Bombardier signed a contract with Petroleum Air Services of Egypt for a Q300. PAS previously ordered four Q300s. Baltia Airlines, a startup that will serve St. Petersburg and the Baltics out of New York JFK, said it has secured one 747 for use beginning later this year.
Finnair Group's airport ground handling service company, Northport Oy, is forming a subsidiary to provide services at Oslo Gardermoen from Oct. 1. The new company's first contract will be with Norwegian Air Shuttle.
TAME of Ecuador took delivery of its first two 76-seat Embraer 170s. It also has an order for a 104-seat 190 and options on an additional four aircraft from the 170/190 family.
Qantas will convert four 737-300s to freighters for domestic operator Australian air Express. Work will commence next month and be completed by January, with the aircraft entering service as they are completed from August. The program will use conversion kits developed by Israel Aircraft Industries' Bedek Aviation division. The 737s will replace a fleet of 727-200s. Australian air Express is owned jointly by Qantas and Australia Post.
Dragonair is increasing frequencies to 13 cities including 10 in China with its summer schedule beginning today and running through Oct. 28. The new timetable adds a new destination, Shenyang. Services to Shanghai Changsha, Chengdu, Chongqing, Guilin, Hangzhou, Kunming, Nanjing, Sanya, Xian, Tokyo, Kaohsiung and Phnom Penh will increase. Dragonair will operate 16 flights per day between its Hong Kong base and Shanghai, while 30 additional flights per week will go to the nine other Chinese cities.
Cabin staff at Comair, a Regional partner of Delta Air Lines, will be in bankruptcy court this week attempting to stop a proposed $8.9 million in pay cuts the company has said it needs to survive. The flight attendants, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, balked at the pay cuts and voted Friday by a 93% margin to authorize a strike.
Swiss International Air Lines will add six RJ100s to its fleet during the summer schedule to replace its last ERJ-145s. Separately, Swiss will change terminals at Stockholm Arlanda and Tokyo Narita. In Stockholm it will move into Terminal 5, where most of its future Star Alliance partners are housed. From June 1 it will join its Star partners in the upgraded Terminal 1 at Narita.
Korean Air is boosting summer services and upgrading aircraft used on the Seoul-New York JFK route. Weekly flights to Seattle will increase from three to four and weekly frequencies to Toronto will rise from two to three. Other increases are Paris CDG from five weekly flights to daily, Amsterdam and Zurich to thrice-weekly and Moscow to four-times-weekly. From Aug. 1 Korean will introduce 777-200ERs with cocoon-styled sleeper seats on the JFK route. The aircraft also feature AVOD in all three classes, inflight Internet and revamped interiors.
Iberia said it is very satisfied with the situation at the new Terminal 4 at Madrid Barajas less than two months after it moved its operation into the €6 billion ($7.22 billion) facility. "In most operational parameters we are performing better now than before the move," said Iberia's Luis Garcia Ruiz, who coordinated the relocation. "We're scoring better in punctuality, overall customer satisfaction and baggage punctuality."
BAA intends to close London Heathrow's Terminal 2 in 2009 as part of the reorganization of its airport infrastructure that will follow the March 2008 opening of Terminal 5. T2 opened in 1955 and is LHR's first and oldest terminal. The airport operator expects passenger throughput in T2 to fall to fewer than 1.5 million a year, compared to 9 million at present, once the relocation of airlines and co-location of various alliances is finalized.
Singapore Changi opened its new Budget Terminal Sunday. Tiger Airways, which operates a fleet of four A320s, is the first and only airline currently operating out of the $27.5 million facility, construction of which was completed in January. Tiger operated 16 flights (eight departures and eight arrivals) Sunday. "We are happy to have so many flights on the first day of operations at the new Budget Terminal.
Excel Airways, a UK-based charter carrier, will purchase 10 Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglet shipsets for its fleet of 737-800s, four of which are leased from ILFC and six owned jointly by GE Commercial Aviation Services and Royal Bank of Scotland. APB said Excel will save more than 115,000 gal. of fuel per aircraft per year using the winglets.
IBS Software Services announced that CargoJet of Canada and Northern Air Cargo of Alaska will be the launch customers for its SmartCargo inventory management software.
Boeing is in final negotiations with Emirates for up to 50 787-10s, which will become the fourth model of the fastest-selling twin-aisle aircraft in history. Mike Bair, VP and GM of the 787 program, told media yesterday in a global conference call, "It's not a matter of if but when we are going to do it. We have three versions and there have been a few customers, most notably Emirates, that have asked us for a stretched version with 300 seats." He indicated that up to a dozen carriers are in discussion with Boeing about the model, which would be ready for service late 2012.
Royal Air Maroc will launch a major capacity increase with its summer schedule in an effort to bring more connecting traffic from North America and Europe into Africa. Total network ASKs will lift by more than 30% compared to summer 2005. In detail, RAM will offer 40% more capacity on international flights and 14% more on its domestic network aimed at consolidating traffic at its Casablanca hub. Capacity to France will rise 51% from April 1.
SR Technics will assume full component management and maintenance responsibility for the 32 737-700s SkyEurope Airlines will be introducing from this month onward. The 11-year agreement is expected to generate business worth approximately €45 million ($54.2 million) and "marks a major step for SR Technics into the Central and Eastern European market," the MRO company said. Services will be performed as part of its Integrated Component Solutions offering and include a consignment stock located at Bratislava Airport, 24-hr.
AeroMexico adds new service from Ontario, Calif., to Aguascalientes, Leon/El Bajio and Morelia beginning the week of April 2, bringing the total number of weekly flights from Ontario to 19. Separately, AeroMexico took delivery last week of its first 777 from Boeing. With the delivery, it also "becomes the first airline in the Americas to receive Boeing's Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag," the airframer said. The airline will take a second 777-200ER in April.
Venezuela late last week apparently agreed to rescind a proposed ban on most US airline operations into the country that was set to take effect March 30 ( ATWOnline, March 20), although it was unclear at press time whether the decision was in fact final. Currently, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines and FedEx operate services between the countries.
The US National Transportation Safety Board on Friday urged FAA to order immediate inspections of the inner skin of the composite rudder surfaces of certain A300 series aircraft in order potentially to avert the possibility of "a catastrophic failure of the rudder," NTSB Acting Chairman Mark Rosenker said in a statement.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' preliminary traffic results for February showed a 4.1% growth in international passenger boardings. Passenger traffic (RPKs) rose at the same rate and that, combined with slower expansion of capacity--up 2.5%--pushed load factor up 1.1 points to 73.8%. International freight traffic was more robust, lifting 5.3% in FTKs. Again capacity growth was modest at 2.6%, resulting in a 1.7-point increase in load factor to 66.9%.
The A380 successfully completed its passenger evacuation test yesterday, "paving the way [for European aviation authorities] to certify the aircraft in time for delivery by the end of 2006," Airbus said. The aircraft, A380 MSN7, was fitted with a very-high-density cabin layout featuring 853 seats, all of which were occupied. In addition, there were two cockpit crewmembers and 18 cabin crew from Lufthansa onboard to manage the evacuation.
