NORDAM named Albert Givray to succeed Russell Wienecke as general counsel. The retiring Wienecke will continue to serve as an external consultant to the company. AeroMechanical Services announced its president Richard Hayden has resigned, though will remain as a director, and will transition to a role within the company focused on strategic business development. It named CEO Bill Tempany as president and CEO, and Douglas Marlin as board of directors chairman.
Ethiopian Airlines (ET) has placed an order with Aviation Partners Boeing (APB) for blended winglets for its Boeing 767-300ERs—a fleet it has already begun to retire. The order includes three firm and seven options. Installation will take place at the ET Addis Ababa maintenance facility and begin with three aircraft in February.
United Continental Holdings (UCH) has reached a tentative agreement with the Assn. of Flight Attendants (AFA) for “numerous improvements,” including increased wages and a signing bonus for United Airlines (UA) flight attendants.
A320neo in Spirit Airlines’ livery. Courtesy, Airbus Spirit Airlines has finalized an agreement for 75 A320 aircraft, comprising 45 A320neos and 30 A320s, previously announced at the Dubai Airshow ( ATW Daily News, Nov. 16), according to a US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing Jan. 5.
Air France KLM Group has finalized an order for 25 Boeing 787-9s, with options. The order, which was signed in late December, was previously attributed to an unidentified customer on Boeing’s orders and deliveries website.
Ryanair (FR), Europe’s largest low-cost carrier, will open a base at Paphos International, Cyprus, in April with two Boeing 737-800s operating more than 80 weekly flights on 14 routes.
Loss-making Austrian Airlines (OS) has announced a €220 million ($280 million) restructuring program, which includes cutting routes, reducing staff costs and replacing its fleet of 11 Boeing 737s with up to seven Airbus A320s.
Spirit AeroSystems has delivered its first composite center fuselage section for the Airbus A350 XWB. The upper and forward lower shell composite fuselage panels were joined in Spirit's Saint-Nazaire, France, facility before being delivered to Airbus. Spirit won a contract with Airbus in May 2008 to design and produce Section 15 of the A350 XWB's composite fuselage. The first center-fuselage panels were shipped from Spirit's North Carolina facility to Spirit's Saint-Nazaire facility in October.
Lufthansa (LH) will operate a scheduled Boeing 747-400 flight between Frankfurt and Washington Dulles Thursday using a biofuel blend. The carrier noted it will be the first scheduled commercial biofuel flight on a transatlantic route. It said the flight is expected to emit 38 tons fewer carbon dioxide (CO2) than a similar flight fully utilizing traditional jet fuel.
The first six weeks of American Airlines' (AA) Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization (ATW, Jan. 1) appear to have gone largely as planned, with the Dallas-based carrier and regional affiliate American Eagle operating normally and parent AMR Corp. giving no indication that the company won't be able to meet basic financial obligations.
The China Air Transport Assn. (CATA) is reworking its lawsuit strategy against the European Union Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) in the wake of the Dec. 21 Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) ruling. “We won’t change our clear-cut stance of opposing the EU ETS, although we have to adjust our lawsuit strategy owing to CJEU dismissal of the Airlines for America’s argument,” CATA deputy DG Chai Haibo said.
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US Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) reported that US airlines employed 389,444 workers in October, up 3% from October 2010. BTS said this is the 11 th consecutive increase in full-time equivalent employee levels for the scheduled passenger carriers from the same month of the previous year.
Carpatair (V3) announced it will open a new base in Chisinau (KIV), Moldova and will operate three direct flights from the location beginning March 26, in a partnership with Moldavian Airlines. The carrier said there are "ongoing talks" with Alitalia to codeshare on the three routes from KIV. V3 will launch 3X-weekly service from KIV to Venice Marco Polo, Rome Fiumicino and Milan Bergamo. It previously served Moldova to Italy via its hub in Timisoara.
Turkish Airlines (TK) will switch four daily Istanbul (IST) flights and one daily Antalya flight from Moscow Sheremetyevo to Vnukovo Airport (VKO) from March 25. Star Alliance member Lufthansa has also announced the launch of flights to Vnukovo ( ATW Daily News Nov. 23). TK will launch 3X-weekly Boeing 737-800 IST Ataturk–Novosibirsk (OVB) service March 14, making OVB TK’s eighth Russian destination.
Iberia (IB) canceled several long- and medium-haul flights for Monday and Wednesday, and warned there will be delays as its pilots go ahead with a series of one-day strikes.
