Armavia took delivery Tuesday of the first production Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SN95007), at Zvartnots International in Yerevan, nearly three years after the jet’s maiden flight. The aircraft was christened “Yuri Gagarin” in memory of the first cosmonaut. The Armenian carrier holds two firm orders plus two options.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce slammed the unions representing the airline's engineers, pilots and baggage handlers, telling ATW that they are conducting a "kamikaze" industrial campaign that will "kill jobs."
Armavia took delivery Tuesday of the first production Sukhoi Superjet 100 (SN95007), at Zvartnots International in Yerevan, nearly three years after the jet’s maiden flight.
KfW IPEX-Bank GmbH was mandated by BOC Aviation as arranger and sole lender for a seven-year commercial debt financing of three new Aeroflot-operated Airbus A320-200s. The transaction closed in March and aircraft deliveries are scheduled for April and May this year. ILFC reached a five-year lease agreement with Aerolíneas Argentinas for 10 Boeing 737-700NG aircraft. Deliveries are expected to begin this month and be completed by October 2012.
Gulf Air announced the launch of two new destinations from its hub in Bahrain, bringing to eight the number of new destinations in 2011. A four-times-weekly service to Copenhagen will commence July 1 and four-times-weekly flights to Nairobi will launch July 5. The BAH-CPH route will use a Boeing 737, operated by Privatair, in a two-class configuration with 16 seats in business class and 78 in economy; the BAH-NBO service will use an Airbus A320, featuring 16 business class seats and 120 in economy.
Norwegian Air Shuttle said its free inflight Wi-Fi is a “hit” with its passengers and that on some routes—such as Oslo Gardermoen-Geneva—between 40% and 50% of all passengers logged on.
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.
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.
