Air France-KLM will decide on replacements for KLM Cityhopper’s 19 Fokker 70s in the fourth quarter of this year from among four competing regional airframers—ATR, Bombardier, Embraer and Mitsubishi Aircraft, says KLM Cityhopper Managing Director Boet Kreiken.
Iberia franchise partner Air Nostrum is nearing the completion of reorganization of its shareholding structure, including a capital increase of €25 million ($34.4 milllion), which will see CEO Carlos Bertomeu becoming the main shareholder and two private investors acquiring a stake in the carrier. The search for new investors started last year, and led to speculation that Etihad Airways was also interested in taking a stake in the Valencia-based regional airline.
Lufthansa and its pilots’ union Vereinigung Cockpit (VC) are no closer to resolving a dispute over early retirement provisions as the second day of what has turned into essentially a full grounding of the airline ends. Lufthansa was forced to cancel 3,800 of around 4,300 planned flights over a three-day period. The airline plans to resume operations on Saturday morning April 5 (local time), aiming at operating as normal a schedule as possible. The carrier is estimated to have taken a €50 million ($68.5 million) hit to profits because of the walkout.
The highly competitive Hawaii-Australasia market is heating up further, with Qantas subsidiary Jetstar introducing a new widebody route between Brisbane and Honolulu. The Qantas Group is competing with Hawaiian Airlines and its code-share partner Virgin Australia in the Hawaii market. Hawaiian has also been pushing into the New Zealand market, where it vies with Air New Zealand. Jetstar's new Airbus A330 service is scheduled to begin Dec. 14, subject to government approval. It will operate three times a week in peak season, and twice a week off-peak.
Iberia franchise partner Air Nostrum is nearing the completion of reorganization of its shareholding structure, including a capital increase of €25 million ($34.4 milllion), which will see CEO Carlos Bertomeu becoming the main shareholder and two private investors acquiring a stake in the carrier. The search for new investors started last year, and led to speculation that Etihad Airways was also interested in taking a stake in the Valencia-based regional airline.
Passenger traffic worldwide grew in February, with international demand growing strongly in the Middle East and domestic demand expanding in the BRIC economies, data from the International Air Transport Association (IATA) show.
The global landscape of hubs is going to shift significantly toward fewer and larger hubs, senior airline executives at the Phoenix Aviation Symposium argue, driven by fuel prices and new competitors.
The spectacle of the controversial legislation including aviation in the European Union’s emissions trading scheme (EU ETS) is nearing its finale, at least for now, with the European Parliament endorsing the compromise proposal to prolong scope of the one-year ‘Stop the Clock’ provision. Only flights operated within the European Economic Area (EAA) will be covered until the end of 2016. The EEA comprises the EU’s 28 members plus Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein.
Irish regional carrier Stobart Air, formerly Aer Arann, has inked a five-year franchise agreement with flybe covering two aircraft and six European routes. Stobart Air, which already performs franchise flights for Aer Lingus under Aer Lingus Regional branding, said the new contract will create 50 new jobs taking its total headcount to 420 staff.
With the opening of its new facility in Shah Alam, Malaysia, Swiss MRO specialist SR Technics has taken its first step into the burgeoning Southeast Asian maintenance market. The company, which offers heavy maintenance for European low-cost carrier Ryanair out of its Malta-based facility, says it is putting its toe in the water in Asia with less sophisticated products and straight component repair initially—but it has not ruled out a possible expansion into more sophisticated aspects of MRO for its operations in the region.
United Airlines says the cost of swapping Boeing 737NG autothrottle computers will be higher than the FAA’s estimate of $85 per operator for an hour of labor, because avionics supplier GE will not provide the software upgrade free of charge “despite this being a safety and reliability issue.”
Kulula, the low-cost subsidiary of South African carrier Comair, is eyeing potential codeshare opportunities as it looks to attract more corporate travelers. “We would like to move our [kulula] product so it has more appeal for the corporate market, using ancillaries. We won’t have a business class – we will steer away from that for a little while,” Comair CEO Erik Venter told Aviation Week affiliate Air Transport World.
Delta has issued a request for proposals (RFP) for the replacement of up to 50 widebody aircraft. The new fleet of long-haul aircraft is intended to replace all of the airline’s Boeing 747-400s and part of the Boeing 767-300ER fleet, as first reported by Aviation Week (DAILY, March 12).
Irish regional airline CityJet will continue to code-share with Air France-KLM for three years and provide wet-lease capacity to Air France after its sale by the parent company is completed, Chief Executive Christine Ourmieres says.
American Airlines’ settlement with the Justice Dept. (DOJ) to divest slots at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in order to merge with US Airways does not preclude the merged carrier for applying for new slots at the facility as they become available, American says in a filing to the Transportation Dept.
Key members of the team that developed and flew Qinetiq’s record-setting Zephyr solar-powered high-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft have joined Facebook’s project to deliver basic Internet services to everyone around the world.
