TAP Portugal and Air One signed a marketing agreement covering codeshare operations on TAP-operated routes from Lisbon to Rome, Milan Linate and Venice. The agreement will go into effect July 20. In addition, both companies are to market jointly a wide range of domestic destinations operated in codeshare in Italy and Portugal. TAP will apply its code to Air One routes between Rome Fiumicino and Turin, Palermo, Catania, Genoa, Lamezia Terme, Trieste, Alghero and Venice and the Air One code will be applied to TAP flights between Lisbon and Oporto, Funchal and Faro.
InteliSys Aviation Systems released two new interfaces to its successful airline reservation system. The interfaces, marketed under the trade names WebAgent and WebEdit, are modular components of the company's proprietary amelia RES.
Virgin Atlantic will commence its earlier announced London Heathrow-Dubai service March 27 using an A340 fitted with the Upper Class Suite. The flights initially will operate four days a week, increasing to five on May 1 and daily on June 1.
Lufthansa Systems CEO Wolfgang Gohde believes that his company's new FACE (Future Airline Core Environment) modular passenger solution will enable it to steal a march on what he clearly sees as LHS's primary competitors: Sabre Group, parent of the GDS, Travelocity, and Sabre Airline Solutions, and Amadeus, which is moving aggressively into traditional airline IT from its core GDS activity and has had some key wins with its new Altea suite, including Qantas, British Airways and KLM.
Lufthansa will launch six weekly flights to Donestsk from Munich on Sept. 9 and follow that up with six-times-weekly service to Dnipropetrovsk from Frankfurt on Oct. 30. Also, as of Aug. 29 Lufthansa will offer six flights a week to Kiev from Munich and Frankfurt, including a connecting service from Dusseldorf.
Bmi regional will expand operations at Aberdeen. From Sept. 5, it will increase frequencies to Manchester to four direct flights each weekday and add a third daily Norwich service on weekday afternoons. Recently, the regional operator of the bmi group added a 14th Embraer jet to its fleet.
International Finance Corp., the private-sector arm of the World Bank, said the government of Samoa signed an agreement with Virgin Blue to set up a new joint venture airline, Polynesian Blue. Virgin Blue was chosen as the preferred partner in the project in January ( ATWOnline, Jan. 4). According to IFC, which acted as the lead adviser to the Samoan government on the transaction, the new airline will operate the long-haul services of Polynesian Airlines beginning in late October.
US Dept. of Homeland Security announced yesterday that it is ending the so-called "30 minute rule" for flights operating into and out of Reagan Washington National Airport. Under the rule, which was imposed when DCA reopened after 9/11, all passengers and cabin staff were required to remain seated for the first 30 min. of any flight out of DCA and the last 30 min. of any flight into the airport.
Continental Airlines today is to begin new daily nonstop service between Houston George Bush Intercontinental Airport and Cali using 737-700s in a two-class configuration. Northwest Airlines will launch new nonstop service between Flint, Mich., and Las Vegas on Aug. 20 using A319s. United Airlines will offer three additional weekly flights between Los Angeles and Sydney between Dec. 15 and April 27. The carrier currently operates daily flights on the route.
Despite the impact of high fuel prices and more competition, Southwest Airlines reported that earnings rose 40.7% to $159 million for the second quarter ended June 30 compared to earnings of $113 million in the prior-year quarter.
Swiss International Air Lines was forced to cancel another nine flights from Basel Wednesday, affecting around 100 passengers. On Tuesday, Swiss cancelled six flights following the suspensions of 52 of its 72 Saab 2000 pilots ( ATWOnline, July 13). The incident began when the former Crossair pilots wrote a letter to management and the board of directors stating that uncertainty over their future with the company could cause cockpit safety to be compromised. Swiss responded by instituting training checks for the group, a process that takes half a day per pilot.
Gol and Amadeus signed an agreement for the distribution of Gol's flight and fare information to tourism professionals through the Amadeus system. The deal goes into effect in August.
Lufthansa and Swiss will harmonize their frequent-flier programs starting July 20. Swiss Travel Club members can earn miles on Lufthansa flights and vice versa. Members also have access to each other's lounges. Swiss Travel Club has 2.1 million members, Lufthansa Miles & More has more than 10 million.
Boeing and China Cargo Airlines, a subsidiary of China Eastern Airlines, finalized an agreement for the acquisition of two 747-400ER freighters valued at $430 million at list prices. The carrier will take delivery of the aircraft in July 2006 and August 2007 and they will be used to expand the operating capacity of its routes. At present, its fleet consists of six MD-11Fs.
US FAA begins negotiations with the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. on a new contract next week. Yesterday, in a conference call with reporters, Administrator Marion Blakey said the agency "cannot afford an agreement like 1998 that saddled the FAA with excessive costs, archaic work rules and restrictions on our ability to modernize the system." She claimed that as a result of the current contract, negotiated during the Clinton Administration in 1998, controller compensation ballooned from $1.4 billion to nearly $2.4 billion ( ATWOnline, May 13).
Royal Jordanian Airways and Thai International have signed a codeshare agreement for Thai services to Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai and Beijing and for Royal Jordanian services to Amman.
Air New Zealand implemented a contingency plan to minimize the impact of expected industrial action on its long-haul services next week after mediated negotiations with its long-haul cabin crew, represented by FARSA, ended without an agreement. According to ANZ GM-International Airline Ed Sims, an average of 15 to 20 international flights a day will be cancelled owing to the strike.
Polar Air Cargo crewmembers, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., overwhelmingly voted to authorize a strike if contract talks do not result in an agreement and the National Mediation Board releases the parties. The two sides have been negotiating since February 2003.
Vueling said it carried more than 1.2 million passengers during its first full year of operations. Punctuality of its flights was above 85% with a ratio of 3.2 per 1,000 passengers for baggage loss, the airline noted, adding that it has "eliminated the overbooking concept." It said 94% of its sales were made through its website, 3% by its call center and the remaining 3% by agencies.
FedEx Express yesterday said it will build a $150 million Asia/Pacific hub at Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport to replace its existing hub in Subic Bay, Philippines.
Lord King of Wartnaby, who served as chairman of British Airways between 1981 and 1993 and led its successful restructuring, died Tuesday at his home in Leicestershire. He was 87. Born John King, he was knighted in 1979, two years before Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher appointed him chairman of BA to prepare the often troubled and unprofitable national airline for privatization, a process that was completed in 1987. He was made a life peer in 1983. One of King's key steps was the 1983 appointment of Colin Marshall as CEO.
Australia's domestic airline passenger figures are soaring. Figures for April show RPKS were up 10.5% to 3.81 billion while ASKs increased 9.9% to 4.87 billion, resulting in a 0.5-point gain in load factor to 78.3%. Interestingly, the "golden triangle" of Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane accounted for 30.1% of total domestic traffic.
Continental Airlines reacted swiftly to JetBlue's plans to launch operations from Newark Liberty International Airport to five destinations in Florida and San Juan this fall ( ATWOnline, July 14).
Ryanair plans to launch eight new European routes from the UK during its next winter schedule, bringing its total network to 246 routes. The LCC also announced that it will begin a major tourism drive to encourage visitors to come to the UK by releasing 3 million seats at a price of just £1 ($1.76) or €1 ($1.21) plus taxes. The seats have gone on sale through its website for travel during August, September and October and the sale will be backed by a £5 million pan-European advertising campaign over the next three months that will feature the major cities of the UK.
Wizz Air yesterday said it signed a letter of intent with Airbus to purchase up to 24 V2500-A5-powered A320 family aircraft valued at $1.4 billion at catalog prices. IAE valued the engine portion at $400 million. Wizz Air also signed up for a long-term Fleet Hour Agreement covering the engines. The carrier said the aircraft will be configured with 180 seats in a single class. A delivery schedule was not announced.
