World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, said it is delaying the filing of its 8-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission owing to its recent acquisition of North American, which will require additional work to complete the re-audit of its financial statements.
Emirates, in what may be its fastest buildup of a new route, said yesterday it will add a second daily service between Dubai and New York JFK on Nov. 7. The carrier inaugurated the route in June 2004 using an A340-500 configured for 258 seats with 12 in first, 42 in business and 204 in economy. Senior VP-Commercial Operations-the Americas Nigel Page characterized load factors on the 14-hr. flight as "extremely high since December." The route has been profitable for "a long time now," he told ATWOnline. The new flight also will be operated with an A340-500.
Analysts in Singapore and Australia are still upbeat that Jetstar Asia, Qantas's Singapore-based LCC, and rival Valuair will tie the knot despite the reported collapse of talks earlier this week ( ATWOnline, July 13). The discussions started two weeks ago, and Jetstar Asia CEO Ken Ryan said his airline, owned 49% by Qantas and 19% by Singapore government investment arm Temasek, withdrew its offer to Valuair. Jetstar Asia has applied to Cambodian authorities to fly to Phnom Penh and Siam Reap and to Indian authorities to commence services to Kolkata.
The International Air Carrier Assn. reiterated its calls to EU finance ministers to abort the idea of levying a development tax on airline tickets, an item once again on the agenda of the forthcoming ministerial meeting. The member airlines of IACA believe discussions on a development tax cannot be isolated from other burdens facing the aviation sector and argue that the cumulative effect of soaring kerosene costs, environmental pressures and a development tax would be unbearable for many carriers.
SAS introduced the United Airlines Corporate Solutions system in North America. It provides a single integrated system for collecting and analyzing data, generating contract terms, tracking usage and monitoring performance goals. InteliSys Aviation Systems signed a multiyear contract with Calgary-based Regional 1 Airlines Ltd. to provide its amelia reservation system. The carrier will use the system to manage its reservation sales and distribution.
LAN Airlines flew 1.27 billion RPKs in June, up 18.7% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 14.5% to 1.82 billion ASKs and load factor was up 2.5 points to 69.5%. For the six months ended June 30, RPKs rose 18.4% to 8.42 billion, ASKs increased 15.1% to 11.6 billion and load factor gained 2.1 points to 72.5%.
Air Berlin announced a passenger increase of 16% to 6.1 million for the first six months of 2005. The highest gains were seen in Vienna (33.6%), Dusseldorf (28%), Zurich (25%) and Palma de Mallorca (24.6%). "Because of our success in the first six months of this year, we are confident of reaching our target of flying 13.7 million passengers by the end of 2005," CEO Joachim Hunold said in a statement. The carrier also said turnover for the period climbed 23% to €564 million ($688 million).
Air New Zealand rolled out its first refitted 747-400 that features lie-flat beds, digital inflight entertainment at every seat and a new class of travel for the NZ market called Pacific Premium Economy. The refit is part of a NZ$160 million ($109.5 million) fleet upgrade for its eight 747s. The first routes to feature the product will be Los Angeles-Auckland and San Francisco-Auckland. ANZ's lie-flat beds, which are 6 ft. 7.5 in. long, are the longest available in business class today, ANZ said.
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%.
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.
America West Airlines will launch daily flights between Las Vegas and Palm Springs Oct. 1. America West Express, operated by Mesa Airlines, will provide the service using 37-seat Dash 8s.
International Air Carrier Assn., the trade group for Europe's leisure airline industry, announced that Niki and Arkefly became members Monday. Niki is the low-fare airline founded by Niki Lauda, while Arkefly is the new airline of TUI Netherlands.
