America West Airlines CEO Doug Parker declined comment yesterday on a report in the Wall Street Journal that the carrier is near to an agreement to merge with bankrupt US Airways.
Iberia is considering taking over or setting up a low-cost airline of its own to compete on a level playing field with the ever-increasing presence of LCCs in the short- and medium-haul markets, Europa Press reported. "Either we fight with the same weapons as these airlines or we will have to stay out of these markets," MD Angel Mullor told the Spanish news agency. An Iberia spokesperson said Mullor's remarks were reported accurately. In recent months, Iberia has been vocal over what it calls unfair competition from budget airlines.
ATA Holdings Corp. said it was advised by Indianapolis-based real estate investment and management firm Okun Enterprises that it has terminated its commitment to purchase ATA's Chicago Express Airlines operation and two Saab 340Bs. Okun was selected as the winning bidder earlier this month ( ATWOnline, April 4). ATA said it will proceed with the next highest bidder but did not disclose who that is. However, media reports have identified it as CSC Investment Group.
South African Airways this week named Kyrl Acton as its first-ever COO. The newly conceived position replaces that of deputy CEO, last held by Oyama Mabandla, whose resignation became effective March 31 ( ATWOnline, April 19). SAA said Acton's duties will encompass cargo, scheduling and commercial services, which include revenue management, pricing, sales and marketing. An Irish national and former top executive at Aer Lingus and later at LanChile, Acton has worked for Unisys since 2002 as transportation VP overseeing aviation markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Global ePoint's AirWorks Division received a new FAA STC for its cockpit door surveillance system, which now spans the entire family of 737s with two configurations.
Traffic at Tel Aviv Ben Gurion came to a halt Tuesday morning, stranding thousands, after tests indicated that the fuel supplied to aircraft at the airport was polluted. However, subsequent tests showed that the fuel was okay and flights resumed, according to media reports.
Swissport International was awarded a contract from Asiana Airlines to provide air cargo handling for the carrier at Amsterdam Schiphol beginning June 1.
Austrian Airlines will boost service from Vienna to Kiev in cooperation with partner Ukraine International. Austrian will add eight more frequencies on the route in phases. It currently operates twice-daily flights between the cities and altogether serves five cities in the Ukraine with 44 flights per week from Vienna.
British Airways announced that it will increase flights to India later this year following the new air services agreement reached between the UK and Indian governments earlier this month that allows more flights between the countries ( ATWOnline, April 14).
AAR was awarded a contract by Air Midwest, a wholly owned subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, to provide supply chain services for its fleet of 24 Beech 1900Ds. Under the five-year agreement, AAR will furnish a comprehensive materials management program including logistics, line station management, repair management and scrap replacement and servicing for four primary line stations and 10 outlying repair stations.
Frontier Airlines filed an application with the US Dept. of Transportation for authorization to expand its Mexico service with the launch of three weekly nonstop flights to Puerto Vallarta from both Kansas City and Salt Lake City. In addition, it filed for authority to operate thrice-weekly nonstop service from Denver to Cozumel.
Kalitta Air and its pilots, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, reached a tentative agreement on a new contract after more than two years of negotiations. The agreement calls for a 15% pay increase over the three-year span of the contract with an additional signing bonus of 4% for the previous two years. It also provides for enhanced benefits and improved work rules. It is subject to ratification by union members and ballots are expected to go out within the next two weeks.
Finnair informed tour operators that it will implement a 4.7% fare increase on leisure flights from June 1. The hike is in accordance with contract terms and conditions and is a result of high fuel costs, which have risen more than 35% from last September's levels to which the contract is tied, the airline said in a statement.
Midwest Air Group reported a $15.9 million net loss for the first quarter ended March 31, more than double the net loss of $6.9 million in the prior-year period. Results from the 2005 first quarter included a one-time $0.9 million charge related to a settlement with Dornier Aviation and $0.7 million in severance costs accrued for outplaced workers. Results for the 2004 quarter included a federal tax benefit of $3.8 million and $1.1 million in costs related to disposition of DC-9s.
Malev reduced its net loss to 2.11 billion forints ($11 million) in 2004 from 4.3 billion forints in 2003. CEO James Gonci was quoted by news agency MTI as saying the carrier can remain stable until at least the end of 2006 and will not require state support. The Hungarian government has been attempting to sell the airline and launched another effort at the beginning of the month ( ATWOnline, April 6).
Sources in Chicago told ATWOnline that Boeing possibly may launch the 747ADV without a passenger version at this stage. VP-Marketing VP Randy Baseler would not comment specifically on the model's launch criteria but told this website that he is "positive on a launch." He said Boeing would like to have a passenger version commitment but would not elaborate further on whether it would launch with cargo-only operators. Airlines have been pressing the manufacturer to commit to the derivative, but some are coy on committing hard cash to the project just yet.
Airclaims reported that the trend of fewer accidents that has been evident since the end of 2001 continued in the first quarter of 2005. According to a report released yesterday, Western-built jets, which carry about 90% of traffic worldwide, recorded four total losses and one fatal accident, killing 96 passengers and eight crew. The cost of hull claims (total losses and partials) currently stands at $72 million and estimates of incurred passenger liability also are very low, Airclaims said.
Finnair and Qantas, both oneworld members, began codeshare flights between Helsinki and Brisbane via Singapore. Finnair currently operates four weekly flights to Singapore and will move to daily service on the route from May 30 to Sept. 1. The carriers have an existing codeshare agreement on flights between Helsinki and Sydney via Bangkok.
CAE was awarded contracts to provide flight training to two US customers at a total value of roughly $14 million over a five-year period. Under the first, CAE will furnish training on A320s to USA3000 Airlines through the Airbus-CAE training cooperation. In the second contract, CAE SimuFlite was selected by FAA Aviation System Standards' Aviation Training Team to provide initial and recurrent training to more than 150 FAA pilots on a number of different business aircraft.
Proliferation of city-pairs has continued after a slight downturn following 9/11, according to new data from OAG. The figures were presented by VP-Marketing Randy Baseler as part of Boeing's latest market forecast, which uses the number of nonstops in OAG's August schedules on a year-over-year basis. The figures, which exclude regional jets, show that in 1985 there were just under 5,000 city-pairs and this number grew to 9,000 in 2000 and just over 10,000 in August 2004.
Blue1 VP-Finance and CFO Stefan Wentjaervi was appointed president and CEO of the Finnish SAS subsidiary. He will take up his position after the summer and is replacing current President and CEO Sveneric Persson, who is leaving to take over as head of the SAS organization in the Americas on Sept. 1.
Ryanair will launch four new European routes from its Frankfurt-Hahn base to bring the number of destinations it serves from the airport to 27. Daily flights to Bratislava, Porto and Gdansk will commence Oct. 30, while four-times-weekly service to Rzeszow will start Nov. 1. The LCC said it expects to carry in excess of 3 million passengers through Frankfurt-Hahn this year.
Thales was awarded a further three contracts by CAAC to provide six en route secondary radars in China's eastern corridor as part of the ongoing upgrade of civil aviation infrastructure throughout the country. Under the deals, Thales will supply its RSM 970S monopulse secondary surveillance radar at Zhanjiang, Baise, Changqing, Shanghai, Xiangfan and Zhangjiajie. Separately, Thales said it completed site acceptance tests for the Croatian air traffic management system, which took place in Zagreb.
USA3000 Airlines will launch new nonstop service from Orlando McCoy International to Cleveland, Newark, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh May 1. The carrier also will begin two weekly flights between Baltimore/Washington International and Nassau Sept. 1.
