TAT Technologies acquired Piedmont Aviation Component Services through its fully owned subsidiary Limco Repair. Under terms of the agreement, TAT paid $5.3 million for the company and repaid $11 million of outstanding indebtedness. Piedmont, based in Kernersville, N.C., is a provider of overhaul, repair, maintenance, service and supply of propellers, landing gear and APU/LRU units in the Regional airline market.
Carmen Systems AB signed a long-term agreement with Northwest Airlines to provide its preferential bidding system for the carrier's 5,300 pilots. The deal also includes an option to add Northwest's 10,000 flight attendants.
Independence Air flew 332.2 million RPMs in June on capacity of 436.1 million ASMs. Load factor was 76.2%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs totaled 1.48 billion and ASMs were 2.2 billion. Load factor averaged 67.1%.
Emirates SkyCargo took delivery of the first of three converted A310-300Fs last week. The other two are scheduled to enter the airline's fleet by year end. The carrier also has two A380Fs on order, and when all deliveries are complete by 2008 its fleet will total 11 aircraft.
Lufthansa Systems enhanced its ELWIS cargo handling system with RFID technology. The free trade zone at the new Bangkok International Airport plans to launch the new ELWIS in its warehouse.
Alaska Air Group flew 1.54 billion RPMs in June, up 1.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity dropped 2.9% to 1.93 billion ASMs and load factor rose 3.4 points to 80.1%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs climbed 6.9% to 8.21 billion, ASMs increased 0.9% to 10.91 billion and load factor gained 4.2 points to 75.3%.
US Airways Group flew 3.73 billion RPMs in June, up 0.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 0.4% to 4.59 billion ASMs and load factor fell 0.4 point to 81.2%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs rose 3% to 20.37 billion, ASMs increased 1.9% to 27 billion and load factor was up 0.8 point to 75.4%.
SAS Group flew 3.31 billion RPKs in June, up 4% over the year-ago period. Capacity rose 1.4% to 4.62 billion ASKs and load factor gained 1.8 points to 71.6%. For the six months ended June 30, RPKs increased 3.7% to 16.63 billion, ASKs grew 3.8% to 26.28 billion and load factor was flat year-over-year at 63.3%.
Iberia firmed the commitment it signed with Airbus in January for the purchase of 30 A320 family aircraft ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28). The deal also includes 49 options. The contract covers the acquisition of 10 A318s, 10 A320s, seven A319s and three A321s, with deliveries starting from the second quarter of 2006. The aircraft will be powered by CFM56-5B engines. Iberia currently operates a fleet of 107 Airbus aircraft comprising seven A319s, 60 A320s, 13 A321s, 18 A340-300s and nine A340-600s.
American Airlines will begin selling its $3 Food on Board snack boxes to passengers in the main cabin on select flights departing from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. local time each day from Aug. 1. Currently, the program is available from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. According to the carrier, the time extension gives customers on 38 additional flights the option to purchase snack boxes and expands the service to more than 650 domestic flights.
Narita International Airport Corp. announced that it reached agreement with IATA on a reduction in fuel supply facility charges that it expects will save airlines around ¥1 billion ($9 million) per year. The new charge rate, which takes effect Oct. 1, will be ¥3,490 per thousand liters, down 4.6% compared to the current level. When the fuel supply facilities first became operational, the charge was ¥6,500 per thousand liters.
Honeywell announced that Malaysia Airlines will be the first carrier to equip its fleet with the Runway Awareness and Advisory System. MAS plans to install RAAS on its fleet of 92 aircraft and its three flight simulators.
JAT intends to spin off its technical operation into a separate company called Jat Tehnika, which would employ 950. The company plans to obtain the necessary licenses and authorities to perform third-party maintenance.
Ryanair said the number of earned seats flown in June amounted to 3 million, up 31% from a year earlier. Load factor stayed stable at 87%. For the rolling 12 months ended June 30, earned seats flown totaled 29.6 million and load factor averaged 84%.
The European Parliament rejected an agreement reached between the European Union and Canada that would permit the transfer of passenger data from EU airlines to the border authorities of Canada.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.79 billion RPMs in June, up 31.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 25.9% to 2.01 billion ASMs and load factor rose 3.5 points to 89%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs increased 30.8% to 9.56 billion, ASMs jumped 24.1% to 11.01 billion and load factor was up 4.5 points to 86.8%.
North Asia region will attract a significant number of new low-cost carriers, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. "We are at the point of what should be a major increase in low-cost air travel across the north of the region," said CAPA MD Peter Harbison. At least 12 new airlines are expected to begin operations over the next 12 months in Macau, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan. Harbison said the big issue is how fast governments are prepared to liberalize. "We think conditions are ripe for [LCC] development in North Asia.
EasyJet carried 2.6 million passengers in June, up 15.4% compared with the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 0.4 point to 85.6%. For the rolling 12 months ended June 30, the airline carried 28.3 million passengers, up 23.7% on the prior year. Load factor rose 1.1 points to 85.1%. Unaudited revenues for the 12-month period increased 22.5% to £1.26 billion ($2.2 billion). "We experienced a more favorable revenue environment during the month, but this has been balanced by an unfavorable movement in the spot price of jet fuel," CEO Ray Webster said.
Alitalia said its unaudited estimated loss before tax and extraordinary items narrowed to about €120 million ($143.3 million) in the first half of the year from €329 million a year earlier as preliminary passenger revenues increased 15% to €1.74 billion. Chairman and CEO Giancarlo Cimoli told unions that the group will launch its planned rights issue at the end of October or beginning of November, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Banks underwriting the issue will include Deutsche Bank, which has provided a letter of guarantee, and Italy's Banca Intesa.
US airline ontime performance improved in May compared to the previous month and May 2004, the US Dept. of Transportation reported yesterday. In addition, the carriers canceled fewer flights. According to DOT statistics, the 20 reporting airlines recorded an overall ontime arrival rate of 83.7% in May, significantly higher than May 2004's 77.6% and slightly above April 2005's 83.4%. Of the flights that were delayed, 3.3% were caused by bad weather, down from May 2004's rate of 7.4% but on par with April when 3.3% of flights also were delayed by weather.
Lufthansa appointed Karsten Benz VP-sales and services-Europe effective July 1. Benz took over from Ulrich Wachter, who has moved to Frankfurt to head Lufthansa's cabin crew division. In his new position, Benz has overall responsibility for sales and airport operations across Europe excluding Germany.
US Airways Group received a boost yesterday when Tudor Investment Corp. committed to provide $65 million of equity funding for the company's plan of reorganization in exchange for roughly 3.9 million shares of common stock in the successor company following the merger with America West Airlines. US Airways filed its plan of reorganization with the US Bankruptcy Court earlier this month ( ATWOnline, July 4).
Air Jamaica canceled all of its scheduled flights to and from Jamaica yesterday owing to Hurricane Dennis, which is slowly working its way through the Caribbean. The airline said it will resume all Jamaica flights as soon as authorities at Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay and Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston give clearance. Service to Eastern Caribbean destinations Grenada and Barbados will operate as scheduled.
