Precision Conversions received an STC from FAA to carry out passenger-to-freighter conversions of PW2000-powered 757-200s. In conjunction with the awarding of the STC, CAAC approved the conversion, clearing the way for delivery of the first converted aircraft to Shanghai Airlines. The work was carried out on behalf of ILFC, which is leasing the jet to the Chinese carrier. Work will begin shortly on converting a second ILFC 757 for Shanghai Airlines. Precision received an STC for conversion of Rolls-Royce-powered 757s last June.
Germanwings said turnover rose 60% in 2005 to around €400 million ($480 million). It transported 5.5 million passsengers, up 57%. Load factor reached 83%. The number of employees grew from 459 to 704. For 2006 the carrier expects a 36% increase in passengers to more then 7.5 million. Turnover is expected to exceed €570 million.
Austrian Airlines Group announced yesterday that it plans to start scheduled services to Erbil in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The twice-weekly service will be operated with A319s from March 9 and will increase to three flights per week in May.
Emphasis Media of Hong Kong and Publicitas Promotion Network named Moritz Wuttke CEO of Emphasis Media and CEO-Asia/Pacific of PPN. US FAA named David Bowen chief information officer and assistant administrator for information services. He replaces Daniel Mehan, who retired in September.
Singapore completed its new Budget Terminal for low-cost carriers at Changi. The facility, which will open in March, is 25,000 sq. m. in size, or about a tenth as large as Terminal 1 at Changi. The name of the terminal was selected through a naming contest that drew 12,000 entries, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore.
EasyJet said it flew 2.4 million passengers in December, an 11.1% increase over the year-ago month. Load factor dipped 0.2 point to 80.5%. For the year, the carrier reported 17.8% passenger growth to 30.3 million and a 0.3-point rise in load factor to 84.9%. It also said unaudited annual revenue jumped 20.5% to £1.38 billion ($2.44 billion) from £1.15 billion. Separately, EasyJet announced that Group Finance Director Jeff Carr was appointed company secretary, replacing Deborah Abrehart, who resigned.
US Airways is cutting fares on 21 routes between markets in the eastern and midwestern US and its hubs in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Charlotte. Sample fares provided by the airline show reductions of between 42% (Charlotte-Indianapolis, Philadelphia-Akron) and 61% (Pittsburgh-Syracuse).
Air France-KLM Group reported an 11.9% increase in December traffic to 15.6 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 9% to 19.54 billion ASKs and load factor rose 2.1 points to 79.8%. Passengers enplaned increased 8% over the year-ago month to 5.6 million. Cargo RTKs grew 7.5% to 985 million against a 9% lift in ATKs to 1.4 billion and cargo load factor declined 1 point to 70.4%. Northwest Airlines reported systemwide December traffic of 5.82 billion RPMs, a decline of 5.7% from December 2004. ASMs dropped 8.6% to 7.21 billion and load factor was up 2.5 points to 80.7%.
Qantas launched thrice-weekly Sydney-Beijing service yesterday. The carrier said it intends to operate daily service to Beijing and Shanghai "within two years" aboard two-class A330-300s and noted that the travel market between the countries has increased 22% in the past year. It flies to Shanghai four times weekly. AeroMexico will expand its Mexico City-San Diego service from two to four flights per week beginning Jan. 12. It is pulling service from Dallas/Ft. Worth on Feb. 5 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9)
US FAA last week proposed to fine Alaska Airlines $500,000 for flying a 737 without required cabin floor lighting on 478 revenue flights between July 12 and Dec. 2, 2004. The agency said Goodrich Aviation Technical Services performed "extensive" MRO on the aircraft but did not reinstall the floor proximity lighting system's emergency exit identifier lights. Following 40 additional inspections, Alaska discovered the problem and installed the identifier lights on Feb. 2, 2005.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. remains on course to leave bankruptcy in early February after the company announced the launch of its oversubscribed exit financing loan for up to $3 billion. The six-year loan consists of a $300 million revolving credit facility and an up-to-$2.7 billion term loan, both priced at LIBOR plus 450 basis points. It is secured by "substantially all available assets."
Australia's business-only airline OzJet is showing further signs of stress after only two months, announcing a two-for-one fare deal designed to overcome slow business during the domestic holiday season. The giveaway offer comes as the fledgling carrier struggles with threadbare loads on the three 737-200s it operates on the busy business route between Sydney and Melbourne. Launched Nov. 29, Ozjet also has halved its schedule to four return flights per day but plans to return to full service at the end of January.
Vietnam will build a $158 million international airport on Phu Quoc island, according to media reports. It will open in 2008 and is expected to handle 2.5 million passengers per year.
Copenhagen Airport reduced its takeoff charge for cargo flights by 3% on Jan. 1 and introduced a cap on cargo flight charges to the first 200 tons. The new rate is DKK63.25 ($10.25) per 1,000 kg. or part thereof. It will rise to DKK63.90 in 2007 and DKK64.55 the following year.
Northwest Airlines' markets are particularly well-adapted for new-generation large regional jets, the company argues in a special edition of its internal newsletter Passages. As previously reported, the carrier is seeking permission from its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., to create a standalone subsidiary to operate 70/100-seat jets ( ATWOnline, Jan. 6).
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports handled nearly 100 million passengers last year, a new record. A final tally is still a couple of weeks away, but preliminary figures suggest a 6% rise in passenger throughput, the Port Authority said. JFK handled nearly 41 million, Newark 33 million and LaGuardia about 26 million.
Preston Aviation Solutions, a Boeing subsidiary, announced that Dubai's Dept. of Civil Aviation will use its Total Airspace and Airport Modeler software. NavAero received an STC for its tbag C2 squared electronic flight bag system installed as a Class II EFB on a Miami Air International 737-800. Air One reached agreement with Accenture and Trax USA to implement the latter's Trax Engineering and Maintenance software. Click Commerce announced that American Airlines will implement its Service Parts Optimization and Planning solution.
Frontier Airlines mechanics, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, approved a three-year labor contract. The agreement was reached in December and includes a 3% pay raise over the life of the deal, reinstitution of a company 401(k) match, increased pension contributions and other benefits, according to media reports. Separately, Frontier intends to begin serving five cities in Canada in late May, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
ANA said it will retire its last 747SR March 10 following a flight from Kagoshima to Tokyo Haneda. The carrier's first 747SR took flight 27 years ago. It was the first aircraft to carry 500 passengers in an all-economy configuration. At one point ANA operated a fleet of 23 of the type.
Honeywell will provide its Runway Awareness and Advisory System to Lufthansa, it announced Friday. RAAS uses GPS technology to compare an aircraft's location against a database of airport runways and provides audio alerts.
AeroMexico and Mexicana Airlines plan to end service from Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport, according to media reports. AeroMexico, which has served DFW since 1994 and operates one flight per day to Mexico City, will cease operations Feb. 5. Mexicana will leave DFW Jan. 10. It flew once daily to Guadalajara, four times per week to Morelia and thrice-weekly to Zacatecas. AeroMexico codeshares with Delta Air Lines and was hurt by the latter's withdrawal from DFW last year.
National Air Traffic Services said it handled a record 2.3 million flights through British airspace in 2005, a rise of 5.7% over the previous year and the highest annual growth since 1999.
American Airlines' December system traffic rose 4.6% over the year-ago month to 11.49 billion RPMs. Capacity dropped 1.1% to 14.55 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 4.3 points to 78.9%. The number of enplaned passengers lifted 4.8% to 8.2 million. Domestically, RPMs rose 2.6% to 7.55 billion, ASMs fell 4.5% to 9.42 billion and load factor surged 5.6 points to 80.1%. International traffic grew 8.8% to 3.94 billion RPMs with capacity up 5.7% to 5.13 billion ASMs, resulting in a load factor of 76.9%, up 2.2 points. Cargo ton-miles lowered 3.1% to 185.9 million.
