Hawaiian Airlines and the union representing its mechanics reached a tentative deal to extend their contract by three years once the airline exits bankruptcy. The 376 members of the International Association of Machinists comprise aircraft inspectors, mechanics, line servicemen and cleaners. "This is another important step for Hawaiian," said Trustee Joshua Gotbaum. "We cannot exit bankruptcy without new labor agreements, and now three have been negotiated, covering more than 60% of our organized employees."
Frontier's traffic was up in December, but load factor, yield and passenger revenue were all down, which the airline said will hurt its quarterly financial results. Airline CEO Jeff Potter said that like most of the industry, Frontier's performance was "less than anticipated" in December, which will "adversely affect our third [fiscal] quarter" report.
GStar, the only airline exclusively geared to operate charter flights in Chile, is slated to take off Jan. 15 with initial operations from Santiago to Florianopolis, Brazil, followed by Puerto Iguazzu and Bariloche in Argentina. With initial working capital of $5 million and first-year sales estimated at $25 million, GStar will use two 170-passenger Boeing 727-300s.
JetBlue on Friday unveiled plans to add two new transcontinental routes from Boston and boost frequencies to several other West Coast cities to take advantage of the seasonal spring increase in transcon traffic.
Brazil's Gol Airlines on Jan. 8 will launch two additional weekly flights to Buenos Aires from Santa Catarina and Rio Grade do Sul, in southern Brazil, to cater to high-season vacation travel. Flights will be operated on Monday and Saturday with Boeing 737-700s.
The JAL Group during the winter peak vacation season of the past two weeks posted an increase in international traffic, but domestic travel fell from last year.
Dallas/Fort Worth Airport "has not written off" persuading Southwest to move into gates left open by Delta's withdrawal, Chief Operating Office Kevin Cox tells The DAILY. Southwest is one of the airlines DFW is targeting with a new incentive offer (DAILY, Jan. 7), and the airport "would be an excellent match" for Southwest.
The Aer Lingus executives who announced their resignations last year after the government rejected their proposed buyout of the airline (DAILY, Nov. 11, 2004) plan to launch a no-frills carrier of their own in Ireland, Irish media reported last Friday. Olivia Mitchell, a member of Ireland's Dail and spokeswoman on transport issues for Fine Gael, the opposition party, warned that the creation of a rival would be bad news for Aer Lingus, and she urged the government to come forward with plans for the future of the Irish flag carrier.
U.S. major airlines are expected to report a $2.3 billion net loss for 2004 when results are unveiled this month, predicts Merrill Lynch. "Although passenger volumes are back to 2000 levels, revenues are not," says analyst Michael Linenberg. Yield is expected to drop 2.1% to 12.55 cents, which is close to low points of the fourth quarters of 2001 and 2002. "Domestic yields are pretty dismal."
United was hit with a setback in bankruptcy court Friday, when Judge Eugene Wedoff rejected a pilot concession deal reached last month and ratified on Thursday, but there is a possibility that the two sides could move quickly to tweak the deal, rather than start from scratch.
Airbus on Friday declined comment on a report about a significant production increase in 2005, 2006 and 2007. The wire report quoted an unidentified official saying the manufacturer planned to increase production by 15% to 370 aircraft in 2005. Next year, deliveries are expected to rise to 440 units and to further increase to 465 in 2007. The production boost would be stronger than the one planned at Boeing, which hopes for 320 deliveries in 2005, up 12%.
Alaska Air hopes to recover $4 million-$6 million in overpayments made to the Mexican government in 2004 for airspace use. Following two years of legal proceedings starting in 2002 that took the case all the way to the Mexican Supreme Court, Alaska was awarded $9 million plus $3 million interest for fees paid in 2002 and 2003. The payments were reported as a reduction in operating expenses in the third quarter.
Lithuania will launch a new tender for the privatization of its flag carrier Lithuanian Airlines (LAL) next month, says the country's Privatization Commission.
A series of closed-door meetings aimed at reaching an accord on increased user fees at Chile's Arturo Merino Benitez Airport (AMB) in Santiago began just before the New Year, and even though the increase was set to take effect Jan. 1, a solution remains outstanding.
WestJet's traffic grew 34.5% in March, outpacing the 32.4% increase in capacity. Load factor grew 1.1 points to 74.7%. For the year, the carrier's traffic increased 29%, nearly in line with the 30% capacity increase. Load factor for the year was 70%, down 0.6 points from 2003.
Member carriers of the Regional Airline Association posted a 28% jump in revenue passenger miles in July-September 2004, logging 15 billion RPMs, compared with nearly 12 billion in the same 2003 period. Average passenger trip length increased to 417 miles from 388, and load factor reached 70%, 2.6 percentage points higher than 2003's 67.5%. American Eagle, SkyWest, ExpressJet and Comair captured the top four spots in passenger enplanements. -LR
The Transportation Security Administration named Tim Burke federal security director at Savannah/Hilton Head Airport. A 21-year veteran of the aviation industry, Burke has worked at TSA since October 2003 and previously was the area director for Southeast area aviation operations, as well as the acting FSD at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport.
Stronger-than-expected growth in British Airways' premium traffic last December has led one airline analyst to lift his profit and turnover estimates for the carrier.
Southwest's entry into the Pittsburgh market will be a profitable step for the airline and should add nearly $170 million in annual revenue within three years, a leading airline analyst predicts.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Ron Brown at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing in PDF format.) JAN. 13-14 -- Airports Council International-North America, Insurance/Risk Management Seminar, The Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, New Orleans, 202-293-8500, e-mail [email protected], www.aci-na.aero JAN. 18 -- International Aviation Club Luncheon, Journalist Roundtable - Industry Outlook 2005, Marriott Metro Center, Washington, e-mail [email protected], www.iacwashington.org
