Aeroflot is expected to use its newly enlarged fleet to expand its presence in India with new flights planned for Kolkata, Bangalore, Amritsar and Ahmedabad from Moscow.
Mexican domestic carrier Aerolitoral, an affiliate of Aeromexico, on May 7 will begin an expansion on Mexico's southern border from the gateway cities in Chiapas to the rest of the country.
Air France and Qantas are expanding their code-sharing agreement, starting next month. So far, code sharing has been done on service to five Australian cities, with connections through Singapore. Now, the agreement is being extended to cover service to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane via Hong Kong. Air France is boosting its Hong Kong service in June, bringing total code-share frequencies between France and Australia to 48, 17 of them through Hong Kong.
Delta earned $155 million from operations in the first quarter, which will be its last full quarter in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, the carrier reported yesterday.
Air Asia has been given the approval to operate a low-fare airline terminal (LFAT) at the Penang Airport; a 36-hectare site has been allocated by the Penang state government for the facility.
Emirates on May 1 will increase from daily to 12 weekly flights on the Dubai-Beijing route, which is served with Airbus A340-300 aircraft. The service will become a double-daily offering as of July 1. Emirates launched flights to Beijing last September. The airline also operates a daily service to Shanghai in October 2004 using Boeing 777-300ERs.
Atlanta plans to open its new "end-around" taxiway Thursday, and the airport claims the $42.5 million taxiway will be the first of its type at a U.S. airport. End-around taxiways eliminate the need for arriving flights to cross active runways. About 700 arrivals per day land on the northernmost runway, which will be connected to the new taxiway.
Rome, N.Y.-based MRO Empire Aero Center won follow-up business with Russian carrier Transaero through a one-year deal to complete integration and bridge checks -- ensuring the aircraft are in line with Transaero's operating specs -- for five Boeing 747-300s the carrier agreed to acquire from Japan Airlines last year. Empire won heavy maintenance business from Transaero last year covering the carrier's 747-200s.
Year-old Guyanese startup TravelspanGT is looking to expand its U.S. operations to Orlando Sanford International airport. The airline is eyeing a June 16 launch of service between Orlando and Georgetown that will stop over in Port-of-Spain,Trinidad. Though Travelspan plans to serve Sanford, it also wants the flexibility to serve Orlando International [OST-2007-27907].
Air Asia Long-Haul (AAL), Malaysia's new low-fare airline, has signed an order for 10 Airbus A330-300s with an option for another five. Delivery will start in September 2008 and run through to 2011. The aircraft will be configured for 389 passengers with two categories of seats. Owned by Fly Asian Xpress (FAX), AAL will start operations in September with two leased A330-300s initially flying to China. Fernandes, Kamarudin Meranun and Raja Mohd Azmi Mohd Razali are the shareholders in FAX, a private limited company
Frederico Fleury Curado, new president of Embraer, told reporters last week that during his tenure at the company, he is betting on the conquest of the Latin American market, estimated at 6% of world sales. This segment is definitely growing, as shown by recent bulk sales to Panama's Copa and Colombia's AeroRepublica, Curado said. "We still have to determine which percentage of that 6% we will shoot for. Half would be interesting, but we still don't have a specific target."
Boeing's 787 suppliers in Japan are "basically" on track, the U.S. company says as the first parts for the first aircraft are due to arrive in Seattle. A media tour of Boeing's three big Japanese partners on Monday revealed no hint of a significant hold-up on the 787. Boeing executives have repeatedly assured airlines the 787 will meet its production timetable.
Delta hasn't begun a campaign to fill the gap between its 76-seat regional jets and 142-seat MD-80s, but its business plan calls for 25 small-gauge narrowbodies by 2010. The carrier is taking on 15 124-seat Boeing 737-700s, but Chief Operating Officer Jim Whitehurst recently said those aircraft are targeted for very specific performance-limited airports, citing Vail, Mexico City and some islands in the Caribbean, where the carrier currently has to fly 757s and would like to have fewer seats or operate additional frequencies.
Employment levels at the seven U.S. network airlines continue to fall. The seven carriers' full-time equivalent levels as of February 2007 are down 23.3% since February 2003, according to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics at the U.S. Transportation Dept. Those seven carriers employed 64.7% of the passenger airline total in February. Low-cost carriers employed 17.6% and regionals 14.8%. Since 2003, Northwest has lost the largest amount of FTEs - 31.3%.
Delta is close to announcing a Connection Carrier to fly the remaining 15 CRJ-900s of a 30 aircraft order placed this year. The airline recently awarded Mesa half the aircraft, which should start flights in September, most likely from Delta's Atlanta and Cincinnati hubs (DAILY, April 16).
Boeing has signed a contract with Spirit AeroSystems in Wichita, Kan., to provide component repair and overhaul services on engine nacelles for 777 and Next-Generation 737 aircraft. Boeing said the Boeing Component Repair and Leasing Services Network Service Center program is "part of a continuing strategy to reduce maintenance costs and provide faster repair and overhaul solutions of key rotable components for Boeing customers around the world." For Spirit, it furthers its desire to gain more work and expand its MRO business (DAILY, April 19).
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA on April 19 submitted last-minute arguments against awarding Virgin America an operating certificate. "Nothing about how the Virgin Group structured Virgin America's affairs has changed so drastically to warrant this turnabout," AFA-CWA told the U.S. Transportation Dept. "There have been no 'sweeping changes' that go to the core of the requirement to demonstrate U.S. citizenship, just a little cosmetic surgery around the edges."
Argentina-based SOL Airlines will soon join Uruguay's Pluna and Aerolineas Argentinas on the profitable Montevideo-Buenos Aires shuttle. The carrier will operate two daily frequencies that were unused in the Uruguay-Argentina bilateral accord. SOL will use SAAB turboprops on the route.
Mexicana's new Torreon-Las Vegas service could launch soon, thanks to quick nods from the U.S. Transportation Dept. and the Mexican civil aviation authorities. Mexico designated the airline to operate the route earlier this month. The airline told DOT it would launch the service "immediately" after winning the necessary authority from the department, which awarded Mexican the exemption on April 17.
Bookings for Japan's "Golden Week" vacation period - from April 27-May 6 - are stronger than last year's, particularly for international Asian destinations, JAL says. Domestic bookings in this 10-day period are up 2.9%, and international bookings are 1.2% higher. Reservations are 11.9% higher for China, 13.6% for Guam, and 14% for South Korea. Load factor for the holiday period is running at just under 70%.
