Teledyne Controls will supply its Integrated Data Management Unit for retrofit installation on 16 Japan Airlines 767-200s/300s. Teledynes iDMU will replace the legacy DMU currently in service, providing enhanced aircraft condition monitoring and recording capabilities.
SITA INC said it was selected by the Civil Aviation Bureau of Japan to be the sole provider of airline service via Multifunctional Transport Satellite. SITA said the selection will further strengthen its Satellite Aircom service, which uses Inmarsat satellites.
Emirates-CAE Flight Training received Type Rating Training Organization certification by the JAA, which means that European aircraft operators can have their crews trained at ECFT without needing to revalidate the type ratings with their national licensing authorities.
APV , the state privatization agency of Hungary, announced that five investors are competing to buy a 99.95% stake in flag carrier Malev. According to Reuters, three of the applications submitted can be regarded as bids while the other two are letters of intent. APV said it will not release the names of the investors before it announces the winner, which should occur within 30 days.
Airports of Thailand finally confirmed the widespread industry assumption that the opening of the new Bangkok airport, Suvarnabhumi, has been postponed by six months and now is scheduled for March 2006. Over the weekend, AOT Chairman Srisook Chandrangsu told Thai media that the postponement was not caused by construction problems but instead would give the company more time to test the facility. Thai media are viewing the delay as a blow to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who continually has assured the airline industry that the new airport would be operational by Sept. 29.
ASI Entertainment said it completed implementing the first stage of its G3CARS system, which provides electronic flight log and high-speed crew communications, with Italian carrier Air One. ASI signed a five-year agreement with Air One to install the system on its fleet of 28 737s.
Air France-KLM Group most likely will migrate its departure control system to Amadeus's Altea Fly, a well-placed source told ATWOnline , adding that AF will be the first to switch with KLM following in a second stage. AF and KLM at present use two different systems--KLM uses its in-house KLM Systems solution--but the new group realizes a common platform will create further synergies and facilitate cooperation. "We are studying the possibility [of migrating to Altea Fly], but no decision has been taken," an AF spokesperson said.
Pilots at Delta Connection carrier Comair agreed to a pay freeze that the airline said is needed in order to increase its fleet and attract new business. Comair, which has among the highest labor costs in the Regional airline industry, plans to add 35 more jets to the fleet of 164, said spokesperson Nick Miller.
Hainan Airlines selected Rockwell Collins avionics for eight A319s/A321s and six 737NGs. In addition, the agreement calls for an option for 12 Airbus aircraft. Deliveries of both aircraft types are scheduled to begin this year.
UK's National Air Traffic Services said proposals by the Civil Aeronautics Authority to lower its cap on ATC charges risks "damaging service levels and future increases in capacity." Last year CAA proposed reductions in en route revenues of RPI minus 7.5% for 2006 and 2% in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. The agency argued the reductions could be achieved by more cuts in operating costs than previously planned and a 20% cut in capital expenditures.
Kronos said its Altitude Preferred Bidding System was purchased by Pinnacle Airlines. The system will manage the schedules of Pinnacle's 1,000 pilots and 600 flight attendants and is expected to increase productivity.
Qantas is using Required Navigation Performance on its flights to Queenstown after receiving approval from New Zealand's CAA and Australia's CASA to use the procedures, according to Naverus, a Seattle-based company that developed the system Qantas is employing.
Austrian Airlines Group reported a 2004 operating profit in line with its own lowered forecast as it cut costs and targeted Eastern Europe and Asia for growth to offset high fuel costs and weak fourth-quarter demand. The company said earnings before interest and tax totaled eur10.5 million ($13.9 million), up from eur4.2 million in 2003 after adjustments to account for asset disposals, currency fluctuations and other special items in both years. But annual net profit fell 12.2% to eur40.2 million from eur45.8 million in the prior year.
Air-India, Viking Airlines and Uni Air have placed orders for the SafTGlo floorprox system. Air-India is fitting several of its 747-400s with the system, while Viking ordered one MD-83 kit and Uni Air placed an order for seven kits for its MD-90 fleet.
IATA reported that international passenger traffic for member airlines rose 7.9% in January compared to the same month in 2004, while seat capacity (ASKs) climbed 7.8% and load factor was 73.5%. IATA DG CEO Giovanni Bisignani said, "There is stronger than expected growth in all regions except for Asia/Pacific, which suffered from the impact of the Indian Ocean tsunami." Asia/Pacific RPKs rose 2.5% with a 6.1% increase in seat capacity. Load factor was 70.9%. The strongest year-over-year growth took place in Latin America, which was up 15% on a 12.8% rise in capacity.
Aloha Airlines has decided to eliminate service to the Central and South Pacific and will suspend operations to Burbank and Vancouver following a route analysis. It also has decided to return two 737-300s, but through improved utilization and optimized scheduling it still intends to expand its operations to California.
The advent of GDS new entrants, dubbed GNEs, sparked an unusually acerbic response from the traditional vendors at ResExpo, who warned suppliers and agents that embracing new technology comes with risks. G2 SwitchWorks and ITA Software say they are close to rolling out systems that will take travel reservations off TPF mainframes and onto open systems that are more agile and a lot cheaper.
Continental Airlines yesterday announced that it reached tentative agreements on new contracts with its last unsigned work groups, its pilots, flight attendants, and mechanics and dispatchers. Terms of the deals were not released but the carrier has said it needs $500 million in savings, more than $300 million of which has to come from those groups. The agreements are subject to union leadership approvals and ratification by union membership, with votes expected by the end of March.
Virgin Blue's independent directors flatly rejected as "neither fair nor reasonable" a A$1.1 billion ($871.6 million) buyout bid by major shareholder Patrick Corp., intensifying pressure on the multimodal transport group to raise its offer price.
Independence Air parent FLYi reported an $86 million net loss for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, which included costs related to the sale of four CRJs, the writeoff of goodwill remaining from the original formation of the company and costs related to a recently completed financial restructuring ( ATWOnline , Feb. 23).
After numerous false hopes and blind alleys, the wonderful world of IT finally is moving into the airline maintenance world in a fully realized way, with proven technologies offering off-the-shelf solutions while communications advances make it easier still. Harry Stripe from Northwest Airlines' line maintenance operation said at last month's Miami Aviation Symposium sponsored by Intel and Panasonic, "For ten or twelve years we've been walking down this path. Only in the last four or five years have we seen the tools we need."
Bratislava would seem to be an unlikely place from which to launch an airline. The capital city of Slovakia has a population of around half-a-million (for the country as a whole it is 5.4 million) and is only 30 mi. from Vienna, home to Central Europe's largest carrier, Austrian Airlines.
On top of that introduction schedule, engine manufacturers are assuming that follow-ons to the single-aisle 737NG/ A320 twinjets will be launched around 2010 to be in the market in 2012. This is the big-number category, with hundreds pouring out of factories every year even in down times.
Indonesia's Lion Air is in the market for 40 737-900s or A320s/A321s, according to insiders. ATWOnline understands that an MOU has been signed with Boeing, although Airbus is making a counteroffer.
Airlines soon may get an inkling as to which radio technology to buy-or not to buy-for their future aircraft. The enlightenment will commence in a meeting room in Montreal next month when technical experts from FAA, NASA and Eurocontrol unveil to a 30-member ICAO aerocommunications panel their top six or so ideas for what type of communications system will make the most economical and functional sense for global interoperability through 2030.
