Ryanair exercised options to buy nine further 737-800s for delivery in 2007 and confirmed the planned sale later that year of five of its older 737-800s, which it purchased in 1999. "This is a continuation of Ryanair's strategy of operating the youngest fleet in Europe, with the lowest unit operating costs and best technical reliability, thereby ensuring that Ryanair remains the number one ontime major airline in Europe," CEO Michael O'Leary said at an Investor Day in London.
The 27-day strike by assembly workers at Boeing that ended last Friday ( ATWOnline, Oct. 3) cut into third-quarter aircraft production as the company reported that it delivered 62 commercial aircraft in the period, down from 67 in the year-ago quarter despite rising production rates. Current-period deliveries comprised three 717s, 47 737NGs, two 747s, two 767s and eight 777s. This compares with three 717s, 49 737NGs, two 747s, three 757s, two 767s and eight 777s delivered in the third quarter of 2004.
One-day national strike by French public workers yesterday resulted in several hundred flight cancellations. According to the BBC, more than 400 cancellations occurred at Paris airports. Ryanair preemptively canceled more than 70 flights while easyJet dropped at least 10. Air France said it intended to operate all of its long-haul flights but short-haul travelers might experience some delays and cancellations. Other airlines merely stated that they expected some disruptions to service.
Russia lifted the ban on operation of Il-96-300 passenger jets, which were grounded for safety checks in August after problems with the braking system. Aeroflot, which has six of the 13 widebodies in use, or 40% of its long-haul fleet, said on Monday it will comply with the decision straight away. According to Reuters, first flights were scheduled for Tuesday to Shanghai and New Delhi. Aeroflot plans to acquire 12 A320s and 2-5 767s, it said last week. The Boeing planes are likely to be acquired in about a year.
Emirates SkyCargo and Korean Air Cargo agreed to share cargo capacity on KAL flights to Delhi and Mumbai. Emirates SkyCargo now has an additional 22 tons on offer to Dubai on Korean's 747-400F weekly services from Delhi (Fridays) and Mumbai (Wednesdays).
Qantas is offering year round service into Queenstown, New Zealand, from Sydney with the introduction of a permanent weekly return service using 737-800s from Oct. 1. Thai Airways will launch thrice-weekly service between Bangkok and Moscow Domodedovo Nov. 1 using MD-11s. American Eagle is adding nonstop service on Dec. 15 between Gulfport-Biloxi and Dallas/Ft. Worth. The two daily roundtrip flights will be operated with 50-seat ERJ-145s.
Flexing its muscle following its acquisition of Maersk, Sterling announced it intends to open a base in Helsinki next spring and offer services to 11 European destinations from the Finnish capital. The carrier initially is allocating two 737-700s to the base. Flights will start on March 27 to Barcelona, Bologna, Budapest, Chania, Edinburgh, Faro, Malaga, Nice, Paris Beauvais, Prague and Rome Ciampino. Ticket sales began yesterday with prices from €79 one way.
EADS board is scheduled to meet Thursday to decide whether to support the launch of the A350, Les Echos reported last week. It noted that Oct. 6 is the last day of an agreement signed in 1992 between the US and EU that authorizes the four European state Airbus shareholders--Britain, France, Germany and Spain--to provide interest-free loans equaling up to 33% of the development costs of the program. The A350 program is worth more than €4.5 billion. To date Airbus has received agreements to purchase 110 aircraft and expects this to grow to 200 by year end.
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh reiterated earlier statements from the board that BA will remain true to its full-service concept, again rebuffing rumors that he intends to copy the low-fare strategy he implemented at Aer Lingus to turn to Irish carrier around. BA has "a renowned reputation for premium travel, and my aim is to make sure that we deliver a world-class experience for all," Walsh said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Eos Airlines moved forward its planned startup of services between New York JFK and London Stansted to Oct. 18 from Nov. 1 owing to earlier-than-expected route approvals from the US Dept. of Transportation and UK Dept. of Transport. The carrier intends to operate 757s configured for 48 passengers in an all-business-class cabin featuring lie-flat seatbeds. The base unrestricted roundtrip fare is $6,500 but Eos is offering an introductory fare of $5,000.
SAS reached an agreement with Sabre under which the GDS will continue to distribute its "comprehensive and complete content" while achieving lower distribution costs. "We endeavor to give the market full access to SAS's products through the global distribution systems, but while doing so, we need to seek new means to reduce our distribution costs to a competitive level. The agreement with Sabre is a step in the right direction," said SAS Senior VP-Commercial Robin Kamark. Details of the agreement were not released.
US Airways pilots, with an eye on JetBlue, reached a tentative agreement with the airline to operate the Embraer 190 as part of mainline service at a rate that will make the jets competitive with the low-cost carrier that launched the 100-seater. "We agreed on a pay rate as well as a restriction to fly only as mainline," Jack Stephan, a spokesperson for the US Airways pilots, told ATWOnline. "That one issue was sent out for member ratification with a strong endorsement to ratify the agreement."
Boeing said it will introduce passive radio frequency identification "smart labels" on significant 787 maintenance parts. Typical parts to include RFID tags will be "serialized end items such as LRUs and life-limited parts, as well as onboard emergency equipment."
New British Airways CEO Willie Walsh, who formally took over from Rod Eddington last Friday, said he is determined to realize his predecessor's goal of a 10% operating margin. "We have made tremendous progress in the last five years but I've been very impressed by the fact that everyone I've met at British Airways believes there is room for further improvement," Walsh said. "We must redouble our efforts to make this airline more efficient, more focused and better able to serve our customers."
US Airways, which merged with America West Airlines last week, said it reached agreement with the Air Transportation Stabilization Board to repurchase approximately 7.7 million warrants that have an exercise price of $7.27 per share. The warrants originally were created in conjunction with America West's $439 million ATSB-guaranteed loan in 2002 and reissued to ATSB in connection with the merger of America West and US Airways. The total purchase price will be around $115.8 million.
US FAA on Friday gave the green light to the City of Chicago's massive O'Hare Modernization Program and Airport Layout Plan that calls for realignment of the airport's runways to eliminate most intersecting runways. Currently, six of ORD's seven runways cross paths. In its Record of Decision, FAA said the plan "is the best alternative to improve safety, increase capacity and reduce delays with the least environmental impact."
News from Travel Technology Update: One of the more contentious "partnerships" of the era of online travel sales has landed in court again -- or rather, in two courts. Orbitz accused Worldspan, its GDS provider, with a long-running "scheme" to conceal its position on certain contractual issues in order to entice Orbitz into signing amended agreements. Worldspan then "sprang" claims of wrongdoing on Orbitz and demanded $40 million, Orbitz's complaint charged. Worldspan, meanwhile, accused Orbitz of "stealing" its "valuable data."
Lufthansa Group Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber is no fan of the European Commission's proposal to bring air transport into the EU's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme.
Bmi said it plans to increase its four-times-weekly service from Heathrow to Mumbai to daily and introduce thrice-weekly Heathrow-Jeddah service in 2006 following the "successful launch" of its three-times-weekly Heathrow-Riyadh service Sept. 1. Separately, bmi will suspend at the end of this month its service from Manchester to Washington Dulles, which it operates on a six-times-per-week basis with a leased 757.
Japan Airlines Group appointed Katsuhiko Nawano to serve on the boards of JAL International and JAL Domestic with responsibility for China business activities for JAL International. He also will handle special assignments at the direction of President Toshiyuki Shinmachi in both JAL International and JAL Domestic. Nawano, 58, is a former senior official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
China Southern Airlines added three weekly roundtrips between its hub at the new Baiyun International Airport in Guangzhou and Ho Chi Minh City, bringing the total to 10 weekly using A320s.
Boeing on Friday said it selected Thales "as the first recommended inflight entertainment provider" for the Dreamliner program. Thales has been competing with Panasonic for the designation and is offering its TopSeries I-8000, which uses a wireless network to deliver audio/video on demand programming to each passenger. The system interfaces with the Connexion by Boeing connectivity product offering. Thales had a chance to demo its system on the 777-200LR Worldliner marketing aircraft that toured Europe in July to demonstrate capabilities to airline executives.
Austrian Airlines will add a fourth 777-200ER to its fleet by December 2006. "This aircraft is a first replacement for our two A340-200s we just sold. And we can use the 777 as a backup for our Australia operations and as well when there is a need for higher capacity to destinations like Delhi or Bangkok," CEO Vagn Soerensen told ATWOnline. In an effort at further streamlining, Austrian plans also to sell its last 737-600 and three CRJ100s.
