Cargo carried at Hong Kong International Airport grew 10% in February to 225,000 tons, while 3.27 million passengers traveled through the airport, a 5.5% rise from a year go. In the rolling 12-month period, cargo grew 10% to 3.4 million tons and passenger numbers grew 9.5% to 41.39 million.
Passenger traffic at European airports grew 5% in January, with the smallest commercial airports once again showing the highest growth rates. Group Four airports -- those with fewer than five million passengers a year -- saw passenger traffic grow by an average of 9.9%, compared with last year, and by 27.4%, compared with January 2004, said Airports Council International-Europe. Of this group, Bournemouth was up 94.1%, Liege 64.4% and Riga 58.5%.
Aeroflot will join the SkyTeam alliance on April 14, reports Deputy CEO Lev Koshlyakov. Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta will welcome the airline to the group at a Moscow ceremony, Koshlyakov says. Aeroflot has been close to joining SkyTeam for months despite last-minute efforts by rivals, such as Star Alliance, to win the carrier over.
Northwest yesterday reported that the first day of sales of its "Coach Choice" test program to charge passengers for a reserved aisle or exit-row seat was running "ahead of expectations."
EasyJet launched online check-in at Nottingham East Midlands Airport after a trial period early last month. The airline allows passengers to print boarding passes at the time of booking, bypassing airport check-in. Those customers also are allowed to arrive at the gate 15 minutes before departure. About 90% of easyJet's passengers should be eligible to check in online by April, the airline said. The airline already offers passengers flying from London Stansted, Gatwick and Edinburgh the online check-in option. -LR
Akron-Canton Airport reports an 8% increase in passenger numbers in February, citing low-fare carriers Frontier and AirTran as the biggest drivers of the rise. There were 107,000 passengers at the airport in February and nearly 210,000 in the first two months of the year. "We are absolutely tickled about our February numbers," said Airport Director Fred Krum. He noted that passengers in the region are showing a "strong preference" for AirTran and Frontier. AirTran traffic was up 13% at Akron, Krum said.
ANA and Swiss International Air Lines plans to launch a strategic alliance, effective April 1, the first step of which will be a linking of the airlines' frequent flyer programs.
Bombardier is pressing ahead with building a business case for stretching its two largest commercial planes -- the CRJ-900 and the Q400 turboprop -- and keeping a close watch on maintaining what it says is the operating cost advantage over rival Embraer's 170 and 190 airplanes. The Canadian airframer publicized its focus on stretching the planes after deciding to shelve the launch of its 100-plus-seat, clean-sheet C-Series aircraft.
US Airways plans to recall about 400 flight attendants, who will be in place to operate the airline's summer schedule. The recall notices begin in April and will be issued on a seniority basis among furloughed US Airways flight attendants. The announcement follows the recent recall of 55 furloughed US Airways pilots (DAILY, Feb. 14) and the airline's decision earlier this year to begin hiring 200 reservations agents. -SL
In the latest development in the institutional crisis at Bolivia's Lloyd Aereo Boliviano(DAILY, March 13), La Razon in La Paz reported Sunday that the carrier's beleaguered President Ernesto Asbun was unable to travel from Cochabamba to Miami because pilots and other workers blocked his access to the airport.
Thales reported a EUR334 million ($398.5 million) net profit for 2005, helped by higher revenues in the aerospace and air systems segments. The annual profit was slightly higher than 2004's total of EUR324 million. Overall revenue was essentially flat at EUR2.3 billion, with U.S. revenue contributing about 11% of the total. The Aerospace division saw revenue increase 9%, benefiting from "a highly favorable environment in avionics." Air Systems revenue grew 7%, helped by air traffic management order increases.
Baltia Air Lines, the New York carrier eyeing service from Kennedy Airport to St. Petersburg and other Baltic destinations, declared late last week it would start flights this year from a homebase at the airport's Terminal Four.
US Airways recently launched an internal fleet study to determine a strategy to replace its fleet of Boeing 737s that could lead to an order in the next few years.
Venezuela's Santa Barbara and Peru's Star Peru retained Iberia for its "Resiber" system, a tool that includes computerized and Internet reservations, handling, control and billing of passenger and baggage inventories and other services, the Spanish carrier told local press. Other carriers sending this work to Iberia include Air Madrid, Lagun Air, Air Plus Comet and Bravo Airlines. -LZ
SAS and Icelandair on April 24 will terminate their seven-year code share on flights to and from the U.S. Icelandair carried SAS' code on its Orlando-Reykjavik, Boston- Reykjavik, Minneapolis/St. Paul-Reykjavik and Baltimore/Washington- Reykjavik flights [OST-1999-6317].
Star Alliance partners United and Swiss regional carrier Swiss European won approval to code share on the regional airline's flights beyond Zurich and flights from Zurich to Chicago and Los Angeles flights [OST-2005-22464]. The U.S. Transportation Dept. deferred action on the application last December because United had yet to audit the regional airline's operations per the FAA/DOT Safety Program Guidelines (DAILY, Dec. 16, 2005).
