Southwest Airlines is suing Wells Fargo Bank over its refusal to accept the return of one Boeing 737 aircraft that has come off lease and another that comes off lease early next year.
Delta Air Lines will offer lie-flat seats in business class on flights from Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle to New York, initially using Boeing 767 aircraft that are being pulled from international service to get an early start on two of the routes. The airline also will modify Business Elite cabins on Boeing 757 aircraft for service by adding 16 lie-flat seats, which are being installed under a contract with BE Aerospace. But that modification, on 18 aircraft, will take up to 24 months and also includes the addition of 44 premium economy seats.
The Arab Air Carriers Organization (AACO) is making another push for liberalizing intra-regional air transport. AACO Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha, speaking yesterday at the AACO annual general meeting in Algiers, said the Arab world should “adopt the successful model of the European Union” by offering free market access, liberalized ownership and control regulation, and free movement of people and goods.
A new partnership with Cathay Pacific will help Air New Zealand refocus its Hong Kong operations on connections to mainland China and other Asian destinations, following the New Zealand carrier’s decision to eliminate its Hong Kong-London flights.
The transition of Lufthansa’s non-hub, short-haul flying to Germanwings could take significantly longer than planned if the airline and its unions cannot agree on the terms of operating the segment, company sources say. The airline currently is in negotiations with cabin crew union UFO about a new collective bargaining agreement, and a mediation proposal is due next week. There are early signs that the union might not agree to the company’s offer, which could lead to further industrial action in December.
The Allied Pilots Association (APA) says scope and pay are the two outstanding issues it and American Airlines management have left to resolve in contract negotiations this week. In a message to members, the union says the contract language is almost completely written, but “there are only a handful of open paragraphs still being worked.” The goal is for the union’s leadership to decide this week whether to send the contract to membership for a ratification vote.
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is reassigning body scanners to airports based on passenger volume as part of an effort to streamline screening processes. The TSA plans to shift smaller, faster Advanced Imaging Technology (AIT) machines to busier airports and larger units to airports with less passenger volume, a spokesman tells Aviation Week. The AIT units will take up less space and reduce screening checkpoint wait times at the larger airports.
Indian carrier Jet Airways plans to sell and lease back its aircraft as one of several measures to improve cash flow and profitability. “We are looking at more sale and lease-back options in the current quarter in addition to those done in the previous two quarters. This will result in cash surplus and consequential reduction in the working capital loans, as well as [the] lowering of interest cost going forward,” said CFO Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan during a fiscal second quarter results conference call.
DHL Global Forwarding and LAN Cargo have signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen security measures for high-value air freight moving through more than a dozen Latin American countries. Once approved, the deal will formalize LAN Cargo’s relationship with DHL in Latin America, the Chilean operator says in a statement. LAN Cargo has worked with DHL in the region for more than 30 years, but this agreement will enable the two carriers to standardize security procedures for cargo carried on LAN Cargo’s network.
Delta Air Lines is “on course” to begin selling its premium economy seats via Travelport-owned portals in early 2013, a slip from a June announcement from the global distribution system (GDS) that travel agents would have access to this inventory through Galileo, Worldspan and Apollo before year-end.
Ryanair has offered what it calls an unprecedented package of concession to convince the European Commission (EC) to approve the budget airline’s proposed merger with Aer Lingus.
The bankruptcy judge overseeing Mexicana de Aviacion’s restructuring has approved another investor to bid for the airline’s assets. Judge Edith Alarcon Meixueiro has allowed a consortium led by investor Ivan Barona to submit a bid, pending the court’s approval of the consortium’s finances, a source close to the airline tells Aviation Week.
ILFC has or will part out at least 11 of the 54 aircraft that have been returned to the lessor this year by airlines that ceased operations or filed for bankruptcy protection.
Alternative jet fuels research will take on a broader focus as part of a newly defined center of excellence (COE) to be launched by the FAA this fiscal year, while compatible land use management and aviation environmental policy have been dropped from an earlier plan for the COE.
