EasyJet asked the UK government "to resist calls" from the CAA for a £1 ($1.79) levy per passenger to be imposed on all UK-originating international flights to fund its ATOL scheme to protect customers when tour operators fail. "We agree that consumers should be protected against the financial failure of airlines, but we disagree violently with the solution proposed by the CAA.
Citing "the strength of the combined networks of Air France and KLM" and its strategy of targeting "fast-growing markets in Latin America and Asia, as well as to oil and gas destinations," Air France said it is raising system capacity (ASKs) 6.4% in the 2005-06 winter schedule compared to the 2004-05 schedule, with intercontinental capacity up 8.6%.
Inflight Canada's iCACHE design was chosen by American Airlines as part of its 767-300 business class seat enhancement program. AA said the design "eliminates all wires within the business class cabin and should provide an enhanced inflight entertainment system."
Panasonic Avionics Corp. signed a letter of intent to use AeroMobile's inflight mobile communications technology in its S3000 AVOD IFE system as well as its new-generation X series systems efx, eX2 and x-wireless.
Continental Airlines planned to cease operations at Houston by noon today in the face of what is expected to be the second Category 4 hurricane to hit the US Gulf Coast in less than a month. Continental, which maintains its largest hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and has limited operations at close-in Houston Hobby, said flight cancellations for the mainline and Continental Express are expected to total 1,089 on Friday and 828 on Saturday.
Swiss International Air Lines board of directors elected Rolf Jetzer chairman in its first meeting since being reconstituted to give effect to the carrier's acquisition by Lufthansa. Walter Bosch was elected deputy chairman. The size of the board was reduced from eight members to five and previous members Pieter Bouw, Claudio Generali, Michael Pieper, Jan Audun Reinas and Peter Siegenthaler retired.
Thales said ANA ordered a 737-700 simulator for installation at the ANA Flight Training Center at Tokyo Haneda for delivery in early 2006. Malaysia Airlines ordered an A380-800 simulator that will fitted with an Evans & Sutherland EP1000 visual system using LaserWide projection.
JetBlue A320 landed safely and without injury to any of those onboard Wednesday evening after its nose landing gear jammed during retraction, leaving the wheels turned 90 deg. from the aircraft centerline. The flight had just departed Burbank en route to New York JFK. After circling for nearly 3 hr. to dump fuel and try to clear the problem, the pilots made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport around 6:19 p.m. local time and passengers deplaned normally. The landing was captured live on national television and seen by passengers on the aircraft's LiveTV screens.
Avion Group ordered four 777 freighters and took purchase rights on two more with deliveries beginning in February 2008. The aircraft will be offered on ACMI leases by Avion subsidiary Air Atlanta Icelandic. Additionally, Boeing said it is in "serious negotiations" to convert three of the carrier's 747-400 passenger aircraft into freighters. Boeing did not provide a separate value for the 777Fs but said that in combination with the possible conversion program, value of the transaction at list prices is approximately $1 billion.
SkyEurope Holding, parent of the airline, completed its initial public offering of 12.98 million shares priced at €6 ($7.33) per share. The offering consisted of 10 million new shares and 2.98 million existing shares, including an overallotment option of 1.18 million shares. Total proceeds were €78 million of which €60 million went to the company. Market capitalization, based on the offering price, is €120 million.
Republic Airways Holdings completed the previously announced purchase of slots and aircraft from US Airways for $90 million ( ATWOnline, June 27). The deal included the purchase of 10 Embraer 170s for $38.2 million and the assumption of $168.7 million in debt and the leases on 15 170s. The aircraft will continue to be operated in the US Airways Express network. Republic also purchased 113 commuter slots at Reagan Washington National Airport and 24 commuter slots at New York LaGuardia for $51.6 million.
Sinex Aviation Technologies Corp., which provides aviation maintenance software solutions and consulting services, changed its name to EmpowerMX. The Duluth-based company also said it released Reliability Manager, a new module in its FleetCycle Suite that will automate data-gathering for aircraft maintenance and reliability functions, tying processes together based on aircraft reliability workflow.
The European Commission is considering widening and strengthening the rules for security at airports and airlines after an official review of the current regulation that was introduced after Sept. 11 exposed shortcomings.
Varig Engineering & Maintenance in partnership with Aerospace Rotables signed a five-year contract with Arrow Air Cargo covering landing gear overhaul for the carrier's DC-10-30 fleet.
Iberia board of directors was expected yesterday to approve its Director Plan 2006-08, which seeks to cut costs by €600 million ($733 million) over the three-year period. Meanwhile Iberia's pilots are considering strike actions owing to growing tensions between MD Angel Mullor and the head of the Sepla pilot union, Bernardo Obrador. In letters obtained by El Pais, Mullor accused Obrador of making the dialog required for the airline to meet immediate challenges impossible, while the latter criticized Mullor's management.
Vueling will open a base in Madrid on Nov. 15. The Spanish LCC will fly initially to Paris, Brussels, Rome and Barcelona from the Spanish capital. Vueling started operating out of Barcelona in July 2004 with two A320s. It now operates six 180-seat A320s and expects to have nine by year end. It will base two aircraft in Madrid. Hapag Lloyd Express announced plans to concentrate more of its activities at its three main bases of Cologne, Hannover and Stuttgart, where it is expecting the most growth.
Delta Air Lines plans to eliminate 7,000-9,000 jobs by the end of 2007 and reduce pay for most of those employees who remain as it tries to restructure under bankruptcy protection, the carrier said yesterday. The cuts are in addition to 6,000-7,000 jobs targeted for elimination in last year's Transformation Plan, which aimed at achieving financial benefits totaling $5 billion through 2006. In yesterday's announcement, Delta put the size of its current workforce at 52,000, although in a supplemental brief to last week's bankruptcy filing it claimed 60,000 employees.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance said Luxair signed a 10-year contract covering all maintenance on the CFM65-7s powering its 737-700s including planned and unplanned maintenance. The deal also enables Luxair to request a spare engine from KLM E&M. The MRO will overhaul landing gear on 10 737-700s belonging to Germania beginning next March. Under the agreement, KLM will send a 737-700 landing gear shipset, including tooling, to Germania's home base in Berlin.
American Airlines resumed limited service at New Orleans Wednesday, operating three daily roundtrips to Dallas/Fort Worth. It will add service from New Orleans to Chicago and Miami "as demand increases," with a relaunch tentatively set for Nov. 1. Continental Airlines will begin daily nonstop service between Newark and Barcelona May 18 subject to government approval, using a 172-seat 757.
Swissport International will provide ground handling to easyJet at Geneva, where the LCC will be operating 250 weekly flights by December. The five-year agreement covers passenger services, ramp and ticketing. Swissport already services easyJet at Paris Charles de Gaulle, London Stansted, Hamburg and Basel.
Aeroflot will lease six IL-96-300s, the same type that was grounded last month, it said in a statement. The aircraft will leased for 15 years from Ilyushin Finance Co. In August, Russia grounded all IL-96-300s owing to problems with the brakes ( ATWOnline, Sept. 12). Transport officials have hinted the planes may be allowed to fly again in October after repairs. Aeroflot, which has six of the 13 IL-96-300s currently in use, was forced to cancel some of its flights to the US, Canada, Vietnam, China and South Korea.
Northwest Airlines will lay off at least 900 and as many as 1,400 flight attendants through Jan. 31 as it shrinks in bankruptcy. According to a statement on the website of the Professional Flight Attendants Assn., NWA plans two rounds of furloughs covering the first 900. The first will be effective Oct. 31, "while the second is slated for sometime in January 2006." The carrier plans an additional 500 furloughs at that time, but that number is subject to change, PFAA said.
Austrian Airlines' two A340-200s that were sold to a French investor last week will be converted to transport aircraft for the French army to replace DC-8s, sources close to the deal said. The Austrian board will decide by the end of this month whether to add two A330-200s or two 777-200ERs to its fleet to replace the A340s.
A J Walter Aviation will provide power-by-the-hour support to Air Atlanta Icelandic under a five-year, $20 million contract covering four 757s and five 767s.
