Aer Lingus will launch new direct services from Dublin to Fuerteventura, Bordeaux, Riga and Salzburg as well as a new direct service from Cork to Warsaw in its winter schedule. The Warsaw-Cork flights represent its first direct service to Poland.
United Airlines received US Bankruptcy Court approval Friday of an amendment to its debtor-in-possession financing that includes upsizing its loan by $310 million to $1.3 billion and a reduction of the interest rate it pays under the loan. "We believe the amendment is beneficial to United and reflects our lenders' ongoing confidence in our ability to execute on our business plan," the carrier said in a recorded message to employees.
KLM and Air France will adjust their Eindhoven service. From the start of the winter schedule, AF will connect Eindhoven and Paris Charles de Gaulle with twice-daily service using a 48-seat ATR 42-500. A third daily service will be added from Dec. 11, when KLM cityhopper will suspend its flights between Eindhoven and Schiphol. Also on Dec. 11, NedRailways will launch a new direct and frequent rail link between Eindhoven and Schiphol.
DBA will start triple-daily service from Nurnberg to Berlin and two daily flights to Hamburg on Sept. 12 using F100s. Separately, DBA said it transported 1.1 million passengers from April to June, up 70% compared to the same period a year ago. Capacity rose 60% following the takeover of Germania Express aircraft and routes. The company said it expects to carry 4.3-5 million passengers this year.
Royal Jordanian Airlines said it posted a profit of 4.3 million dinars ($6.1 million) for the first quarter of 2005, beating company projections of a loss of JOD1.4 million. Revenues reached JOD91.3 million, up 21.6% compared to JOD75.1 million in the prior-year period. Passenger boardings for the January-May period rose 3.5% to 643,700.
Asiana was forced to cancel nearly half its domestic schedule Monday after union pilots staged a walkout over working conditions and retirement terms. According to the Associated Press, the airline cancelled 81 of its 168 scheduled domestic flights and four of its seven cargo flights. It operated all 115 international flights, AP reported.
Korean Air was awarded a five-year contract from United Airlines to perform heavy maintenance on UA's fleet of 27 747-400s. Under the deal, Korean Air will perform C and D checks in addition to parts overhaul services. The first aircraft scheduled to receive a D check arrived at Korean's Gimhae plant in Busan on July 18. According to Korean, the deal is valued at $12 million each year. Pratt & Whitney was awarded a seven-year contract from Martinair to service the PW4462 and PW4060 engines powering its MD-11s and 767-300s.
LAN Airlines appointed Luis Eduardo Riquelme VP-North/Central America and Asia for the passenger division. In this role, he will be responsible for LAN's passenger operations in the US, Canada, Central America and Asia including overseeing sales and marketing, accounting and cost control, operations, reservations and ticket offices, government affairs, human resources and the carrier's general sales agents throughout these countries.
SITA concluded a $5.4 million multifaceted contract for wireless and management services for Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The contract includes design and implementation of an airportwide Wi-Fi and mobile wireless network as well as management of the airport's new fiber, mobile and Wi-Fi networks for one year. The project will be fully operational in the fourth quarter. Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport will unveil its new $1.2 billion, 2-million-sq.-ft. International Terminal D Saturday.
Spring Airlines, a low-fare carrier based in Shanghai, began operations yesterday. It is owned by Shanghai Spring International Travel Service, which claims to be the largest travel agency in China. Spring is flying three A320s leased from GE Commercial Aviation Services, two of which formerly were leased to other carriers. The third is managed on behalf of another party, GECAS said. The carrier plans to operate up to 15 A320s ( ATWOnline, July 1).
Air Canada unveiled plans to launch a number of new daily nonstop flights in Canada and the US this winter and boost service on several key domestic routes as well as others inside Canada and to the US.
US National Transportation Safety Board member Richard Healing announced his retirement effective Aug. 1. Before joining NTSB in 2003, Healing spent a year as director-transportation safety and security for Battelle Memorial Institute. Prior to that, he served for 17 years as director-safety and survivability for the Dept. of the Navy and also spent 29 years in the Coast Guard and Coast Guard Reserve.
Swiss International Air Lines and Air Canada plan to codeshare on flights between Zurich and Toronto. AC also is studying launching a new Toronto-Delhi route via Zurich to take advantage of Swiss's membership in the Star Alliance and the introduction of Zurich into the Lufthansa hub network after LH completes its acquisition of Swiss.
SAS said Monday that it lost a legal appeal seeking a reduction of a €39 million ($47.1 million) fine imposed by the European Commission in 2001 after SAS and Maersk were found guilty of price-fixing.
Assn. of European Airlines unveiled its Emissions Containment Policy, which details "how greenhouse-gas emissions of the industry have been, and can be, controlled while allowing for sustainable market development." The policy was drawn up in partnership with five other industry organizations: AeroSpace and Defence Industries Assn. of Europe, European Business Aircraft Assn., European Express Assn., European Regions Airline Assn. and International Air Carrier Assn. "The aviation sector has been able to decouple emissions growth from traffic growth.
TAAG Angola Airlines reached a definitive agreement with Boeing for the purchase of two 777-200ERs and four 737-700 Quick Change aircraft. The agreement also includes options for an additional 777-200ER and two more 737-700QCs. According to Boeing, the firm order is valued at roughly $649.6 million at list prices and approximately $990 million with options included. The aircraft will be delivered next year, with the first 777-200ER and 737-700 scheduled to arrive in July. They will replace the current fleet of two 747-300s and five 737-200s.
IBS Software Services said Air New Zealand Cargo, Gulf Air and South African Airways Cargo joined the Core Group of Influence Forum to participate in the development of IBS's next-generation air cargo and logistics management system iCargo.
Kitty Hawk appointed James Kupferschmid VP and CFO. He comes to Kitty Hawk with a 20-plus-year financial career including cargo, airline and M&A assignments with Northwest Airlines and Continental Airlines.
With the merger of US Airways and America West seemingly on track for completion this autumn, US Airways Executive VP-Marketing and Planning Bruce Ashby announced he will leave the airline later this month to become CEO of proposed Indian low-cost carrier IndiGo. The startup is partly backed by one of Ashby's former colleagues, Rakesh Gangwal, who served as president and CEO of US Airways from 1998 until his surprise resignation in November 2001.
JAL Group will launch flights to six destinations from Kobe Airport when it opens on Feb. 16. Under current plans, the carrier will operate 10 daily flights to Tokyo Haneda, Sapporo, Sendai, Okinawa, Kumamoto and Kagoshima. JAL said it is evaluating what type of aircraft to use for the flights and should come to a decision by November.
Iberia flew 4.7 billion RPKs in June, up 6.5% on the prior-year period, while capacity increased 6% to 5.24 billion ASKs. Consequently, load factor improved 0.4 point to 77.7%. The number of passengers carried grew 3.3%--up 5.2% on domestic flights and 0.8% on international flights. During the first half ended June 30, Iberia grew RPKs by 7% and ASKs climbed 6.1%, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 75.1%.
