Flughafen Wien, which operates Vienna Airport, has purchased through its VIE Malta subsidiary more than 5% of Malta Airport from the Maltese government. No information was released about the size of the stake. Flughafen Wien already owns 57% of a four-member consortium that controls 40% of Malta Airport. European Commission cleared the acquisition of sole control of Copenhagen Airports A/S of Denmark by Macquarie Bank Group subsidiary Macquarie Airports Copenhagen. Copenhagen Airports owns and operates airports in Kastrup and Roskilde.
ATA Airlines will suspend service between Chicago Midway and Orlando, San Francisco and Ft. Myers in April. LOT Polish Airlines launched 12-times-weekly service from Warsaw to Bydgoszcz and 19-times-weekly flights to Zielona Gora. LOT uses Jetstream 32s wet-leased from Jet Air. Air Canada Jazz will launch daily service between Los Angeles and Edmonton May 1 aboard CRJ705s. Germanwings will increase its Stuttgart-Prague frequencies to four per week from next summer. It also will offer more flights from Cologne to Heraklion and Palma.
Philippine Airlines finalized a commitment for nine A320s announced last month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 9) and took five options as well. Engine choice was not released. The carrier also said it will lease two new A320s and two new A319s from GE Commercial Aviation Services. The firm and leased aircraft are valued at approximately $840 million, according to media reports. Firm deliveries will begin in the second half of next year and continue until 2008. The optional aircraft will be available between 2009 and 2012.
Cathay Pacific signed an agreement with ATC provider Airservices Australia "aimed at delivering greater operational efficiencies and possible future cost savings," according to the carrier. The arrangement includes development of a communications protocol and implementation of an operational awareness program featuring crew visits to each other's facilities.
Delta Air Lines received some welcome financial relief yesterday as cargo carrier ABX Air and CIT Group agreed to purchase a combined 21 aircraft from the beleaguered company. CIT announced it will buy 10 737-800 delivery positions from Delta in a deal worth approximately $600 million. The aircraft, part of the carrier's order backlog with Boeing, will be delivered in 2007 (nine) and 2008 (one). CIT Aerospace manages a fleet of more than 300 commercial and regional aircraft operated by more than 100 airlines.
Intersky, an Austrian Regional operating as a low-cost airline, will add Dresden, Zadar, Rijeka and Naples to its network effective March 26. It also will increase frequencies from its German base at Friedrichshafen to Vienna and Hamburg. Prague will see five-times-weekly service and Cologne receives two extra weekly frequencies from March 26. Intersky will add two former Augsburg Airways Dash 8-Q300s to its fleet and return one Dash 8 to its lessor.
AirBridge Cargo of Russia announced that Regional Director and Area Manager-Asia Pacific Peter Yap will retire at the end of January. He will be succeeded by Robert Song, formerly of Air New Zealand Cargo.
Northwest Airlines' traffic fell 5.1% to 5.47 billion RPMs last month against a 9.1% decline in capacity to 6.74 billion ASMs. Passenger load factor rose 3.5 points over the year-ago month to 81.2%. Norwegian's November traffic surged over the year-ago month thanks to additional routes and "adjustments to production capacity," according to the carrier. RPKs climbed 79% to 225 million and capacity rose 53% to 306 million ASKs, driving an 11-point increase in load factor to 74%.
US domestic system capacity could decline by as much as 5% in 2006, setting the stage for improved domestic pricing, which in turn would result in better liquidity and balance sheet health, according to Fitch Ratings.
Mercator, the IT division of Emirates Group, won its first contract in Eastern Europe for its airline passenger revenue accounting solution from Tarom of Romania. FAA awarded a $1.35 million contract to AeroSat Airborne Internet to demonstrate and evaluate basic concepts and components of the Airborne Internet System. The one-year contract calls for AeroSat to conduct Airborne Internet flight demonstrations on FAA aircraft.
AD Aerospace was selected by Boeing to provide video monitoring for the forthcoming 747-400 Large Cargo Freighter, enabling crew to view the main-deck cargo hold from the flight deck.
US Airways chose GEnx engines to power 20 A350s ordered last month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 30). GE valued the business at $400 million. Deliveries begin in 2011.
Airbus's negotiations with Chinese authorities ( ATWOnline, Nov. 30) resulted in a blockbuster contract as the airframer reached a "general terms agreement" with Chinese Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group for the purchase of 150 A320 family aircraft.
Major US airlines, unions and caterer Gate Gourmet yesterday urged members of Congress to support "swift passage of H.R. 2830, the Pension Protection Act," in the House of Representatives. The Senate has passed a pension reform bill and awaits House action. In a joint letter to House members, representatives of American, Continental, Delta, Northwest, Gate Gourmet, the Air Line Pilots Assn., Allied Pilots Assn., Transport Workers Union, Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants and Professional Flight Attendants Assn.
European transport ministers showed no overwhelming enthusiasm yesterday for the provisional open skies agreement reached between negotiators of the European Commission and the US government last month ( ATWOnline, Nov. 21). The ministers of the 25 EU member states were supportive of the progress achieved to date in the Open Aviation Area talks, yet they stressed to reporters that an accord is conditional on the US relaxing limits on foreign ownership and control.
United Airlines would boost service at its Denver hub in exchange for the airport's forgiving $184 million in debt that the bankrupt carrier owes on DEN's failed baggage system, the Associated Press reported. The service increase would come as UA faces off against Southwest Airlines, which is returning to the Denver market next year after a 20-year absence.
Amicus union members and Birmingham International Airport agreed to third-party arbitration, ending the threat of a strike over the disputed termination of two workers that would have closed the airport during the Christmas holidays, the BBC reported.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is negotiating with Cargolux to buy the 33.7% stake currently held by SAirLogistics in the Luxembourg-based all-cargo carrier, Cargolux confirmed to ATWOnline. "There are many other airlines that are contacting our board or some of our board members" regarding the stake, Communications Director Marc Schonckert noted. According to information obtained by this website, Cargolux has held discussions in the past two years with Air China, Qatar Airways and Texas Pacific, among others.
Virgin Nigeria CEO Simon Harford announced he will be leaving the airline, which commenced operations June 28 and currently flies to London Gatwick, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Accra, Douala and Johannesburg.
Boeing appears to be ahead by a nose in the intense battle for a $15 billion, 100-plus-aircraft order from Qantas pitting its 787 and 777 against Airbus's A350 and A340. The Qantas board will make a selection at its Wednesday meeting, with an announcement expected before the Australian Stock Exchange opens the following day. Boeing's pitch has been helped by Cathay Pacific's order for the 777-300ER ( ATWOnline, Dec. 2) and the recently announced 1.4% improvement in that aircraft's fuel burn.
