Royal Air Maroc is adding three weekly flights from New York JFK to Casablanca from the week of May 14 through the week of Oct. 22 and a fourth flight from the week of June 18 through Sept. 5. Weekly frequency will increase to nine. United Airlines' Regional operation United Express launched the following new or expanded services last week: San Francisco-Edmonton and Denver-Knoxville (no frequency provided on either route); Los Angeles-Albuquerque (thrice-daily); Washington Dulles to Daytona Beach (twice-daily), Myrtle Beach (increased to thrice-daily) and St.
US Airways is recalling up to 55 of its 1,574 furloughed pilots. The addition of three 757s played a part in prompting the carrier's decision. The US Airways MEC of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said in a message to members last week that bidding will close on Feb. 19 and become effective in May and June.
Delta Air Lines likely will seek to terminate its pilot pension plan during its bankruptcy reorganization, a top member of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said on Thursday as he repeated a warning that the union will go on strike if the carrier attempts to cancel the existing labor contract and impose a new one. In a letter to members posted on the ALPA website, Delta MEC Chairman Lee Moak said, "Management has not funded our plan in bankruptcy and now acknowledges that due to their actions, our pension plan will likely be terminated."
Ryanair was granted an injunction Friday from the TAR Lazio court stopping the diversion of flights to Rome from its base at Ciampino to Fiumicino. Seven Ryanair flights arriving after midnight have been diverted to FCO in the past six weeks, affecting more than 1,000 onboard passengers with a further 1,000 delayed the following morning at CIA as aircraft arrived from FCO. Ryanair bases five aircraft at CIA. "Ryanair is committed to using its new quieter aircraft to minimize noise generation at Rome Ciampino.
Lufthansa flew 8 billion RPKs in January, up 0.8% over January 2004 on a 2.6% rise in capacity to 11.13 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 1.3 points to 72%. The number of passengers rose 3.1% to 3.64 million. European traffic grew 5.8% on 7.1% capacity growth attributable to new connections to Eastern Europe and the BetterFly low-fare offers from Hamburg and Dusseldorf ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8).
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, announced it will lay off 600 management and salaried employees, representing 20% of the nonunion workforce, as it reported a fourth-quarter net loss of C$103 million ($89.7 million), largely attributed to a C$146 million increase in fuel expense during the seasonally weak fall quarter although other costs rose as well. ACE reported a slender profit of C$15 million in the 2004 fourth quarter owing to foreign exchange gains.
FL Group announced Friday that it intends to spin off Icelandair Group into an independent subsidiary through a listing on the Iceland Stock Exchange as the parent "has undergone considerable changes recently and is now an investment company." Kaupthing Bank and Islandsbanki will manage the process, which is scheduled to be completed by mid-year. Further details will be available in the spring. FL Group also has opted to sell Reykjavik Excursions and Icelandair Car Rental, which are part of FL Travel Group, whose remaining companies will be brought into Icelandair Group.
Boeing said last week that it will close its Melbourne, Ark., facility during the second quarter. "This decision reflects the unfortunate business realities facing the Melbourne operations," said Joy Romero, director of the Boeing Commercial Airplanes Salt Lake City facility, which will absorb Melbourne's remaining work. The facility served as an MRO station for MD and dash 700 series doors and flight controls.
Horizon Air will purchase two Q400 turboprops previously operated by Hainan Airlines. Aircraft will transfer from China to Calgary for refurbishment with entry into service scheduled for June and July. Horizon operates 18 Q400s.
Assn. of European Airlines members' punctuality fell in 2005 for the second consecutive year as 80.7% of short- and medium-haul flights departed within 15 min. of schedule compared with 82.7% in 2004 and 70.8% of long-haul flights took off within 15 min. of schedule, down from 72.6% in 2004. The 27 AEA member carriers that provided punctuality data operated some 3.64 million short- and medium-haul flights at a 98.5% completion rate. Regularity of long-haul flights stood at 99.4%, with a total of 274,003 flights operated by 21 AEA members.
Iberia introduced online check-in for passengers flying from London Heathrow. It said it is the first of 29 carriers at LHR's Terminal 2 to offer the service.
American Airlines and the Transport Workers Union representing its mechanics reached agreement on a goal "to obtain $150 million in value creation" at its Kansas City Maintenance & Engineering Base and to make the base a profit center by the end of 2007 through developing third-party business and implementing Continuous Improvement. The base, acquired in AA's purchase of TWA in 2000, employs 900 people. The goal was set by a joint team of base management and labor leaders who met recently under the carrier's Working Together initiative.
US Airways will become the second carrier in the US after JetBlue to operate the Embraer 190 after altering an existing order for 85 170s--57 of which are still to be delivered--to an order for 25 190s and 32 additional "firm 190s subject to reconfirmation," according to a joint statement from Embraer and US Airways. The deal also includes up to 50 options for other aircraft in the 170/190 family. Deliveries will resume in November. US Airways announced the original order for 170s in May 2003 in between its two bankruptcy reorganizations.
US Airways will launch flights from Philadelphia to Milan, Lisbon and Stockholm. Daily Milan service will begin May 30 aboard 767s, daily Stockholm service will operate June 3-Oct. 8 aboard 767s and four-times-weekly Lisbon service will run June 7-Oct. 28 aboard 757s. Finnair will launch twice-weekly Helsinki-Krakow service on Apr. 13 and double its service to Warsaw with the addition of five weekly flights from March 26. All flights will be operated using Embraer 170s. It will launch weekly flights to Kiev from March 30 with a 170.
Air Canada will install the Boeing Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag on the 777s and 787s it ordered last year ( ATWOnline, Nov. 10, 2005), becoming the first North American carrier to operate a Class 3 EFB. AC will take delivery of the first of 18 777s in 2007 and the first of 14 Dreamliners the following year. Boeing is making the EFB standard on the 787.
MAIR Holdings, parent of Mesaba and Big Sky Airlines, reported a net loss of $4.5 million for the third quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to net earnings of $1.5 million for the same period a year earlier. Mesaba, which operates as a Northwest Airlink partner, declared bankruptcy in October. Total operating revenues for the third quarter were $21.2 million and operating expenses were $28.3 million.
Aer Lingus signed a letter of intent to purchase two A330s for delivery in mid-2007. They will be powered by GE CF6-80E1s. Aer Lingus already operates seven A330s, four of which are leased. It continues to evaluate "new-generation long-haul fleet opportunities," according to CEO Dermot Mannion.
SkyWest Airlines reported a 2005 net income of $112.3 million, a 37% increase over 2004, owing to a 70% jump in operating revenue to $2 billion that was attributable in large part to the $426 million acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines from Delta Air Lines last fall ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9, 2005). Operating income rose from $144.7 million in 2004 to $220.4 million in 2005. SkyWest operates as a Regional partner of Delta and United Airlines. For the fourth quarter ended Dec.
IATA helped resolve an escalating aeropolitical row at London Heathrow over allocation of scarce fuel supplies following the Dec. 11 fire at the Buncefield fuel depot.
United Airlines is adding ramp and customer service employees at its Chicago O'Hare hub as well as better IT tools to improve operational performance at the airport, according to Senior VP-Airport Operations Larry DeShon, who spoke to employees in a weekly taped message. United has allocated close to $1 million for radios, scanners, new computers for the Station Operations Control center and other tools. It also is expanding training on the ramp so more guidance people are available to receive and dispatch aircraft.
Delta Air Lines is seeking approval to become the only US airline operating scheduled service to Africa with the prospective launch of a daily Atlanta-Johannesburg service via Dakar beginning in December aboard two-class 777s. Delta said it received US approval to operate Atlanta-Quito-Guayaquil service from June 8 aboard 757-200s. It is awaiting Ecuadorian approval. Cathay Pacific said its thrice-weekly service to Manchester via Moscow has been postponed from a scheduled startup of March 27 owing to a delay in securing regulatory approval for the Manchester segment.
US Transportation Security Administration Assistant Secretary Kip Hawley told a Senate committee yesterday that the Secure Flight program, the successor to the ill-fated CAPS II initiative, "continues to be a source of frustration" and will be delayed as IT systems "go through a comprehensive recertification process." Hawley added: "We will move forward with the Secure Flight program as expeditiously as possible, but in view of our need to establish trust with all our stakeholders on the security and privacy of our systems and data, my priority is to ensure that we do it right. .
Avion Group, parent of wet-lease specialist Air Atlanta Icelandic, announced yesterday that it has acquired the entire issued share capital of French charter carrier Star Airlines. Purchase price was not disclosed, but the Icelandic transportation solutions group said it is financing the acquisition through equity and debt. Star was owned by Franco-Egyptian businessman Raymond Lakah.
