Delta Air Lines reached an agreement with Mesa Air Group under which Mesa subsidiary Freedom Airlines will operate up to 30 CRJ200s in the Delta Connection feeder network over a 12-year period beginning in October.
An alphabet soup of aviation interest groups testified yesterday before the US Congress on future funding for FAA and the air traffic control system, but organizations representing airlines, airports, air traffic controllers, corporate and general aviation disagree widely over whether the current funding mechanism is in trouble and if so, how it should be fixed.
Embraer on Tuesday announced it will enter the market for small business jets with two new programs. The aircraft, currently designated the Very Light Jet and the Light Jet, are twin-engine jets targeted for entry into service in mid-2008 for the VLJ and a year later for the LJ. The VLJ will seat between six and eight including pilot and copilot and will sell for $2.75 million. The LJ will seat up to nine and list for $6.65 million. Embraer put its investment to develop both at $235 million. They will be powered by Pratt & Whitney engines.
Singapore Airlines confirmed reports that delivery of its first A380 will be delayed from the original target of May 2006 ( ATWOnline, May 3). A spokesperson told this website yesterday, "We have been notified by Airbus of a delay and are working with them to minimize it. We are still working toward an entry into commercial service in the second half of 2006." Insiders at the airline said that contrary to reports from German media, the delay is not by mutual agreement.
US Airways yesterday said it will reduce its mainline fleet by a further 10 aircraft this summer. The move will have "a limited impact on flight schedules," the carrier said, and will result primarily in the temporary cancellation of some selected seasonal Caribbean and Florida service. It stressed that it does not expect to eliminate service to any cities and does not anticipate any additional furloughs.
Delta Air Lines flew 10.01 billion RPMs in April, up 7.3% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 4.3% to 13.11 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.1 points to 76.4%. For the four months ended April 30, RPMs increased 10.6% to 38.19 billion, ASMs jumped 5.5% to 50.99 billion and load factor gained 3.4 points to 74.9%.
Assn. of European Airlines members posted overall scheduled traffic growth in March of 6.7% compared to the year-ago period. The increase in boardings was much lower at 2.2%. Among the long-haul regions, the Europe-Far East market remained buoyant with a growth of 13.9%. This contrasted with an increase of just 1.5% in North Atlantic traffic. In both cases, however, the growth closely matched capacity on offer and load factors remained high, approaching 84% in the case of the North Atlantic.
Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways is expected to announce a fresh order--possibly at the Paris Air Show--for more widebody aircraft for delivery over the next five years. Speaking at the opening of the Arab Travel Market, Etihad Chairman Shaikh Ahmed bin Saif Al Nahyan said in a prepared statement that the airline will be operating to more than 30 destinations within a year. He added, "The role of Etihad Airways in promoting the destination regionally and internationally cannot be ignored. Since it started operations, the number of tourists dramatically increased.
Two pilots were killed when a Metroliner carrying mail from Auckland to Blenheim apparently exploded in midair. Airways New Zealand said the Airpost aircraft disappeared from radar as it was flying at about 6,000 m. (19,685 ft.).
Southwest Airlines touched down at Pittsburgh International Airport for the first time yesterday. Initially the carrier will operate four daily flights to both Chicago Midway and Philadelphia and one each to Las Vegas and Orlando.
Southwest Airlines flew 4.81 billion RPMs in April, up 2.5% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 13.2% to 6.96 billion ASMs and load factor declined 7.1 points to 69.1%. For the four months ended April 30, RPMs increased 9.5% to 18.05 billion, ASMs gained 10.9% to 27.19 billion and load factor decreased 0.8 point to 66.4%.
Frontier Airlines took delivery of its 38th 132-seat A319 that is on lease from ILFC. With the delivery, the carrier's fleet now totals 45 aircraft comprising 38 A319s and seven A318s.
Northwest Airlines announced that CFO Bernie Han resigned from the company and will be replaced by former US Airways Executive VP and CFO Neal Cohen. Han was named CFO at Northwest in October 2002 following a seven-year stint as CFO at America West Airlines. No reason was given for his departure.
SITA SC has responded to the extreme financial pressures facing many North American airline customers by providing substantial price reductions, SITA DG and CEO Hans-Peter Kohlhammer told ATWOnline yesterday as he reported that SITA SC generated North American revenue of $212.5 million in 2004. "SITA's restructuring is gaining significant momentum," Kohlhammer said, noting that a goal was to "help the air transport industry save money."
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. reported net income of $23.3 million for the first quarter ended March 31, which included an $11.3 million one-time gain related to the retirement of its note payable to Northwest Airlines. Excluding this item, net income totaled $12 million. This compares to net income of $8.1 million in the year-ago period. Total operating revenue rose 45.5% to $194.7 million while total operating expenses climbed 46.1% to $174.7 million. This produced operating income of $20.1 million, a 39.9% increase over operating income of $14.3 million in the 2004 first quarter.
In what is normally its weakest quarter, SAS Group reported a net loss of Sek971 million ($135.7 million) for the three months ended March 31, narrowed from a loss of Sek1.37 billion in the year-ago period. "The first quarter of 2005 was challenging for the airline industry," President and CEO Joergen Lindegaard said. "In particular, there was the continued challenge of handling the overcapacity situation from Copenhagen, which is leading to profitability problems for all players."
Continental Airlines flew 6.39 billion RPMs in April, up 6.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 5.1% to 8.25 billion ASMs and load factor gained 1.1 points to 77.5%. For the four months ended April 30, RPMs increased 10.1% to 245 billion, ASMs rose 4.3% to 31.83 billion and load factor jumped 4.1 points to 77%. For April, consolidated and mainline passenger RASM are estimated to have increased 2%-3% compared to April 2004. For March 2005, consolidated passenger RASM rose 4.6% compared to March 2004 and mainline passenger RASM climbed 5.3%.
Lufthansa Systems in cooperation with Amadeus successfully transferred all of TACA's inventory, consisting of more than 200,000 data sets and close to 500,000 e-tickets, during the night of April 23 to LHS's integrated passenger management solution. Migration included the successful merge of the inventories of Aviateca, Lacsa and TACA into a single inventory. Additionally, LHS implemented a next-generation revenue management system at TACA.
EADS Sogerma Services subsidiary EADS Revima won a long-term contract for exchanges and overhauls of landing gears on Cathay Pacific Airways' fleet of 15 777s. Cathay is the launch customer for EADS Revima's 777 landing gear activities and this follows an "important" investment program by the company to develop the expertise to support 777 landing gear as well as A330/A340 gross weight gear. EADS Revima will use the EADS Sogerma Services Hong Kong offices to coordinate regional product support relationships with Cathay maintenance teams.
European Commission authorized rescue aid in the form of a six-month, £30 million ($56.7 million) loan guarantee at market rates for Cyprus Airways. The aid will "allow the authorities to organize the restructuring of the airline," the EC said in a statement, adding that it complies with community rules on state aid.
Southwest Airlines and Sabre Airline Solutions signed a seven-year agreement under which Southwest will use a customized passenger management solution for its reservations system and customer interactions at the airport. The new agreement replaces a previous contract signed in 1998.
