Delta reported a $49 million loss in November, significantly less than the $181 million loss in the same month last year thanks to higher unit revenue and lower expenses.
Frequent international flyers at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport will be able to speed through immigration processing lines if they join a new trusted traveler biometric program known as Saphire, company and government officials say.
Eclipse Aviation on Sunday delivered its first Eclipse 500 very light jet three months after winning type certification as the company works through initial production problems. The company won the FAA type certification in September, but Eclipse spent the rest of the year working to fix problems found with aircraft already assembled (DAILY, Nov. 21). The company now has a backlog of more than 2,500 aircraft and already has 37 aircraft on its production line. Seven of these aircraft have completed final assembly and are being prepared for delivery.
Airlines flying out of Brussels Airport are facing increased costs, effective April 1, as the facility raises fees on security and aeronautical charges.
Hawaiian Airlines plans to suspend nonstop daily flights between San Diego and Maui for more than two months because of delay in adding aircraft that are being retrofitted before joining its fleet.
Icelandic conglomerate FL Group sold its stake in Danish carrier Sterling Airlines to a newly formed travel company -- Northern Travel Holding -- with FL Group holding a 34% stake in the new entity. FL Group's shift of its ownership in Sterling follows its recent investment of more than US$400 million to take a 5.98% stake in American parent AMR Corp.
US Airways recently finalized a deal with Philadelphia to secure more gates at the airport's international terminal, allowing the carrier to launch service to Athens, Brussels and Zurich this summer. Executives in October said they were planning to add the three European cities but threatened to table the expansion because the airport was unable to find additional gates (DAILY, Oct. 27). At the time, CEO Doug Parker said the airport was having trouble getting out of some commitments to other airlines.
Ryanair said it would relaunch its takeover bid on Aer Lingus provided the European Commission clears the operation in a decision expected in May. The Irish low-cost carrier expressed "disappointment" at the EC's decision to launch an in-depth inquiry -- a so-called "Phase II" investigation -- into its current offer, which values Aer Lingus at EUR1.48 billion (US$1.94 billion).
German air traffic controllers are planning to strike within the next few days, action that could mean the cancellation of thousands of flights. German ATC provider DFS is obliged to provide 25% of its full capacity in case of industrial action.
Virgin America's board, top executives and scores of lawyers this week plan to work furiously to finalize a plan to convince the U.S. Transportation Dept. that the startup carrier is a U.S.-owned and controlled company.
Lufthansa plans to hire about 3,000 new employees in 2007 as part of its continuous expansion. The airline is focusing its growth on long-haul routes and recently placed orders for up to 40 Boeing 747-8s, 10 Airbus A340-600s, five A330s and 15 A380s. Last year, Lufthansa created 2,500 new jobs, mainly at its hubs in Munich and Frankfurt.
KLM has become one of the first airlines to offer self-service transfer kiosks (SSTKs) on European and intercontinental routes out of Amsterdam Schiphol, allowing travelers who missed a connecting flight to print a new boarding pass without having to go to a transfer desk.
Star Alliance partners United and Swiss plan to code share on United's flights between Chicago and Dallas/Fort Worth, beginning as soon as the U.S. Transportation Dept. grants the authority [OST-2005-22462]. JAL also won DOT approval to carry United's code for a mail-only code share on flights between the U.S. and Japan and beyond [OST-2006-26487].
A late flurry of orders will help push Boeing toward -- and maybe even past -- the annual aircraft order record set last year. Boeing is expected to announce its 2006 order total tomorrow. The last order update came Dec. 20, listing 904 net orders for the year -- about 100 orders short of the 2005 total. Boeing executives previously said they did not expect the 2006 total to match the success of 2005.
The restructuring of Swiss' regional division Swiss European continues to be a slow process after members of the Swiss pilots union rejected a collective bargaining agreement.
FAA has named D. Kirk Shaffer as its associate administrator for airports, filling the post left vacant by the retirement of agency veteran Woodie Woodward. Shaffer will start work Jan. 8. He is currently special counsel to the managing director of the Federal Communication Commission and before that was general counsel for the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority.
