The renegotiated deal with Boeing will see four 787 deliveries shifted from 2016 to 2017, and a fifth pushed into 2018. Aircraft retirements will continue as planned, meaning the moves will reduce projected 2016 capacity by about 0.6%, and widebody capacity will be down 2.5%.
During the company’s first-quarter earnings call, executives at the Chicago-based airline explained previously announced news that United and Boeing have struck a deal to exchange 10 Boeing 787 orders for 10 777-300ERs.
The carrier completed the first aircraft in March, and has now refurbished seven of its 18 717s, CEO Mark Dunkerley said during Hawaiian’s first-quarter earnings call. The rest of the fleet is expected to be upgraded by the fourth quarter.
The increased capacity was not in response to lower oil prices changing the carrier’s strategy, Southwest leadership told analysts during the company’s first-quarter earnings call April 23. The carrier plans to keep its fleet at around 700 aircraft, CEO Gary Kelly said.
As recently as a few years ago, Alaska averaged about one paid first class traveler per flight, despite having 12 or 16 premium seats on each aircraft. Now, the airline sells roughly five or six first-class revenue tickets on each flight, which, fleet-wide, amounts to a paid load factor of about one-third.
ELFAA represents the interest of LCCs including Ryanair, Easyjet, Norwegian and IAG-subsidiary Vueling. Iberia and BA are the first two legacy airlines to join it.
The airline—burdened by large losses over several years as well as negative equity—on April 24 announced the departure of Chief Commercial Officer Goetz Ahmelmann.
FRANKFURT and BEIJING—Airbus’s chances of securing a large order from China for current-version A330 have become very small, according to industry sources, aggravating the manufacturer’s problems to fill production holes through the transition to the A330neo.
BEIJING—Air China’s wholly owned maintenance operation, Air China Technics, will be merged into Ameco—the carrier’s joint venture with Lufthansa—by June, industry officials say.
Norwegian Air Shuttle is in talks with Norway’s civil aviation authorities to transfer its eight Boeing 787-8s from its Irish registry to its Norwegian registry, due to the delay in obtaining a foreign air carrier permit from the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) for its Ireland-based subsidiary, Norwegian Air International (NAI).
Allegiant Air said April 22 the FAA has increased its surveillance of the carrier while management seeks to block the airline’s pilot union from striking, a move that over the long term could limit Allegiant’s ability to grow.
BEIJING—Beijing Capital Airlines, an affiliate of Hainan Airlines, is planning to move into long-haul operations this year, beginning with services between Beijing and Helsinki and Copenhagen.
LONDON—Lockheed Martin says that computer simulation models and data collection are helping European airports make marginal but important gains in capacity through minor changes in operations.
The airline is due to launch 787 service on its Dallas-Chicago route on May 7, before introducing the type on its routes from Dallas to Beijing and Buenos Aires on June 2 and 4, respectively (Aviation Daily, Feb. 11).
The competitiveness challenge faced by the European airlines has its roots “in inadequate, discriminatory and poorly implemented European policies,” argues the Brussels-based association representing 29 airlines that carry some 100 million passengers annually.
The memorandum of understanding (MOU) states that ANA Holdings will be joint sponsor along with Integral Corp., the private-equity company acting as debtor-in-possession (DIP) for Skymark’s restructuring under bankruptcy protection. When Skymark’s shares are eventually relisted, Integral will hold 50.1%, and ANA, up to 19.9%.
The mandate is one of several rule changes spawned in part by the 2009 LOC crash near Buffalo, New York, of a Continental Connection Bombardier Q400 turboprop operated by Colgan Air.
