Less than a week after increasing the fuel surcharge on long-haul flights, British Airways has unveiled a new short-haul fare structure designed to compete better with European low-cost carriers.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings -- the parent of Atlas and Polar -- this week reported it has filed its 10-K annual report, which brings the company back into "timely filer" status with the Securities and Exchange Commission. "Meeting this important corporate objective, ahead of the schedule we set for ourselves, should open many doors for us, including enabling us to pursue a listing of our common stock on a national securities exchange," said Atlas CEO Jeffrey Erickson. The company said it is "already at work on a listing application."
Aloha Airlines, Hawaiian Airline and Mesa's Go have announced plans to extend their $39 one-way fares from Honolulu to Lihue, Kahului, Hilo and Kona through April 30. The fares are good from June 9, the start date of Go, through Sept. 30.
Southwest management and pilots have formally agreed to start negotiations June 1 before their contract becomes amendable in September. Pilots agreed to schedule changes last year to boost productivity, and management notes that head count at the airline's corporate headquarters is frozen.
Austrian Airlines reported a 17.4% jump in March traffic despite intense competition on many routes. The traffic increase outpaced the 16.4% capacity growth during the month. The load factor on scheduled services crept up 0.6 percentage points, reaching 71.1%. The Austrian Airlines Group carried about 710,000 passengers on scheduled services, an increase of 15.5%. "Even in the transition period from winter to the summer timetable, the Austrian Airlines Group was able to achieve a disproportionately high traffic growth," said CEO Vagn Soerensen.
Southwest posted a modest gain in profits for the first quarter after logging special items and battling rising fuel costs despite having the strongest fuel hedges among U.S. carriers. Net income reached $61 million, compared with $59 million for the first three months of 2005. Excluding one-time gains and losses, Southwest's first-quarter net income reached $64 million, compared with an adjusted profit of $43 million a year ago.
Business travelers thought to have switched to low-cost operators might be coming back to the legacy airlines, a semi-annual travel survey by management consultant Accenture suggests.
Chautauqua's landing of new business from Continental won reasonably favorable Wall Street reviews for the carrier's parent, Republic Airways Holdings, with the caveats that Republic will need to invest money up front and that another airline partner might demand economics similar to Continental's deal. Republic's subsidiary Chautauqua nabbed business that Continental put up for grabs after detailing its plans last December to cut 69 Embraer regional jets from its capacity agreement with long-time partner ExpressJet.
The Latin American Air Transport Association yesterday unveiled plans to change its name from AITAL to ALTA as part of a new push to broaden its focus from policies and legal issues to efficient operations and cutting costs.
Qatar Airways filed an application with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation for a foreign air carrier permit that would let it operate scheduled and non-scheduled flights between the U.S. and Qatar, ahead of the launch of direct flights to the U.S. from Doha it plans to launch this year. The service will operate with Airbus A340-600 aircraft [OST-2006-245381].
Alaska Air yesterday posted a $79.1 million first-quarter loss, slightly less than the deficit in the year before, but excluding a one-time charge, the airline squeezed out a slim profit in one of its weakest quarters.
Pioneer test pilot Scott A. Crossfield, 84, died Wednesday when his Cessna 210A crashed during heavy thunderstorms near Ludville, Ga., in the mountains near the Chattahoochee National Forest. Flying alone, he was en route to Manassas, Va., when Atlanta Center lost radar and radio contact (DAILY, April 20). FAA wasn't able to confirm if Crossfield had declared an emergency or advised controllers of any problems. The aerospace legend and X-15 test pilot was the first man to fly twice and three times the speed of sound.
Customers flying out of Miami International Airport have given marks of improvement in the areas of parking, appearance and condition of facilities, federal inspection process and quickness security check points according to a new survey.
Famed test pilot Scott Crossfield's Cessna 210 aircraft disappeared off radar late yesterday in Georgia, and as The DAILY went to press, National Transportation Safety Board officials were trying to determine the fate of the plane and its passengers.
Boeing later this year will become the first of several companies to establish maintenance, repair and overhaul joint ventures with Chinese partners where the foreign company will hold the controlling stake. Boeing will hold the majority 50% stake in its Shanghai-based MRO joint venture with Shanghai Airlines and the Shanghai Airport Authority. The airline will hold a 40% stake, while the airport authority will hold the remaining 10%.
All 18 members of the Star Alliance completed IATA's intensive safety audit (IOSA), with United Airlines being the 11th US carrier to register with IOSA. IATA members are required to complete IOSA audits by 2007.
Slovakia's Social Democrat opposition party, which leads the polls ahead of the June 17 general elections, announced it will attempt to renationalize the country's airports.
Business aviation, portraying itself as the little guy in the coming battle over air traffic control user fees, actually includes "some of the biggest, most profitable companies in the world" and is trying to preserve a "free ride," Air Transport Association CEO Jim May said this week.
Air Arabia plans to start two weekly flights from Sharjah to Istanbul May 28 on Thursday and Sunday. The city is the airline's first destination in Europe. Also in May, Air Arabia also will launch flights to Kabul and the Indian destinations of Jaipur and Kochi. The company started low-fare flights in October 2003 and flies to 29 cities with Airbus A320s.
FAA proposes that checks for possible aircraft fatigue should be included in certain maintenance tasks, if necessary, to stave off damage from fatigue before an aircraft reaches a set operational limit. The agency's latest proposed rulemaking centering on widespread fatigue damage (WFD) is part of an aging aircraft program developed by FAA and industry. Other related rulemaking includes fuel tank safety, corrosion prevention and control and an aging aircraft safety rule.
