The Asur Group opposes the local government's plan to build a second international terminal on the Mayan Riviera, saying the facility would increase competition for its operations at Cancun Airport. The Quintana Roo state government planned to form a corporation -- financed 51% by public funding and 49% by federal funds -- to obtain the concession to build and operate an airport on the Mayan Riviera.
Continental this week retired its last MD-80, the seventh aircraft type it has eliminated from its fleet during the past 10 years. The airline has cut the Airbus A300, DC-10, and the Boeing 747, 737-100/200, 727 and DC-9 from its fleet, leaving just three Boeing types, the 777, 767/757, and 737. Continental has 348 aircraft, 70% of which are 737s.
SIA Engineering Company Limited (SIAEC) and Cebu Pacific Air signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) creating a joint venture to provide line maintenance, light maintenance including A checks and technical ramp handling services at 13 airports in the Philippines. SIAEC will hold a 51% stake in the unnamed venture, Cebu a 49% share. SIAEC already has line maintenance joint ventures in Hong Kong and Indonesia.
American's systemwide traffic grew 6.1% to 11 billion revenue passenger miles in December, and capacity was up 4.9% to 14.7 billion available seat miles. Load factor increased 0.9 percentage points to 74.6%. International traffic was up 10.3% on 12.7% more capacity, and domestic traffic gained 4.1% with a 1.4% capacity increase. For the full year, systemwide traffic was up 8.3% to 130 billion RPMs, and capacity grew 5.5% to 173.8 billion ASMs. Systemwide load factor was up two points to 74.8%. -AS
SkyWest Airlines' initial plans to update the technology its clerks use in the parts room have blossomed into a full-scale effort to develop wireless access to technical manuals on the hangar floor. The payoff, the carrier hopes, will be productivity gains and bottom-line cost reductions.
Air Berlin plans to expand its fleet by seven aircraft in 2005, after a year of aggressive growth in 2004. The airline will take five more Boeing 737s and also take delivery of the first two of 60 Airbus A320s on order. The company said it is firmly established as Europe's third-largest low-fare airline with 45 aircraft and annual sales exceeding EUR1 billion. Revenues increased 18.9% last year and the airline said it also made a profit. As a privately held company, Air Berlin does not disclose results.
Boeing enjoyed a slight boost in 2004 deliveries, with customers accepting 285 planes, four more than the 281 the airframer delivered in 2003. The airframer's 737s continued to dominate deliveries in 2004 with 202, followed by 777 with 36. In the fourth quarter of 2004, Boeing 67 deliveries lagged behind the 71 planes delivered in the last three months of 2003. In July, Boeing said it plans to deliver 315-320 planes in 2005 instead of its original estimate of 300 aircraft. -LR
The Minneapolis Metropolitan Airport Commission is expected to decide this month whether to give the go-ahead for design work on a terminal expansion at Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. The airport wants to move about six airlines into the enlarged Humphrey Terminal from the Lindbergh Terminal.
Southwest's capacity increased faster than passenger traffic in December, and its load factor declined, although fourth-quarter and full-year traffic results were very healthy in all categories, the carrier said this week. The airline flew 4.3 billion revenue passenger miles in December, up 10.3%, while available seat miles increased 12.2% to 6.9 billion. Load factor was 62.9%, down slightly from 64% last year.
Southwest yesterday consummated its long flirtation with Pittsburgh by making it the airline's 61st market, and appears ready to start with about a dozen flights in May. CEO Gary Kelly would not divulge the Pittsburgh routes, with the schedule to be announced in 60-90 days after the airline has analyzed possible city-pairs. He hinted that Southwest will start with a "modest" number of 10-15 flights out of one or two gates.
On-time arrival rates for U.S. carriers dropped to 79.1% in November 2004, according to the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s most recent Air Travel Consumer Report, as flight delays rose slightly across the board. The November on-time rate was down from 81% in October 2004 as well as from 80.2% in November 2003, DOT said. Flights in November were most delayed by aviation system lags and late-arriving aircraft, which caused 7.55% and 5.8% of late flights, respectively.
Independence Air signed a deal with global distribution system (GDS) provider Amadeus, the fourth agreement the airline has inked with a GDS company since announcing its use of the more traditional booking systems last October. The carrier has also signed deals with Galileo, Sabre and Worldspan, and Sabre subsidiary Travelocity. -LR
Karl Wuthrich, the liquidator of bankrupt Swissair Group, confirmed he has filed criminal charges against persons unknown in Belgium in relation to the bankruptcy of Swissair's former affiliate, Sabena.
Delta executives yesterday acknowledged that the carrier's massive fare restructuring will hurt revenues in the short term at a time when there is no end in sight to financial losses, but the airline also said the change was overdue and is necessary to win back the loyalty of many passengers who defected to low-cost competitors.
Ryanair carried 2.2 million passengers in December 2004, up 9% from a year earlier. Load factor remained flat at 83%. The airline sold 97% of its tickets on line, up from 96% in December of 2003. Ryanair is the first of Europe's large airlines to report traffic results for December. -JF
Although Boeing waited until the yearend to announce plans by Vietnam Airlines to order four 7E7s, the carrier stated its intent to order the planes more than two months ago. The carrier said it planned to buy four aircraft for a 2010 delivery in October -- the same terms Boeing announced last week. Boeing said the deal wouldn't be finalized until the first quarter.
In a surprise move, China has expressed its readiness for talks with Taiwan for direct cross-strait flights to be operated for the Lunar New Year, which falls on Feb. 9. An estimated 300,000 Taiwanese businessmen and their families in China are expected to return to Taiwan for the traditional celebration.
Washington-based startup carrier SkyLink Airways is on track for a potential launch this spring as the U.S. Transportation Dept. yesterday issued a show cause order proposing to issue a foreign certificate to the carrier. DOT is giving interested parties the usual 14 days to file any objections to its tentative findings that SkyLink is fit to provide foreign air transportation. The carrier, which is also now working to clear FAA certification hurdles, plans to provide limited scheduled and/or charter transatlantic service using Boeing 767s.
Continental won a two-year exemption from the U.S. Transportation Dept. to start new service from Newark to Moscow Domodedovo in 2006. Continental originally asked to start the service May 5 but amended its application early last month, saying it needed to push its proposed start date to March 25, 2006, as it continues to work out its plans with Moscow Domodedovo Airport (DAILY, Dec. 9).
In the latest of a string of applications and approvals for new U.S.-Mexico service, Mexicana asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. for permission to start flights between Guadalajara and Charlotte, N.C. The carrier plans to start the service in July using Airbus A320 or Boeing 757 aircraft [OST-2004-]. Mexicana currently serves Charlotte from Mexico City and also operates flights to Las Vegas from Guadalajara.
