American Airlines named William Collins VP-base maintenance.He will be based in Tulsa and oversee AA's US MRO operations. Collins left GE Aviation, where he served as VP-electric power. Aviation Capital Group promoted John Feren to executive VP. Feren was previously senior VP-business development. Aircell named Norman Smagley CFO.
Delta Air Lines flew 16.11 billion system RPMs in September, up 6.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity increased 6.6% to 19.53 billion ASMs, as load factor stayed flat at 82.5%. AirTran Airways operated 1.39 billion RPMs in September, up 1.7% from the year-ago month, on a 0.6% increase in capacity to 1.79 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.7 points to 77.7%.
Coral Gables, Fla.-based AerSale said Thursday it has acquired 19 747-400s from Japan Airlines, which is in the midst of an aggressive bankruptcy restructuring and made the decision this year to retire its 747-400 fleet.
Air Canada and United Continental Holdings, the parent of merger partners United Airlines and Continental Airlines, said Thursday they've concluded an MOU "setting out the principles for a comprehensive revenue-sharing joint venture" on US/Canada transborder services.
Continental Airlines said September estimated consolidated RASM increased 19%-20% year-over-year. Consolidated traffic rose 3.1% to 7.16 billion RPMs against a 1.4% increase in capacity to 8.64 billion ASMs. Load factor was up 1.4 points to 82.9%.
ANA and Hawaiian Airlines said Wednesday they signed an agreement "to establish a commercial partnership" that will see the carriers "explore bilateral cooperation in areas such as codesharing, frequent flyer programs and cargo subject to necessary government approvals." ANA plans to launch Tokyo Haneda–Honolulu flights from Oct. 31 while HA is slated to start HNL–HND service on Nov. 17.
EgyptAir will take delivery of its third new 777-300ER next week and will start deploying the aircraft on its Cairo–New York JFK route on Oct. 18, MS Chairman and CEO Alaa Ashour confirmed to ATW.
Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines and Aero Republica, announced Wednesday that Colombia-based Aero Republica will operate as Copa Airlines Colombia, effective immediately.
EasyJet revised upwards its pre-tax profit target for the financial year ended Sept. 30 owing to strong fourth-quarter traffic and revenue, and said it now expects to deliver a pre-tax profit “slightly ahead of the £150 million [$239 million] that was the top end of our previous guidance range [issued in May] of £100 million to £150 million.” The company will report full-year results on Nov. 16.
Oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia officially launched their long-planned transatlantic joint venture on Wednesday, promising customers "far more choice and flexibility" when booking flights across the north Atlantic.
Oneworld members American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia officially launched their long-planned transatlantic joint venture on Wednesday, promising customers "far more choice and flexibility" when booking flights across the north Atlantic.
Embraer closed a credit agreement for $1 billion, which it said it intends to use "to ensure access to short-term funds at pre-negotiated rates, if the company should need them." The agreement, which was made with a group of 25 financial institutions under the coordination of BNP Paribas, renews a syndicated credit operation of $500 million from August 2006. The funds will be available for two years with a payment deadline of September 2013.
Norwegian Air Shuttle will open a base at Helsinki Vantaa with three aircraft, and launch two domestic and 11 new international routes to Copenhagen, Malaga, Nice, Chania, Rome, Barcelona, London Gatwick, Split and Alicante next summer. Domestic routes will begin March 31, 2011, whereas international routes will start in early-to mid-May. The four-times-daily HEL–Ouluand flights and daily HEL–Rovaniemi flights are the LCC’s first domestic services in Finland. The airline currently has domestic operations in Norway, Sweden and Denmark.
Australia's Jetstar will significantly increase its New Zealand domestic services by adding 39 weekly flights between Auckland, Christchurch, Wellington and Queenstown in February 2011. The airline said it will add two A320s in New Zealand to facilitate the flights, which will expand its weekly services within NZ to 119, giving it a market share of around 20%.
Air Canada said Tuesday it has "settled the terms" with the Toronto Port Authority for operating to/from Toronto City Centre "long term," and announced it will launch 15 daily YTZ-Montreal Trudeau flights in February 2011.
Ryanair, which announced Tuesday it was forced to cancel 1,400 flights and delay more than 12,000 others as a direct result of Belgian, French and Spanish ATC strikes in recent months, formally called on the European Commission to “end this ATC chaos” by removing the “right to strike” provision of essential ATC services in Europe and reforming the controversial EU261 passenger rights legislation (ATW Daily News, Sept. 28).
Delta Air Lines announced Tuesday it “successfully completed $750 million in debt reduction” as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to bring its adjusted net debt to “$10 billion by the end of 2012, a reduction of $7 billion over three years.”
AirTran Airways operated 1.39 billion RPMs in September, up 1.7% year-over-year. Capacity increased 0.6% to 1.79 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.7 points to 77.7%. Monarch Airlines carried 464,697 passengers in September, an 8.26% increase year-over-year. Its load factor jumped 4.7 points to 93.35%. Ryanair transported 6.84 million passengers in September, up 12% year-over-year, while load factor rose 1 point to 86%
Citing the economic downturn, Lufthansa subsidiary Austrian Airlines has announced it will reconfigure its four A320s, which have a dedicated business class cabin installed for its Middle Eastern routes.
AirAsia X hopes to add two more Japanese airports to its international service by 2012 after it launches flights to Tokyo Haneda in December. CEO Azran Osman Rani told Kyodo News in Tokyo that the airline "was interested in other airports in Japan…I have always said Japan is a market where we can operate at three different airports, including Haneda." On the airline’s radar are Osaka, Sapporo and Fukuoka.
