Turkish Airlines aims to continue its high growth rate in 2014 as more new aircraft join its fleet, but the focus will be on adding frequencies rather than launching routes to new destinations, CEO Temel Kotil says. “Of course we will continue to add new destinations, but our network is now so large that the pace of adding new gateways will be lower than it was in the past years,” Kotil told Aviation Week on the sidelines of Aviation Leadership Summit organized by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) in Brussels.
A Boeing technical team is in India applying a “modification package” developed for Air India’s 787 fleet, which has been grounded for nearly two weeks by government order. “To ensure reliability and safety, all the 10 787 aircraft in the Air India fleet [have] been taken in for a 10-day maintenance grounding, beginning from Dec. 1, junior Civil Aviation Minister K. C. Venugopal says.
The House aviation subcommittee has tasked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) with evaluating foreign civil aviation authority (CAA) certification processes to see if any lessons learned can benefit both FAA’s process and U.S. manufacturers. GAO’s study will cover four areas: how FAA certification compares to foreign counterparts; general lessons learned; challenges that U.S. manufacturers have with foreign certification; and how FAA addresses foreign challenges to U.S. approvals.
While capital markets are gaining ground as a preferred funding source, traditional banks are expected to hold their own as the primary provider of aircraft delivery funding in 2014, according to projections from Boeing Capital. Commercial lending should win about 25% of the $112 billion in play in the 2014 delivering financing market, down 3% from its 2013 share, while cash will account for 23%, down 2%.
Executives from Emirates and Qantas will meet this month to review their partnership and evaluate whether to extend it to include low-cost carrier Jetstar Airways. Speaking during a podcast broadcast on Emirates’ ICE in-flight entertainment system, president Tim Clark said: “We have our first head up in December to make sure that everybody is fully aligned. I don’t see any glitches there. We feel very comfortable that we can take this arrangement to the next level.”
U.S.-based Air Transport Services Group (ATSG) is taking a 25% stake in Gothenburg’s West Atlantic Group, paving the way for a strategic partnership between the two freight specialists. ATSG and West Atlantic are both active in cargo operations, aircraft leasing and maintenance, prompting the tie-up which was signed on Dec. 6 and is expected to close on Jan. 2. West Atlantic Group has two subsidiary airlines, West Air Sweden and Atlantic Airlines, which operate a fleet of 40 freighters including BAe ATPs, Bombardier CRJ-200s and Boeing 737s.
Political issues and the higher costs of export credit are pushing airlines towards making greater use of capital markets as they look to buy aircraft. Last year, just 11% of the $95 billion spent on aircraft financing came from the capital markets, according to figures from Boeing. That’s now up to 14% of $104 billion in 2013, and is set to rise to around 22% of a $112 billion financing requirement in 2014, reports Kostya Zolotusky, managing director of capital markets development and leasing at Boeing Capital.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects passenger air traffic to grow faster during the next few years than it has in the previous five years. In its latest Airline Industry Forecast, the association estimates air travel will grow by 5.4% annually (compound annual growth rate, CAGR). That is significantly more than the 4.3% the industry has seen in the five years up to and including 2012. According to IATA, growth has been slower in that period because of the 2008 global financial crisis in its longer term effects on the global economy.
With its shareholdings set to change, Cargolux says November was the best month in its history, with “unprecedented tonnage and revenues.” Revenues topped €200 million and traffic volumes increased 27% compared with November 2012, to 74,000 tons of freight. For the first ten months of the year, year-on-year freight ton kilometers (FTKs) grew 15% at the Luxembourg-based cargo airline, and this is expected to further improve throughout the year given November’s strong performance .
Airlines operating in the European Union (EU) can count on a long-running benefit continuing permanently, as regulators this week acted to make a zero tariff on jet fuel permanent. The European Council formally adopted a regulation Monday removing the planned 4.7% levy on jet fuel imports beginning on January 1, 2014, although in practice the zero perecent tariff has been applied for many years.
China Southern is trying to build up at one of SkyTeam partner China Eastern’s major bases with an application to set up a branch company in Kunming. The move follows China Eastern’s defeat of a similar move by China Southern at Shanghai in the past two months. Before that, China Eastern’s lobbying prevented China Southern from flying Airbus A380s between Kunming and Beijing. Under the bureaucratic scheme of the Chinese airline industry, a branch company can be the basis of enlarged operations.
Click here to view the pdf Aircraft Operating Statistics, 12 Months Ended June 2013, Widebody Aircraft (Sorted By Seats Per Departure) Aircraft Stage Seats/ Aircraft Carrier
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects passenger air traffic to grow faster during the next few years than it has in the previous five years. In its latest Airline Industry Forecast, the association estimates air travel will grow by 5.4% annually (compound annual growth rate, CAGR). That is significantly more than the 4.3% the industry has seen in the five years up to and including 2012. According to IATA, growth has been slower in that period because of the 2008 global financial crisis in its longer term effects on the global economy.
Air Canada, broadening its regional feed cost-savings efforts, has tapped long-time partner Air Georgian to take over some regional jet flying, including transborder routes, currently served by Jazz. “Air Georgian has been selected to operate a number of additional regional routes including transborder routes in mid-2014 using Canadair Regional Jet aircraft,” Air Canada says in a statement on the memorandum of understanding.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers - Atlanta, Dec. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Top Carriers - Atlanta, Dec. 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Outbound ASMs Departures Airport Share ASMs (mil) Airport Share Seats/Dept.
Air Algerie is on the verge of announcing three new aircraft orders, covering three regional aircraft, eight narrowbodies and three widebodies for delivery in 2015-16, plus evaluations have begun for two full freighters. The Algiers-based carrier currently operates a fleet of 42 passenger aircraft, comprising 12 ATR 72s, five Boeing 737-600s, 17 737-800s, three 767-300s and five Airbus A330-200s.
Czech leisure carrier Travel Service will acquire 34% of Czech Airlines from Korean Air, prompting the departure of Czech Airlines Chairman and President Philippe Moreels. Korean Air acquired 44% of Czech Airlines from Czech Aeroholding in April 2013 and is now planning to buy a further 34%. It will then sell the shares on to Travel Service, which will reinforce its European operations.
Following on the heels of FAA action on portable electronics, the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has modified its rules and given airlines updated guidance on the use of portable electronic devices (PEDs) on-board the aircraft. An operator may now allow the use of all PEDs—such as smartphones, tablets, MP3 players and e-readers—during any phase of flight so long as transmitting connections such as mobile phone network, wi-fi and Bluetooth are disabled and switched to “flight mode” or “airplane mode.”
Boeing kicked off a five-month wind tunnel test phase for the 777X on Dec. 5, marking the first major development milestone for the newly-launched twinjet program. The initial test campaign will focus on the low-speed characteristics of the design, which is a derivative of the existing 777 configured with an all-new, large span composite wing and new General Electric GE9X engines.
Kuwait Airways and Airbus have inked a memorandum of understanding for 15 Airbus A320neo family aircraft and 10 A350-900s. The confirmation follows on from comments made in May by Kuwait Airways chairman Sami al-Nasef, who said at the time that his carrier had “signed a letter of acceptance with Airbus” to purchase 25 aircraft.
