Hong Kong-based Dragonair added three Airbus A300B4 freighter services to Shanghai for a total of 16 weekly. CEO Stanley Hui said the additional flights were necessary, as cargo traffic to and from Shanghai is growing at a rapid rate. Dragonair also operates 87 weekly passenger flights to Shanghai using a mix of A320s and A330-300s.
The Austrian Airlines Group yesterday significantly reduced its profit target for 2004, as overcapacity and high fuel costs continue to hurt Europe's airline industry. Austrian expects to report a EUR10 million (US$13 million) operating profit in the full year, down from EUR50 million forecast. Austrian said the load factor is three points below expectations in the last quarter. The airline therefore will cut capacity by 3% in the European network. Austrian will reduce off-peak services, while not dropping any of its destinations.
ANA and United next month plan to start issuing electronic tickets valid for travel on each other's networks, allowing passengers connecting from ANA international flights to United domestic or international flights to do so with the same e-ticket. Currently, ANA-issued e-tickets are valid only for international travel on ANA-operated flights. The bilateral e-ticketing link is part of a global Star Alliance project, which in the near future will allow customers to travel on the alliance network with a single e-ticket.
The enhanced model of the Boeing 737-900, the -900X, will go into commercial service by 2007. Boeing expects the aircraft to be certified in 2006, 737 Program spokeswoman Sandy Angers told The DAILY in Seattle. Boeing is already authorized to market the aircraft to customers. Boeing claims the aircraft, with 180 passengers, will be able to fly 2,825 nautical miles. The aircraft will likely use CFM56 powerplants.
Airbus parent EADS is expected to give the manufacturer the green light for the planned A350 before the end of the month, according to French press reports. The A350 is intended to compete directly with Boeing's 7E7, and it is based on the current A330-200. Airbus plans to invest $3.3 billion in the derivative aircraft. -JF
Southwest yesterday continued its aggressive expansion at Chicago Midway by unveiling the third wave of new flights in three weeks (DAILY Oct. 29 & Nov. 19); it also added new flights at Phoenix. The airline will add a third daily nonstop flight from Chicago to Hartford, Conn., and two more dailies between Chicago and Phoenix to bring the total on this route to eight. A third daily flight will be added from Phoenix to Seattle/Tacoma and from Phoenix to Portland, Ore., both beginning April 3. -AS
Emirates yesterday signed a US$115 million aircraft financing deal with the National Bank of Abu Dhabi (NBAD) and Gulf International Bank (GIB) for a new Airbus A340-500. This is the first aircraft to be funded by the two regional banks, which structured the financing as a Sterling-operating lease over a 12-year term. Emirates' latest A340-500 is scheduled to be delivered before the end of this month and will be the airline's seventh of this type. The airline will take a total of 10 A340-500s.
The $388.4 billion Fiscal Year 2005 omnibus appropriations bill that passed the House and Senate over the weekend extends war risk insurance one year and ensures the survival of the Essential Air Service program but doesn't give the airlines the $40 million they wanted to cover increased cargo screening requirements.
National Air Traffic Controllers Association says the $9.5 million granted by Congress for extra controller hiring in Fiscal Year 2005 will pay for about 200 new positions. NATCA wanted at least $14 million for extra hiring but says the $9.5 million is a good start.
The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) testing of its proposed passenger prescreening system -- Secure Flight -- will be limited to data from U.S. airlines as U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) officials try to sell the new program to the European Union and other countries.
As Avianca's restructuring moves forward, outstanding concerns about pilots and how they will react to the carrier's new equity owners -- with a strike or more legal proceedings -- are the talk of Colombia. Both Sinergy/OceanAir (SOA) owner German Efromovich and Avianca CEO Juan Emilio Posada acknowledge pilots could still appeal the New York bankruptcy court ruling that gave majority equity of the carrier to Efromovich (DAILY, Nov. 18) as part of Avianca's restructuring. But both men say it's unlikely.
Northwest wants new authority to start seasonal Saturday service between Indianapolis and Cancun Feb. 19-April 30. The airline asked the U.S. Transportation Dept. last week for a two-year exemption to provide the nonstop roundtrip service with Airbus A320 aircraft configured for 16 first-class and 132 coach-class seats [OST-2004-19690].
A China Yunnan Airlines Bombardier CRJ-200 crashed immediately after take off from Baotou in China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region on Sunday, killing all 47 passengers and six crew on board.
US Airways promoted veteran employee Allen Hemenway to fill the vacant position of VP-labor relations, a key position as the carrier is in the midst of negotiating concessions from several of its major unions.
Congress last Friday, by a vote of 269-120, passed The Commercial Space Launch Amendments of 2004, which will give FAA authority to regulate to some extent manned suborbital space flight. Democrats who opposed the bill on safety grounds argued the regulatory aspects of the bill needed more debate, but Republicans said over-regulating would strangle the fledgling industry "in the cradle" and send innovators overseas.
The European Union's new transport commissioner, Jacques Barrot, came under fire as he entered office yesterday because of a past conviction for illegal political party funding.
Completion rates and scheduled reliability for the 37 Embraer 170s in service have stayed above 97% during their last six months of service, with US Airways using the planes to replace both larger narrowbodies and turboprops. The carriers flying the new family of jets -- US Airways subsidiary MidAtlantic, Alitalia and LOT Polish Airlines had a 99.5% completion factor, Embraer said late last week at an analysts and investor meeting in Brazil. Scheduled reliability was 97.7%.
