Hamilton Sundstrand is continuing to sign up exclusive spare parts agreements with new companies. This week, Hamilton Sundstrand announced agreements with China Eastern, Thai Airways and EVA Airways. In each case, Hamilton will be the exclusive provider of its parts to component repair shops.
Continental yesterday revealed an order for eight Boeing 777s, which will help the carrier handle its new transatlantic and transpacific routes — particularly in light of expected delays to its 787 orders. The 777s are scheduled for delivery between 2009 and 2012, an airline spokesman said. Continental has specified 777-200ERs, but it can change to a different 777 model. As well as the 777 orders, Continental also added 19 more 737 orders.
American is reducing its first-quarter and full-year capacity guidance slightly, apparently fulfilling its recent vow to make further cuts if the economic picture darkened. The carrier now predicts mainline capacity will be up 0.2% in 2008, with domestic down 1.1% and international up 2.5%. During its first-quarter earnings call in January, American predicted full-year capacity growth of 1%, with domestic down 0.4% and international up 3.3%.
Airbus is in advanced talks with at least three new A380 customers — Asiana, Air India, and ANA — and at the same time is looking to broaden the appeal of its A350 twin-widebody by introducing a high-capacity configuration.
Wellington International Airport Limited (WIAL) has unveiled Phase 2 of the expansion of its international terminal, but flag carrier Air New Zealand is not happy about it.
TAP Air Portugal was the poorest performer in baggage handling in 2007, according to statistics released by the U.K.-based Air Transport Users Council (AUC). AUC is the U.K.’s consumer council for air travelers, funded by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). “According to the airlines’ own data, an average of 16.6 bags per thousand passengers was delayed on flights operated by the major European network airlines in 2007. This compares to 15.7 bags per thousand passengers for 2006,” said Chairwoman Tina Tietjen.
Eighty-six percent of British Airways pilots participating in the ballot voted to strike in a dispute over the group’s new OpenSkies subsidiary (DAILY, Jan. 10). The British Air Line Pilots Association (BALPA) said that pilots are concerned BA could use the lower pay scales planned for OpenSkies to exercise downward pressure on pay and conditions at the mainline carrier.
The National Mediation Board has authorized an election for the US Airline Pilots Association, a group formed because of their displeasure with representation of both America West and US Airways pilots by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA).
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. reported profits of $6.7 million for the fourth quarter of 2007, down 45% from the same quarter of the previous year thanks to losses at Colgan, which Pinnacle acquired in January 2007. Net income for the year ended Dec. 31, meanwhile, stood at $36.6 million, down 31% from 2006
The recent spate emergency landings, near collisions and other mishaps at the three airports serving La Paz, Cochabamba and Santa Cruz in Colombia, has led airliners and analysts to assail the obsolete and unwieldy co-existence of concessionaire SABSA for those three airports and government regulator AASANA for the remaining 34 airports in Bolivia and to call for streamlining the system.
Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways plans to place an order for up to 100 aircraft this year to ensure long-term growth capacity. Etihad CEO James Hogan said in an interview that he is talking to both Airbus and Boeing about orders for between 50 and 100 aircraft. The airline is likely to buy additional Airbus A380s of which it has four on firm order, Hogan said. The airline currently operates 37 aircraft and plans to grow the fleet to 53 by the end of 2011.
Avianca registered record sales of US$142 billion for a 31% increase in 2007 from 2006, with operating profit close to US$200 million and net profit of US$100 million. The airline, controlled by Brazil’s Synergy Aerospace, also carried 12.9% more passengers in 2007 than in 2006 and saw its domestic market share grow to 58% and international share to 45% for an 18.2% increase in passengers.
Boeing intends to reach 50% design release on its 747-8 freighter “during the early part of the year,” with 90% design release to be achieved by midyear. Production is slated to begin in late 2008. Boeing says this year is a big one for its freighter programs — it also plans to deliver its first 767-300 converted freighter, and will complete assembly, flight test and certification of its 777 freighter, with first delivery in the fourth quarter.
Macquarie Airports (MAp) reported a whopping 84.2% increase in earnings in 2007 to A$1.1 billion (US$1 billion). It was a busy year for the airports operator, as it made several financial moves on its facilities. In February, MAp acquired an additional 1.2% interest in Sydney Airport following the acquisition of Global Infrastructure (Sydney Holdings) Pty Ltd. and exercised its option to buy Ferrovial’s 20.9% interest in Sydney, bringing its stake to 72.1%.
The Italian regional administrative court of Lazio rejected Air One’s appeal against the exclusive talks with Air France-KLM for the privatization of Alitalia (DAILY, Feb. 5). Carlo Toto, head of Air One and Air France’s rival bidder for Alitalia, said he would take the case to a higher jurisdiction, the Italian State Council. Doubt was cast about the exclusive negotiations with Air France-KLM, which are set to last until March 14, when the Italian government collapsed last month.
Copa Airlines would follow partner Continental out of SkyTeam if the U.S. carrier did partner with Star member United per industry speculation, said Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa and AeroRepublica parent Copa Holdings.
Embraer has seen a lot of action for its 190 program this week, with 10 orders from Jetscape and the revelation that Virgin Blue was the anonymous customer for another four.
JetBlue yesterday followed up its recent West Coast expansion by significantly boosting its flights out of Austin, a market the carrier says has been performing very strongly. The airline revealed plans for three new routes from Austin, to Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, and San Francisco. An Austin-Long Beach flight was announced last week as part of the West Coast expansion (DAILY, Feb. 13). All the flights are set to begin May 1.
Hamilton Sundstrand announced Feb. 20 it has signed a spare parts purchase agreement with Evergreen Aviation Technologies. The deal means Hamilton Sundstrand will be an exclusive spare parts provider for Evergreen’s component repair shops.
