Hooters Air last week became the second airline in a week to announce plans to end service to Rockford, Ill., partly due to United's plans to start service to the city.
U.S. leisure fares were unchan- ged at $104 for the week of Dec. 5, compared with the week before, and business fares were also flat at $443. United's leisure fares from Chicago To New York jumped 34% to $79 each way, but Northwest's fare from Chicago to Minneapolis sank 29% to $49 each way.
SAS is considering eliminating its service to Bangkok and Shanghai, reports Deputy CEO Gunnar Reitan. He told reporters in Montreal at a Star Alliance event that the airline may cut the service as part of its strategy to trim unprofitable routes. Reitan said a decision will be made in the next few months. "We have a lot more work to do" in terms of cutting costs, he said.
Northwest proposes that partner Mesaba fly 49 Saabs, a 55% drop from its original fleet projections for March. Before the two carriers filed for Chapter 11, the regional carrier's projected fleet for March 2006 was 110 planes -- 15 CRJ-200s, 35 Avros and 60 Saabs.
BMI British Midland last week unveiled plans to launch three weekly flights from London Heathrow to Jeddah and boost its Mumbai service to daily flights. The introduction of Jeddah flights on April 23 follows the launch in September of a three-times-weekly service to Riyadh. The flight from London to Jeddah will operate on Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday, and return services will leave Jeddah on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Mumbai flights will increase to a daily frequency "after a positive startî since their introduction in May.
Two non-hub airports in California are working quickly to build inspection facilities and eliminate the obstacle that is preventing the U.S. Dept. of Transportation from approving Aeromexico and Mexicana's proposed service to the areas.
Teal Group predicts that nearly 37,000 military and civilian aircraft -- worth just over $1 trillion -- will be built globally by 2014. The civil sector makes up about $700 billion of this market, and commercial transport aircraft will comprise $570.6 billion of the civil sector. The total forecast represents a 23% increase from the past 10 years, which saw 30,575 aircraft deliveries valued at $820.5 billion.
Alaska Airlines should log about $100 million in revenue from freight and mail this year, says Managing Director-Cargo Matt Yerbic. The carrier is converting about seven Boeing 737-400s to all-cargo and combination passengers and cargo, which should create "about 30% more cargo capacity than we have today," Yerbic notes.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ron Brown at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) DEC. 12-22 -- George Washington University's Fall 2005 Aviation Institute's Aviation Safety & Security Certificate Program, Virginia Campus, www.gwu.edu/~aviation DEC. 13 -- European Aviation Club, Brussels, featuring Daniel Calleja-Crespo, European Commission, director air transport, Hotel Stephanie, Brussels, + 32 2 373 09 13, email [email protected]
Taipei-based China Airlines' wants to take a 25% stake in Hainan Airlines' wholly owned cargo subsidiary Yangtze River Express Airlines. China Airlines would pay US$40 million for the stake, in a transaction that already has the approval of Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs' Investment Commission. The carrier also submitted an application to acquire the stake to the General Administration Civil Aviation of China. Approval from China's civil aviation regulators is mandatory before a foreign company is allowed to invest in a Chinese airline.
CFO Gilberto Duarte moved to a full-time position as president of subsidiary World Risk Solutions. World Air Holdings VP and controller Ginger Clark will serve as interim CFO.
American and Vietnam Airlines' won approval from the U.S. Dept. of Transportation for their amended code-share agreement (DAILY, Nov. 22). Starting Feb. 1, the VN code will be placed on American's transpacific, transatlantic and U.S. domestic flights. American's code would be placed on Vietnam's flights between Tokyo, Osaka, Paris and Frankfurt to Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City at a later date [OST-2005-23102]. -ARS
Ryanair plans to start service to five new cities from London Stansted between Feb. 17 and March 31. The routes are Balaton, Hungary; Lamezia and Parma, Italy, and Victoria, Spain. The airline will offer daily service to Victoria, four weekly flights to Parma and three weekly flights to Lamezia and Balaton. Three weekly flights from London Luton to the French destination of Brest also start in that same timeframe. Ryanair plans to start flights from Glasgow Prestwick to Barcelona Reus and Marseille on Feb. 23-24 with service three times per week. -LR
Varig as part of its financial restructuring has teamed with Webb Consultants to create and implement a three-year program that will help the airline save $92 million a year on company purchases and services, except aircraft repair parts. Webb will also assess the program's monthly results. The carrier offers promotional fares discounted as much as 30% for the holidays to compete with low-cost carrier GOL's regular fares and TAM's discounted holiday fares, efforts Varig hopes will help improve cash flow.
Estonian Air is adding flights from Tallinn to Copenhagen, Oslo and Stockholm after FlyNordic's decided to cut capacity to Stockholm and eliminate flights to Copenhagen Jan. 6.
The Congressional Budget Office says that a bill to lift the age 60 restriction for pilots would have no significant financial affect on the federal government, based on information provided by FAA. CBO said the bill, S.65, "would not affect direct spending or revenues." The Senate's proposal to lift the age cap faces opposition from the largest pilot union, but pilots at Southwest support it.
A group of Mexican investors, in association with Brazil's GOL Airlines, are implementing plans to launch a new domestic low-cost carrier in Mexico next year, reports Mexican entrepreneur Fernando Chico Pardo.
The French parliament last week approved a tax on airline tickets to finance development aid despite opposing arguments that the move will jeopardize the competitiveness of the French transport industry. The tax, which French President Jacques Chirac is trying to push through internationally, will apply to passengers boarding in France from July 1 on and will range from EUR1 (US$1.18) on economy fares inside the European Union to EUR40 (US$47.30) on intercontinental business or first-class services. Transit passengers will not be affected.
Virgin America appears to be casting a wide net as it works to solidify its network, eyeing strongholds of legacy carriers and LCCs. In paperwork filed with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation last week, the company didn't list cities it intends to serve but did include a list of airports which received its filing that "Virgin America would potentially be interested in serving."
