Volga-Dnepr Group signed a 15-year financial agreement with Ilyushin Finance Corp. to become launch customer for the IL-96-400T with an order for two of the freighters. The first is due to be delivered in late 2006. The IL-96-400T will have a cargo capacity of 92 tonnes and a range of 5,000 km. It will be powered by four PC-90A1 engines. It will be used by AirBridge Cargo, Volga-Dnepr's scheduled cargo airline, to enhance its expanding network. The contract was signed by Volga-Dnepr Group President Alexey Isaikin and IFC General Director Alexander Rubtsov.
ASI Entertainment's wholly owned subsidiary ASiQ Pty. Ltd. and EMS Satcom, a division of EMS Technologies, signed a letter of intent under which ASiQ selected EMS Satcom's eNfusion HSD-128 high-speed data solution for the ASiQnet Saudi Arabian Airlines program to provide global inflight Internet connectivity for the carrier.
Lufthansa Technik Malta, a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik AG and Air Malta, will add a second production line by the third quarter of 2006. Effective in July, LHT will raise its share in the JV to 75% from 51%. Air Malta's stake accordingly will be reduced to 25%. LHT Malta operates as a Center of Excellence and provides C checks for 737 Classics, 737NGs and the A320 family. It was established in 2002 and employs 110.
Lufthansa received the go-ahead yesterday to build a maintenance hangar to handle the A380 at Frankfurt. The administrative court of Kassel rejected opposition to the project from local authorities and environmental groups, upholding the state of Hesse's approval last November of the planned building. "Construction of the hangar will be able to start as scheduled in the autumn. Lufthansa will invest around €150 million ($182 million) in the new hangar," a spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Air Berlin will add a 12th destination in Spain to its network. From Nov. 1 it will start daily services from Santiago de Compostela to its hub in Palma de Mallorca.
Virgin Express will resume service between Brussels and Berlin Schoenefeld Sept. 5. The decision was taken by the management board following a joint network review with SN Brussels Airlines, the carrier said in a statement. SN Brussels will continue to operate a four-times-daily rotation to Berlin Tempelhof. Since April, Virgin Express and SN Brussels have been under the common ownership of SN Airholding ( ATWOnline, April 13). Virgin Express initially will fly once daily on the route and will double its service from October.
Bmi confirmed plans to launch services from London Heathrow to Riyadh from Sept. 1. "I am delighted to confirm the expansion of our long-haul network from Heathrow following the successful launch of our Heathrow-Mumbai service last month," CEO Nigel Turner said, pointing out that bmi will be the only British carrier offering scheduled services to Saudi Arabia. British Airways suspended its flights between Heathrow and Jeddah and Riyadh from March 27 owing to reduced passenger demand. Bmi will operate a thrice-weekly service using a three-class A330.
Korean Air reported a 5.5% increase to 4.04 billion RPKs in May. Despite a drop in domestic traffic and slowing passenger flow to Japan and Southeast Asia, traffic between Korea and China jumped 32% to 204.4 million RPKs. Capacity between the two countries also climbed, rising 14.5% to 292.5 million ASKs. Capacity on European operations was up 24.1% while RPKs increased 15.9%. To the US, ASKs grew 14.9% and RPKs 7.1%.
Air New Zealand is planning to make radical changes to its short-haul operations in the Tasman and South Pacific markets to cut losses in a move that is expected to have an impact on Qantas's cost-cutting plans. Over the next 18 months, the airline will integrate its ANZ brand and low-cost Freedom Air leisure carrier under one operational umbrella built around the latter's cost model, with the two airlines' A320 fleets placed on the same AOC "to gain efficiencies from a single fleet type." The move will not affect ANZ's regional and long-haul operations.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. reported a net loss of $93 million for May, which included $36 million in reorganization items. This is on par with the $93 million net loss the company reported for May 2004, of which $58 million represented reorganization expenses. UAL posted an operating loss of $21 million for the month compared to an operating profit of $9 million in the year-ago period.
Telair International was selected by Boeing to design and manufacture the cargo handling system for the 747 Large Cargo Freighter, the specially modified 747-400 that will transport major assemblies for the 787. According to Boeing, the system's design features "intelligent" power drive units networked through a control system that allows them to communicate with one another. This enables safe and nonlabor-intensive loading and unloading of the aircraft as well as simplifying system maintenance.
Virgin Atlantic said business-class travel increased 26% in its last financial year. During the 12 months ended Feb. 28, the airline carried 352,095 Upper Class passengers, up from 279,714 in the previous 12 months. This produced an Upper Class load factor of 56%, "the highest enjoyed by the airline since 2000," it noted.
Kingfisher Airlines signed a five-year contract with SITA INC for VHF AIRCOM data link services. According to the airline, SITA was selected because of its ability to provide nationwide VHF data communications coverage. SITA has four VHF ground stations operational at Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Calcutta with two more being installed at Port Blair and Trivandrum. SITA INC is now in the process of installing VHF stations at 17 new sites in India as well as upgrading existing sites.
SriLankan Airlines Cargo Center at Bandaranaike International Airport handled an all-time high 146,883 metric tons of cargo in 2004. Previously, the highest total the carrier handled was 127,116 tonnes in 2000. The company said it expects to handle even more cargo this year.
Qatar Airways will add 11 weekly frequencies to India following the recent successful round of bilateral discussions between the countries. Qatar currently operates 19 scheduled flights a week between Doha and Cochin, Trivandrum, Hyderabad and Mumbai. From July 14 it will add New Delhi with seven services a week, flown initially with A320s in a 144-seat, two-class configuration and later with A330s offering three classes of service. From July 15, the Mumbai route will increase from six services a week to daily with the introduction of a new Friday night flight from Doha.
US House of Representatives voted Friday to prevent any federal appropriations from being used by the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to assume United Airlines' pension obligations. Since PBGC is funded by premiums paid by US companies, it is not clear that the bill can have any impact on the situation at the carrier, which has defaulted on all of its defined benefit pension plans. Furthermore, a similar bill would need to pass in the Senate and then the two bills reconciled and signed by the President in order to become law.
Iberia will increase capacity between Madrid and Beirut by almost 59% in July and August by using 200-seat 757s instead of the 126-seat A319s it now flies on the route. The change is in response to the success of the new thrice-weekly service that launched March 28, the carrier said in a statement.
Southwest Airlines plans to begin service to Ft. Myers from Southwest Florida International Airport in October. The city will become the sixth Florida destination Southwest serves. Flight schedules will be announced in July.
Varig Engineering & Maintenance, a separate legal entity from parent Varig, has not sought bankruptcy protection and continues to maintain its normal operation, the company noted. The airline is seeking to reorganize under the New Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law of Brazil, which took effect June 9 and is similar to US Chapter 11 ( ATWOnline, June 21).
Alteon Training signed a long term agreement to provide Aerosim Technologies' PC-based training tools in conjunction with its own training services. The trainers will be used with existing training solutions. Aerosim products covered under the agreement include Flight Management System Trainer, Virtual Flight Deck, Virtual Procedure Trainer and Flight Training Devices.
AirTran Airways launched daily nonstop service from Richmond to both Atlanta and Philadelphia. With the new flights, the carrier now serves 47 cities. Separately, AirTran reported a record 58,036 enplanements on its 568 flights on June 23.
