UPS opened its expanded package sorting hub at Cologne/Bonn Airport after 2.5 years of construction. The new $135 million, 813,000-sq.-ft. facility can handle 110,000 packages per hr., nearly double the original hub's capacity. It represents UPS's largest facility investment outside the US.
ANA Group yesterday raised its profit outlook for the fiscal year ending March 31 to ¥17 billion ($144.8 million) as it reported consolidated net earnings of ¥10.18 billion for the third quarter ended Dec. 31--its 10th consecutive profitable quarter. In the year-ago period, ANA earned ¥5.2 billion. It originally forecast that it would earn ¥10 billion in FY06.
Amadeus said Indian Airlines will implement Amadeus Electronic Ticket Server to fully manage and distribute e-tickets, including interlining. As part of the agreement, IBM will upgrade processes and systems at Indian to IATA e-ticket standards.
Air New Zealand, which had been prepared to outsource its widebody heavy airframe maintenance, repair and overhaul activities, said it accepted a counterproposal from union negotiators "that could see [the work] remain in-house through a combination of redundancies and comprehensive labor reform" ( ATWOnline, Dec. 20). ANZ had set a target of achieving $32 million in savings from widebody airframe MRO over five years.
World Airways pilots, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, went on strike over the weekend after rejecting the carrier's final contract offer Saturday. The two sides had been negotiating throughout last week as the National Mediation Board-mandated 30-day cooling-off period came to a close ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27). Pilots are forbidden to abandon flights for the US military, World's largest customer.
Volvo Aero will increase its participation in the GEnx engine to the tune of an additional SEK6 billion ($787 million) in sales over the next 30 years. Volvo now will be responsible for additional components in the fan module and HPT.
Continental Airlines flight attendants, represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, ratified the four-year labor agreement reached last month, according to the airline ( ATWOnline, Dec. 12). The union is expected to release the voting results and a statement today.
ANA's new cargo airline joint venture with Japan Post will operate as ANA & JP Express or AJV, with flights scheduled to begin in August with three 767Fs ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25, 2005).
South African Express Airways signed a $48.5 million contract to acquire two 74-seat Q400s, the airframer announced. The airline, which will be the first African carrier to operate the turboprop, flies an all-Bombardier fleet of seven Dash 8-300s and six CRJ200s.
Morgan Stanley said it entered into a definitive agreement to sell operating lessor AWAS (formerly Ansett Worldwide Aviation Services) to Terra Firma, a European private equity firm, for $2.5 billion in cash plus the assumption of liabilities.
Emirates will launch thrice-weekly service to Addis Ababa from March 27 aboard A330-200s, increasing to daily on Dec. 1. The airline also said its 777-200 fleet refurbishment is near completion. The project includes new seats in first and business classes, economy class enhancements, in-seat laptop power and personal entertainment and information systems. Remaining work on two of Emirates' nine 777-200s will be completed by January 2007.
Air Baltic will add an eighth 737-500 this spring to help drive a route expansion from its hubs in Riga and Vilnius. New services from Riga will include to Dusseldorf four-times-weekly from March 1, to Warsaw six-times-weekly from March 26, to Simferopol twice-weekly from April 11 and to Bergen thrice-weekly from April 14. Twice-weekly service to Baku and Tbilisi will commence in May, the latter pending approval from Georgian authorities. The carrier also will launch flights from Vilnius to Budapest, Dusseldorf, Stockholm and Warsaw. No details were provided.
US Export-Import Bank is seeking cash offers for the 737-400 it seized last month from Air Nauru ( ATWOnline, Dec. 22). It was the carrier's only aircraft and is being stored by Qantas at Melbourne International Airport. The bank said neither Air Nauru nor the government of Nauru is in negotiations to purchase the aircraft, which will be sold on an "as-is, where-is" basis.
US Airways followed up on its fare reductions on 21 routes earlier this month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 10) with cuts ranging from 39% to 55% on flights from Charlotte, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and New York LaGuardia to 14 cities in the Midwest and Southeast, as well as to Seattle from Charlotte.
SAS Ground Services Norway opened Europe's first infrared deicing hangar at Oslo Airport earlier this month. The hangar will work as a supplement to ordinary deicing for the remainder of the winter season, SAS said.
United Airlines said it aims to shave average turn times by 8 min., freeing up "at least 10 aircraft in 2006." It plans to "reduce and reallocate block time" and said it already has achieved "more than a one-minute reduction in taxi-out time."
Boeing unveiled a new no-charge carbon brake option on the 737NG that it said will reduce weight by up to 700 lb. and increase the wear life for up to twice as many landings. The brakes will be supplied by Goodrich and Messier-Bugatti and will be available for delivery in early 2008. They also will be available for retrofit. "Carbon brakes offer the same stopping performance as steel brakes but with the added benefit of a significant weight savings," 737 Chief Project Engineer Mike Delaney said.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, announced yesterday the upcoming retirement of President and CEO Jeffrey Erickson, who steered the company out of bankruptcy in 2004.
Delta Air Lines will increase service to Mexico, adding Saturday flights from Boston and Washington Dulles to Cancun. Service begins June 3 aboard 737-800s. Romanian Regional carrier Carpatair will add a 10th destination to its domestic network. A Saab 340 will start thrice-weekly flights from Timisoara to Suceava on March 7. The carrier also plans thrice-weekly Timisoara-London Stansted service from March 27 using F100s. Carpatair operates two F100s, nine Saab 2000s and three Saab 340s.
ATA Airlines received approval yesterday to emerge from bankruptcy. "I don't see any indication we won't be dealing with a solvent entity in April," Judge Basil H. Lorch III said, according to the Associated Press. ATA is expected to announce details of its emergence today.
Northwest Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., remain adamantly opposed to the carrier's plan to create a separate airline subsidiary to operate large regional jets or to relaxing their scope agreement to permit Northwest's Regional partners to fly RJs seating up to 76. In a message to pilots, ALPA said, "NWA management needs to realize that NewCo or 'NewCo-like' is unacceptable to the NWA pilot group." NWA has filed a Section 1113 request with the bankruptcy court for authority to impose an agreement ( ATWOnline, Jan.
JetBlue Airways is looking into interline or codeshare agreements with one or more international carriers, CEO David Neeleman told ATWOnline. "There are a lot of people interested in our network," said Neeleman, who spoke at the Raymond James Growth Airline Conference in New York last week. "We could have something by the end of 2006."
US National Transportation Safety Board issued an "urgent safety recommendation" to FAA requesting that the agency "prohibit airlines from using credit for the use of thrust reversers when calculating stopping distances on contaminated runways." The recommendation comes out of the Board's continuing investigation into the Dec. 8 Southwest Airlines runway overrun accident at Chicago Midway ( ATWOnline, Dec. 16). According to NTSB, FAA does not allow the use of the reverse thrust credit when determining dispatch landing distances.
