America West Airlines will boost frequencies in June from Las Vegas to Monterey, Colorado Springs, Denver, Houston, Ontario, Sacramento, Salt Lake City and Tucson. With the additions, the carrier will operate 154 daily departures and serve 62 nonstop destinations from Las Vegas.
Northwest Airlines must repurchase roughly $226 million of its preferred shares from employees, a judge ruled late last week. The shares were issued about 10 years ago in exchange for concessions, and Northwest had agreed to buy them back in 2003. However, that year it said it would not do so and subsequently the unions representing ground workers and flight attendants filed a lawsuit over the matter.
US scheduled passenger airlines employed 456,841 workers in January, 0.8% fewer than in January 2004, according to US Dept. of Transportation statistics. The seven network carriers employed 310,791 workers in January 2005, 4.1% fewer than in the year-ago period. American Airlines with 76,047 employees was tops among the network airlines, with United Airlines and Delta Air Lines rounding out the top three. Low-cost carriers reported 75,110 total employees, 0.7% more than a year earlier, with Southwest Airlines with 31,011 ranking first.
AirTran Airways will add one new daily nonstop flight from Atlanta to both Los Angeles and Las Vegas May 4 and one new daily nonstop from Dallas/Ft. Worth to both Los Angeles and Las Vegas June 7.
Skyways Aviation arranged the long-term lease of an MD-83 on behalf of Sky Wings Airlines of Greece. The aircraft will enter service in April with the startup, which will specialize in European charter and ACMI contracts.
Wizz Air , the Hungarian low-cost airline, will end its Warsaw-Dortmund service by March 31. The carrier, which had planned to add two more A320s to its fleet early this year, has not taken up the aircraft.
China Airlines will start three weekly services from Taipei to Vienna via Bangkok May 4. It also will increase weekly frequencies from Taipei to Frankfurt to six from May 8.
Gol and shareholder BSSF Air Holdings, an affiliate of AIG Capital Partners, filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission to sell 20.4 million of the airline's preferred shares. The carrier said the shares will be offered in the form of American Depositary Shares in an international offering and preferred shares in a concurrent Brazilian offering. Each ADS represents two preferred shares. Gol said none of its other shareholders will sell their preferred shares in the proposed offering.
Emirates launched a seventh weekly flight from Dubai to Casablanca using an A330-200 in a three-class configuration. Separately, Emirates took delivery of a new 777-300ER as part of its $30 billion fleet expansion. The carrier has 30 777-300ERs on firm order and will receive 10 of them by year end. It also has 45 A380s, 20 A340-600HGWs, two A340-500s and three A310-300 freighters on order.
Air France Cargo increased 747-400ERF flights to Mexico from three to four per week, with the fourth flight making a stop in Guadalajara on its return to Paris, as part of its new 2005 summer schedule. In addition, AF Cargo began new service to Algiers using an A300-600F and opened Guangzhou, which currently is served by passenger flights, as a cargo destination with two weekly 747-400ERF services. However, cargo flights to Doha, Karachi and Bombay were suspended.
Northwest Airlines will begin daily nonstop service between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Lexington June 9. The new flights will be operated by Northwest Airlink partner Pinnacle Airlines with 50-seat CRJs.
Swiss International Air Lines' new hub system at Zurich went into operation with the start of the carrier's summer season Sunday. Swiss said the hub enhancements aim to "further improve the product for the customer, making Swiss at Zurich Airport a swift, smooth and comfortable air travel experience." According to the airline, one of the cornerstones of the new arrangement is a clearer assignment of flights to the airport's various areas.
Ameco Beijing Engineering Services started construction on a four-bay hangar and new docking system at Beijing Capital International Airport and has begun to rebuild the existing docking system. The upgraded systems will allow the company to perform heavy checks on widebody aircraft. Total investment in the facilities is more than 10 million yuan ($1.2 million) and construction will be completed in June. Separately, Ameco Beijing said it added capability for PW4000 fan case anti-wear strip repair.
Centralwings , the low-cost subsidiary of LOT Polish Airlines, will start a thrice-weekly service to Cologne/Bonn from Katowice today. During the summer, the carrier will offer direct flights from Katowice to Hanover and Cologne/Bonn and from Warsaw to Nuremberg, Hanover, London Gatwick, Prague, Lisbon, Bologna, Barcelona Girona, Rome Ciampino and Catania. From Krakow, routes will include London Gatwick and Ciampino.
BMED , an independent franchise partner of British Airways, has contracted with SD Shepherd Systems for use of its Market Information Data Transfer product, Clarity.
Midwest Airlines redesigned its inflight dining program, which it now calls Best Care cuisine, and will operate its own dining services center and manage all components of its inflight food and beverage service. The dining services and food preparation kitchen will be located in a remodeled space on the Milwaukee airport grounds and Midwest expects to open a similar operation in Kansas City later this year.
Delta Air Lines faces another possible downgrade of its debt obligations after Standard & Poor's on Friday "revised the implications of its CreditWatch review of ratings on Delta to 'developing' from 'positive,'" citing liquidity concerns. According to S&P analyst Philip Baggaley, the change "reflects renewed pressure on Delta's liquidity from sharply higher fuel prices" that could add up to $1 billion to operating costs this year.
US Transportation Security Administration will deploy explosives detection trace portal machines by the end of May at Miami International, San Francisco International, Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Boston Logan International and Los Angeles International airports as part of its pilot program to test the machines. During Phase I of the program, TSA began field testing GE trace portals at five other US airports. The agency also said it will purchase nine explosives detection trace portal machines, four of which have been on loan, from GE Ion Trak for $1.5 million.
Air France could be a launch customer for Boeing's proposed 777 freighter and is considering placing an order for seven of the new aircraft. The airline did not comment on a report in French financial daily La Tribune but confirmed that the 777F is its preferred option to replace part of its aging fleet of 747Fs. AF currently has eight 747-200Fs and four dash 400ERFs in operation, with one 747-200F due to leave the fleet shortly.
