Lufthansa Technik Shenzhen will overhaul CF6-80 thrust-reverser units under a three-year contract with Thai Airways. LTS already is overhauling CFM56-3 thrust reverser units for Thai. Separately, Lufthansa Technik's Mobile Access Router "flying office solution" was made available for A380 customers as a standard option. LHT also announced it signed an MRO contract with KrasAir covering the Russian carrier's 11 737-500s.
Varig has received bids from 17 companies interested in buying its flight operations, including rivals TAM, Gol, OceanAir and WebJet, according to Merrill Lynch.
Sabre Airline Solutions and Penauille Servisair signed an agreement under which the ground handling company will implement the Sabre Streamline Resource Management Suite. It initially will cover passenger and ramp handling services throughout Penauille Servisair's network.
Strengthened by huge fourth-quarter profit gains, a short-haul operation that is making money for the first time in a decade and rising load factors and yields, British Airways Friday reported a £467 million ($880.7 million) profit for the financial year ended March 31, a 19.1% increase over year-ago net earnings of £392 million. BA's fourth-quarter profit of £83 million was nearly 14 times greater than the £6 million earned in the year-ago period.
Qantas warned staff it will lay off 20%, or approximately 1,000, of its management and administrative personnel in order to slash costs as fuel prices continue to rise. The carrier's fuel bill has increased by A$2 billion ($1.53 billion) to A$3.8 billion in the past two years and is expected to grow by a further A$1 billion during the 2006-07 financial year. It warned at its half-year results announcement in February that job losses were on the agenda ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Air China officially will be invited to join Star Alliance Monday, Lufthansa confirmed to German newspaper Handelsblatt, which reported that Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend the signing ceremony in Beijing. The world's largest airline alliance extended a formal invitation to Shanghai Airlines last week ( ATWOnline, May 11). Air China is 10% owned by oneworld's Cathay Pacific and there had been speculation earlier this year that it might join Star's rival.
The US government's final rule on air cargo security was issued this week after three years of debate and revision, marking the first major change to the regulations since 1999. "Working with the industry, we have set a solid foundation for a major segment of the transportation network," US Transportation Security Administration Assistant Secretary Kip Hawley said. "In addition, TSA is working with our partners on a series of separate operational measures that raise security in air cargo."
Japan Airlines and Florida West International Airways, an all-cargo carrier, will launch a partnership June 3 that will enable JAL to add freight service to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Miami. Under the agreement, JAL will transfer cargo from Tokyo Narita and Nagoya to Florida West aircraft in Atlanta for carriage onward to DFW or Miami. JAL operates 747F service from Narita and Nagoya to Atlanta and plans to block 80 tons of space per week for the new service, which it is calling Southern Flash.
Air France-KLM Group reported net income of €913 million ($1.17 billion) for the financial year ended March 31, a 29.3% increase over the €706 million earned in 2004-05. Last year's results were restated to account for pension fund surpluses at KLM. "The year 2005-06 was marked by two features: Strong world economic growth leading to extremely dynamic levels of activity in our sector, and a significant rise in oil prices. In this environment, we have confirmed the success of the Air France-KLM merger," Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta noted.
Triumph Group announced the acquisition of the assets of Air Excellence International, which will operate as Triumph Interiors as part of the Triumph Aftermarket Services Group and is expected to add approximately $13 million in revenue in FY07. Air Excellence employs about 95 people, provides aircraft interior repair and refurbishment services and manufactures approved plastic and metal components.
Bmi yesterday launched thrice-weekly London Heathrow-Jeddah service aboard a 767-300ER. The route was abandoned by British Airways early last year. Jeddah is bmi's second destination in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, to which it started flights in September. Encouraged by what it calls "extremely strong demand for the business class product" on the Riyadh route, it boosted the number of business class seats on flights to Saudi Arabia from 24 to 42. Aegean Airlines will launch twice-daily Athens-Samos service May 30 with Avro RJ100s.
City Airline of Sweden signed an agreement with SAS Ground Services for ground handling at airports in Birmingham, Manchester, and Zurich and at City Airline's Gothenburg base.
Irish government is targeting September or October for the sale of part of its stake in Aer Lingus, according to press reports. No schedule was announced when it agreed last month to the IPO ( ATWOnline, April 6), which will see it reduce its stake from 85.1% to 25.1%. Aer Lingus management had been pushing for a flotation in June.
FL Group, the investment firm that owns Icelandair, Sterling Airlines and other air transport and tourism companies, reported a first-quarter net profit of ISK5.84 billion ($82.9 million), a result that compared to a profit of ISK25 million in the year-ago quarter and "highlight[s] FL Group's focus as an investment company specializing in strategic and private equity projects as well as hedge fund activity."
Pinnacle Airlines flew 356.2 million RPMs in April, a 7.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 5.2% to 452.1 million ASMs, boosting load factor 9.4 points to 78.8%.
Ryanair was ordered by a Paris court of commerce to pay €250,000 ($321,000) to Air France-KLM over misleading and disparaging advertising. Ryanair claimed in an ad to be "391% cheaper" than AF-KLM, which the court concluded was unjust. It also ruled that the corruption of AF-KLM's slogan "Making the sky the most beautiful place on earth" to "Making the sky the cheapest place on earth" was unacceptable. The court provisionally enforced the fine regardless of whether the Irish carrier lodges an appeal.
Cathay Pacific Airways yesterday placed into service its first "silver bullet" freighter, a 747 stripped of almost all of its paint that is approximately 200 kg. lighter, saving more than HK$1.5 million ($193,450) in annual fuel costs. CX said all 14 of its freighters will be modified over the next couple of years, and it also will introduce cargo and baggage containers. Passenger aircraft will maintain their full livery.
Nouvelair of Tunisia joined the International Air Carrier Assn. and will host its annual Operations Assembly Sept. 11-14 in Monastir. Nouvelair operates a fleet of 12 A320s and two A321s to more than 120 destinations.
Mexicana Airlines will return to Dallas/Ft. Worth on July 1 with two daily flights to Mexico City, reestablishing the carrier at DFW after a six-month absence. Mexicana pulled out of the airport in January ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9). DFW said the new service will inject more than $60 million into the North Texas economy.
An A380 touched down on London Heathrow's Southern Runway yesterday and parked at Terminal 3, Pier 6, a new purpose-built, £105 million ($198.4 million), three-story pier that can accommodate up to four A380s simultaneously. The new Terminal 5, scheduled to open in 2008, also will accommodate the aircraft. Singapore Airlines will begin flying the A380 into LHR in November.
Boeing will install Class 3 Electronic Flight Bags on 10 new Jet Airways 777-300ERs. Aircraft delivery is scheduled to start early next year. Jet will be the first Indian carrier to operate a Class 3 EFB. Separately, Boeing selected Smiths Aerospace to supply the thrust reverse actuator system for the 747-8. The system will be similar to the one Smiths provides for the 777 and will be designed and manufactured in Los Angeles, with deliveries expected to begin in the second quarter of 2007. Smiths said potential sales for the program could exceed $100 million.
UPS yesterday unveiled a $1 billion-plus investment in expansion of its air hub at Louisville International Airport, the global headquarters of the company's express package delivery airline operations.
Delta Air Lines and Galileo International yesterday announced a seven-year, full-content agreement. Delta and CheapTickets, a subsidiary of Galileo parent Cendant Corp., also executed a marketing agreement.
