ICAO Council elected Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez of Mexico to complete the term of Council President Assad Kotaite, who will step down July 31 after 30 years in the post. Gonzalez, who will take over Aug. 1 and serve for one year, was elected over Philippe Rochat of Switzerland. Gonzalez has served on the Council since January 1998. Kotaite had indicated when he stood for reelection in 2004 that he would not serve his full term. Rochat, a former secretary general of ICAO, is executive director of the Air Transport Action Group.
IATA reported that the world's airlines continued their momentum into the new year as international passenger traffic rose 6.2% in January while airfreight grew 5.3%, suggesting that the world economy may be heating up after last year's second-half slowdown in FTKs. Total passenger capacity climbed 4.6% and cabin factor was 74.6%. Cargo capacity kept pace with the rise in traffic with ATKs up 5.2%. Strongest RPK growth was recorded by Middle East airlines, up 18.3% on an 11.7% rise in ASKs.
Boeing announced it has reached an agreement to acquire Carmen Systems, a Swedish company that provides crew scheduling and disruption management software for airlines and railroads. Carmen, which employs approximately 300 and also operates in Canada and Australia, will become a Jeppesen subsidiary. Details of the transaction were not provided. "Carmen Systems' crew scheduling and optimization, and disruption and recovery management products complement Jeppesen's existing aviation portfolio, bringing us new capabilities," said Boeing Commercial Aviation Services VP and GM Lou Mancini.
Business Turnaround Plan released last week by Malaysia Airlines charts a course for a return to the black by 2007 and outlines an economic, operational and philosophical overhaul of the underachieving carrier, which admitted that low yields and surging costs will exhaust its cash by April unless it implements drastic changes ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28). Following three consecutive loss-making quarters, MAS said its "primary obligation to the government and all other shareholders is to drive top-tier financial performance.
Northwest Airlines and negotiators for its pilots union reached a tentative agreement on a new contract Friday afternoon, postponing the near-term possibility that the US Bankruptcy Court will impose a settlement, potentially leading to a walkout by the pilots. In a statement, NWA said the agreement provides all of the $358 million in annual labor and benefit cost savings it is seeking from cockpit crewmembers. Further details were not provided.
Delta Air Lines reported a $300 million net loss for January including $87 million in reorganization charges, which compares to a $314 million deficit in January 2005.
Lufthansa Flight Training announced that it will have an A380 flight simulator from Thales available from early 2008. Currently, LFT operates 32 flight simulators of 20 different aircraft types and provides training outside the Lufthansa companies to 100 other airlines.
Elysair, a French version of all-business-class carriers Maxjet Airways and Eos, is expected to take to the skies in October, La Tribune, reported. French DGAC awarded an AOC on Feb. 22. Elysair initially intends to launch a Paris Orly-Newark service aboard a single-class 757. If successful, it plans to operate to Los Angeles, Dubai and Sao Paulo.
MAXJet Airways rescheduled the March 15 launch of its all-business-class service between Washington Dulles and London Stansted to April 3. The carrier said the postponement is due to "finalizing servicing and outfitting of the new aircraft." Frequency was raised from four-times-weekly to five.
Aer Lingus announced the following appointments to its senior management team: COO Niall Walsh to deputy chief executive, Greg O'Sullivan to finance director, Enda Corneille to commercial director, Stephen Kavanagh to planning director, Liz White to human resources director and Dick Butler to ground operations director.
Boeing received orders for 25 commercial transports and one BBJ in the period Feb. 1-March 1 inclusive, bringing year-to-date orders to 65, according to information on the company's website. February orders included three 737s from Alaska Airlines, three from WestJet and 16 from an unidentified customer(s) for a total of 22. Unidentified customer(s) also ordered two 747s and one 767.
American Airlines reported a 2.7% increase in February traffic to 9.86 billion RPMs. Capacity dropped 1.2% to 13.14 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.8 points to 75%. Domestic RPMs increased 2.2% to 6.63 billion as capacity fell 3.5% to 8.5 billion ASMs and load factor rose 4.3 points to 78%. International traffic climbed 3.7% to 3.23 billion RPMs on a 3.4% rise in capacity to 4.65 billion ASMs. Load factor inched up 0.2 point to 69.4%. Continental Airlines said its estimated February consolidated RASM increased 8%-9% over the year-ago month.
International Aero Engines said Adria Airways, the launch customer for the V2500, signed on as the first European customer for the V2500Select aftermarket program, a combined engine upgrade and support initiative. The upgrades will be released in 2008 and retrofitted to Adria's three V2500-powered A320s. Mexicana Airlines also extended its V2500Select agreement to cover its 26 A320s and six spare engines.
Korean Air and AeroMexico announced a codeshare agreement effective March 1 allowing Korean Air passengers arriving in Los Angeles to connect to AeroMexico flights to Mexico City and Guadalajara. AeroMexico passengers will be able to connect through LAX to KAL's Seoul service. The airlines already share loyalty program reciprocity through SkyTeam.
Air Gabon International is the newly formed flag carrier of the Central African country. After the signing of a shareholder agreement between the transport minister of Gabon and Royal Air Maroc President and GM Driss Benhima, the new carrier will begin operations at the end of the first quarter with a fleet of two aircraft, probably 737-700s. It will provide services from Libreville to France, Morocco, South Africa, Malawi, Brazzaville and Angola. RAM was selected to participate following a consultation launched by the Gabonese government.
SAS Group extended its communications agreement with Telenor until 2010. The SEK350 million ($43.9 million) deal calls for the supply of all fixed and mobile telephone services to SAS in Sweden, Denmark and Norway.
Delta Air Lines and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., are heading to arbitration after the parties were unable to reach an agreement Wednesday evening on a concessionary accord to help the carrier emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Delta Air Lines' denials notwithstanding, an analysis of its schedule filings reveals significant cutbacks in its Northeast-to-Florida service, according to JP Morgan's Jamie Baker. Late last week, Baker upgraded his full-year outlook for JetBlue from loss to profit owing to the Delta flight reductions ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28). But on Feb. 27, Delta vigorously denied it was cutting service and said that the inadvertent omission of Comair's services at LaGuardia had created a false impression.
Air Canada launched daily New York JFK-Calgary service Wednesday using a 93-seat Embraer 190. Emirates will operate eight-times-weekly service to Bangalore beginning Oct. 29 using both A330-200s and 777-200s. Frontier Airlines will launch twice-daily Denver-Calgary service from May 25. Flights will be operated by Horizon Air as Frontier JetExpress. Air Baltic started four weekly flights from Riga to Dusseldorf on March 1 using 737-500s.
Air Malta reported falling revenues through the first nine months of its fiscal year that shifted its operating result MTL2.3 million ($6.4 million) into the red for the period ended Dec. 31. It reported a MTL291,000 operating profit for the corresponding period in 2004. Operating revenue decreased 3.2% to MTL81.5 million. Revenues for the third fiscal quarter dropped 4.7% to MTL19.9 million. Despite a slight 0.8% reduction in costs to MTL24.5 million, operating loss widened to MTL4.6 million from a MTL3.8 million deficit in the year-ago quarter, ATWOnline calculated.
Heico Parts Group and China Aviation Import and Export Group Corp. entered into a partnership for the promotion of Heico Aerospace aircraft and engine replacement parts in China.
Air France faces a one-day strike on March 7 as five umbrella organizations of French labor unions plan to join a national demonstration against a new government policy introduced by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin aimed at relaxing employment regulations for young workers. The unions involved are CGT, CFE-CGDC, CFDT, FO and Sud aerien.
Northwest Airlines and its pilots continued to negotiate on a concessionary agreement yesterday even as a ruling by the bankruptcy court on the carrier's bid to impose a new contract was believed to be imminent. The parties originally had until Feb. 17 to reach an accord before Judge Allan Gropper was to have ruled on Northwest's request to cancel its labor agreements but were given an extension through March 1 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 27).
Burdened by the boardroom upheaval that cost CEO Toshiyuki Shinmachi his job this week, widening losses that reached ¥11 billion ($94.9 million) last quarter and several well-publicized safety-related incidents, Japan Airlines yesterday released an extended five-year, medium-term business plan designed to "win back the trust and confidence" of stakeholders and customers, create a more unified and open corporate culture and return the airline to profitability in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2007.
