Turkish Airlines defended the maintenance record of the 737-800 that crashed on approach to Amsterdam Schiphol on Feb. 25, while Dutch investigators focused on whether the aircraft's sudden drop into a field suggested possible engine trouble. THY said in a statement that the aircraft underwent a C check on Oct. 22, an A check on Feb. 19 and was taken out of service briefly on Feb. 23 when "the pilot reported a malfunction of the Master Caution Light. . .and the part was replaced."
Iberia will operate twice-weekly seasonal Madrid-Zagreb service from July 4 to Sept. 20 and thrice-weekly MAD-Dubrovnik flights from June 16 to Sept. 29 aboard A320s. Finnair will operate five-times-weekly seasonal Helsinki-Bergen service beginning May 22. Ryanair will launch daily London Gatwick-Marseille service March 30. Virgin Blue will launch daily service from Townsville to Canberra, Gold Coast, Rockhampton and Cairns, as well as a Canberra-Hobart flight, on April 6 aboard E-170s/-190s.
A Turkish Airlines 737-800 carrying 127 passengers and seven crew en route from Istanbul Ataturk to Amsterdam Schiphol crashed into a field while on final approach a few hundred m. short of the runway threshold yesterday, killing at least nine people including the cockpit crew and a third pilot who may have been in training.
Wizz Air opened its Timisoara base, its 10th overall, from which it is serving Rome Fiumicino, London Luton, Dortmund, Bergamo, Barcelona, Paris Beauvais, Valencia and Treviso. It also announced plans to base a second A320 in Prague from July, increasing frequencies on four current routes and launching flights to Naples, Madrid and Malmo. Air Arabia will launch thrice-weekly Sharjah-Athens service on April 21 aboard an A320. It is the LCC's first route to the EU.
Bmi said it will stop operating its four daily services between London Heathrow and Leeds Bradford and thrice-daily LHR-Durham Tees Valley flights on March 28, citing a combination of falling demand, increased costs imposed by BAA and the UK government's decision to increase the Air Passenger Duty. "The fact is that due in the main to BAA's inflation-busting increases and changes to its pricing structures have placed a considerable disadvantage on short-haul flights," bmi MD Peter Spencer said. Ryanair also has cited the APD as the reason for recent cutbacks in its UK service.
Austrian LCC Niki was able to increase January passenger volume at its Vienna hub by 42.7% year-over-year, taking advantage of weakened Austrian Airlines Group. Against the current downturn, President Niki Lauda said Niki is targeting expansion. "We are not spending our time complaining about the crisis. . .People and companies are cutting expenses. With our low-cost tickets we are offering them just what they want, which enables us to keep growing," he said, adding that Niki is the only important airline at VIE planning a significant capacity increase.
CAAC plans to reduce every flight time by 3 min. and will control capacity increases for Chinese carriers in an effort to lift them out of their current financial difficulties. According to Vice Minister Wang Changshun, the 3-min. reduction can save airlines about CNY9 billion ($1.31 billion) annually. In addition, the regulator is committed to optimizing 36 air routes to shorten flight distance by a combined 2,800 km., which will cut costs further.
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey approved $376.5 million for a runway project designed to help alleviate delays at New York JFK. Work is scheduled to begin in June and be completed in 2011. It will include reconstructing and widening runway 13-31 and revamped taxiways. Runway 13-31 is 14,572 ft. long and handles about one-third of JFK's annual operations, including more than half of all departures.
Australia and New Zealand authorities are moving toward scrapping customs checks for transtasman flights, which could reduce return fares by approximately A$100 ($64.44) and provide a travel stimulus, airline executives said. Flights between the countries would be reclassified as domestic. Passengers would either partially clear customs before boarding via automated border processing gates or customs checks would be eliminated entirely.
Ryanair intends to close all its airport check-in counters by year end in a cost-cutting move. "All we will have is a bag drop where passengers can drop off their luggage, otherwise everything will be done online. Ultimately, we want just one in five people to check in luggage," CEO Michael O'Leary told The Daily Telegraph.
Turkish Airlines launched thrice-weekly Istanbul Ataturk-Nairobi service. Lufthansa will launch four-times-weekly Munich-Tel Aviv service on April 26 aboard a 221-seat A340-300.
Emirates plans to expand 2009 passenger capacity by 14% year-over-year and cargo capacity by 17%, with a focus on adding new flights and larger aircraft to existing routes rather than adding a high number of new destinations. In its next fiscal year starting April 1 it plans to take delivery of seven A380s (bringing its total to 11), 10 777-300ERs, one 777-200LR and one 777 freighter. It will take delivery of a 777F before the end of the current fiscal year.
Delta Air Lines indicated in an internal memo cited by numerous press reports that more than 2,100 employees have asked to take advantage of the carrier's voluntary severance program, slightly more than the 2,000 predicted last month by CEO Richard Anderson ( ATWOnline, Jan. 19). The deadline to accept the buyout was Feb. 11. DL plans a 6%-8% mainline capacity cut this year ( ATWOnline, Jan. 28).
Southwest Airlines will begin serving Boston Logan this fall with a "conservative number of flights and a two-gate operation," according to Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly. SWA will continue to serve Providence and Manchester, N.H., and will release additional details regarding its BOS service "in the coming months." Kelly said using the airport "is a smart choice" for the LCC, which traditionally has operated at less congested, cheaper facilities, and that its BOS service "will be made possible by. .
Allegiant Air, a leisure carrier that touts its service "to/from America's favorite small cities," will open its sixth base on May 1, when it launches operations at Los Angeles with flights to 12 destinations. The LCC will base two 150-seat MD-80s at LAX and fly to Bellingham (from May 2), Billings (May 22), Des Moines (May 24), Fargo (May 23), Grand Junction, Colo. (May 1), McAllen, Tex. (May 24), Medford, Ore. (May 1), Missoula (May 2), Monterey (May 3), Sioux Falls (May 23), Springfield, Mo. (May 3), and Wichita (May 23).
SAS Scandinavian Airlines announced the following network reductions: Stockholm Arlanda-Beijing service will shut down on April 29. Daily Copenhagen-Seattle service will be cut to six-times-weekly and stop completely at the beginning of the 2009-10 winter schedule. ARN- Bangkok and CPH-Delhi flights also will be suspended next winter. American Airlines and Gol yesterday announced a reciprocal interline and baggage check-through agreement.
Lufthansa will operate five-times-weekly Frankfurt-Rzeszow service starting April 27 aboard a Lufthansa CityLine CRJ700. Alaska Airlines will launch daily Seattle-Austin service on Aug. 3 and thrice-weekly Portland, Ore.-Maui flights on Aug. 7 aboard 737-800s. In addition, seasonal Anchorage-Maui will become year-round. Kingfisher Airlines yesterday launched four-times-weekly Mumbai-Solapur service aboard a Kingfisher Red ATR turboprop.
Swissport International signed a three-year cooperation agreement with Lufthansa Cargo to provide freight handling services at Amsterdam for LC partner carriers including Jade Cargo (an LC and Shenzhen Airlines joint venture). Operations are slated to begin March 1.
