Delta Air Lines has focused increasingly on building its international operations since its emergence from bankruptcy restructuring last year and, when announcing a 10% domestic capacity cut in the second half of 2008 earlier this week, emphasized that its domestic operations' most important function will be to feed its expanding global network.
Virgin America today will launch thrice-daily San Francisco-Seattle. AirTran Airways will launch daily Washington National-Milwaukee on May 3 aboard a 717. Cimber Air will launch flights from Norrkoping to Helsinki and Munich on March 30.
Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Shamshabad near Hyderabad commenced commercial operations over the weekend. The facility, developed by the GMR Infrastructure-Hyderabad International Airport consortium, is India's first airport built under a private-public partnership model. Capacity is 12 million passengers annually and it is the nation's first airport capable of handling an A380.
Queen Elizabeth II officially opened London Heathrow's Terminal 5 Friday, launching a £4.3 billion ($8.7 billion) facility that BAA and British Airways hope will transform LHR from an airport with a poor customer service reputation into a modern, more efficient gateway. New terminal, at which operations will start March 27, will be able to handle as many as 30 million passengers annually. BA will be the sole airline occupant.
After suffering from continuous setbacks on its trunk routes, Tianjin-based Okay Airways will shift its focus to the regional market when it takes delivery of its first MA60 turboprop this month, according to Chairman Liu Jieyin. Its second MA60 is expected to be introduced in April. Last summer, Okay signed an aircraft lease agreement with AVIC I for 10 MA60s ( ATWOnline, July 6, 2007). It currently operates five 737s to 22 domestic destinations.
Bmi commenced a daily A320 London Heathrow-Tel Aviv, its 38th route from LHR. Low-cost subsidiary bmibaby will launch twice-weekly Cardiff-Barcelona on May 24, becoming thrice-weekly June 18.
Lufthansa, which last week announced a doubling in full-year earnings, is not resting on its profitable laurels but instead is committed to investing in its premium product, executives told ATWOnline. A new first class cabin (in anticipation of the A380), an improved business class seat with greater recline and its own private jet fleet ( ATWOnline, March 10) are in the cards for the German giant.
American Airlines will cease operations at London Gatwick when it shifts its daily Dallas/Fort Worth flight to Heathrow on April 13. It has served LGW for 26 years. AA did not disclose how much it paid for its newest LHR slot pair, but Continental Airlines recently stated it spent $209 million for four pairs at the airport ( ATWOnline, March 5). AA currently operates three daily flights to/from LGW--two to/from DFW and one to/from Raleigh Durham. One DFW flight and the RDU service will move to LHR on March 30.
London Heathrow faced a security scare yesterday after a man with a rucksack scaled the perimeter fence and ran into the path of an aircraft. Armed police arrested the man and sniffer dogs found no explosives, UK media reported. The southern runway remained open throughout the incident but the northern runway was closed for a few hours, causing delays and some cancellations. "Clearly this incident is a matter of some concern, and will be fully investigated in conjunction with the police," BAA said in a statement. The incident poses additional questions about LHR's security.
Emirates will launch daily Dubai-Los Angeles Sept. 1 aboard a 266-seat 777-200LR. It will be EK's third US gateway after New York JFK and Houston Intercontinental. United Airlines will operate daily Denver-London Heathrow beginning March 30. Qantas will launch its first nonstop South American service, a thrice-weekly Sydney-Buenos Aires, on Nov. 24 aboard a 747-400. WestJet will launch daily Calgary-Newark on June 2.
Jet Aviation Handling will be rebranded as Dnata Switzerland. The new name follows the acquisition of the Swiss airport services provider by Dnata in November 2007.
BAA announced an agreement to sell World Duty Free Europe to Italy's Autogrill for £546.6 million ($1.1 billion) "as part of its ongoing noncore asset disposal program." WDFE will enter into a 12-year concession agreement to operate duty free shops at BAA's seven airports. Autogrill operates more than 5,200 shops in more than 1,100 locations and had sales of £4.8 billion last year.
China Southern Airlines will shift its priorities from its traditional focus on domestic routes to a more ambitious commitment to international expansion, Chairman Liu Shaoyong said yesterday. Last year CZ opened 10 new international routes from Guangzhou. "We plan to open more international routes starting from Beijing to New York, London and Detroit, [plus] Guangzhou-Moscow by 2012," Liu revealed. He claimed that CZ's cargo business also will grow significantly. "I expect our cargo transport volume will increase threefold in the next few years," he said.
Qatar Airways yesterday unveiled a 2008 network expansion plan that will include a new thrice-weekly Doha-Houston Intercontinental flight beginning Nov. 10. The 777-200LR service will become daily the following month. QR will take delivery of its first aircraft of the type just days before launching the route and will configure it with 42 seats in business class and 217 in economy. Its first new route of 2008 will be a four-times-weekly Guangzhou service beginning March 31, with a fifth weekly flight added on May 1.
ATA Airlines said yesterday that it will discontinue service at Chicago Midway, where it has operated since 1992. On April 14 it will cease its flights to Oakland and Dallas/Fort Worth and on June 7 it will end service to Cancun and Guadalajara. Chief Commercial and Planning Officer Rob Binns said, "This was a difficult decision, but the high cost of fuel has made it economically unfeasible to continue our low-fare service at Midway." He added that aircraft used on the routes will be redeployed to more profitable charter operations.
The Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore yesterday announced a S$10 million ($7.2 million) expansion project at Changi Airport's Budget Terminal scheduled to begin in July. The seven-gate facility, which opened in March 2006 and caters to LCCs ( Airport Equipment & Technology, Summer 2006), will be enlarged to 28,700 sq. m. from 25,000 and boost annual passenger capacity to 7 million from 2.7 million.
Vueling Airlines will set up a new seasonal base at Ibiza, where it will base one A320 from May 30 to Sept. 21. The LCC will launch new routes to Seville, Bilbao and Alicante, bringing the number of destinations served from IBZ to eight. Last year it carried 283,164 passengers through the airport, representing an 8.8% share of passenger throughput.
Lufthansa said its operations were "gradually returning to normal" yesterday following a series of 3-hr. "token strikes" by German airport workers represented by the ver.di and komba unions early in the day. LH said it canceled 300 of its 1,850 flights yesterday, affecting about 18,500 passengers. Its long-haul operation was not impacted.
Iberia will increase A340 frequencies from Madrid to Washington Dulles (to five-times-weekly from thrice-weekly) and Boston (to daily from thrice-weekly) in mid-June. IB said its US passenger numbers rose 21% last year. SunExpress will launch thrice-weekly service from Istanbul Sabhia Gokcen to Cologne and Berlin Schoenefeld and twice-weekly flights to Hannover on March 30. It took delivery of its 14th aircraft, a 737-800, last month.
Air China will launch four-times-weekly Shanghai-Milan Malpensa on March 30 aboard an A340. Air Canada will operate daily Calgary-Newark from June 16 aboard an A319. Separately, it launched a codeshare arrangement with Jet Airways under which AC will place its code on Jet's flights from London Heathrow to Mumbai and from Toronto to Chennai via Brussels.
Continental Airlines paid $209 million for four pairs of slots at London Heathrow, according to a US Securities and Exchange filing cited by several press reports. CO did not identify the seller of the slots. It plans to serve the airport from both Newark and Houston Intercontinental ( ATWOnline, Jan. 18). The Financial Times said GB Airways (two), Air France and Alitalia sold the slots and that CO will pay $116 million for the summer season and an additional $93 million for the next witner schedule.
Singapore Airlines will open a new front in the increasingly heated competition for premium travelers, announcing yesterday that it will reconfigure its five A340-500s with 100 lie-flat business class seats for use on transpacific routes to the US. Since the routes were launched several years ago, SIA has operated the A340-500s in a business class/premium economy configuration seating 181. Owing to range shortfalls, it never was able to incorporate a first class cabin into the aircraft. The all-business-class configuration will feature a 1-2-1 arangement.
