Investors from the U.S., Switzerland and Germany have pooled investments to start a new charter airline, which will be based in Zurich. To be known as Air Switzerland, the carrier plans to start operations in the third quarter with two Airbus A340-300s acquired from Boeing and previously owned by Singapore Airlines. The aircraft are currently at Lufthansa Technik's base in Hamburg for painting of the Air Switzerland's livery. The airline plans gradually to increase its fleet to at least eight aircraft.
Austrian Airlines has resumed its services to Canada. As of May 1, Austrian started three weekly flights each to Toronto and Montreal. The airline operates Airbus A340-200s and A330-200s on the routes.
Hawaiian Airlines last week unveiled a plan to form a Delaware-based holding company to be named "Hawaiian Holdings, Inc." Hawaiian Airlines will continue to be operated as a Hawaii corporation, however, and will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Hawaiian Holdings. The carrier said its current business, operations and management will remain unchanged. Subject to shareholder approval next month, Hawaiian Holdings will become a Delaware corporation and will be publicly traded.
Unisys Corp. Friday signed a deal with three major North American carriers to launch a new Internet portal that will offer cargo services to freight forwarders. The cargo units of United, Northwest and Air Canada "combined their resources" with Unisys to provide forwarders with new options to manage a shipment through its lifecycle, the company said. The full, multi-carrier service called Cargo Portal Services will launch by yearend.
Two U.S. congressmen last week warned the Justice Department that its investigation of Orbitz has dragged on too long and must come to a conclusion in the near future. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.) sent separate letters to DOJ, urging the agency to make a decision on whether it needs to proceed with the Orbitz case.
Despite recent fuel price hikes, Salomon Smith Barney says U.S. carriers will pay 7% less per gallon in 2002 versus 2001. "Southwest and Delta at this point appear to be the most hedged airlines for 2002," while Northwest, United and Alaska are the least, it said. U.S. carriers paid 25% less for jet fuel in the first quarter year over year.
Aerolineas Argentinas plans to start construction of its own $10 million maintenance center specializing in Boeing 747-D aircraft, now being maintained in Spain or Brazil. The new facility, to be started in about two months, will create some 200 jobs and be available for outsourcing by other airlines. Separately, AR said that, in order to skirt the May 5 bank holiday decreed by Argentina as bitter medicine for its worst economic crisis in history, the revamped carrier paid its 7,000 employees a week early, on April 29.
British Airways traffic fell 10.8% in April 2002, compared with the same month of the previous year. At the same time, BA cut its capacity by 11.7%, resulting in a passenger load factor of 69.4%, up 0.7 percentage points from April 2001. "Traffic volumes reflect the occurrence of Easter mainly in March this year, rather than April as in 2001," BA said. "Underlying traffic levels continue to be stable, as in previous months," the airline added. -MT
30 years ago May 9, 1972 -- Aviation faces "more liberal interpretations" of product liability law, said insurance firm Marsh & McLennan, and juries favor plaintiffs over large corporations even when manufacturer negligence is not proven. 20 years ago May 6, 1982 -- Israel's decision to ban El Al's Sabbath operations -- fulfilling a pledge by Prime Minister Menachem Begin -- is expected to cost the airline $30-40 million annually. Five years ago
New York jet fuel spot prices ended last week at $0.70 per gallon, up 3.3% from the beginning of the week and down 13.6% from a year ago, according to Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown.
Malev managed to cut its losses by some 30% in the first quarter to HUF4.2 billion (US$16 million), CEO Jozsef Varadi said Friday in an interview with Hungarian daily Nepszabadsag. The loss is HUF600 million below plan, Varadi said. Malev is targeting a HUF2.3 billion ($8.7 million) in 2002 and said it could possibly break even in 2003. Varadi said the reduced loss in the first quarter was essentially due to a 12% passenger traffic increase on the European market. He acknowledged, however, that long-haul operations were still losing money.
Aircraft overhauler Pemco's first-quarter revenues grew 11% compared with 2001, despite a revenue dip of 17.4% caused mostly by a reduction in the number of overhauled aircraft delivered. Pemco's net profit was $2 million on revenues of $36 million, compared with a $1.8 million profit on $43.6 million in earnings for the same period last year. The company's board announced a two-year contract extension for CEO Ron Aramini. His new deal expires in 2005.
LanChile last week reported a $4 million net loss, excluding one-time gains during the period. The carrier recorded a $15.3 million after-tax profit from Japanese Operating Lease transactions and a $5.7 million gain from asset sales. Including the extraordinary events, the company posted a $17.1 million net profit, down 25.6% from the year before.
Manufacturers will produce 6,895 "large" jets in the next 10 years, reaching an annual high of 771 deliveries in 2010, Conn.-based Forecast International projects in a just-released study. The study excludes Airbus A318s and Boeing 717s, which Forecast categorizes as regional jets
Continental over the weekend relocated its Boston Logan operations to Terminal C due to the planned demolition of Terminal A. In Terminal C, Continental will use Gates 25, 27, 30 and 33. Joining the carrier in Terminal C are Continental Express (ExpressJet) and Continental Connection (CommutAir). Continental provides 26 daily departures from Logan. The carrier is building a Presidents Club lounge in Terminal C.
Denver International Airport (DIA) plans to add new capacity over the next two years by building 10 new jet gates and six commuter gates on the west end of Concourse A. DIA's "strong rebound" in 2002 and the addition of six new airlines since March 2001 are key factors behind the airport's expansion decision. Frontier Airlines, the major airline tenant on the concourse, and the Mesa-operated Frontier Jet Express, are expected to occupy most of the new gates. Officials also announced that 48 ticket counter positions would be added in Terminal East.
Midwest Express will begin its seasonal nonstops from Milwaukee to Fort Lauderdale, Fort Myers and Tampa on Nov. 1, about 45 days earlier than in past years. It will serve Fort Lauderdale daily rather than weekend-only, with daily Tampa flights, and will serve Fort Myers on weekends only through Dec. 17, beginning daily flights on Dec. 18. Milwaukee-Orlando service increases from twice to three times daily on Nov. 1.
Prior to this week's meeting of the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations in Norway, pilot groups are concerned about anti-union actions by airlines. Oneworld pilots said LanChile, Cathay Pacific and Iberia have conducted "a well-orchestrated attempt at union-busting," while Star alliance pilots are concerned about Varig's anti-union moves.
Erik Lindbergh, two generations and nearly 75 years later, replicated his grandfather's historic 1927 nonstop solo Atlantic crossing, landing in Paris last Thursday in half the time it took Charles Lindbergh to make the journey. Lindbergh's single-engine, composite Lancair Columbia 300 landed at Le Bourget Airport outside Paris shortly before 11:30 a.m., 17 hours after taking off from Republic Airport in Farmingdale, N.Y. at 12:15 p.m. EDT Wednesday. His grandfather's flight time was 33 hours (DAILY, Feb. 7).
United, an Arthur Andersen client since 1935, yesterday became the latest airline to drop the firm as its independent accountant. United's board has appointed Deloitte&Touche for 2002, effective June 1.
Vanguard, five months after it first applied for a government loan guarantee, yesterday revised its bid, requesting a $13.5 million guarantee of a $15 million loan. The carrier reduced its request "commensurate with what we believe are the current needs of the airline and our prospects for obtaining further investment from private sources," according to CEO Scott Dickson.
