Malaysia-based AirAsia is confident it can reverse the decline in economic performance of its off-shore franchises that is dragging down the group’s profitability.
Ryanair is stepping up direct competition with Aer Lingus, in which it still holds a near 30% stake, and will start operating a multiple daily return from Dublin to Brussels Airport (BRU). Aer Lingus is currently the only operator on the route.
In an attempt to ensure United Airlines and Southwest Airlines eventually can fly the same routes, Houston has asked the U.S. government to seek a new bilateral agreement with Mexico by the end of 2014. The filing with the U.S. Department of Transportation comes as United and Southwest jockey for route authorities between Houston and large Mexican cities. The current agreement between the two countries allows only two carriers to serve most routes, with several exceptions, mainly to Mexican beach destinations.
Pegasus Airlines expects to continue its high-passenger growth both in the international and domestic markets, but the profitability of Turkey’s largest privately-owned airline has deteriorated and the first-half through June was loss-making. The aggressive network expansion and increased competition of rival Turkish Airlines at Pegasus’s main hub of Istanbul’s Sabiha Gokcen airport put pressure on Pegasus’s fares.
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas) is reviewing another letter from Delta Air Lines calling for reform of the Export-Import Bank of the U.S. (Ex-Im). In the latest salvo between Delta and Boeing, the Atlanta-based carrier refutes point-by-point claims Boeing made in a letter it sent to Hensarling earlier this month. Andrea Newman, Delta senior vice president-government affairs, seeks to counter “the inaccurate and incomplete statements in that letter.”
Budget carrier Norwegian has opened a new long-haul base at London Gatwick Airport, supporting its Boeing 787 routes to Los Angeles, New York and Fort Lauderdale. Norwegian is already well-established at Gatwick. It opened a short-haul base at the airport in 2013, which has since expanded to 90 pilots and 200 cabin crew, and this has now been joined by a long-haul base.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) is the aviation component of the United Nations primarily responsible for setting international safety standards that all countries agree to follow. As U.S. Ambassador to ICAO, I witnessed tremendous advances in aviation safety by many ICAO member countries and improvements in the standards and recommended practices that form the basis of ICAO’s safety framework.
Independent aviation safety body Flight Safety Foundation (FSF) is close to releasing a two-year study into aircraft go-arounds, performed by social science research specialist Presage. FSF director of communications and board relations Emily McGee said the study should be completed this summer, for release in late October.
The latest round of route announcements by Japan’s major airlines includes the notable return of a domestic trunk service that was previously squeezed out by competition from high-speed rail. All Nippon Airways (ANA) and Japan Airlines (JAL) are both boosting their flights from Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, although JAL also cut flights from elsewhere in its network. Most of the changes will be effective from Oct. 26, and will apply to their schedules for the second half of the fiscal year.
Fares in France declined in the first seven months from last year, including a year-over-year decline of ticket prices in July. Ticket prices for flights from France, domestic and international, inched down 0.4% in July and fell 0.9% in the first seven months, according to France’s Direction Générale de l’Aviation Civile (DGAC). Data are for fares for return tickets from France (mainland and overseas territories) including all taxes, fees and charges, offered by over 50 airlines.
Ryanair has hired John Hurley as chief technology officer as it continues with its senior management revamp and push to up its digital game. Hurley will join Ryanair on Sept. 15 from American educational publisher Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH), where he was most recently VP-software development. He has been with HMH since 2007 and has held a number of roles, including VP-engineering & product operations, director of product operations, director for platform development and software development program manager.
Airlines for America (A4A), the U.S. airline industry’s main trade body, said that although extreme weather in the first quarter of this year almost derailed financial results, the airline industry reported an overall profit for the first half of 2014. The trade group based its findings on nine publicly traded airlines: Alaska, Allegiant, American, Delta, Hawaiian, JetBlue, Southwest, Spirit and United. Collectively, these airlines reported a net profit of $3.8 billion, up from $1.6 billion last year, and an operating margin of 5%, up from 2.1% last year.
Clarification:A story in the Aug. 21 issue should have said the long-term goal of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) is for the U.S. and the EU to work jointly to eliminate all widebody aircraft financing. ALPA’s goal in the 2014 reauthorization is to eliminate Ex-Im Bank widebody financing for state-owned and/or credit worthy airlines.
SINGAPORE—Despite an overall static outlook for business across the region, Manila-based LCC Cebu Pacific (Cebu) has recorded a 19.7% increase in passenger numbers for Q2 2014, to 4.7 million in total, in addition to 3.8 million passengers in Q1 2014.
View the PDF Global Jet Fuel Prices (midpoint)* As of August 21, 2014, compared with previous week and previous year cts/gal prev. week prev. year NY Jet Barges 290.34 -5.99 -13.61 Chicago Jet 292.59 -3.59 -14.11 West Coast (LA) Jet 292.84 -3.24 -6.11 Europe: Rotterdam Jet (Barges) 280.12 -5.51 -24.84 Asia/Pacific (Singapore Kero) 275.26 -0.67 -22.36
Air Berlin is giving up the idea of operating hub-and-spoke systems at its main bases in Dusseldorf, Berlin and Palma de Mallorca. As the airline prepares to reshape its future network, it is focusing on optimizing point-to-point services. Hubs “are not part of our strategy,” CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said Thursday.
LONDON — Increasing numbers of Airbus A380 operations could have a negative impact on London’s Heathrow airport in the future, senior air traffic controllers have warned. Flights into Heathrow were seen as one of the key critical markets for the four-engined aircraft when it was first developed during the early 2000s, with airlines able to fly more passengers into the slot-constrained two-runway airport.
LONDON — Finnair CEO Pekka Vauramo has shrugged off concerns raised by Flybe about the two airlines’ loss-making joint venture (JV), insisting that it is “business as usual” at Flybe Finland.
SYDNEY — While Singapore-based low-cost carrier Scoot will use Boeing 787 deliveries to grow its fleet next year, initial deliveries will be focused more on fleet replacement than expansion, CEO Campbell Wilson says.
Thailand’s Department of Civil Aviation (DCA) has canceled Thai airport landing rights for Don Mueang-based LCC City Airways. The DCA has also asked the Civil Aviation Department in Hong Kong to withdraw rights for the airline at Hong Kong International. The move follows claims that the carrier had not been following scheduled maintenance operations on its 20-year old Boeing 737-400 and 737-800 aircraft. To date, there is no ban in place on the China destinations from the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC).
