Goodrich Corp. was selected by LAN Airlines to provide overhaul services for its fleet of CF6-80C2-powered 767s. Under terms of the contract, Goodrich will restore as many as 55 thrust reversers on a schedule predicated on the operational needs of LAN.
Lufthansa Systems said Hapag-Lloyd Flug opted for the Lido Route Manual, a new electronically generated navigation chart system. The contract covers more than 40 Hapag-Lloyd and Hapag Lloyd Express aircraft and has an initial term of five years.
Cathay Pacific Airways flew 4.78 billion RPKs in February, up 18.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 11.4% to 6.18 billion ASKs and load factor rose 4.7 points to 77.4%. For the two months ended Feb. 28, RPKs jumped 15.6% to 10.19 billion, ASKs increased 12% to 12.97 billion and load factor gained 2.4 points to 78.5%.
Continental Airlines will begin twice-daily nonstop service between Bangor and Newark June 9. Continental Express will operate the service using ERJ-145s.
JAL Group yesterday raised its profit forecast for the current financial year ending March 31 to ¥27 billion ($260 million) from ¥23 billion and revealed further details of its previously announced restructuring plan for the three fiscal years from April 1, 2005, to March 31, 2008 ( ATWOnline , Feb. 7).
SideStep inked new marketing partnerships with six airlines--Lufthansa, Air France, Cathay Pacific, Qantas, Aer Lingus and Air New Zealand. Under the deals, SideStep will use a "broad suite of marketing programs to drive consumers directly to the carriers' websites to book their travel."
Judicial investigation into the role played by Continental Airlines in the July 2000 Air France Concorde crash began in Paris yesterday. According to the Associated Press, Investigating Judge Christophe Regnard placed the US carrier under investigation for manslaughter and involuntary injury, a preliminary step before formally charging it. Accident investigators determined that the crash occurred after one of the tires on the Concorde's main landing gear ruptured, sending pieces of rubber and metal into the jet's fuel tanks and spilling fuel, which ignited.
US Transportation Security Administration has not improved aviation security greatly since 9/11 and there are still some "gaping holes" that need to be addressed, a pilot union trade group said yesterday. According to the "Aviation Security Report Card" presented by the Coalition of Airline Pilots Assns., airline security still gets failing grades in more than a dozen subject areas, including screening airport and airline employees, screening cargo, biometric credentialing for crewmembers, self-defense training and countering shoulder-mounted missiles.
Estonian Air will make several changes to its schedule for the summer season, which begins March 27. It will launch two weekly flights between Tallinn and Milan March 30 and three weekly Tallinn-Manchester flights May 10. The carrier will increase service on the Tallinn-Oslo route to daily, and from April will add a third weekly flight on the Tallinn-Dublin route. In addition, beginning April 19, Estonian will boost service on the Tallinn-Moscow route.
Qatar Airways will boost its service between Doha and Bangkok to twice-daily from March 27. The flights will be operated with A330-200s. Also, the airline on May 2 will begin three weekly nonstop A319 flights between Doha and Tunis, which will continue on to Algiers.
Air Asia's 49%-owned Indonesian affiliate airline PT AWAir was denied authority to fly to Singapore by that nation's CAA. "We are very disappointed by the treatment of CAAS in preventing AWAir from exercising our rights as an Indonesian-based carrier," the airline said in a statement, and it accused CAAS of engaging in delay tactics and using its application to serve Singapore as a "bargaining chip" in recent bilateral negotiations with the Indonesian government.
Cathay Pacific Airways reported its second-best year with profit to shareholders of HK$4.42 billion ($566 million) for full-year 2004, up sharply over net income of HK$1.3 billion in SARS-affected 2003. Cathay attributed the growth to the improved Hong Kong and global economies compared to 2003 and noted that 2004 would have been its best year on record had there not been a sharp rise in the price of fuel.
Gol flew 553.7 million RPKs in February, up 5.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 15.1% to 782.3 million ASKs and load factor declined 6.2 points to 70.8%. The airline did not provide year-to-date results.
Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings reported a C$15 million ($12.4 million) net income for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, which included foreign exchange gains on long-term monetary items of C$98 million. This was a complete turnaround from a C$768 million net loss in the prior-year period, which included C$560 million in reorganization charges. The company did not release full-year results, but losses for the first nine months totaled C$895 million.
Northwest Airlines will launch one daily nonstop flight between Minneapolis/St. Paul and Idaho Falls June 9. The service will be operated by Northwest Airlink partner Pinnacle Airlines Corp. using a 50-seat CRJ.
Continental Airlines warned yesterday that matching Delta's SimpliFares fare reform in competing markets will cost it an estimated $200 million in annual revenue, or around 2% of 2004 revenues of $9.7 billion, well above an earlier forecast of a $50 million impact.
Rockwell Collins was selected by ANA to provide its Flight Dynamics Head-up Guidance System for installation on the airline's new fleet of 45 737-700s. Delivery of the first systems is scheduled for later this year.
America West Holdings Corp. , parent of America West Airlines, revised its previously reported financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year 2004 owing to an accounting change associated with the recognition of gains or losses on derivative instruments that the company uses as a means of reducing financial exposure to fluctuating fuel prices. As a result, the company's and airline's consolidated statements of operations for 2004 will reflect net losses of $89 million and $85.3 million respectively, versus the net losses of $89.9 million and $86.1 million previously reported.
Delta Air Lines is eliminating pillows, dropping its food-for-purchase program and increasing the cost of alcoholic beverages on most of its flights as part of its Transformation Plan. Pillows will be eliminated on all flights within the continental US and to Bermuda, Canada and Central American and Caribbean destinations beginning in mid-March as "part of the airline's efforts to provide more room for carry-on luggage in overhead bins while reducing costs." Blankets still will be available.
Lufthansa and NetJets , as expected ( ATWOnline , March 8), yesterday announced a partnership argreement to create Lufthansa Private Jet, which will permit travelers to fly by business jet from more than 1,000 airports around Europe to Lufthansa's Munich hub to board connecting flights in first or business class. The agreement was signed in Munich by Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber and NetJets Chairman and CEO Richard Santulli. LH will conduct a six-month market test of the service beginning with the start of the summer schedule from March 29.
Emirates closed a $239 million financing agreement with the US Export-Import Bank for 22 GE and Rolls-Royce engines. The financing was fully arranged and funded by Royal Bank of Scotland and comprises $129 million for seven spare GE90s using Exim support and $110 million for 15 Rolls engines using commercial debt.
EADS posted a net profit of eur1.03 billion ($1.38 billion) in 2004, a 60% increase on 2003 owing mainly to the strong performance of Airbus and a swing into profit by space activities. But Co-Chairman Philippe Camus warned that breakeven for the A380 program now exceeds 300 units, up from original expectations of 250 units. "If we fix the euro/dollar rate at eur1.30, and based on what we have already done for the program [in terms of currency hedging], and also taking into account the higher development costs, we get a breakeven point that is well above 300 planes," Camus said.
