United parent UAL Corp. posted a deep $114 million net loss in October, including $14 million in one-time reorganization costs, causing the carrier to miss its loan covenants for the month.
Ryanair yesterday announced Shannon, Ireland, as its 12th base. The airline will base four Boeing 737-800s at Shannon Airport and expand the existing presence to 14 routes. Ryanair is adding London Luton, London Gatwick and Nottingham in the U.K. as well as Girona, Weeze (near Duesseldorf), Luebeck, Bergamo and Stockholm as new destinations.
Alaska Airlines unveiled plans to launch new nonstop daily service between Vancouver and San Diego, while also boosting existing service from Vancouver to Las Vegas and Palm Springs.
The Transportation Security Administration is resuming its open, competitive bidding process for the maintenance of airport screening equipment after a "pause" to consider awarding a no-bid contract to an Alaskan company that currently handles similar work for the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, a TSA spokeswoman said.
Air Berlin will not reach its original profit targets for the year 2004, as high fuel prices put margins under pressure. Nevertheless, the airline expects to post a net profit in 2004 and reverse a small 2003 loss. As a privately owned company, the airline does not disclose exact financial figures.
Northwest yesterday stopped selling tickets through Priceline.com and subsidiary Lowestfare.com, after the airline decided it wasn't worth the cost to sell the low-yield tickets through the online agencies.
The U.K. government wants the nation's semi-privatized air traffic control organization to cut airline fees dramatically over the next five years, but the ATC provider said the cuts are far too ambitious and will hurt its ability to handle flights more efficiently.
FAA named Dr. William Johnson as its new chief scientific and technical adviser to support the agency on human factors in aircraft maintenance systems. Johnson, a certified private pilot and A&P mechanic, will be based in FAA's Southern Regional Office in Atlanta. He was previously regional director for the Americas at Lufthansa Technik.
Lufthansa Systems yesterday named Klaus Bernhardt as CEO of Lufthansa Systems Americas, a subsidiary of Lufthansa Systems Group GmbH. Bernhardt has been interim CEO since Sept. 1 after working at Synavion, a joint venture between Lufthansa and Siemens.
U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge resigned yesterday, signaling a possible change in the department's lineup of top officials, as Asa Hutchinson, DHS undersecretary for border and transportation security, leads a list of Ridge's potential replacements. "After more than 22 consecutive years of public service, it is time to give personal and family matters a higher priority," Ridge said in his resignation letter yesterday to President Bush.
ATA unveiled a raft of new flights at its Indianapolis hub yesterday, following up on promises that it will strengthen its Indianapolis presence as it withdraws from other markets, such as Chicago. Beginning Jan. 11, ATA will introduce nonstop flights between Indianapolis and Evansville, Fort Wayne, South Bend, Dayton and Milwaukee. Extra nonstops will be added to Orlando and Las Vegas.
Air Bourbon, a private carrier based in France's overseas territory La Reunion, filed for bankruptcy with the commercial court of the island's capital, Saint-Denis, yesterday, three days after halting operations.
KLM and Gulf Air will start code sharing on routes beyond the Middle Eastern carrier's Abu Dhabi and Bahrain bases. KLM will put its code on Gulf Air services to Lahore, Karachim and Islamabad -- all in Pakistan -- and Muscat, Oman, from Dec. 6. Gulf Air has been seeking membership in one of the global airline alliances. KLM along with its sister company, Air France, is a member of SkyTeam.
US Airways during the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday reached crucial deal with GE Capital Aviation Services and GE Engine Services that will give the airline access to desperately needed cash in exchange for the return of 25 planes.
SN Brussels Airlines (SNBA) on Dec. 1 will start code sharing on Tarom's 10 weekly Boeing 737 services between Brussels and Bucharest. "This new partnership will enable us to approach the Romanian market proactively before the country's possible entry in the European Union in 2007," said Erik Follet, SNBA's executive VP-network. -MT
Airport operator BAA Lynton is selling two recently developed hotels at Heathrow and Stansted airports for GBP40.3 million. The Radisson SAS hotel at Stansted has been sold to Airport Hotels Partnership (AHP) for GBP24 million, a deal expected to be finalized by the fiscal fourth quarter ending March 30, 2005. Heathrow's Jurys Inn Hotel, which is considered the airport's only mid-market hotel, was sold for GBP16.3 million to Blair Group.
With the imminent debut of Avianca under new ownership and management (DAILY, Nov. 23) and startups like Estelar and Fenix preparing to fly before yearend, the competition for market share in Colombia is heating up, and it's the passengers who stand to gain the most. AeroRepublica, the country's No. 2 carrier, is beefing up its trunk routes and offering lower fares, industry analyst Adriana Camargo tells Bogota's El Tiempo.
Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.) last week asked the Dept. of Homeland Security Inspector General to look into complaints that airport security screeners were patting down female travelers "in a manner that is unnecessarily intimidating or embarrassing."
The Italian government removed legal hurdles for an administrator to be appointed for low-fare airline Volare. The cabinet scrapped a EUR1 billion debt limit, and Labor Minister Roberto Maroni is expected to appoint an administrator this week.
American and United filed a complaint with the U.S. Dept. of Transportation against Alitalia and the government of Italy for blocking the airlines from code sharing with third-country carriers between the U.S. and Milan Linate Airport. The U.S. airlines want DOT to revoke Alitalia's right to sell tickets from the U.S. to Milan Linate and to code share on the route as redress for "anticompetitive discrimination."
