Air China is pressing ahead with requiring its majority-owned subsidiary Shenzhen Airlines to join Star Alliance, an industry insider told ATW. The source noted that Star is still evaluating the carrier and there is no specific timetable for a formal agreement.
AviancaTaca, the parent of Avianca and TACA, said preliminary results of its IPO reveal that the requests for shares exceeded $1.5 billion, more than five times the initial offering of 100 million shares priced at a total $250 million.
Copa Holdings said that JP Morgan will provide US Export-Import Bank guaranteed funding for five Boeing 737-800s scheduled for delivery this year. “The facility, totaling $178.5 million, includes 12-year financing terms at very competitive rates and will finance all direct Boeing purchases scheduled for delivery to Copa Airlines in 2011,” said Copa.
Alaska Airlines last week launched its new and enhanced touch-screen digEplayer inflight entertainment devices, which boast a lighter weight and smaller size than its predecessor that debuted in 2003. At the time of its introduction eight years ago, AS "was the first carrier in the world to offer customers portable video-on-demand technology from a convenient handheld device," it said.
Zambezi Airlines announced it is "preparing to sign" an interline agreement with Proflight Zambia, a domestic Zambian carrier formerly known as Proflight Commuter Services. The agreement will allow connections to be sold to other Zambian destinations, including South Luangwa National Park and Lower Zambezi. ZJ, which is on the EU list of banned carriers, is based at Lusaka International and operates a fleet of three Boeing 737-500s. On June 30 it will launch thrice-weekly service from Capetown to Livingstone and Lusaka.
EgyptAir took delivery of its sixth new Boeing 777-300ER as part of an order for six of the type ( ATW Daily News, Dec. 3, 2007). MS received four last year and the remaining two this year. All six are leased from GECAS. The new delivery lifts EgyptAir Group’s fleet to 75 aircraft.
Concern that travel plans for millions of Qantas passengers could be severely disrupted next month grew after the airline's engineers voted overwhelming to take industrial action to support wage and job security demands.
Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Assn. and the Air Line Pilots Assn. on Thursday signed a "four-party process agreement" that allows the two carriers' pilot groups to move forward with seniority list integration discussions in advance of SWA's acquisition of AirTran closing.
British Airways and its cabin crew, represented by the Unite union, pledged to seek “an honorable and fair settlement to the long-running dispute” and both agreed to continue negotiations, lifting the threat of strikes over the Easter and the Royal Wedding bank holidays.
[Updated] Southwest Airlines, AirTran Airways, the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Assn. and the Air Line Pilots Assn. on Thursday signed a "four-party process agreement" that allows the two carriers' pilot groups to move forward with seniority list integration discussions in advance of SWA's acquisition of AirTran closing.
Cathay Pacific has increased its shareholding in Air China from 18.43% to 18.77% after acquiring 5.48 million shares for HK$40 million ($5.17 million). SAS Scandinavian Airlines, along with Star Alliance partners Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian Airlines, said it has again won the Swedish government's procurement of air travel, in a contract carried out by Swedish Armed Forces Logistics FMLOG. The agreement is worth a total of SEK700 million ($111.6 million).
Bmibaby, the low-fare unit of bmi, will cease operations at Manchester and Cardiff airports at the end of the summer schedule but expand at Belfast City, East Midlands and Birmingham airports. The LCC will switch two aircraft to BHD and launch a six-times-weekly, year-round service to Amsterdam Oct. 31 and a twice-weekly seasonal winter service to Geneva Dec. 17. It will also launch five new routes for summer 2012 to Malaga, Alicante, Palma, Faro and Ibiza, lifting its network from/to the airport to 12 destinations.
Japan's Skymark Airlines said it plans to operate a low fare "Narita Shuttle" service starting in November. It reportedly will operate daily frequencies from Tokyo Narita to Japanese domestic destinations. According to press reports, Skymark President Shinichi Nishikubo told a Tokyo news conference this week that "there is a big potential demand" for low fares NRT domestic service. He said the operation could include as many as 25 daily flights to nine destinations by 2014. Initial flights will be to Naha, Sapporo and Asahikawa, according to Kyodo News.
Kenya Airways on Thursday said it reached a settlement with Boeing on a new delivery schedule for nine Boeing 787-8s, and finalized a purchase agreement signed in 2006 after previously threatening to cancel the order over the delays to the program.
Italy’s civil aviation administration ENAC last month revoked the Air Operator’s Certificate of ItAli Airlines, citing the carrier’s continuing critical financial situation. ItAli was the first Western carrier to place an order in 2007 for 10 firm Sukhoi Superjet 100s and a further 10 options. The order was taken off Sukhoi’s order book earlier this year. The Rome Ciampino-based airline operated five MD-80s, and its executive flight division Mustfly had one Cessna Citation and five Citation Mustangs.
A Japan Airlines 737-800 en route from Tokyo Haneda landed Wednesday at Sendai Airport around 8 a.m. local time, marking the resumption of commercial services at SDJ for the first time since it was inundated on March 11 by the earthquake-triggered tsunami.
American Airlines charged Travelport with violations of federal antitrust laws in a new lawsuit filed against the GDS company and Orbitz in a US federal court in Fort Worth.
A Japan Airlines 737-800 en route from Tokyo Haneda landed Wednesday at Sendai Airport around 8 a.m. local time, marking the resumption of commercial services at SDJ for the first time since it was inundated on March 11 by the earthquake-triggered tsunami.
Etihad Airways has selected Manchester as the location for its newest contact center, to be operational in 2012, joining centers in Abu Dhabi, India and Australia. It is now working with the Manchester Airports Group to find a location on the airport campus. The center is expected to create 160 jobs for the region, Etihad said.
An Air France Airbus A380 carrying 520 people collided with a Bombardier CRJ701ER operated by Comair as a Delta Connection flight Monday night while both aircraft were taxiing at New York JFK.
Lufthansa took delivery of its sixth Airbus A380 on April 4. SkyWork Airlines announced it replaced the 31-seat Dornier 328 aircraft serving its daily London City-Bern service with 70-seat Bombardier Q400s, April 4. It said forward bookings for the route have been “very strong.”
Iberia's MRO division converted an Airbus A330-200 passenger aircraft into a Multi Role Tanker Transport equipped for mid-air refueling. The conversion is part of a contract between Iberia Maintenance and Airbus Military to convert civilian aircraft into MRTTs, and reflects IB's strategy of reorienting its maintenance business toward technologically challenging, high value-added activities, said Iberia EVP-Maintenance and Engineering Jose Luis Ruiz de Castaneda.
