Airline of the Year Cathay Pacific Airways Sixty years ago this September, Roy Farrell and Syd de Kantzow, the one an American, the other an Australian, created an airline in Hong Kong. Pilots both, they had become acquainted during World War II while flying the famous "Hump Route" between India and China. Perhaps after surviving that experience, the thought of trying to make a living by transporting people and cargo for money didn't seem so crazy.
After a year in which Airbus and Boeing booked more than 2,000 new firm orders, is it possible that they will do even better in 2006? The history of recent past cycles suggests the answer may be yes, as hard as that is to believe. The outlook should become clearer when the global aerospace community meets at the Changi Exhibition Center Feb. 21-26 for the biennial Singapore show.
This month, Vueling Airlines and JetBlue Airways are trialing an exchange program whereby cabin staff from the Barcelona-based low-cost carrier are heading to New York to fly with JetBlue and some of the latter's attendants are coming to Spain to fly with Vueling.
Blacklists are not a safety tool favored by the airline industry, which believes they are punitive and do nothing directly to improve safety. But with an increasing number of countries now making public their own national listings, the European Parliament has approved plans for introduction of a Europewide blacklist of airlines that do not meet a common set of safety requirements.
JetBlue Airways and TAP Portugal appear to have little in common with one another. The former is a newcomer, just turned six, built from the ground up as a low-cost airline. TAP fits all the descriptions of a legacy carrier, born at the end of World War II and forced today to confront an environment vastly different from the one for which it was created. Yet both share a similar ability to find successin JetBlue's case virtually from startup, while for TAP it is more a case of renewal.
With this issue, ATW continues for a 32nd year one of our proudest traditions: The presentation of our Annual Achievement Awards. In an industry that sets its internal bar very high, the seven winners each have accomplished things that the editors of ATW view as extraordinary.
For students of China's rapidly growing but often puzzling airline industry, at least two developments during 2005 needed no explanation. The landslide victory in early December of the pro-reunification Party in Taiwan's municipal elections sent a clear message that reunification will be a key issue in the country's 2008 presidential election, paving the way for unrestricted direct flights between Taiwan and China.
If China is to become the world's largest aviation market by 2020, it will have to move mountains of earth to provide enough runways. The country has just 196 certified airports for transport aircraft and 329 "GA Temporary Landing Points" to serve a population of just over 1.3 billion. By comparison, the US with 270 million people has 14,807 airports, while Australia with just over 20 million has 444 and tiny Iceland has 100.
Sabre Travel Network signed a "long-term" agreement to provide GDS services to Priceline.com, another erosion of Worldspan's position as the online technology leader. Priceline president and chief executive Jeffery Boyd said a principle reason for the deal is that it "provides us with redundancy in case of technical problems at Worldspan."
When 18-year-old Shawn "Napster" Fanning invented the software that turned the music industry on its head, he also engendered a vast community of young file-swappers. There are 250 million registered users of "peer-to-peer computing" networks worldwide. According to Big Champagne, a market research company that measures consumption of digital media, more music is now acquired online than on CD. The phenomenon is spreading to other forms of entertainment as well.
Aeroxchange named Jim Taylor CFO. All Nippon Airways appointed Damion Martin to head all non-Japanese PR. Assn. of European Airlines selected Wolfgang Mayrhuber, CEO and chairman of the executive board of Lufthansa, as chairman for 2006. ATA Airlines Holdings announced that Subodh Karnick becomes COO, Senior VP John Graber adds GM-military & charter operations to his responsibilities and Doug Yakola becomes CFO. Aviapartner tapped Rob Kuijpers as nonexecutive chairman and Andrew Burnett as business development mgr.
Austrian Airlines Group will end all long-haul charter flying by its Lauda Air leisure subsidiary at the end of the current winter season, with its six 767-300ERs and 777-200ERs repainted in Austrian Airlines' livery. Some charter flights, such as those to Mauritius, will be terminated, while others will become scheduled services, CCO Josef Burger told ATWOnline.
China Eastern Airlines took delivery of its first A330-300 on Jan. 25, becoming the aircraft type's first operator in China. The Trent 700-powered aircraft will seat 300 passengers in a two-class configuration.
Spirit AeroSystems, the former Boeing Wichita facility spun off and sold to Onex Corp. last year, will acquire the Aerostructures business unit of BAE Systems for £80 million ($142 million) plus certain liabilities in a transaction expected to be completed before July. The BAE unit, which employs more than 800, has facilities in Prestwick, Scotland, and Samlesbury, England, and produces structural components, chiefly on wings. It had revenues of approximately $367 million last year, more than 80% of which came from its work as a supplier to Airbus on the A320, A330 and A340.
Air One won its appeal to block Alitalia's takeover of Volare Airlines, La Stampa reported. A Roman civil court argued it would be improper for Alitalia to spend part of a €400 million ($483.7 million) state-guaranteed bridge loan to buy the bankrupt LCC rather than to address its own financial difficulties. Alitalia bid €38 million for Volare ( ATWOnline, Jan. 10). Air One said it was satisfied with the ruling, whereas Alitalia described the court's decision as "abnormal," claiming it did not respond directly to Air One's appeal.
IATA's year-end traffic report released yesterday indicates that international passenger traffic rose 7.6% in 2005 and freight traffic grew 3.2%, but the industry is expected to have lost $6 billion despite the improvement on large losses among US airlines ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15). "Growth and profitability are completely different concepts," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said. Passenger capacity climbed 6.3% over 2004 and load factor increased 0.9 point to 75.1%.
Airbus began construction of its Mobile Engineering Center with a groundbreaking ceremony Monday. The center is scheduled to open in January 2007 and will employ at least 150 engineers at full capacity. It will be responsible initially for assignments related to the A350.
Bombardier announced yesterday that it is putting the CSeries aircraft program on hold after failing to find a launch customer for its proposed 110/130-seat jet, but it stopped short of pulling the plug entirely. "We are not talking a cancellation. We are putting together a team to rethink the program," Bombardier Aerospace President and CEO Pierre Beaudoin said during a conference call. "We have to have firm orders before moving ahead on CSeries." The company is looking for potential partners in growth areas like China, India and Russia, "including Sukhoi," he confirmed.
LAN Cargo named Cristian Ureta CEO. He most recently was the carrier's COO. UAL Corp. named Cindy Szadokierski VP-Chicago O'Hare operations. Ajay Singh will replace her as VP-corporate real estate.
Triumph Composite Systems of Spokane was awarded a $200 million multiyear supply contract by Vought Aircraft Industries, a structural integration partner in the 787 program. Triumph will provide products including composite ducting, machined metal parts and fittings, window assemblies, hydraulic tubing and insulation to Vought.
ATA Holdings released settlement distribution details concerning its late February exit from Chapter 11 protection, which was confirmed orally by a US Bankruptcy Court judge Monday ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31) and was due to receive official approval yesterday. Unsecured creditors will receive distributions of new common stock representing 7% of the outstanding equity in the new holding company in addition to warrants to acquire 2% of the new common stock outstanding upon emergence.
SAS Group's Spanair subsidiary is adding 30 weekly flights between Spanish tourist destinations Malaga, Alicante and Palma Majorca and Scandinavian markets Copenhagen and Stockholm. All flights will be aboard one-class MD-80s. Individual city-pairs will be serviced 2-4 times weekly.
Etihad Airways took delivery of the first of five new 777-300ERs Monday in Abu Dhabi. The aircraft, which seats 378 in two classes and has space for 20 tons of cargo, will be used on Etihad's Frankfurt service.
