Bulgarian Transport Ministry chose Copenhagen Airports to overhaul and manage its two Black Sea airports, Varna and Bourgas, Reuters reported citing a source close to the ministry. The government plans to award a single 35-year concession for the two terminals to the selected investor.
US Transportation Security Administration said Miami International Airport will receive a new explosives detection trace portal to screen passengers at the Concourse E security checkpoint, becoming the tenth airport to participate in the pilot program.
Pan Am International Flight Academy is closing its Career Pilot Development training campus in Ft. Pierce, Fla., and relocating equipment and aircraft to its CPD campus in Phoenix. The move will be completed by midsummer. The decision "was spurred primarily by the devastation caused by last year's hurricane season and the strong likelihood of future hurricanes," the company said.
Germanwings is planning to start new services from Berlin Schoenefeld to Moscow Domodedovo. It also is evaluating opening a fourth base in Germany and is considering Hamburg and Duesseldorf. It now operates from Cologne, Stuttgart and Berlin.
Emirates launched three weekly flights from Dubai to Sydney via Bangkok last week. The services, which are operated using 777-300ERs, will increase to daily from May 1. The new flights will boost Emirates' service between Dubai and Bangkok from twice-daily to three per day and the current daily service between Dubai and Sydney to twice-daily from May.
AirTran Airways will introduce service to Richmond, Va., from Atlanta and Philadelphia beginning June 23 with continuing service to Boson. It will operate four daily Richmond-Atlanta nonstops and two daily Philadelphia services. Beginning Nov. 8, Richmond will receive one daily roundtrip to Orlando as well. All service will be flown with 717s configured for 12 business class and 105 coach seats.
Citing higher fuel prices that will cost it an additional A$1 billion ($770 million) in 2005-06 compared to the current fiscal year, Qantas is almost doubling its surcharge for domestic travel in Australia and New Zealand from A$12 to A$20 per sector. For transtasman travel the surcharge will increase from A$29 to A$40 per sector, and for other international travel including on Australian Airlines the surcharge will more than double from A$29 to A$60 per sector. Jetstar will increase its surcharge from A$10 to A$19 including GST per sector.
United Airlines COO Pete McDonald told employees Friday that the carrier "is on track to beat our first quarter goal of 8.13 cents for mainline cost per ASM excluding fuel and we expect to beat that goal by a significant margin." In a recorded message, McDonald added that "in every area of the company with the exception of fuel, we are ahead of plan and expenses."
Cathay Pacific Airways may be further away from a new long-haul aircraft order than has been speculated previously. COO Tony Tyler told ATWOnline that the airline is evaluating both the 747ADV and A380 and the 777-300ER/A340-600, plus "other possible available options for long-haul aircraft," but that it "will not approach the market until we are ready. . .Our needs until the end of 2007 are already provided for, so we are not in a rush to make any decisions on future acquisitions."
Airbus Spares Support and Services and Mexmil signed an MOU that provides the basis for a future agreement under which Mexmil will manufacture, market and distribute specific Airbus proprietary spare parts for the thermoacoustic insulation blanket market.
Today's near-record energy prices will overwhelm a "gradually improving" airline revenue picture and create a liquidity challenge for some struggling US airlines, according to JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker. In a report released Friday, Baker forecast that oil will remain at or above the $50-per-barrel mark for the rest of 2005 and fall only a few dollars to $47 per barrel in 2006. With most airlines lacking hedges, the result will be a significant cash drain and an approaching "liquidity crunch time" for America West, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines.
Air France signed a €1.2 billion ($1.54 billion) five-year syndicated multicurrency revolving credit facility with 19 international banks. According to the carrier, the facility will enable it to "strengthen its liquidity position and can be used for its general corporate purposes." It also will "diversify its sources of financing, in addition to the existing structured aviation finance deals."
Lufthansa Technical Training, a Lufthansa Technics subsidiary, opened a new EASA-approved training center in Manila. Courses range from basic maintenance up to advanced type-rated training and can be held either at the fully equipped facility or at any customer-requested location. Separately, LTT signed up SkyLink Airways for its blended training concept.
Air Luxor on April 9 began operating weekly seasonal service (through October) to Funchal and Faro from Paris, using A320 equipment. It already serves Funchal with two weekly flights to Paris.
United Airlines' motion to extend until May 31 the interim 11.5% pay reduction for all of its customer-contact employees, represented by the International Assn. of Machinists, was approved by the US Bankruptcy Court yesterday, the company announced. The interim reductions, which originally were approved in January, were scheduled to run through April 11. The court's decision also suspended May 1 pay increases contemplated in the IAM collective bargaining agreement.
Air Canada parent ACE Aviation Holdings late Wednesday said it successfully completed concurrent equity and convertible debt offerings ( ATWOnline, April 4), raising C$720 million ($595 million), C$120 million more than originally sought. The equity offering comprised 11.4 million Class A Variable Voting Shares and Class B Voting Shares priced at C$37 per share for gross proceeds of approximately $420 million. ACE raised a further C$300 million through the sale of 4.25% Convertible Senior Notes due 2035.
EasyJet will add another aircraft to its Bristol base for a total of eight and introduce three new routes from the airport to Inverness, Murcia and Pisa. The daily flights will begin July 7. In the last 12 months easyJet has launched nine new routes from Bristol, making it the LCC's largest UK base outside London.
A majority of US air travelers believe the FCC should not lift a ban on cellphone use during flights, according to a new study that was sponsored by the Assn. of Flight Attendants/Communications Workers of America and the National Consumers League and released yesterday. Of the 702 air travelers surveyed, 63% wanted to keep cellphone restrictions in place while 21% said it is time to let people talk on their phones during flights. The study, conducted by Lauer Research, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7%.
SAS Group flew 2.81 billion RPKs in March, up 4.5% over the year-ago period. Capacity increased 1.8% to 4.39 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.7 points to 64%. For the three months ended March 31, RPKs were ahead 4.4% to 7.34 billion, ASKs jumped 5.2% to 12.47 billion and load factor declined 0.4 point to 58.9%.
Air France-KLM Group flew 14.95 billion RPKs in March, up 6.2% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.9% to 18.67 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.7 points to 80.1%. AF reported a 2.4-point gain in load factor to 78.7% with traffic increasing 6% on a 2.7% rise in capacity, while KLM traffic grew 6.4% on a 6.1% capacity hike for a 0.3-point increase in load factor to 82.7%. For the fiscal year to date, consolidating AF over 12 months and KLM over 11 months, RPKs increased 8.9% to 169 billion, ASKs climbed 6.9% to 214.61 billion and load factor improved 1.5 points to 78.7%.
The launch of Jade Cargo International, the joint cargo carrier announced by Lufthansa Cargo and Shenzen Airlines last October ( ATWOnline, Oct. 25), has been pushed back to autumn. Operations originally had been expected to begin in the first quarter, "but with a change in Chinese law, it was not possible for us to start services with three A300-600Fs as we planned," Lufthansa Cargo Chairman Jean-Peter Jansen told ATWOnline.
Standard Aero earned Transport Canada approval to repair and overhaul all models of CF34-8 engines, which power CRJ700/900s and Embraer 170s. The company said the authorization is recognized by FAA and other regulatory authorities.
Alteon Training announced that an A320-300 full flight simulator at its Miami Training Center and a 737-300/-400/-500 full flight simulator with a Flight Dynamics Head-up Display at its Atlanta Training Center have received FAA Level C certification.
