Airlines & Lessors

Brazil’s top five Brazilian carriers—TAM, GOL, Azul, Avianca and Trip—have joined to establish the Brazilian Assn. of Airlines (ABEAR) as the new industry institutional representative.

United Airlines (UA) will close its Guam Contact Center, outsource local cargo functions and reduce the number of local airport operations employees as part of a company-wide initiative to achieve sustained profitability.

Japan Airlines (JAL) will temporarily cut some of its daily services to China due to escalating political tension between the two countries over a chain of disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Russia’s Yakutia Airline (R3) will take delivery of its first Bombardier Q400 in early November.

Aer Lingus (EI) and Air Canada (AC) have signed an interline agreement, with a codeshare due to follow early next year.

Chinese carriers reported a collective net profit of CNY5.83 billion (920 million) in August, down 17% compared to a net income of CNY7 billion a year ago.

Finnair (AY) has selected the International Aero Engines (IAE) V2533-A5 engine for its fleet of five new extended-range Airbus A321s.

Air France (AF) is planning to create a new headquarters near Paris, which will act as the decision-making center for its revamped regional operations.

ANA Group has placed an order for 11 additional Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft.

American Airlines (AA) will move forward with previously announced plans to close its Fort Worth maintenance and engineering base at Alliance Airport by April 2013.

Baltic’s Estonian Air (OV) will switch its Tallinn (TLL) flights from London Gatwick (LGW) to London City Airport (LCY) when it steps up services next year.

American Airlines (AA) issued a statement Thursday afternoon blasting its pilots for causing hundreds of flight cancellations and delays this week.

EgyptAir (MS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Ghana’s domestic airline, CTK Network Aviation, to promote air transportation expansion in West Africa.

Flydubai (FZ) is ready to double the number destinations from Dubai to Russia if the United Arab Emirates and Russia make changes in their bilateral agreement, FZ CEO Ghaith Al Ghaith said.

Lufthansa (LH) has announced plans to build a modern logistics center at Frankfurt Airport (FRA).

Former British Midland International CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer will join Air Berlin (AB) as its chief strategy and network planning officer as part of the carrier’s management reorganization under CEO Hartmut Mehdorn.

Dublin-based Avolon Leasing has finalized a firm order for 10 Boeing 737 MAX-8s, five 737 MAX-9s and 10 737-800 NextGen aircraft.

African airlines may need to consolidate to compete more effectively in the global aviation industry, Boeing EVP Jim Albaugh said Tuesday.

Lufthansa (LH) will merge its direct European services with its Germanwings subsidiary to form a new low-cost carrier (LCC) from Jan. 1.

Air Canada (AC) executive VP and CFO Michael Rousseau told investors Wednesday the Montreal-based airline will launch a subsidiary low-cost carrier (LCC) next year with a branding announcement to come “within a couple of weeks.”

American Airlines (AA) said it will notify about 11,000 employees they are in danger of being furloughed within 60 to 90 days, but added it expects just 4,000 workers receiving the notices to actually be laid off.

Japan Airlines (JAL) has relisted on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, more than two years after it entered bankruptcy restructuring.

FedEx reported a $459 million net profit for its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31, down 1% from $464 million in net income in the year-ago period.

Air France (AF) has detailed plans to invest “several hundred million euros” in an upgrade of its long-haul first- and business-class cabins.

Norwegian Air Shuttle (DY) CEO Bjorn Kjos expects to see a change in traffic flows when the Scandinavian airline launches low-cost, long-haul services in approximately one year.