Continental Airlines will begin daily nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Queretaro June 9 and will launch four weekly nonstop flights between Los Angeles and Durango June 9, increasing to daily July 2. Continental Express will operate both routes with ERJ-145s.
America West Airlines and Royal Jordanian expanded their codeshare agreement for the summer season. The new accord includes twice-weekly nonstop service between Amman and Detroit, which will operate from May 23 to Sept. 28; five weekly flights from Amman to New York JFK, which will operate from June 1 to Oct. 26, and four weekly flights between Amman and Chicago O'Hare, which will begin May 24 and run through Sept. 27. All flights will be operated by Royal Jordanian.
PACE Aerospace Engineering and Information Technology announced that Air France Industries purchased its standard cabin configuration solution, Pacelab Cabin, which will support the AF division in "streamlining its cabin interior design process for commercial aircraft and in improving its customization services."
Phoenix Sky Harbor received an explosives detection trace portal to screen passengers at its new Terminal 4A security checkpoint, the US Transportation Security Administration announced. The equipment is part of a pilot program to test and evaluate the trace portal. Several other US airports are participating in the program.
South African Airways subleased three A340-300s to Jet Airways for the Indian carrier's new service to London. The two-year agreement includes a strategic alliance with SAA using Jet services within India, and has the potential for a reciprocal frequent-flier accord and an extensive codeshare.
Alaska Air Group flew 1.46 billion RPMs in March, up 10% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 1.9% to 1.88 billion ASMs and load factor gained 5.8 points to 77.9%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs increased 8.9% to 3.9 billion, ASMs rose 3.7% to 5.37 billion and load factor jumped 3.5 points to 72.6%.
WestJet took delivery of its first 737-800 last week. The airline will acquire five 737-800s, seven 737-700s and three 737-600s during 2005. It has exercised options for an additional three 737-600s for delivery in 2006.
Continental Airlines announced that Senior VP-Flight Operations Debbie McCoy will retire. The company said her position will not be filled and her team will now report to Executive VP Operations Mark Moran.
China Eastern Airlines reported a net profit of 514.1 million yuan ($62.1 million) in 2004, a complete reversal from a net loss of 949.8 million yuan in 2003. According to the Associated Press, revenue during the year rose 47.3% to 21.04 billion yuan.
Assembly of the first A380 freighter began yesterday with the first "metal cut" of the center wing box--which actually is constructed principally from composite materials--at Airbus's site in Nantes, France.
ACE Aviation Holdings , in conjunction with its previously announced debt and equity offering ( ATWOnline , April 8), said underwriters elected to exercise in full their overallotment options to purchase an additional 1.135 million Class A shares at C$37 per share ($29.83) and C$30 million of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2035. This resulted in additional gross proceeds of C$72 million, bringing the total to C$792 million.
Styrian Spirit , a Regional carrier based in Austria, expects its shareholders to approve an increase in share capital of €840,000-€1.2 million ($1.1-$1.6 million) at an April 28 meeting. The airline will take delivery of a new CRJ700 by this summer, simultaneously withdrawing a CRJ200. "With the delivery of a second CRJ700 next year, our fleet will grow to a total of five aircraft," CEO Otmar Lenz told ATWOnline . The carrier, which also operates under the name Slovenian Spirit, plans to start services from Maribor in Slovenia to Dubrovnik.
Air China reported net income of 2.39 billion yuan ($288.8 million) in 2004, up significantly over 160 million yuan earned in the prior year, as operating income almost doubled from 2.28 billion yuan in 2003 to 4.49 billion yuan. Chairman Li Jiaxiang said 2004 was a year in which "we achieved several milestones as we restructured the company, streamlined our organizational structure and successfully listed our shares in Hong Kong and London."
The 777-300ER is too heavy for the runways at Paris Orly, La Tribune reported, adding that this could pose problems for Air France, which intends to operate the aircraft from the airport beginning next summer on its popular leisure routes to the Caribbean and Indian Ocean as it retires its 747-200 fleet.
L-3 Communications Security & Detection Systems received an order from the US Transportation Security Administration for eXaminer 3DX explosives detection systems. The deal is valued at $33 million.
FL Group, formerly Flugleidir Icelandair, has converted purchase rights from a January order into a new firm order for five 737-800s ( ATWOnline , Jan. 27), Boeing announced yesterday. The five aircraft, valued at $325 million at list prices, will be delivered in 2007. The company will take delivery of the 10 737-800s from the original order next year. It plans to lease all of the aircraft to other carriers.
Shareholders of Virgin Express and SN Brussels Airlines successfully concluded merger negotiations and yesterday confirmed the terms of the deal that sees the two Brussels-based carriers come under common ownership while maintaining operational independence. Virgin Express will continue to target the low-cost market with SN Brussels remaining a full-service airline. Further plans and expected synergies have not been revealed, but under terms of the deal the Virgin brand has to be eliminated by 2007.
Air One Feeder Airline , a startup based in Bangalore, will be the first carrier in India to operate the 50-seat ERJ-145. It will lease two from Swiss International Air Lines and they will enter service in the second half of 2005.
Kale Consultants of India said Delta Air Lines successfully implemented APEX, which is used to prorate Special Prorate Agreement-based revenue transactions as they flow through Delta's Revenue Pipeline System.
Swiss International Air Lines flew 1.72 billion RPKs in March, down 4.8% from the year-ago period. Capacity decreased 8.9% to 2.2 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.3 points to 78.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPKs declined 7.7% to 4.7 billion, ASKs dropped 10.9% to 6.34 billion and load factor gained 2.6 points to 74.2%.
Riga-based airBaltic said its revenues rose 54% in 2004 to €74.4 million ($96.1 million) but extraordinary costs associated with the investment in its new hub in Vilnius, fleet restructuring and the significant increase in fuel prices caused it to report an annual loss of €1.2 million. The carrier, which is owned jointly by Latvia and SAS, carried 589,288 passengers, up 75% over 2003, as it launched nine new routes from Riga and opened 11 routes from Vilnius.
