AirAsia X (D7) will suspend services to the UK and France from March 31, citing the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) and escalating air passenger duty taxes.
Mexican low-cost carrier Volaris (Y4) has finalized a previously announced order for 44 Airbus A320 aircraft, comprising 30 A320neos and 14 A320 family aircraft.
Air France (AF) KLM Group on Thursday revealed its three-year “transformation plan” to bring the company back to profitability by cutting costs immediately by €1 billion ($1.27 billion) and rapidly reducing debt by €2 billion to €4.5 billion by the end of 2014.
Hawaiian Airlines (HA) has set a new company record for total passengers carried in a single year—with 8,666,319 in 2011. Its passenger statistics for December and the 2011 fourth quarter were also company records, it noted. Traffic for the full-year 2011 increased 17% year-over-year to 10.15 billion RPMs on an 18.6% increase in capacity to 12.04 billion ASMs. Load factor dipped 1.2 points to 84.3%. Fourth-quarter traffic rose 14.5% over the prior-year period to 2.61 billion RPMs on a 16.7% jump in capacity to 3.10 billion ASMs. Load factor dropped 1.6 points to 84%.
Etihad Airways (EY) and airberlin technik signed a reciprocal agreement, under which airberlin technik will undertake maintenance of EY aircraft in Dusseldorf and EY will be responsible for all transit checks on Air Berlin aircraft in Abu Dhabi (AUH).
China Eastern Airlines (MU) parent China Eastern Air Holding (CEAH) reported 2011 net income of more than CNY5 billion ($793 million), a slight increase over a net profit just under CNY5 billion in 2010.
Momentum appears to be building toward removing barriers to foreign airlines investing in Indian airlines, potentially opening up a new source of capital for the country's struggling air transport industry.
Flybe (BE) said the UK domestic market suffered an underlying sales decline of 8% in its third quarter ended Dec. 31, 2011, following a 6% drop in its fiscal first-half.
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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