Assn. of European Airlines is irritated that authorities are targeting air travelers with yet another tax proposal "for the most questionable motives." Austrian Chancellor Wolfgang Schussel provoked AEA's ire by suggesting last week that taxes on air travel and short-term financial transactions provide revenues that would solve recurring budget problems. Austria currently holds the EU's rotating presidency. "There seems to be a tax epidemic in the air at the moment," AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus said Friday.
Southwest Airlines' board of directors authorized last week the repurchase of up to $300 million worth of common stock, which the carrier said represented approximately 17.9 million shares as of Jan. 18. It has about 804 million shares outstanding. Repurchased shares may be retired or used to fund the carrier's employee stock plans.
The US Transportation Security Administration on Friday announced several parameters for a nationwide smart-card-based Registered Traveler program to be run by the private sector. In a statement, TSA said it could approve qualified RT programs "by June of this year." But the agency apparently is leaving it in the hands of airports and private companies to invest "in approved screening equipment, fund additional screeners and/or obtain space for separate RT screening" in order to provide participants in the program with a speedier trip through security lines.
Delta Air Lines announced that its New York JFK-Kiev Borispol service will operate five-times-weekly from June 5. Delta will be the only US carrier serving Kiev. Separately, the carrier said it is increasing summer service on Delta Connection to Orlando International with new daily flights from Bloomington, Ill. (May 25-Sept. 4 on Freedom Airlines), Moline, Ill. (May 25-Sept. 4 on Comair), Newport News/Williamsburg (May 25-Sept. 4 on Freedom Airlines), Rochester (May 25-Sept. 4 on Comair) and Wichita (May 27-Sept. 2 on Atlantic Southeast). All flights will be aboard 50-seat RJs.
European Parliament advised against the conclusion of an air service agreement between the European Union and Russia absent "the immediate and complete abolition of Russian overflight charges." At the same time, it said a comprehensive aviation agreement between the EU and China is "considered desirable." The MEPs regard the charges imposed by Russia for flights over its territory as a "violation of international law," noting that the cost to European carriers in 2003 amounted to €250 million ($302.6 million).
American Eagle operated its last flight out of its 13-gate, 25,000-sq.-ft. satellite terminal at Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport yesterday. It now will fly out of Terminals A (domestic) and D (international) while gates in Terminal B are retrofitted to handle its smaller aircraft, according to the Fort Worth Star Telegram.
IATA announced the launch of its IATA Catering Quality Assurance program, which it called "the industry's first global food processing safety and quality assurance" initiative. The association will partner with Medina Quality Assurance Services, which will audit catering facilities in compliance with ICQA standards on a contractual basis for program participants.
Globespan Group, parent of Scottish LCC flyglobespan, reported an FY05 pre-tax profit of £6.2 million ($10.94 million), a 67.6% improvement over 2004 earnings of £3.7 million, according to media reports. The company's fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2005. Turnover increased from £98 million to £163 million. Flyglobespan contributed half of the group's profits, up from £2 million in 2004, and flew nearly 1.5 million passengers, an increase of approximately 50%.
Swissport signed a five-year deal with Tiger Airways to handle its entire ground operation at Singapore Changi, where Tiger will become the first tenant of the new Budget Terminal. Value of the agreement was not disclosed.
JetBlue launched service yesterday from Austin, its first Texas destination, to New York JFK (thrice-daily) and Boston (daily) aboard Embraer 190s. It also started a daily Oakland-Ft. Lauderdale service yesterday that is the first nonstop flight between the cities. Separately, JetBlue confirmed it applied last week to commence service to Mexico. A new route from New York to Cancun was opened by the liberalization of the countries' bilateral agreement reached last fall. Delta Air Lines and USA 3000 also applied to operate the route.
SITA SC and SITA INC will be consolidated into a single SITA organization from July, ending the separate structure dating back to 2000. "The integration of the communications services business (SITA SC) and the IT systems, solutions and services business (SITA INC) with the Group Services into a single organization will make it much easier for our customers to do business with SITA. It will also make SITA easier to manage and should also save significant costs which will be passed on to our ATC customers," said Paul Coby, chairman of the boards of SITA SC and the SITA Group Foundation.
Lufthansa Group released an initial earnings projection yesterday indicating it expects to report a €550 million ($665.81 million) operating profit for 2005, well above its November projection of profits "significantly" higher than €400 million ( ATWOnline, Nov. 11) and a 43.6% rise over a 2004 operating result of €383 million. The company said the discrepancy between its 2005 projection and the result "is due to the good performance of the Passenger Business segment at the end of last year."
China Eastern Airlines said its 2005 net profit will narrow by more than 50% from its CNY514.1 million ($63.7 million) 2004 earnings, according to Shanghai Securities News cited by Reuters. China Eastern's results have fluctuated wildly--it reported a CNY471.4 million loss in the first half of 2005 but was CNY673.2 million in the black by the close of the third quarter. It lost CNY949.8 million in 2003.
Focus Aviation announced it completed the sale of two A300-600Rs on behalf of China Airlines to Avion Aircraft Trading, which will lease the aircraft to an unnamed Middle Eastern carrier. One will be converted into a freighter in October.
Star Flyer of Japan plans to launch operations with three 144-seat A320s by March, operating up to 12 daily flights from the new Kitakyushu Airport to Tokyo Haneda. "We will offer higher prices than Skymark but our fares will be around 20% lower than JAL or ANA," Senior Executive Director Yasushi Muto told this website. Launch capital for the new company is around $38 million. An IPO could be planned for 2008.
United Services Flight Training, a division of United Airlines, became the first foreign provider to receive CAAC certification to train Chinese airline pilots. It said it expects to train pilots from two carriers on 757s and A320s at its Denver Flight Training Center.
United Airlines' reorganization plan could be approved by the bankruptcy court today, putting the carrier on course to meet its timetable to complete Chapter 11 restructuring in early February.
US Airways said it reached a transitional agreement with the Assn. of Flight Attendants, representing its 11,000 cabin staff, that will "govern many merger-related aspects of the parties' relationship" until a single agreement can be reached covering all the merged airline's cabin staff. Among other items, the transition deal covers job protection for active members, seniority list integration, job opportunities for furloughed workers and participation by cabin staff from US Airways and America West in a profit-sharing plan.
British Mediterranean Airways, a franchise partner of British Airways, took delivery of the first of seven A321s yesterday. The aircraft, powered by IAE V2500s, seats 149 in a two-class layout. BMED currently flies three leased A320s and three leased A321s on routes from London Heathrow to the Middle East, central Asia and Africa.
Jet Airways yesterday announced it is buying much smaller Air Sahara for $500 million, a step that will give it more than half of India's domestic market based on 2005 boardings, according to press reports. The two carriers had been in talks for some time ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12). Both began flying in 1993 during the first phase of India's airline liberalization. Jet completed an initial public offering of 20% in early 2005, leaving Chairman Naresh Goyal holding 80%.
Viva Air, a proposed low-fare startup based in Macao, expects to announce a fleet decision within the next 10 days. The carrier is looking for up to 12 widebodies to support an international long-haul route network with service commencing in the June/July timeframe. "We are looking to Berlin, Lisbon or Milan with around three to four weekly flights," CEO Andrew Pyne told ATWOnline at the third Low Cost Airline Symposium in Singapore. The carrier has traffic rights out of Macau on 15 routes.
EDS and United Airlines signed a 10-year IT services deal providing desktop, helpdesk, managed services and an upgrade of the carrier's computing and communications environments.
Norwegian Air Shuttle signed a purchase agreement with Bavaria International Aircraft Leasing for a 737-300. It will be the carrier's first fully owned aircraft.
Alitalia said it will cancel 74 flights (48 international, 26 domestic) today due to a one-day cabin staff strike, Reuters reported. The dispute reportedly centers on Alitalia's plans to acquire Volare.
