Alitalia denied that it had agreed to acquire a majority stake in Air Alps and planned to relocate the Austrian Regional to the province of Bolzano, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Alitalia noted that any agreement with Air Alps would be limited to commercial considerations, as it is not permitted to buy shares in other airlines until the end of 2005 under the conditions set by the European Commission in approving a government-guaranteed €400 million ($482 million) bridging loan.
Engine Alliance, the General Electric/Pratt & Whitney joint venture to develop the GP7200 for the A380, delivered the first four compliance/flight test engines to Toulouse yesterday. Engine certification is expected later this year.
Thai Airways International A340-600 yesterday became the first aircraft to land at Bangkok's new Suvarnabhumi Airport, Airbus said. Passengers onboard for the inaugural test flight included Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, members of the Thai cabinet and the Managing Committee for Development of Suvarnabhumi Airport.
American Airlines is offering passengers the opportunity to confirm a seat on an earlier or later flight on the same day as their originally scheduled departure for $25, subject to a seat being available. The Confirmed Flight Change option can be done through AA reservations, at the airport ticket counter or using a self-service machine. The new flight must be scheduled to depart within 3 hr. of the requested change. For flights less than 1 hr. away, the change must be made at the airport.
Continental Airlines will launch daily nonstop service between Newark and Copenhagen May 23, subject to government approval, using a 757 for the 7 hr. 55 min. flight (eastbound). Washington Dulles-based MAXjet Airways is accepting reservations for service between New York JFK and London Stansted that begins Nov. 1 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 20). It will operate 767s configured for 102 seats. Independence Air will launch daily nonstop service Dec. 16 from its Washington Dulles hub to San Juan using A319s. San Juan is the carrier's first Caribbean destination.
UK CAA published its formal proposals for regulatory price controls for the Eurocontrol and Oceanic businesses of National Air Traffic Services for the five years beginning Jan. 1 and April 1 respectively.
Air France will increase its fuel surcharge by €6 ($7.22) to €44 for long-haul flights and by €2 to €12 for mid-range flights from Oct. 4. It also will raise its domestic flight surcharge by €1 to €8.
Northwest Airlines is seeking concessions valued at $190 million per year from the approximately 14,400 fleet and passenger service employees, stock clerks and other workers represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and also wants to impose a temporary 5% pay cut that will remain in place until the company exits bankruptcy.
Inventory Locator Service is hosting an online auction of surplus parts for Virgin Atlantic Airways. The seven-day auction, which will be open to all ILS subscribers, began Sept. 27 and will consist of one lot containing 6,600 pieces of A320, A340, 747-200 and 747-400 rotables and LRUs, inflight entertainment equipment, components and consumable parts.
SAS Cargo, in conjunction with Sterling's purchase of Maersk Air's passenger business, is taking over the former Maersk Air Cargo from Oct. 1. The takeover includes the freight sales agency for eight foreign airlines in the Nordic and Baltic countries and 22 employees. Terms of the deal were not released.
Boeing and Malaysia Airlines incorporated a new Jeppesen Terminal Charts application into the Class 3 Boeing Electronic Flight Bag on MAS's two 777-200ERs, giving pilots access to Jeppesen's extensive library of more than 40,000 charts for airports around the globe while eliminating the volumes of paper charts once required on the flightdeck. The airline must complete a six-month evaluation period that began in July before it can cease using paper charts on its EFB-equipped aircraft.
American Airlines will move its international flight operations into the recently opened International Terminal D at Dallas/Fort Worth on Oct. 29. AA flights will operate from 19 of the new terminal's 28 gates while American Eagle has an agreement to use additional gates when they are not in use by non-US flag carriers. AA will operate 78 flights on its first day of service from the terminal, eventually rising to 114 daily flights.
ATA Airlines' cockpit crew, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., ratified a tentative contract that includes concessions valued by the union at $84 million over the three-year term of the agreement. ATA currently is in bankruptcy. Under the terms of the Long-Term Relief Agreement, crewmembers will see their pay remain at 18% below 2003 contract rates until the end of 2006, gradually rising to 7% below 2003 rates by the end of 2008. "This amounts to a 30%-40% pay cut for flight crewmembers, in addition to cuts in health care benefits, retirement and work rules," the union said.
Smiths Aerospace and Isothermal Systems Research announced a strategic alliance. "Smiths' industry leading electronics coupled with ISR's SprayCool technology means Smiths is taking aggressive steps to provide customers with even greater performance avionics that can only be enabled by the most modern thermal management solutions," the companies said in a statement. Smiths is developing the Common Core for the 787.
Air France exercised options for three additional CFM56-powered A318s seating 123 in a single-class layout. AF launched the model in 1999 with an order for 15. It brought its first A318 into service in October 2003 and currently operates nine fitted with seating for 34 passengers in business class and 72 in coach. It will take delivery of nine more, including the three newly ordered aircraft, between now and spring 2007.
Declaring that "a European solution is no solution at all," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani yesterday sharply criticized the European Commission's proposal to include the airline industry in the European Union's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme ( ATWOnline, Sept. 28).
Munich Airport cargo area added a new freight handling hall. The facility at the southeast end of the freight area was opened officially following nine months of construction. The expansion is in response to the booming airfreight business at Munich, which has posted strong annual growth rates of up to 30% in recent years. With a total volume of 300,000 tonnes in 2004, the annual tonnage has more than tripled since the airport opened in May 1992. The new 4,400-sq.-m. Express Services Center will be used exclusively by FedEx, DHL and UPS.
Air Berlin will start a new thrice-weekly Paderborn--Bournemouth service from Dec 17. Adria Airways opened a thrice-weekly cargo service between Ljubljana and Sarajevo Sept. 23. It plans to expand its cargo operations, especially to destinations in southeast Europe.
MAIR Holdings, parent of Mesaba Aviation, reported yesterday that Northwest Airlines paid it only a fraction of what it is owed for participating in the Northwest Airlink feeder program for the first half of September.
Hong Kong Express took delivery of an Embraer 170, making it the first operator in Asia of the 170/190 series. It will take delivery of three by year end and one in early 2006. All will be leased from GE Commercial Aviation Services and will be configured for 76 seats in a single-class layout.
Ryanair joined easyJet in calling on the British government to reject CAA's proposal to increase the tax on tickets for all UK passengers ( ATWOnline, Sept. 26). Last week, CAA published an assessment supporting its case for what it calls "modernizing the financial protection of air travelers and holidaymakers." It recommends that the scope of the current protection system be extended to protect all air travelers flying from the UK on international flights, with tour operator and airline passengers being covered by a single scheme funded by a short-term £1 levy on tickets.
Lufthansa Systems said its Electronic Logistics & Warehouse Information System freight handling system was selected by Aircargo Operations ACO, a new cargo handling operator at Bratislava Airport.
