SAS, widely considered an innovator in using technology to improve its business, has launched SAS.mobi, the first mobile version of an airline's Web site. The site features check-in, time tables, flight status, news, weather and information on EuroBonus, its frequent flyer program. The site was created by Swedish technology provider Adimo.
The Civil Aeronautics Board in Manila has halved Singapore-based, low-fare airline Tiger Airways' current six-monthly operating permit to Clark's Disdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA). Known as the Foreign Air Carrier's Permit (FACP), it was initially supposed to end in September but will now expire in June before Tiger receives a renewable six-month FACP. No reasons were given by CAB. An official with CAB was willing to say only that it was the agency's prerogative to issue short-term FACPs
Delta TechOps, taking full advantage of this week's gathering of maintenance executives in hometown Atlanta, announced five major deals Tuesday, including an agreement to service Mesa's GE CF34 engines and four strategic partnerships. Separately, TechOps Senior VP Tony Charaf revealed that his unit in-sourced $312 million worth of third-party work in 2006, surpassing the company's goal of $270 million.
Austrian Airlines intends to increase to 10 the number of long-range destinations it serves this summer when it begins flying to Chicago on May 29. The airline will be operating up to six flights per week during the summer to Chicago. At the same time, it will upgrade to the Boeing 777 on its flights to Washington, D.C.
Lufthansa hopes to reach its self-imposed profit target of EUR1 billion (US$1.34 billion) this year, one year earlier than planned, Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said at the annual shareholder meeting yesterday.
Spirit AeroSystems, the supplier of airplane assemblies and components that was formerly Boeing's Wichita Division before being acquired by Onex Corp. in 2005, wants to dilute its reliance on Boeing -- which accounts for 91% of its revenues -- by seeking out more business from new customers.
Lambert-St. Louis Airport has become the latest to create an incentive program to attract new airlines and expand existing service. The airport felt the incentives were necessary to be competitive with other facilities, said Brian Kinsey, business and marketing manager. "We know that airlines have limited resources for new and additional services, so offering incentives allows them to make decisions as easy as possible," he explained. "We know we're not first to the game, but we want to be competitive going forward."
Airline insurance premiums have fallen for six straight months. AON Aviation says that first-quarter insurance renewals have seen rates fall about 25%. Large contributors to the reductions were cutbacks at Varig,which have reduced its liability exposure, as well as a 25% reduction in traffic at IranAir from last year, AON says.
American yesterday reported a first-quarter profit for the first time in seven years, with lower fuel costs helping offset the $60 million revenue hit the airline took from a bad run of winter storms.
Gordon Wilson, president and CEO of Galileo since January, will become the CEO and president of the combined Galileo/Worldspan upon consummation of the merger of the two GDSs, Galileo owner Travelport Limited said. Travelport and Worldspan announced their agreement to merge Worldspan and Galileo about four months ago. Worldspan's current chairman, president and CEO is Rakesh Gangwal, former president and CEO of US Airways Group, who also held senior executive positions at Air France and United. -JLM
Industry's hull loss rate in 2006 of 0.65 accidents per million flights for Western-built jet aircraft -- or one accident per 1.5 million flights -- contributed to making 2006 the safest year on record for global aviation. The results, reported in IATA's 2006 Safety Report released April 17, are "impressive," says Director General Giovanni Bisignani, but "we must do even better." With air travel growth expected to increase 5%-6% annually, the rate must decrease "just to keep the actual number of accidents in check."
British Airways can now promise customers that all of its flights between London and New York will be on aircraft equipped with its new Club World business-class cabin. The carrier aimed to first retrofit the Boeing 747s on transatlantic service before finishing the rest of the 747 fleet. The cabin retrofit is being completed at a rate of three 747s a month, and the 777 fleet will also receive the new Club World cabin.
Sun Country Airlines of St. Paul, Minn., named Stephen Spellman its new CFO/COO. Spellman joins the airline from Champion Air, where he was president and CEO since 2003.
Amadeus and Aerosvit Airlines have signed an agreement to give the Ukrainian carrier a platform for reservations, inventory and check-in, the Amadeus Altea Customer Management suite.
Adrian Schofield Latin America has seen healthy capacity growth in recent years, although this overall growth pattern has been erratic in South America due in large part to the financial travails of its carriers. Throughout the wider region, economic improvement will likely be necessary for long-term expansion. The three Latin American regions together account for 8.5% of the world's population and South America is home to 5.8% of the global population, Central America for 2.3%, while the Caribbean has only 0.5%.
The U.S. advised its citizens Tuesday not to fly on Indonesian airlines, as Jakarta stepped up its threats against six carriers it says are deficient; if the six airlines don't shape up within three months, they'll be closed down, the government says. Following three serious accidents this year, the U.S. travel warning was based on an FAA decision to downgrade the agency's assessment of Indonesian safety oversight, which it says fails to comply with ICAO standards.
Near-double-digit, year-over-year traffic growth, 9.8%, in March on a capacity increase of just 0.9% combined to boost Singapore Airlines' load factor 6.6 percentage points to 82.4%, the carrier reported. The highest load factor was in Europe, up 8.3 points to 88.1%, but the greatest gain was in the southwestern Pacific, up 11.4 points to 85.7%. Traffic demand was "particularly strong" in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, SIA said.
Despite chronic social unrest in the Italian air transport sector, three suitors confirmed their non-binding offer to acquire at least 39.9% of Alitalia from the Italian state.
BAA has begun a GBP40 million (US$80.1 million) construction project at London Stansted Airport to expand the main terminal building. The project will add almost 64,000 square feet of space to the international arrival section of the terminal. This includes doubling the size of the Immigration Hall, providing extra space for more baggage carousels and creating a new and improved "meeters and greeters" area.
Boeing yesterday selected Delta's TechOps division to provide parts and maintenance support for the KC-767 Advanced Tanker, which could mean a lot of extra third-party MRO work for Delta if Boeing wins a major Air Force tanker competition.
