ATA cockpit crewmembers, including pilots and flight engineers, ratified an agreement to extend short-term pay and work rule concessions that will save the company an estimated $10 million over the next four years. The concessions include an 18% pay cut over the next 120 days. According to the Air Line Pilots Assn., 76.8% of union members voted in favor of the agreement. "We're extremely pleased that a majority of ATA's cockpit crewmembers support the company's reorganization efforts.
Avions de Transport Regional will announce multiple orders for the ATR 42/72 family of turboprops at next week's Paris Air Show, confirming "the recovery of the turboprop market and the success of ATR." The company forecasts a cumulative number of sales this year "not seen in over a decade."
Swiss International Air Lines CEO Christoph Franz told ATWOnline that he expects Lufthansa's acquisition of Swiss to receive a green light from the EC this summer. The carriers have created working groups to smooth the merger. Franz added that in terms of joining the Star Alliance, Swiss has to identify a geographical role for itself. He said the LH hubs at Frankfurt and Munich need to be connected strongly to Zurich, which "offers space to grow" while Munich will be running out of capacity "in about two years time."
United Airlines and Verizon Airfone, in what they claim is a first, received FAA certification to install the necessary cabin equipment to enable passenger and crew use of wireless technology devices to send and receive e-mail and surf the Internet onboard domestic commercial aircraft.
EasyJet yesterday announced that it has teamed with Servisair/GlobeGround to launch easyJetLounges. The venture sells access to Servisair/Globeground's lounges at 33 airports throughout Europe, including all but three (Belfast, Basel and Paris Orly) of easyJet's 14 European bases.
Focus Aviation delivered the third of four converted MD-11Fs to Transmile Air on behalf of Central Air Leasing. The conversion was done by SASCO in Singapore, where a fourth aircraft is currently in conversion.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.7 billion RPMs in May, up 32.9% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 25.6% to 1.97 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 4.8 points to 86.6%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 30.7% to 7.77 billion, ASMs rose 23.7% to 9 billion and load factor grew 4.7 points to 86.3%.
French slot coordinator COHOR said that successive allocations of slots, mainly released by bankrupt airlines, in the past three years have "substantially modified the traffic distribution" at Paris Orly. In what has to be seen as a response to easyJet's frequent complaints that it is denied access to slots at Orly so that the dominance of Air France Group is maintained, COHOR recently performed a study on all of the slot pool allocations made between February 2002 and February 2005.
As predicted ( ATWOnline, June 6), FlyBE placed an order to purchase up to 26 GE CF34-powered Embraer 195s, comprising 14 firm orders and 12 options with deliveries beginning in August 2006 and continuing to November 2007. According to Embraer, total value of the firm contract at list prices is $470 million with a potential of up to $870 million if all options are converted.
Pemco World Air Services converted and delivered a 737-300 Quick Change aircraft to CIT Aerospace in New York for onward lease to Titan Aerospace, a European charter airline that already operates four BAe 146 freighters and a 737-300 converted by the Dothan, Ala.-based company.
United Airlines flew 9.72 billion RPMs in May, up 0.9% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 1.2% to 11.88 billion ASMs and load factor was ahead 1.7 points to 81.8%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 0.5% to 45.3 billion, ASMs rose 2.2% to 57.12 billion and load factor gained 2.1 points to 79.3%.
Alteon Training will place a 737-700/-800 full flight simulator and 737-700/-800/777 flat panel trainer in AeroMexico's facility at Mexico City International Airport to support the airline's growing fleet.
Boeing appears to be moving toward a July launch of both the cargo and passenger versions of the 747ADV. A number of airlines are interested in the passenger version, while a more significant number will take the freighter. Air New Zealand MD and CEO Ralph Norris told ATWOnline that while his airline has ordered 777-200ERs to replace its 747-400s, it would be interested in a number of 747-400ADVs for major routes.
ARINC was awarded a contract for advanced Internet-based communications and messaging services by SkyEurope Airlines. Under the deal, ARINC will provide the carrier with three communications solutions: AviNet Mail, MQ-Over-the-Internet and AviNet Connector.
FlyBE confirmed to ATWOnline that it will announce a major fleet expansion today. The order for 9-12 new 150-seat aircraft is part of its fleet renewal program as it intends to retire its aging BAe 146s, but it also will accommodate the carrier's ambitious growth strategy.
Alteon Training selected Thales to provide training equipment for the 787. Alteon said the initial order is for six suites with deployment beginning in 2007.
Sabre Airline Solutions and the Arab Air Carriers Organization, in close coordination with EgyptAir, Gulf Air, Middle East Airlines, Oman Air, Royal Jordanian Airlines and Saudi Arabian Airlines, are studying the creation of Arabesk, which would be the first alliance to coordinate the schedules of six competing airlines. According to Sabre, the goal of the alliance is to provide financial benefits that the carriers could not achieve individually.
ATA Holdings Corp. named Francis Conway as interim CFO replacing Gilbert Viets, who will step down as CFO but will remain with the company as assistant to the chairman and a member of the company's board. In addition, ATA appointed industry veteran Subodh Karnik as senior VP and chief commercial officer. In this position he will oversee all revenue-related functions including sales, marketing, market planning, pricing, revenue management, e-commerce and distribution.
Although consolidated results for Air France-KLM Group were released earlier, KLM reported its individual results for the fiscal year ended March 31 last week. The airline said the figures differ from those included in the AF-KLM Group results, which included just 11 months of its operations and were adjusted to comply with French accounting policies, as they cover a period of 12 months and comply with Dutch accounting policies.
Continental Airlines flew 6.67 billion RPMs in May, up 10.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 4.2% to 8.44 billion ASMs and load factor rose 4.7 points to 79.1%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs increased 10.3% to 31.17 billion, ASMs grew 4.3% to 40.27 billion and load factor gained 4.2 points to 77.4%. For May, consolidated passenger RASM is estimated to have increased 8.5%-9.5% compared to May 2004, while mainline passenger RASM is believed to have climbed 9%-10% year-over-year.
National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. President John Carr claimed last Thursday that FAA charges of excessive overtime at the New York Terminal Radar Approach Control Center are "disingenuous" and without merit because the overtime is owing to the fact that the facility employs "only approximately 76% of its authorized staffing complement by the agency's own standards."
