ARINC and Telenor yesterday unveiled AeroMobile, a service they said will enable passengers to use their cellular phones in flight. The companies said they are working closely with several potential airline customers and are readying demonstration flights planned for mid-2005.
Lufthansa Systems said its operating result for 2004 increased 56.4% over 2003 to €61 million on a 3% rise in revenues to €628 million. The share of business generated by customers outside LH Group increased 9.8% to €224.2 million or almost 36% of revenues.
Hungary's government again is trying to sell loss-making national airline Malev. Reuters reported that on Monday the government published an invitation to potential investors to submit letters of interest by today if they plan to take part in direct negotiations to buy the carrier. Last week the government cancelled the fourth privatization effort, stating that the bids were too low ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Alpine Air Express and its subsidiary Alpine Aviation said they have terminated all discussions with Capitalliance Financial Services regarding a possible merger or acquisition. "Although Alpine seriously considered working with Capitalliance on business opportunities, the Alpine board finally decided that independently seeking other opportunities was more prudent for the company and its shareholders," Alpine Air Express Chairman and CEO Gene Mallette said.
Kingfisher Airlines selected the V2500 to power its fleet of A320s. At present, the startup has 13 firm aircraft on order with options to purchase a further 20. It also has leased four A320s from debis AirFinance. If all options are realized, value of the deal to IAE is $460 million.
Singapore-based Jetstar Asia is upping the ante in the bitter war for travelers by offering its passengers return flights to Australian cities on its parent Qantas from just $278 excluding taxes.
British Airways reported a 4.5% gain in passenger traffic in March to 9.32 billion RPKs, with increases seen across most of its network. The airline's Africa/Middle East and Asia/Pacific segments led the way with increases of 9.9% and 10.2% respectively. In the UK/Europe market RPKs climbed 6.2%, while traffic to the Americas dipped just 0.4%.
American Airlines flew 12.07 billion RPMs in March, up 9.1% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 2.1% to 15.04 billion ASMs and load factor gained 5.1 points to 80.2%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs increased 6.7% to 32.25 billion, ASMs rose 0.6% to 42.75 billion and load factor jumped 4.4 points to 75.4%.
Lufthansa Technik was selected by Gulf Air to provide Total Component Support under a five-year deal valued at around €100 million ($128.5 million), as expected ( ATWOnline, April 4). Under terms of the deal, LHT will overhaul and manage more than 1,400 different components on four fleets. Separately, Austrian Airlines Group became the first customer for the latest version of LHT's Guideline photoluminescent emergency floorpath marking system. The system will be retrofitted on 15 F100s in the Austrian arrows fleet this year.
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a partnership with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimos business model represents a low-cost form of distribution.
News from Travel Technology Update:
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a "partnership" with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimo's business model represents "a low-cost form of distribution."
Malaysia Airlines Engineering Division was named as an authorized mod center for Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglet retrofits for 737NGs, 757-200s and 737 Classics.
Boeing selected UK-based Ipeco Group to provide flightdeck seats for the 787. Ipeco has supplied flightdeck seats for all Boeing commercial aircraft since 1985.
American Eagle, the Regional affiliate of American Airlines, started selling snack boxes for $3 on most of its flights. AA also sells the snack boxes in the main cabin on select domestic flights longer than 3 hr.
Patrick Corp. has reinforced its move to control Virgin Blue by lifting its holding to more than 62% despite the continuing refusal of founder Richard Branson and CEO Brett Godfrey to sell their shares. Following the close of Patrick's A$1.90 ($1.48) a share bid last Friday, the diversified transport group said it has garnered acceptances from most of the independent shareholders in Virgin Blue. However, Branson's Virgin Group and Godfrey, with 25.6% and 2.7% respectively, have held tight to their stakes. Patrick Corp.
United Airlines reached agreements with SkyWest and GoJet, a new subsidiary of Trans States Holdings, to replace some of the services currently provided by Air Wisconsin in its United Express codeshare operation. The two carriers will operate a total of 30 70-seat CRJ700s under yesterday's accord. Subsequent to the announcement, SkyWest ordered 20 additional CRJ700s in a deal valued at $637 million. Air Wisconsin currently flies 70 aircraft in the United Express network, but last fall United issued an RFP to replace that service ( ATWOnline, Nov. 12).
SriLankan Airlines launched an Internet booking engine on its website that allows customers to make reservations online. In addition, it introduced e-ticketing on flights to 10 destinations.
Aloha Airgroup and subsidiary Aloha Airlines finalized a $65 million debtor-in-possession financing facility with Ableco Finance, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners. Aloha said it used some of the funds to pay off the last portion of its Air Transportation Stabilization Board federal loan guarantee and certain local bank term loans.
The world's airlines will lose $5.5 billion in 2005 if oil prices average $43 per barrel for the full year, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani stated yesterday in New York (on April 1, the price of the May crude-oil contract hit a record $57.70 a barrel on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported).
