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.
Aided by a decline in weather-related delays, US airlines posted a better ontime arrival rate in February compared to January 2005 and February 2004, the Dept. of Transportation reported yesterday. According to DOT statistics, the 19 US airlines reporting ontime performance recorded an overall ontime arrival rate of 77.6% in February, up slightly over February 2004's 77.5% and well above January 2005's 71.4%. Of the flight delays in February 2005, 5.3% were caused by weather, down sharply from February 2004 and January 2005 when 6.1% of flights were delayed by weather.
OnAir, the SITA/Airbus joint venture, said it selected the Airbus facility at Buxtehude near Hamburg to develop and seek certification for its airborne system for the use of mobile phones onboard aircraft.
The European Commission's proposed regulation governing transport of disabled passengers will create a new and unaccountable enforcement "monopoly" while saddling airlines with the cost of funding it, the Assn. of European Airlines said Tuesday. In February the EC introduced a draft regulation establishing the rights of persons with reduced mobility to use air transport and outlawing discrimination on the basis of age or disability. It also guarantees such individuals the right to receive assistance free of charge in airports and onboard aircraft ( ATWOnline, Feb. 17).
Delta Air Lines flew 10.36 billion RPMs in March, up 14.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7.8% to 12.93 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 4.6 points to 80.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs increased 12.3% to 27.22 billion, ASMs rose 6.4% to 36.54 billion and load factor gained 3.9 points to 74.5%.
US Airways flew 3.81 billion RPMs in March, up 9.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity increased 5.2% to 4.72 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 80.7%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs climbed 5.8% to 9.65 billion, ASMs grew 1.5% to 13.19 billion and load factor rose 2.9 points to 73.2%.
United Airlines flew 9.81 billion RPMs in March, up 2.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity dipped 1.3% to 11.81 billion ASMs and load factor gained 3 points to 83.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs rose 1.9% to 26.53 billion, ASMs declined 2% to 33.94 billion and load factor jumped 3 points to 78.2%.
Emirates has begun construction of a Dhs1.3 billion ($353.9 million) engineering center on a 136-acre site on the north side of Dubai International Airport. The airline will use the facility to perform maintenance on its fleet, which is expected to double from the current 74 aircraft over the next seven years, and for third-party maintenance.
Goodrich Corp. yesterday unveiled the world's largest landing gear test facility, which was built to accommodate the A380 main gear. The facility at Goodrich's site in Oakville, Ontario, encompasses 2,100 sq. m. (22,604 sq. ft.) of floor space. It houses a Super Rig for structural testing that includes strength and fatigue testing of the A380 body and wing landing gears. The test rig rests in a cavity 55 m. long and stands approximately 8 m. high. In addition to the Super Rig, the facility accommodates rigs for endurance testing.
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).
