The Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn yesterday reversed itself and asked the National Mediation Board to release the union from contract talks with Northwest Airlines, citing the carrier's refusal to "take contract negotiations seriously." In May, the union successfully blocked a similar request by Northwest. If NMB grants AMFA's request, it then will offer to arbitrate a settlement. Should either party reject this, the Board will declare an impasse, initiating a 30-day cooling-off period after which the airline can impose a contract and the union may strike.
EasyJet took delivery of its 50th new A319 in Hamburg. The LCC's first A319 was delivered to its Geneva base in October 2003. Since then it has converted seven of its 13 bases--Basel, Berlin, Dortmund, Gatwick, Geneva, Paris Orly and London Stansted--into all-Airbus operations. Nottingham East Midlands and Bristol will be converted later this year. With the latest delivery, the easyJet fleet numbers 105 aircraft with a further 70 Airbus jets still to be delivered. Average aircraft age will decrease from the current four years to 2.2 years by the end of 2007.
AEA Secretary General Ulrich Schulte-Strathaus warned that the high fuel costs currently in place will fundamentally affect the airline industry and said a proposed development tax will only worsen the situation. "Whether by introducing a supplement to the fare, clearly signaled to the passenger as fuel-related, or by adjusting the pricing model to reduce the number of seats sold at the lowest fares, revenue-boosting measures will be starting to affect passenger behavior, introducing another note of instability into our business," said Schulte-Strathaus.
Alaska Airlines appears to have switched suppliers for an order for up to seven 737-400 passenger-to-freighter and passenger-to-Combi conversions. A year ago, the carrier announced it had selected a team comprising InterContinental Aviation Services of Taiwan, the Flight Structures Inc. unit of B/E Aerospace and Boeing to perform the conversions on five of its 737-400s in a deal valued at $15 million ( ATWOnline, July 16, 2004). Yesterday, however, Pemco Aviation Group said it would perform conversions on five Alaska 737-400s, with options on two additional aircraft.
The management of Vietnam Airlines has been given the green light to pursue a conservative growth strategy that should see the state-owned carrier boost its fleet to up to 70 aircraft by 2015 from 38 today. The airline also expects to be operating pure freighters within 10 years and to carry 8-9 million passengers, according to Chairman Nguyen Sy Hung, who spoke with ATWOnline in Hanoi. VN transported 5 million passengers in 2004 and is expecting a 20% increase for 2005, making it one of the fastest-growing carriers in the region.
Spanair and airBaltic announced a marketing agreement whereby Spanair, a member of SAS Group, will place its code on three weekly flights operated by airBaltic between Riga and Barcelona while airBaltic, 47% owned by SAS, will place its code on Spanair flights from Barcelona to Spanish destinations including Madrid, Ibiza, Mahon, Bilbao, Oviedo and Palma de Mallorca.
American Airlines yesterday said it will make seasonal adjustments to its service to Haiti. From July 6 it will cancel one of two daily nonstop flights between Port-au-Prince and New York JFK. In addition, effective July 15 it will cancel one of its four Port-au-Prince-Miami flights and will end a second on Aug. 23.
The European Commission yesterday conditionally cleared the proposed acquisition of Swiss International Air Lines by Lufthansa after the carriers committed to surrender slots for up to 41 roundtrips per day to new entrants at Zurich, Frankfurt, Munich, Dusseldorf, Berlin, Vienna, Stockholm and Copenhagen.
Finnair Technical Services and Gemini Air Cargo signed a maintenance support contract covering component and APU maintenance on Gemini's four MD-11Fs and seven DC-10-30Fs. The contract is valued at in excess of €8 million ($9.5 million) per year. The contract for the DC-10s covers five years and the MD-11s seven years. The previous service provider was Alitalia.
Air France will raise its fuel surcharge by €1 ($1.19) per sector on domestic flights, €2 on medium-haul flights and €4 on long-haul fights from July 19. KLM also plans to increase its fuel surcharge by €14 ($16.66) per segment on all long-haul flights on the same day.
KLM will begin operating direct thrice-weekly scheduled services between Amsterdam and Entebbe on Nov. 1 in addition to its current 11 weekly flights on the route that operate via Nairobi in codeshare with Kenya Airways.
Brazil's Gol announced plans to establish a low-cost carrier in Mexico in partnership with Inversiones y Tecnicas Aeroportuarias, SA de CV, Fernando Chico Pardo and CPH. The carrier, which will based on the same model that has made GOL an outstanding success, is expected to commence flights in the second quarter of 2006.
AirTran Airways canceled its Atlanta-New Orleans flights scheduled for yesterday evening and this morning owing to Tropical Storm Cindy, which was expected to hit the US Gulf Coast.
America West Airlines flew 2.16 billion RPMs in June, up 4.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 0.2% to 2.59 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 3.1 points to 83.6%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs increased 7.5% to 12.06 billion, ASMs grew 1% to 15.06 billion and load factor gained 4.8 points to 80.1%.
British Airways restated its financial results to comply with International Financial Reporting Standards in accordance with EU regulations, which required the company to adopt IFRS from April 1. Under IFRS, net profit was unchanged at £251 million ($298.9 million) for the fiscal year ended March 31 but operating profit increased to £556 million from £540 million under UK GAAP and profit before tax climbed from £415 million to £513 million. Separately, BA said it flew 9.74 billion RPKs in June, up 4.7% over the year-ago period.
US Airways announced that the 30-day period for alternative offers on its proposed merger with America West Airlines ended without any competing offers being submitted. The two airlines expect to close the merger in late September or early October.
Etihad Airways named Robert Strodel as the Abu Dhabi-based airline's first CEO. Strodel previously was head of cargo and mail for the two-year old carrier. Prior to that, he worked for Lufthansa and founded Lufthansa Cargo India in 1996, according to Etihad. He also managed an aviation consulting firm in Germany. Sheikh Ahmed Bin Saif Al Nahyan, chairman of Etihad and DG of the Civil Aviation Dept. of Abu Dhabi, said Strodel "has contributed substantially to the considerable success Etihad has enjoyed.
Guggenheim Aviation Partners, a US-based aviation investment firm acting on behalf of the Guggenheim Aviation Investment Fund, has placed an order for six 747-400ER freighters valued at approximately $1.37 billion at list prices, Boeing confirmed yesterday. The order had been added to Boeing's website but was attributed to an unidentified customer, as previously reported on this website ( ATWOnline, July 4). Deliveries will begin in late 2006 and continue through the first half of 2008.
Continental Airlines flew 7.23 billion RPMs in June, up 7.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7.2% to 8.8 billion ASMs and load factor gained 0.3 point to 82.2%. For the six months ended June 30, RPMs increased 9.7% to 38.4 billion, ASMs rose 4.8% to 49.07 billion and load factor jumped 3.6 points to 78.3%. In June, Continental said both consolidated and mainline passenger RASM are estimated to have increased 6%-7% compared to June 2004. For May 2005, consolidated passenger RASM gained 9% compared to the year-ago period and mainline passenger RASM rose 9.5% from May 2004.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings filed its 10-K annual report for 2004 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, confirming its previously announced financial results for the year ( ATWOnline, May 24), which included a five-month period that ended Dec. 31, 2004, following its emergence from Chapter 11 protection, and a seven-month period ended July 27, 2004, that preceded it. For the five-month period, the company reported net income of $22.7 million. Revenue totaled $679.3 million and total expenses were $612.3 million, producing an operating income of $67 million.
OAG teamed with 15below, an aviation software applications specialist, to offer PASNGR, "a groundbreaking passenger communications system that interfaces to reservations and other data stores to allow airlines and travel agents to communicate practically any information to their customers on a worldwide basis." The system already is live with a number of airlines including Ryanair, Monarch, Virgin Express, AirAsia, TUI, MyTravel, First Choice and Jetstar. The companies said PASNGR also addresses EU regulatory requirements to notify passengers when service disruptions occur.
The merger of Sterling of Denmark and Maersk Air, the airline unit of the Danish A.P. Moeller-Maersk Group, if consummated, will create Europe's fourth-largest low-fare airline behind Ryanair, easyJet and Air Berlin. It also would lead to much-needed rationalization in Scandinavia's airline sector, which is home to several low-fare carriers including Norwegian, Fly Nordic and Snowflake. Currently, some 64 airlines serve Copenhagen in a home market of fewer than 10 million.
US Airways last week filed a disclosure statement and plan of reorganization based on its proposed merger with America West Group Holdings ( ATWOnline, May 20) that is expected to close in late September or early October. According to the airline, the bankruptcy court set a hearing on approval of the disclosure statement for Aug. 9. Under the proposed plan, creditors having claims of $50,000 or less will receive a cash payment of 10% of the amount of their claims. Other creditors holding unsecured claims will receive stock in the reorganized company.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance is boosting its presence in the market for component maintenance by buying out partner Hamilton Sundstrand's 51% stake in their Schiphol-based joint venture EPCOR, which will become a 100% subsidiary of KLM E&M. The company employs 60 people and generates annual turnover of $20 million specializing in maintaining pneumatic aircraft components such as air cycle machines, engine starters and pneumatic valves for regulating bleed air and air-conditioning systems.
Lufthansa in response to the "continuing dramatic increase in oil prices" is increasing its fuel surcharge. From July 8, the surcharge on intra-European routes will jump from €7 ($8.36) to €9 per flight leg. On long-haul routes, the surcharge will increase from €27 to €37 per leg.
