European Commission and US Dept. of Justice investigation into alleged price-fixing and anticompetitive activity among major airlines' cargo operations took on a worldwide character as antitrust officials raided the offices of several Asian carriers yesterday following similar unannounced raids at major European carriers and American counterparts American Airlines and United Airlines Tuesday ( ATWOnline Feb.
US FAA named Dr. Frederick Tilton the new Federal Air Surgeon. He served as deputy Federal Air Surgeon for the past six years and replaces recently retired Dr. Jon Jordan.
Hawaiian Airlines signed letters of intent to acquire four 767-300s rejected by Delta Air Lines during its bankruptcy reorganization and said yesterday that it will announce the dates of delivery and introduction into service at a later date. The four aircraft will be overhauled and configured with 18 first class and 242 coach seats and will bring Hawaiian's dash 300 fleet to 18.
WestJet announced the following new daily services: Vancouver-Hamilton from May 1, Toronto-St. John's from May 1, Edmonton-Abbotsford from April 23, Calgary-Halifax May 1-Oct. 28 and Toronto-Victoria May 12-Oct. 28. It also announced frequency increases on 10 additional routes. Gol launches daily Buenos Aires-Asuncion service today.
ANA's board of directors decided yesterday to sell 230.5 million shares of common stock, with an overallotment option of 19.5 million additional shares. The shares constitute about 14% of ANA's outstanding stock and are worth approximately ¥109.6 billion ($929.7 million), according to news reports. The subscription period is scheduled for March 6-8.
United Airlines will add 32 departures from its Denver hub by June, an increase of more than 7% from its current schedule, the carrier announced yesterday. UA credited its resource optimization program ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31) focused on, among other things, reducing turnaround times by an average of 8 min. for making the service increase possible.
Airbus said that A380 MSN004 returned from Iqualit, Canada, near the Arctic Circle, where it "successfully completed the cold weather test campaign." The aircraft is preparing for a trip to Singapore where it will highlight Asian Aerospace 2006, participating in the daily flying display while painted in the livery of Singapore Airlines, which will take first delivery in the fourth quarter. MSN004, the second A380 to fly, spent five days in extreme cold--down to minus 30 deg. C.--to demonstrate full functionality of systems.
SkyEurope Airlines is shifting capacity from Poland, where low-cost competitor Wizz Air holds sway, to the Czech Republic, where the Slovakian carrier will open its fifth base at Prague Ruzyni. "In spite of being influenced by the low-cost revolution mostly from the UK, the market in Prague remains underserved and missed a dedicated low-cost, low-fare airline based there," SkyEurope said. It will take delivery of 16 149-seat 737-700s over the next two years and will base a pair in Prague.
Bombardier said it delivered 337 aircraft in 2005, up slightly over the 329 delivered in 2004. But the increase was owing to robust business jets sales rather than commercial aircraft. Of last year's delivery total, 149 were commercial aircraft compared to 200 in 2004.
Thai Airways said it earned a profit of THB3.8 billion ($96.6 million) in its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, a 33% drop from the THB5.72 billion profit posted in the year-ago quarter, Reuters reported.
Major European airlines including British Airways, Air France-KLM, Lufthansa, SAS and Cargolux are under investigation by the European Commission, European national authorities and the US Dept. of Justice for alleged price-fixing and anticompetitive activity. The EC and several carriers acknowledged that the airlines' European offices were raided yesterday morning, while an FBI spokesperson in Chicago told reporters that Air France-KLM's O'Hare cargo terminal was searched as well. There were no arrests or charges at ORD.
Freddie Laker, whose name became synonymous with low fares, died Feb. 9 in Hollywood, Fla. He was 83. Aviator, showman, entrepreneur and populist, Laker briefly shook up the transatlantic established order with his Skytrain service before going bust as a result of his own mistakes, a ruthless and even illegal response by incumbent competitors, fallout from the DC-10 grounding and the global recession of the early 1980s.
Boeing delivered the 5,000th 737 to Southwest Airlines yesterday. The dash 700 is the 447th 737 to join Southwest's fleet. It expects to take delivery of 33 additional 737s in 2006.
SAS Group yesterday overruled objections by its pilots unions in Sweden and Denmark and announced it is implementing "the operational transfer" of the pilots into the individual airline units in each country effective March 1.
Aegean Airlines extended its engine maintenance and repair agreement with Snecma Services for two more years, until 2009. The deal covers Aegean's CFM56-3s. The original contract, signed in March 2004, encompassed engine MRO plus analysis of inflight performance. The extension includes an exclusive Time & Material provision.
Evans & Sutherland Computer Corp. said Airbus is the launch customer for its EP-10 visual system, which was installed and certified in December on an A320 FNPT II trainer in Toulouse.
Sabre Airline Solutions said Gulf Air and TAP Portugal signed to use its AirServIn-Flight Solutions systems "allowing them to integrate their entire range of catering and cabin services management and drive savings of up to 15% from their total catering budgets." Separately, Sabre Travel Network signed a long-term GDS agreement with online travel agency priceline.com.
Germany's DBA announced that investor Lutz Helmig has taken a 25.1% stake in the airline through his company Aton GmbH. DBA said the deal will double its capital to €20 million ($23.9 million). Helmig founded the Helios Kliniken hospital chain before selling it to Fresenius AG, according to the Associated Press. Helmig becomes DBA's second-largest shareholder after owner Hans Rudolph Woehrl (59.9%), who bought the airline from British Airways in 2003. Remaining investors are DBA's two MDs, Martin Gauss and Peter Wojahn, each of whom holds 7.5%.
The US East Coast's first heavy storm of the winter played havoc with airline schedules Sunday as domestic carriers cancelled more than 2,000 flights in the face of a blizzard that dumped a record 26.9 in. of snow on New York City and more than 17 in. on Boston, with heavy accumulations recorded in Philadelphia and Washington as well.
Shandong Airlines advised the Shandong Stock Exchange that it will acquire eight 737-800s to be delivered in 2007 and 2008. Six will be purchased from Boeing and two will be leased. Thomas Cook Airlines said it will lease a third A330-200 from CIT Group for delivery in October. Aircraft is powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 700s.
Hamburg International, a German charter airline, ordered 14 A319s and took options on a further six. The contract was signed in December, Airbus said. Engine choice and delivery dates were not announced. According to ATW's "World Airline Report," the carrier currently operates six leased 737-700s, which it will replace with the new aircraft.
Cathay Pacific's traffic rose 12.5% in January to 6.08 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 11.4% over the year-ago month to 7.56 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.8 point to 80.4%. Its most significant increases were on North American routes, where traffic rose 21.5% to 1.75 billion RPKs and capacity grew 19.2% to 2.02 billion ASKs.
Consortium TwoOne, led by Vienna airport operator Flughafen Wien, signed a share purchase agreement covering the acquisition of 66% of the Bratislava and Kosice airports in Slovakia.
