8 million MRO agreement with S7 Airlines covering 10 newly leased A319s. ACTS will perform C1 and C4 airframe maintenance checks as well as "major" required and requested modifications prior to the aircrafts' entry into service. Work will be performed in Montreal and Winnipeg and will be completed by the end of August.
Indian startup Kingfisher Airlines has been a marketing success since launching in May 2005, but the growing pains are evident in the carrier's bottom line, which was INR1.9 billion ($41.8 million) in the red after one year of operations, it told The Hindu's Business Line.
China Southern Airlines launched twice-weekly 737 service between Haikou and Singapore and weekly Urumqi-Baku flights aboard a 757. Separately, UATP added China Southern as its newest UATP Merchant. It will accept all UATP corporate cards.
Malaysia Airlines named CB Richard Ellis Group of Los Angeles and its Malaysian partner CH Williams to assist with the sale of its portfolio of noncore assets as outlined in the Business Turnaround Plan released earlier this year ( ATWOnline, March 6). MAS's portfolio consists of space in 26 mixed residential and office buildings throughout the Asia/Pacific region, the UK and the Netherlands.
Northwest Airlines and the International Assn. of Machinists, representing approximately 5,600 equipment service and stock clerks, announced a tentative labor agreement Friday. The ESSC employees were one of two IAM groups to reject a previous agreement ( ATWOnline, March 8) that was accepted by customer service and reservation staff. "We were able to get the company to change some of their demands. Even with this movement, the committee is still disappointed.
CAE won contracts for flight simulators last week from Cathay Pacific, ATR and Ryanair valued at a combined C$48 million ($43 million. Cathay signed a contract for a 777-300ER FFS, an accompanying integrated procedures trainer and seven virtual maintenance trainers. It is the fifth simulator the airline has purchased from CAE since 1992. Regional aircraft manufacturer ATR awarded CAE a contract for an ATR 72-500 FFS as well as two Tropos visual systems and an upgrade to the visual system of an existing simulator.
Unison Industries was selected by Aircelle, a member of Safran Group, to build several systems for the PowerJet SaM 146 engine to be used for Sukhoi Civilian Aircraft's RRJ. Unison will deliver more than 1,000 sets to Aircelle worth more than $20 million over the duration of the 10-year agreement.
Air New Zealand contracted UK-based CTC Aviation to train 140 new cabin crew to be based at London Heathrow and support daily 747-400 Auckland-Hong Kong-LHR flights scheduled to launch Oct. 28. Separately, ANZ named Cam Wallace GM-New Zealand and Pacific Island sales replacing Roger Poulton, who will become GM-Americas based in Los Angeles.
World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, will be delisted from the Nasdaq market today for failing to file necessary financial reports on time. World, which has been delisted in the past, plans an immediate appeal. It has yet to file its full-year 2005 or first-quarter 2006 earnings, saying that it is resolving issues related to its April 2005 acquisition of NAA.
A US Bankruptcy Court judge sided with Mesaba Airlines pilots and flight attendants last week, denying management the right to cancel existing labor contracts. The carrier, which operates as a Northwest Airlink partner, wants a 19.4% reduction in labor costs over the next six years to ensure financial viability. In February it filed documents with the court seeking approval to cancel its labor contracts with pilots, flight attendants and mechanics and cut 1,600 jobs.
Lauda Air took delivery of its seventh and final 737-800 earlier this month. The carrier this summer will operate a fleet of nine aircraft including two A320s and expects to transport around 1.6 million passengers this fiscal year and generate turnover of €250-€260 million, MD Thomas Surtisch told ATWOnline.
Ferrovial Group's £8.75 billion ($15.62 billion) takeover proposal for BAA plc received a chilly reception from BAA shareholders, with a total of 3.8 million shares representing just 0.3% of issued share capital being tendered as of May 18, the first day of the 810-pence-per-share offer ( ATWOnline, April 24). Ferrovial said it is extending the deadline to tender shares by one week to June 19.
China Airlines will launch services from Taipei to Osaka (five-times-weekly aboard A330-300s) and Sapporo (six-times-weekly aboard 737-800s) on July 1 and a twice-weekly Kaohsiung-Nagoya flight on July 2 aboard a dash 800.
US Transportation Security Administration was the target of criticism from lawmakers who complained the agency's final air cargo security rule ( ATWOnline, May 19) does not go far enough. Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), a relentless critic of TSA and an advocate of screening all cargo carried by passenger aircraft, said the new regulations fail to close "a glaring aviation security loophole" by not mandating that all belly cargo be electronically or physically inspected.
Bahrain International Airport's planned expansion was approved last week by Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa. BAH will raise capacity to 15 million passengers and increase to 73 the number of aircraft hangars and bridges. New passenger departure and arrival premises, VIP halls, duty free markets and restaurants are planned, along with an increase in air cargo and baggage capacity.
Malev and German Regional OLT launched flights between Debrecen and Budapest this month using OLT's Saab 340s operating with Malev flight numbers. In addition, OLT announced it is creating a subsidiary called Civis Air to make it possible for its aircraft to operate with Hungarian crew and be maintained under a Hungarian registration number in Debrecen. Civis to expects carry more than 50,000 passengers to/from Debrecen by 2010. OLT's fleet consists of 16 Saab 2000s, Saab 340s, Metroliners, Cessna 404s and Cessna 208Bs.
