Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Nice - Paris Orly, March 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Nice - Paris Orly, March 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Departures Share ASKs (000) Share Seats/Dept.
Kazakh carrier Air Astana will continue to grow 10-15% in the near future, taking up options on eight Boeing 787s and also acquiring more Embraer 190s, says President Peter Foster. Air Astana will seek to join an airline alliance in two to three years, probably Star Alliance or SkyTeam, Foster adds.
Lufthansa Technik Group reported an operating profit of €318 million ($411.2 million) in 2012, a noteworthy 24% improvement from €257 million in the year-ago period, while revenue declined 2% to €4.01 billion.
Malaysian maintenance repair and overhaul (MRO) company Airod Aerospace Technologies (AAT) is in talks with French company Altran about becoming a completion center for Airbus A320 passenger-to-freighter conversions. Altran is an engineering consultancy that recently established an office in Kuala Lumpur to serve Southeast Asia.
British operator EasyJet from April 30 will replace airport check-in desks with bag-drops for passengers wanting to check baggage. The airline says 80% of its customers already check-in online and will launching a campaign to help the remaining 20% switch. “Online check-in saves time queuing for passengers at the airport and it enables us to keep costs, and therefore fares, low,” a spokeswoman tells Aviation Week. She adds that the carrier “for now” has no plans to generate revenue from fees for airport check-in.
Lufthansa’s transformation process has now reached the executive board, as the airline has decided to fire one of its four members, Stefan Lauer, according to industry sources. Lauer has been in charge of human resources and affiliate carriers such as Austrian Airlines, Swiss International Air Lines and Brussels Airlines. Lufthansa had no comment. The move highlights the fundamental changes that the company is undertaking.
Australian aviation regulators this week issued two important clearances for proposed Australian airline partnerships and expect to issue a third today. These decisions will help pave the way for a major shake-up in the Australian airline industry as airlines look to gain advantages by forming closer links with other carriers.
Alitalia is blasting the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) for threatening to disrupt the airline’s service to the U.S. if Italian authorities do not change the structure of their country’s airport fees.
JetBlue Airways, whose unit costs for maintenance rose nearly 70% from 2010 to 2012, expects to lower annual increases to about 5% in the next few years, thanks in part to flight-hour agreements and price caps on some of its heavy overhaul work, CFO Mark Powers says.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Oslo - Stavanger, March 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Oslo - Stavanger, March 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way
Jean-Cyril Spinetta and Leo van Wijk, who masterminded the first merger between two European flag carriers in 2004, are stepping down and handing over the reins of Air France-KLM Group to a younger generation. The board of the French-Dutch group yesterday appointed Alexandre de Juniac chairman and CEO of Air France-KLM Group and Peter Hartman deputy CEO, succeeding Vice Chairman van Wijk, as of July 1.
Amsterdam-based TNT Express has unveiled a major restructuring plan to revive its operations, just weeks after a merger deal with UPS was blocked by European Commission regulators. The plan, dubbed “Deliver,” envisions some 4,000 job cuts in the next three years and €220 million ($280 million) in annual cost savings in 2015, mostly through the consolidation of operational and administrative functions.
As Aviation Daily was going to press Boeing was conducting a two-hour functional check flight on a Boeing-owned production 787 built for LOT Polish Airlines. Following the flight, Boeing will analyze data and prepare for certification ground and flight demonstrations in the coming days. Boeing says it intends to conduct one certification demonstration flight on the LOT aircraft, which is Line Number 86.
Fly-by-wire has become the norm for the larger and more expensive commercial and business aircraft and helicopters, but airframers continue to say the cost-benefit analysis for the lower end of the market has not been favorable to introduce this safety-enhancing and weight-reducing technology.
In an effort to lift the country’s troubled airline industry, India has ended government control of aircraft acquisition by airlines and other operators, enabling domestic carriers to import aircraft without first acquiring special permits.
The congressional mandate that has created a backlog of foreign repair station applications also has forced airlines to reconsider expansion and contract maintenance plans because desired locations do not have FAA-approved shops, industry executives report.
Hawaiian Airlines has finalized an agreement with Airbus covering a firm order for 16 A321NEO aircraft and revealed further details of the delivery schedule. The carrier signed a memorandum of understanding with Airbus in January, although it had to wait until it gained approval for the new fleet type from its unions before confirming the order. The airline previously said it plans to use the aircraft on routes from Hawaii to the U.S. mainland, including new routes that are not feasible for its widebody fleet.
Pending partial furloughs will force FAA inspectors to prioritize current activities and put new projects on the back burner, says the agency’s administrator, Michael Huerta. Speaking to maintenance executives at the Aeronautical Repair Station Association’s annual symposium March 22, Huerta said that inspectors will focus on “the most pressing priorities” and that work on new projects will be very limited.
Click here to view the pdf Top Carriers: Bergen - Oslo, March 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Top Carriers: Bergen - Oslo, March 15-21, 2013, Ranked By Scheduled Seats Daily Each Way Depa
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