BAA USA reached new terms with the Massachusetts Port Authority on its contract to manage the retail and food and beverage concessions at Boston Logan's Terminals B, D and E until mid-2016. Under the new terms, BAA USA and Massport will share in an investment program in excess of $12 million to develop more than 32,000 sq. ft. of retail space in Terminal B.
United Services announced that MD-Sales and Marketing Gene House has retired. He was replaced by Garth Peterson, who assumed the role on July 1. Aviareps named Johnny Gardsaeter as the new GM of its office in Stockholm.
EasyJet raised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year to Sept. 30 and now expects that full-year pre-tax profit "will be broadly in line with last year," when it earned £62 million. CEO Ray Webster, who is retiring from the airline this fall, attributed the more bullish outlook to "the improving revenue position and our continued focus on cost."
Lufthansa Flight Training began work on the expansion of its training facility at Berlin Schoenefeld by laying the cornerstone for a new complex in the presence of Deutsche Lufthansa AG Executive Board Chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber. LFT currently is investing some €18.5 million ($22.9 million), which covers the cost of a new CAE-built A320 simulator that will be operational early next year plus two buildings that initially will house two simulators as well as supporting facilities including a canteen, several classrooms and terminals for computer-based training.
Air Canada flew 4.55 billion RPKs in July, up 6.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 2.8% to 5.44 billion ASKs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 83.6%. For the seven months ended July 31, RPMs increased 5.8% to 25.7 billion, ASMs rose 1.3% to 32.01 billion and load factor gained 3.4 points to 80.3%.
British Airways reported that net profit for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30 more than doubled to £90 million ($160 million) from £43 million in the year-ago period. Making his final quarterly results presentation as CEO, Rod Eddington said, "These are good results despite a 37.6% increase in fuel costs." He attributed a 4% rise in passenger revenue to "more customers flying in our premium cabins." Yield (pence/RPK) grew 1.5% on 2.5% gain in passenger traffic.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.98 billion RPMs in July, up 31.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity grew 27% to 2.17 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 91.1%. For the seven months ended July 31, RPMs increased 30.9% to 11.54 billion, ASMs jumped 24.6% to 13.19 billion and load factor gained 4.3 points to 87.5%.
Delta Air Lines maintenance division Delta TechOps signed a new 10-year agreement with ABX Air to provide engine maintenance services for the CF6-80A and -80A2 engines powering its fleet of 767-200s. The accord extends ABX Air's CF6-80A maintenance relationship with Delta through at least 2015 and provides opportunities for maintenance of up to 80 additional engines over its life. The two companies also recently signed 10-year deals covering 767-200 airframe component repair and GTCP331-200 APU repair.
Boeing sold another three 747-400s but has not announced the model or operator. The company has said that it has enough orders to keep the 747 line going until the first 747ADV is built but is yet to commit to the model despite an order from Cargolux for 10 ( ATWOnline, July 22).
Alenia Aeronautica, a Finmeccanica company, will supply fuselage and tail components for 150 787s under an agreement with Boeing valued at approximately $1.1 billion. In addition, Alenia Aeronautica's structures laboratory near Naples will perform static and fatigue testing on the horizontal stabilizer built at its Foggia facility and carry out research and engineering activities. The company will also run development and production programs at its Taranto-Grottaglie and Foggia plants.
Independence Air will launch three daily flights between Washington Dulles and Jacksonville Sept. 6. Two of the flights will be operated with A319s and one with a CRJ.
Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management entered into an agreement with Kingfisher Airlines to purchase and lease back to the Indian carrier two new V2500-powered A320s for delivery in September 2005 and February 2006.
Northwest Airlines chose the Trent 1000 to power its recently ordered 787 fleet comprising 18 firm and 18 option aircraft ( ATWOnline, May 6). The deal also includes a long-term TotalCare maintenance agreement. Rolls-Royce valued the order plus options and spares at up to $2 billion at list prices.
Lufthansa Systems said it received EASA's Letter of Acceptance enabling more than 110 customers of its Lido FMS database to apply for use of new precision area navigation procedures at their aviation authorities. The P-RNAV procedures will be permitted from October provided they are based on certified navigation data as is the case with LHS.
US carriers' ontime performance improved in June compared to the same month last year, but fell slightly against May 2005 figures. According to US Dept. of Transportation statistics, the 20 reporting airlines recorded an overall ontime arrival rate of 75.2% in June, better than June 2004's 73% but below May 2005's 83.7%. Hawaiian Airlines at 94.1% posted the highest rate. Of mainland airlines, SkyWest Airlines was best at 83.1% with Comair at 81.2% finishing second. Alaska Airlines had the lowest rate at 49.8%.
US National Transportation Safety Board said yesterday that it sent a team of specialists to assist in the investigation of the Air France A340 accident in Toronto that occurred Aug. 2 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 3). The team is led by senior NTSB investigator Robert Benzon.
Taiwan government agreed to allow Taiwanese airlines to seek permission from China to overfly Chinese airspace to save on fuel costs. In 2003, China offered to allow Taiwanese carriers to use its airspace but the Taiwan government declined. In a further softening of the Taiwanese hard line, the government agreed to allow its airlines to start negotiations on direct charter and cargo flights between the countries. Singapore and Sri Lanka finally formally signed an open skies agreement that came into effect last November.
Japanese government approved an extension of the second runway at Tokyo Narita from 7,152 ft. to 8,202 ft., sufficient to allow 747 and A380 landings. The runway originally was to be 8,202 ft. but local farmers limited the length. The government now is going to extend it in the opposite direction.
In a direct challenge to Northwest Airlines, AirTran Airways will begin new daily nonstop service from Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport to both Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International and Orlando International airports on Nov. 8. Daily service to Sarasota-Bradenton will be added from Detroit starting Feb. 15. Detroit is AirTran's 48th city and the largest market in the country not served directly by the Orlando-based low-cost carrier, according to VP-Planning and Scheduling Kevin Healy. All new flights will use 717s configured for 117 passengers in two classes.
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, yesterday reported net income of C$168 million ($138.5 million) for the second quarter ended June 30, which included a dilution gain of C$190 million and a tax provision of C$28 million related to an Aeroplan transaction offset by a $29 million charge related to the extinguishment of its credit facility with GE Capital Corp. This compares to a C$510 million net loss in the prior-year period, which included reorganization and restructuring items of C$426 million.
Gol flew 959.7 million RPKs in July, up 62.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 55.5% to 1.2 billion ASKs and load factor was up 3.3 points to 80%. Year-to-date figures were not provided.
United Airlines flew 10.7 billion RPMs in July, down 2.4% compared to the year-ago period. Capacity dropped 4.2% to 12.38 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.6 points to 86.4%. For the seven months ended July 31, RPMs dipped 0.2% to 66.51 billion, ASMs declined 2.7% to 81.43 billion and load factor gained 2.1 points to 81.7%. Northwest Airlines flew 7.47 billion RPMs in July, up 5.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.4% to 8.54 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.2 points to 87.5%.
LAN Airlines, two days after Boeing revealed that it is the customer for six 767s carried on the order book as having been sold to an unidentified carrier ( ATWOnline, Aug. 3), confirmed the order. In a statement released Thursday, LAN and LAN Cargo said they will acquire 12 767-300 passenger and cargo aircraft valued at $1.1 billion. The buy is believed to include six new orders as well as orders for six 767s placed in 2004.
SR Technics Ireland was awarded a five-year contract by TUI Group for repair and overhaul of APUs on some 60 737/757/767 and A330 aircraft. SR Technics also committed to provide spare APUs on a lease basis during the repair cycle. TUI Group airlines are Hapagfly and Hapag Lloyd Express (Germany), Thomsonfly (UK), Britannia (Scandinavia), Corsair (France), Jetair (Belgium) and Arkefly (Netherlands).
In what SITA INC called "the first ever deal of its kind at a European airport," Dusseldorf outsourced its IT support in a contract worth $200 million over 10 years. SITA said it won the contract "with the strong support of its partners, EADS Telecom Deutschland GmbH and Siemens AG." There will be no redundancies among the existing 63 IT staff at the airport, SITA added.
