Boeing officially launched the 737-900ER--formerly the 737-900X--on the strength of an order for up to 60 worth $3.9 billion from Lion Air of Indonesia. The order includes 30 firm plus purchase rights for 30 more. Deliveries begin in the first half of 2007. Lion Air had been expected to announce an order for 737-700s/-800s last spring ( ATWOnline, May 27).
Northwest Airlines President and CEO Douglas Steenland yesterday urged the US Dept. of Transportation to approve the carrier's application for antitrust immunity to link the networks of NWA and KLM and the existing SkyTeam antitrust-immunized carriers Air France, Delta Air Lines, Alitalia and CSA Czech Airlines.
Spirit Airlines received $100 million of new financing under agreements with Oaktree Capital Management and Goldman Sachs that it will use to finance its transition to an all-Airbus fleet and to support its new fuel hedging program. The company said $70 million will come from existing investors, including Oaktree and Spirit management, and the remaining $30 million from Goldman Sachs. "This new financing further solidifies our position within the industry," Spirit President Ben Baldanza said.
Royal Jordanian will launch direct twice-weekly flights from Amman to Milan on Oct. 30. Etihad Airways will start thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Brussels-Toronto service Oct. 31 using A330-200s. The flights will be operated in codeshare with SN Brussels Airlines.
British Airways will begin a trial of new landing procedures at London Heathrow and Gatwick aimed at reducing the number of people affected by early morning aircraft noise.
Southwest Airlines will launch two additional daily nonstop flights between Las Vegas and San Diego (for a total of 14) and one additional daily flight between Las Vegas and Oakland (for a total of 13) from July 17. This will bring the number of daily flights the airline operates from Las Vegas to 201.
Airbus unveiled its new management structure under President and CEO Gustav Humbert yesterday as the organization disclosed that Executive VP-Operations Gerard Blanc decided to leave the company. Reportedly, Blanc had hoped to succeed Noel Forgeard at the top of the entity. Succeeding Blanc is Karl-Heinz Hartmann, formerly executive VP and head of Airbus's center of excellence. Charles Champion was appointed COO but will retain his role as head of the A380 program. He becomes No. 2 under Humbert and deputy to the CEO. CCO John Leahy was appointed COO-customers.
Virgin Nigeria will commence a twice-daily Lagos-Accra service tomorrow using A320s. The airline started operations June 28 with flights between Lagos and London Heathrow and subsequently added domestic flights from Lagos to Abuja and Port Harcourt. CEO Simon Harford indicated the carrier will be operating on about nine routes by spring.
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.
