Lufthansa announced yesterday that it will re-launch onboard Internet service next year in conjunction with Panasonic Avionics following a nearly four-year hiatus sparked by Connexion by Boeing's 2006 failure.
Transaero Airlines took delivery of its third Tu-214. The aircraft is part of a contract between Transaero and Financial Leasing Co. for 10 of the type signed in 2005. While it has delayed the delivery schedule for the aircraft, the carrier remains "strongly committed to this contract," CEO Olga Pleshakova said. "We never had any complaints about the reliability of these aircraft."
Hainan Airlines received US Dept. of Transportation approval to operate flights between Beijing and Hawaii, Honolulu's Star Bulletin reported, adding that Hawaiian tourism officials believe service could begin before year end. Hainan reportedly will use A340s to operate once-weekly flights, with the service eventually upped to thrice-weekly.
China Southern Airlines launched "e-freight" service on its Guangzhou-Dalian route and said it will offer largely paperless cargo carriage on additional routes by year end. It said the initiative could save CNY1 million ($146,300) annually. It is the first Chinese carrier to implement e-freight, which is being pushed strongly by IATA ( ATW, June 2008).
Proposed cooperation on transatlantic services by American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia received another rebuke late last week when AA's 11,500 pilots, represented by the Allied Pilots Assn., stated their "unequivocal opposition" and urged the US Dept. of Transportation to reject granting antitrust immunity for the venture.
Emirates Airlines President Tim Clark slammed governments for using aviation as a cash cow under the guise of an environmental tax. Speaking with Eco-Aviation Today, he claimed that the EU has followed the UK's lead by directing that ETS revenue should go to the general treasury, "which destroys the credibility of the environmental movement at a government level. Why aren't the funds going to engine makers to help fund better engines? Why isn't it going to renewable power sources?"
Air New Zealand is achieving an approximate 1.6% better fuel burn from its blended winglet program on its 767-300ERs than guaranteed, according to GM-Operations and Chief Pilot Dave Morgan. In a briefing in Auckland, Morgan told Eco-Aviation Today that Aviation Partners Boeing had guaranteed a 3.8% improvement and that ANZ expected to get 4.5% but is actually achieving 5.3%. "The 3.4-m.-high kinked tips will save us 1.3 million liters of fuel on each 767 and 16,000 tonnes of CO2 annually," he said.
In one of the hardest-hitting speeches in recent times, Air New Zealand CEO Rob Fyfe lashed out at the "inconvenient truth" that the world's leaders, regulators and airlines are continuing to "invest enormous resources the world over in debating climate change regulatory frameworks and yet failing to take even the most basic steps to actually reduce emissions."
Air New Zealand is in the final stages of a campaign to replace its fleet of 15 737-300s, a number of which come off lease in the next few years. ANZ is weighing buying additional A320s (it currently operates 12) to replace the 737-300s or replacing both types with up to 30 737-800s. It has considerable flexibility because most of its A320s are leased and will start coming off those leases in 2010. It also holds 20 A320 options at attractive prices, but they will expire next year.
Olympic Air, the re-launch of Olympic Airlines that started operations at the end of September, already is transporting 10,000 passengers daily and trying to "just do basic things, fly on time and smile to people," CEO Antonis Simigdalas told ATWOnline.
AirAsia said it has been granted landing rights in Paris by the French government and is awaiting further details from authorities. "The French government's approval places AirAsia in a significant position, in line with the plans by AirAsia X to expand our operations in Europe," AirAsia X CEO Azran Osman-Rani said.
Continental Airlines on March 7 will launch daily service between Los Angeles and Maui aboard a 737-800 and four-times-weekly flights between Orange County and Honolulu (increasing to daily this summer) aboard a 737-700.
China Eastern Airlines' acquisition of Shanghai Airlines was approved by both carriers' shareholders Friday. CEA Board Secretary Luo Zhuping reiterated Friday that the merger will be completed by year end. The transaction already has been approved by CAAC ( ATWOnline, Aug. 31) and all other relevant government authorities except the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which has not yet issued a ruling but is not expected to reject the deal.
TAM announced late Friday that CEO David Barioni Neto resigned effective immediately. He will be replaced on an interim basis by CFO Libano Miranda Barroso. Barioni had led the Brazilian airline since November 2007.
American Airlines' September system traffic decreased 3.5% to 9.52 billion RPMs on a 6.9% cut in capacity to 11.98 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 79.4%, up 2.8 points. Continental Airlines' September consolidated traffic lifted 7% to 6.95 billion RPMs on a 0.5% increase in consolidated capacity to 8.53 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 81.5%, up 5 points. LAN said system passenger traffic for September increased 11.9% as capacity rose 9.3%. Load factor gained 1.8 points to 78.8%.
LOT Polish Airlines said it will reduce its workforce from 3,500 to 3,100 by March and has secured agreement from its unions to eliminate bonuses, moves that it claimed will save €2.4 million ($3.5 million).
Ryanair called on the Irish government to explain why it rejected its December 2008 offer for Aer Lingus that it maintains would have led to the doubling of EI's short-haul fleet and created 1,000 new jobs over a five-year period. The request followed Wednesday's announcement by EI of its restructuring plan that seeks to reduce annual operating costs excluding fuel by €97 million ($142.7 million) before the end of 2011 and cut its workforce by 17% ( ATWOnline, Oct. 8).
European Regions Airline Assn., which represents 66 European carriers operating intra-Europe flights, recorded a collective drop in passenger traffic of 7.2% for the first six months of 2009.
Emirates said yesterday that it issued a $413.7 million US bond offering guaranteed by the US Export Import Bank to finance the delivery of three 777-300ERs. The secured notes are due Aug. 21, 2021, and payable in installments of principal and interest on a quarterly basis, the airline said. "This transaction is very important for the industry as it represents the first offering of its kind directly into the global public capital markets," Senior VP-Corporate Treasury Brian Jeffrey stated.
Denver and the state of Colorado are offering an incentive package aimed at preventing nearly 25% of Frontier Airlines' workforce from being relocated, while new parent Republic Airways Holdings apparently does not plan for the carrier to have a CEO.
Bmi appointed Jet Airways CEO Wolfgang Prock-Schauer as its new CEO effective Dec. 1, succeeding Nigel Turner. The appointment is part of broader management shakeup following Lufthansa's acquiring control of the loss-making UK airline ( ATWOnline, Oct. 2). Jet, meanwhile, selected Senior VP-the Americas Nikos Kardassis as its new CEO effective Oct. 15.
Colombia's Avianca and El Salvador-based Grupo TACA announced yesterday that they have reached agreement to merge under a single holding company, creating an airline group that will serve more than 100 destinations with a fleet of 129 aircraft. Avianca parent Synergy Group will control two-thirds of the unnamed holding company while TACA will control the remaining third, with TACA Chairman and CEO Roberto Kriete serving as chairman and Avianca CEO Fabio Villegas as CEO.
Saudi Arabian Airlines announced an agreement to install SwiftBroadband Mobile OnAir and WiFi Internet OnAir communications technology on its fleet of A330s that fly international routes.
Aer Lingus yesterday revealed a two-phase "transformational" restructuring plan to reduce annual operating costs excluding fuel by €97 million ($142.7 million) before the end of 2011 and remove "legacy work" practices from its operation.
