Qantas low-cost joint venture Jetstar Asia pulled out of alliance talks with another operator, Valuair, raising further questions about its future in the intra-Asia market.
JetBlue Airways is bringing its low-fare flights to Newark this fall. Beginning in October, the airline will launch daily service from Newark to Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando, West Palm Beach, Tampa and Ft. Myers. On Nov. 17 it will begin daily flights between Newark and San Juan. America West Airlines plans to begin new service between Phoenix and four Hawaiian islands as well as from Las Vegas to Kahului. From Dec. 16, the carrier will begin one daily flight between Phoenix and both Honolulu and Kahului.
Alaska Airlines pilots overwhelmingly rejected a five-year tentative agreement reached in May ( ATWOnline, May 30) that would have superseded the current two-year deal now in effect. According to the Air Line Pilots Assn., more than 95% of eligible pilots participated, with 88.9% voting against the agreement. At the beginning of May, a two-year accord that resulted from an arbitrator's ruling took effect that reduced the pilots' pay by 21%-34%.
SkyEurope is planning an IPO listing on the Vienna Stock Exchange. According to Austrian media, the low-cost airline wants to offer 30%-49% of its shares by late August or early September.
AirAsia will introduce a fuel surcharge on its domestic and regional flights. From July 15, an RM5 ($1.32) surcharge per sector will be implemented on all flights in peninsular Malaysia, an RM10 surcharge per sector on flights to East Malaysia and an RM25 surcharge per sector on flights to Macau, the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia.
ANA announced that it will sell its 27.6% share in Nippon Cargo Airlines to fellow major shareholder global logistics company Nippon Yusen Kaisha, which also holds 27.6% of the carrier. ANA said it is selling its stake because it wishes to pursue a different strategy in the cargo market in the future than does NYK. NCA will become a consolidated subsidiary of NYK. A date for the sale has not been set, but the companies expect it to take place by the end of August.
Embraer opened a 32,300-sq.-ft. service center for maintenance, repair and overhaul of its aircraft at its Gaviao Peixoto site 230 mi. from its headquarters in Sao Jose dos Campos.
Qantas said it will add Queenstown to its year-round route network with Saturday service from Sydney beginning Oct. 1. The airline currently operates flights to Queenstown from Sydney and Brisbane during the ski season.
Finnair will launch services from Helsinki to Krakow by spring. The airline said it will use its new Embraer 170s, the first of which will arrive in September, on the route.
Cathay Pacific Airways flew 5.25 billion RPKs in June, up 11.5% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 11% to 6.56 billion ASKs and load factor was up 0.4 point to 80.1%. For the six months ended June 30, RPKs rose 16.1% to 26.83 billion, ASKs increased 12.2% to 39.53 billion and load factor jumped 2 points to 78.1%.
Global ePoint received an order from Thomas Cook Airlines UK to expand its current Cockpit Door Surveillance System to include digital video recording. Global ePoint subsidiary AirWorks will begin installation of the systems on the carrier's A330s this summer. Thomas Cook has been flying the AirWorks CDSS since early 2003 on its fleet of 17 757s, six A320s and two A330s. Separately, Global ePoint introduced an enhanced version of its AirWorks electronic flight bag that features full digital video recording and a CDSS integrated into a dual-redundant server.
Japan Airlines will expand telephone, Internet and ticket delivery systems in Japan. From October, the carrier will introduce International Ticket Assist Service through which customers can make a telephone call when changing itineraries and arrange to receive new tickets by mail or courier. The service also will include an international ticket refund desk through which refunds can be requested by telephone and credited directly to customers' bank accounts. JAL introduced a similar service for domestic ticket support in March.
Emirates began construction on a new 6,000-sq.-m. jet engine test facility at a site near Dubai. The facility, which was designed in cooperation with General Electric International, is due for completion in January 2007. Once finished, it will house a 13-m. cross-section jet engine test cell and an APU test cell and will be capable of testing engines of up to 150,000 lb. thrust, including Rolls-Royce Trent 500s/700s/800s, GP700s and GE90-115Bs. TAT Industries finalized its acquisition of Sabena Technics following a share transfer agreement signed last week.
Air Berlin will start its own mobile-phone service called Air Berlin Mobile by December. Users can earn bonus miles. The service will be offered via travel agencies.
Fischer Advanced Composite Components, which as a supplier to Aviation Partners Boeing has a 95% market share of 737 winglet production, is studying the possibility of developing winglets for the MD-80.
United Airlines is bringing back more than 1,400 flight attendants from voluntary furlough in two phases this year owing to higher-than-expected attrition in the group. The carrier informed the Assn. of Flight Attendants that it intends to recall a further 600 flight attendants from Aug. 9 and will recall the remaining 851 on voluntary furlough by Nov. 30. Earlier this year, the carrier brought back 650 flight attendants.
News from Travel Technology Update: JetBlue Airways is planning a soft launch of its cruise-flight dynamic packaging engine "in the next month or so," according to Tim Claydon, senior vice president of sales and business development. The move is a natural progression for JetBlue, which serves 11 U.S. cruise ports. The carrier is working with EzRez, the Honolulu-based software company that specializes in dynamic packaging. The booking engine will have a "completely new interface" and will use XML connections to pull in pertinent cruise data.
Unisys Corp. was awarded a Master Systems Integrator contract from Beijing Capital International Airport to develop and integrate the core operational systems for BCIA's new international terminal, which is being built in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games. Preston Aviation Solutions Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned Boeing subsidiary, was commissioned by Malaysia Airports to replace the existing gate-allocation system at Kuala Lumpur International Airport with its airport resource management system Airport Solutions.
Northwest Airlines flew 7.11 billion RPMs in June, up 5.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.9% to 8.11 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.3 points to 87.7%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs jumped 7.6% to 38.19 billion, ASMs increased 4.4% to 46.54 billion and load factor was up 2.5 points to 82.1%. ATA Airlines flew 622.6 million RPMs in June, down 48.8% compared to the year-ago period. Capacity dropped 45.7% to 810.5 million ASMs and load factor declined 4.1 points to 76.8%.
ExpressJet Holdings reached a tentative agreement with its flight attendants, represented by the International Assn. of Machinists. The deal now is subject to ratification by the 1,200 IAM members at the carrier. The two sides have been negotiating since November 2004.
