Etihad Airways finalized a lease financing agreement with Oasis International Leasing of Abu Dhabi and Barclays Capital for six A330-200s. Terms of the deal were not announced. Aircraft are worth $948 million at list prices. The agreement follows a 2004 MOU signed by Etihad to acquire 24 Airbus aircraft including 12 dash 200s. The six aircraft, featuring a two-zone configuration with 262 seats, are scheduled for delivery starting later this month.
DirectFly, a new Polish Regional, launched service this week. The carrier operates five Saab 340s and offers flights to and from Gdansk, Lodz, Bydgoszcz, Warsaw, Krakow and Wroclaw. It hopes to attract passengers by offering point-to-point flights bypassing Warsaw. Initial international destinations are Berlin Schoenefeld, Copenhagen, Kiev and Lvov. DirectFly uses the AOC of Sky Express.
Boeing announced a number of changes to its senior management. Upon the retirement of Washington Office Senior VP Rudy deLeon effective June 30, Tod Hullin will assume his responsibilities as senior VP for public policy and communications. Also, Thomas Downey, who leads Boeing Commercial Airplanes Communications, will move to Chicago to become VP-corporate communications for the entire company. Connexion by Boeing President Laurette Koellner, 51, will become president-Boeing International Relations, replacing Thomas Pickering, 74, who is retiring.
Delta Air Lines will increase fuel surcharges effective today by $10 each way on transatlantic routes (except France and Italy), by $15 on flights to or from India and by $19 on services to or from Israel. Separately, DL will boost its presence in New York this summer with the following new routes: LaGuardia-Las Vegas Saturdays from June 10 aboard 757s, LGA-Los Angeles Saturdays from June 10 aboard 757s, JFK-Burlington twice-daily from July 5 aboard CRJ200s and JFK-Richmond twice-daily from July 5 (originally scheduled to begin Sept. 9) aboard CRJ200s.
Canada's air navigation services provider, NAV Canada, said it will reduce the weight factor used in calculating its terminal services charge from 0.9 to 0.85 beginning May 1.
Northwest Airlines pilots will receive an $888 million stock claim when the carrier emerges from bankruptcy, according to press reports citing a video on the Air Line Pilots Assn. website. Voting on the new labor deal, which was reached last month ( ATWOnline, March 6) and is worth $358 million in savings to the airline, is being conducted through May 3. The stock claim will represent 13% of all unsecured claims on NWA and will be paid in shares of the reorganized company.
United Airlines signed a five-year, full-content distribution agreement with Worldspan designating the GDS as a "preferred distribution channel." The agreement is expected to be implemented in the next six months. UA signed a similar agreement with Galileo earlier this week. Separately, Worldspan said Mexicana Airlines chose to adopt its Rapid Reprice solution for repricing airline tickets when itineraries change.
Evergreen Air Center will break ground on a new widebody hangar at Pinal Air Park in Marana, Ariz., April 18. The 87,000-sq.-ft. hangar, set to open in early 2007, will be able to accommodate the 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter that will be used to deliver 787 wing and fuselage assemblies to Boeing. Evergreen International Aviation will operate and maintain the aircraft on behalf of Boeing.
Construction of a second main runway at Dublin Airport was approved by the Fingal County Council Planning Dept. earlier this week. Dublin Airport Authority welcomed the decision, calling the runway "a vital component of the overall future development plans to enable the airport to handle in excess of 30 million passengers per annum." DAA said that based on current forecasts, the runway needs to be operational within the next 6-7 years. However, "it is expected that [it] will not be brought into operation until usage of the current runway is maximized."
British Airways reported a 1.8% increase in March RPKs to 9.5 billion and a 2.5% rise in capacity to 12.63 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 0.5 point to 75.2%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.43 billion RPMs in March, a 6.1% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.8% to 7.38 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.5 points to 87.1%. Domestic traffic dropped 9.5% to 3.77 billion RPMs against a 12.9% fall in capacity to 4.46 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.2 points to 84.5%.
World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, authorized the repurchase of up to 2 million shares of its common stock once it files its annual report, which has been delayed.
Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo parent Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, in its first full fiscal year since exiting bankruptcy protection, reported a 2005 profit of $73.9 million on revenue of $1.62 billion, a performance that left the company confident as it pursues a listing of its common stock on a national exchange. "We believe that reaching these milestones will greatly broaden our potential investor base and therefore interest in AAWW, ensuring a more liquid market for our shares," Senior VP and CFO Michael Barna said.
Netherlands and Surinam agreed to liberalize air traffic between the countries effective May 1. Two Dutch carriers, Martinair and ArkeFly, will be allowed to operate the Amsterdam-Paramaribo route. At present, only KLM and Surinam Airways have the right to fly between the capitals. Both TUI-controlled ArkeFly and Martinair reportedly intend to commence twice-weekly services using 767-300ERs.
Southwest Airlines will appeal last week's verdict in a racial profiling case that concluded with a $27.5 million award to a California woman and Iran native who claimed false imprisonment and malicious prosecution following her 2003 arrest in El Paso, according to press reports.
Alaska Airlines will spend $3.5 million to upgrade its terminal at Nome. Work on renovating and expanding the passenger lobby by nearly 1,500 sq. ft. and upgrading the secured passenger area, cargo facility, ground service equipment area, parking lot and water and sewer line connections will begin in June and conclude in March 2007. The carrier operates three daily flights at the airport. Separately, Alaska flew 1.53 billion RPMs in March, a 4.2% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.7% to 1.95 billion ASMs and load factor improved 0.3 point to 78.2%.
Etihad Crystal Cargo, the cargo division of Etihad Airways, said it had more than $15 million in sales last month and handled more than 10,000 shipments.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh yesterday urged the European Commission to move forward with plans to bring EU airlines within the emissions trading scheme "as soon as the technical details can be resolved and political agreement reached." At the same time, he urged the EC to "go for simplicity." For example, the scheme should apply, "initially at least," to flights that start and end within the EU and not try to include non-EU flights, "which could delay implementation for years."
Ryanair will launch nine new routes from its Frankfurt-Hahn base on Oct. 25 and 26, bringing the destinations it serves from HHN to 36. New routes include Ryanair's first services outside the EU, to Fez (thrice-weekly) and Marrakech (four-times-weekly). EasyJet will become the first European no-frills carrier to fly beyond the EU when it launches service to Istanbul and Marrakech this summer. Other new Ryanair routes are to Granada (thrice-weekly), Kaunus (four-times-weekly), Krakow (daily), Murcia (daily), Trieste (thrice-weekly), Verona (daily) and Wroclaw (daily).
Cirrus Airlines, a Lufthansa Regional partner, will start a twice-weekly Munich-Kiel service from May 2 aboard Dash 8s. Malev Hungarian Airlines will re-launch a Budapest-London Gatwick route from May 1 with two daily flights. Malev flies to Heathrow twice-daily. Aeromexico will operate a thrice-weekly Los Angeles-La Paz service through April 30, which it said would target passengers affected by Aerocalifornia's suspension by aviation authorities.
Embraer delivered 27 aircraft in the first quarter comprising four ERJ-145s, eight 170s, one 175, eight 190s and six business or defense aircraft. It expects to deliver 145 aircraft this year and 150 in 2007. During the quarter, Midwest Express confirmed the cancellation of a May 2001 order for 20 ERJ-140s and Embraer said the cancellation will not have an impact on the company's delivery forecast for the coming year. Some 60% of those deliveries are expected to occur in the second half. Firm order backlog of commercial and business aircraft is valued at $10.4 billion.
Wizz Air and Pegasus Aviation Finance announced the closing of a sale and leaseback transaction for four new IAE V2500-powered A320s scheduled for delivery in 2007. Lease term is 11 years.
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey told media in Washington yesterday she is confident that ATC personnel will continue to perform at a high level despite the current impasse over a new labor agreement and that a slowdown or an organized spate of early retirements is "not realistic." She said controllers are "very dedicated [and] take a tremendous amount of pride" in their work and would not act in a manner contrary to their professional or financial self-interest. FAA ended negotiations with the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. last week and sent its final proposal to Congress.
World Airways signed leases for two MD-11s it had been subleasing from Delta Air Lines until the leases were rejected by DL in bankruptcy court in September. A third lease will be signed later this month. World had been operating the aircraft on an interim agreement. Leases with the new owner are on staggered terms through March 2008.
