Norwegian Air Shuttle announced Friday it plans to order wide-body aircraft as it gears up to begin its first long-haul flights in 2011. CEO Bjoern Kjos told Bloomberg that the carrier held talks with Airbus and Boeing and will choose between ordering the A350 or 787. Because there are delivery backlogs for both aircraft, Kjos said Norwegian may agree to take older models such as the A330 or 767. According to Bloomberg, the carrier is planning its first routes from Oslo Gardermoen and Stockholm Arlanda to New York JFK and Bangkok respecitvely in the second half of 2011.
Etihad Airways Head of Network Planning Imed Ben Abdallah said the carrier is pursuing a growth strategy "distinct" from Gulf rivals Emirates and Qatar Airways by focusing on developing point-to-point traffic to/from its Abu Dhabi base rather than pursuing broad based East-West transit traffic.
Ukraine International Airlines said it operated 2,157 flights and carried 228,000 passengers in August, up 10% compared to August 2009. Kenya Airways and Travelport jointly announced a global, full-content 5-yr. agreement for Galileo and Worldspan-connected users worldwide that will enable full access to KQ’s flights and fares.
The US National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating a "near midair collision" near Minneapolis-St. Paul International on Sept. 16 between a US Airways A320 and a Bemidji Aviation Services Beech 99 freighter. The incident occurred shortly after the A320 took off from MSP en route to La Crosse under a 900 ft. ceiling and 10 mi. of visibility.
Air France said Thursday that it canceled 50% of its domestic and European flights to/from Paris Charles de Gaulle and Paris Orly as many of the country's air traffic controllers joined in a nationwide workers' strike to protest the French government's plan to raise the pension-benefit retirement age from 60 to 62. The airline said it operated its entire long-haul schedule. Multiple reports from France indicated that about 50% scheduled air traffic in the country was disrupted Thursday.
JetBlue Airways and ViaSat on Thursday signed an MOU to equip the carrier's fleet of more than 160 Embraer 190s and A320s with an inflight broadband product they called "the first of its kind" in commercial aviation. The two parties intend to sign a definitive agreement by the end of the year.
Oneworld announced Thursday that Russia's S7 Airlines will officially become a full member of the alliance on Nov. 15. The carrier, which began the process of joining oneworld last year with British Airways as its sponsor (ATW Daily News, May 27, 2009), will become the alliance's 11th member.
The planned merger between British Airways and Iberia under holding company International Airlines Group is nearing its final stage following Iberia’s approval Wednesday of BA’s £3.7 billion ($5.8 billion) pension deficit funding plan.
Flydubai announced it reached eight year sale/leaseback agreements worth more than $750 million with GECAS and Babcock and Brown Aircraft Management, covering nine yet-to-be-delivered 737s. The agreements will secure the carrier's financing requirements until June 2011. The agreement with GECAS covers six aircraft, while the one with BBAM is for three. GECAS has previously financed four aircraft for Flydubai and BBAM three.
Lufthansa Group announced Wednesday that, as expected, Christoph Franz will succeed Wolfgang Mayrhuber as chairman and CEO of the Lufthansa Group. Carsten Spohr will succeed Franz as CEO of Lufthansa German Airlines and has been appointed to the group’s Executive Board and Karl Ulrich Garnadt was named chairman and CEO of Lufthansa Cargo AG.
Air New Zealand warned that the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission rejection of its alliance with Virgin Blue could threaten the airline's future (ATW Daily News Sept. 13).
SkyTeam members China Southern Airlines and Air France signed an agreement to launch a joint venture on the Paris–Guangzhou route beginning Nov. 1 that includes revenue sharing. AF said in a statement that the two airlines will have “joint governance” of the JV and a “management committee, with five working groups, will be in charge of implementing it in the fields of network management, revenue management, sales, produces and finance.”
UAL Corporation and Continental Airlines announced that following the merger of United and Continental, the holding company will list its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol UAL. United currently trades on the NASDAQ and CO on the Big Board. Upon the closing of the merger, the successor holding company, UAL Corp., will be renamed United Continental Holdings Inc. The companies expect to close the merger by Oct. 1.
Australia's Virgin Blue has asked the US Dept. of Transportation for a three-week extension to argue the merits of its proposed alliance with Delta Air Lines, according to The Australian.
British Airways announced at the World Route Development Forum in Vancouver that it will launch five-times weekly London Heathrow–Tokyo Haneda service on Feb.19, 2011 onboard a 777. Its current daily LHR-Tokyo Narita service will remain unchanged. BA also said it plans to launch direct flights from LHR to Buenos Aires from March 27, 2011. BA passengers now must connect via Sao Paulo to reach Buenos Aires. The carrier also announced it will increase its London Gatwick–Barbados service from 10 to 12 flights a week starting in March 2011.
CAAC said Chinese carriers maintained robust growth and earned an aggregate profit in August owing to the continuing rebound in the domestic market. However, the regulator didn’t reveal the exact figure.
Mesa Air Group’s proposed Chapter 11 reorganization plan filed Sept. 17 would see unsecured creditors receive most of the stock in the reorganized company while US Airways Group would receive a 10% stake.
Cathay Pacific firmed up its previously announced commitment for six more 777-300ERs worth HK$12.5 billion ($1.61 billion) at list prices (ATW Daily News, Aug. 5).
Humberside-based Eastern Airways announced Monday it reached an "agreement in principal" with Plymouth-based Sutton Harbour Group to acquire wholly owned subsidiary, Air Southwest. Pending regulatory approval, the agreement is expected to be finalized in October. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The acquisition will enable Eastern Airways, the UK’s second largest regional airline, to expand its network into the South West of England.
Cathay Pacific and Dragonair traffic figures for August continued the recovery trend for 2010 with growth at nearly 10% for passengers compared to the year-ago period. The two airlines carried 2.4 million passengers in August, up 9.7%, and carried 149,000 tonnes of cargo, up 13.1% from the year-ago period. ASKs were up 7.1% to 10.05 billion with RPKs up 7.6% to 8.49 billion, resulting in a rise in load factor of 0.3 points to 84.4%. Cargo load factor increased 0.7 points to 72.7%.
Airbus announced that Malaysia Airlines firmed options for two A330-200Fs, doubling its orderbook for the freighter variant of the twinjet. The aircraft will be powered by Pratt & Whitney PW4000 engines and will be operated by Malaysia's cargo subsidiary, MASkargo. Delivery dates and value of the deal were not released.
Spirit Airlines, the closely held Fort Lauderdale-based low-fare airline, had a net loss of $2.8 million in the first half of 2010, compared to net income of $41.5 million in the year-ago period.
More than 70 passengers and crew who were aboard a Qantas A330 that suffered air data inertial reference unit spikes in October 2008 are suing Airbus and Northrop Grumman over the incident ( ATW Daily News, March 9, 2009).
