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.
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.
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."
