US FAA asked the US Court of Appeals to suspend legal proceedings contesting its intention to conduct slot auctions at Newark, New York JFK and LaGuardia ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23), saying "it is inappropriate to put the court and the parties to the burden of briefing the complex issues in the case until a decision on whether to withdraw the rules is made." The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and the Air Transport Assn. were scheduled to file briefs by April 15.
Lufthansa Group's firm order for 30 110-seat CSeries valued at $1.53 billion, announced yesterday, puts to rest any doubt that the program will take off, said Bombardier Commercial Aircraft President Gary Scott.
Ryanair confirmed yesterday that it plans to close all airport check-in counters by Oct. 1, forcing all passengers to check in online ( ATWOnline, Feb. 24). Check-in will be available from 15 days to 4 hr. prior to scheduled departure. Beginning March 19, Web check-in will be available to non-EU/EEA citizens, passengers with checked baggage--£5/€5 ($6.99/$6.32) per person per flight--and reduced mobility customers. Airport check-in will cost £10/€10 per person per flight.
Airbus reported EBIT of €1.79 billion ($2.26 billion) in 2008, reversed from an €881 million operating deficit in 2007, and is expected to garner 300-400 gross aircraft orders this year, parent EADS said yesterday in its full-year financial report.
Delta Air Lines said yesterday it is cutting international capacity by an additional 10% beginning in September, with transatlantic capacity down 11%-13% year-over-year through the 2009-10 winter schedule and transpacific capacity 12%-14% lower. In a memo to employees, CEO Richard Anderson and President and CFO Ed Bastian said the move is in response to "the worsening global economy," adding, "To achieve these capacity changes, we will exit low-performing markets, down-gauge certain routes, adjust frequencies and move some markets to seasonal service."
Southwest Airlines suffered a 7% year-over-year decline in unit revenue during the first week of March, which followed a 2% fall through the first two months of this year ( ATWOnline, March 4), Chairman, President and CEO Gary Kelly said yesterday at the JP Morgan Aviation and Transportation Conference in New York. "I don't know that we've reached the bottom," he warned. SWA "had a quite satisfactory January revenue production. We saw things weaken sequentially in February," he said.
US Airways named Indigo Partners' Stephen Johnson as executive VP-corporate and general counsel. Austrian Airlines Group promoted GM-Americas Paul Paflik to VP-ground operations effective July 1.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson said that despite an "uncertain and unstable" credit market, sufficient financing is available to back all aircraft deliveries through early 2010. "We believe that every aircraft scheduled to be delivered this year will be delivered," Carson said yesterday at the JP Morgan Aviation and Transportation Conference in New York, available via webcast. Boeing has made $1 billion available for financing, but only a "minimal" portion will be needed this year, he said.
American Airlines' booked load factors over the next four months are running 2.5 points behind last year's pace, Executive VP-Finance and Planning and CFO Tom Horton said yesterday at the JP Morgan Aviation and Transportation Conference in New York. International loads are down 4.5 points and domestic have fallen 2 points. "We're seeing some improvement from what we were looking at in January, but some is being driven by yields coming down from their highs in the fourth quarter," he said.
American Airlines on Sunday operated the first revenue flight with an Aviation Partners Boeing blended winglet-equipped 767-300ER. AA Flight 78 left Dallas/Fort Worth Sunday evening and arrived at London Heathrow yesterday morning. AA plans to install winglets on each of its 58 -300ERs by 2011 and expects to save up to 500,000 gal. of fuel per aircraft each year, depending in mileage. Winglets were installed at AA's Kansas City maintenance base. The airline's 124 757s and 77 737s already fly with winglets.
Aerolift Il-76 freighter en route from Entebbe to Mogadishu crashed in Lake Victoria shortly after takeoff yesterday and none of the four crew or seven passengers are believed to have survived. The aircraft was chartered by Dynacorp to ferry equipment and peacekeepers for the African Union mission in Somalia. It marked the second fatal Aerolift accident in fewer than three weeks as it followed the Feb. 20 crash of an An-12 freighter on takeoff after a refueling stop in Luxor ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23).
China Eastern Airlines is considering joining a global airline alliance in an effort to improve its financial performance, according to Chairman Liu Shaoyong, who told reporters in Beijing that the Shanghai-based carrier is scheduled to evaluate the three global alliances in June in order to find the most "suitable" fit.
AirTran Airways said yesterday that it expects to return to the black in the current quarter and post a full-year profit. The carrier reported a $273.8 million full-year loss for 2008 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 29), but in materials presented at a Raymond James conference in Orlando it said it will be the "leading beneficiary" from lower fuel costs in the US because fuel comprises 46% of its costs, which it said is the highest percentage in the US industry.
News from Travel Technology Update: After wrangling with the U.S. Department of Transportation, Spirit Airlines last week reinstated a "Passenger Usage Fee" of $4.90 each way. Spirit began charging the fee last summer, along with a $2.50 "natural occurrence interruption fee" and an $8.50 "international service recovery fee." A natural occurrence is more commonly known as "weather." The recovery fee aimed to offset the costs of doing business with international destinations.
MexicanaClick, Mexicana's low-cost/regional subsidiary, will lease 25 717-200s from Boeing Capital Corp. Delivery will begin this month and aircraft will replace Click's F100s. The 717s will seat 20 in business class and 84 in economy. Contract includes provision of training for flight crew, cabin staff and maintenance technicians, as well as spare parts, by Boeing's Commercial Aviation Services division.
Delta Air Lines and Midwest Airlines forged an alliance that will include codeshare flights, linked loyalty programs, joint marketing efforts and expanded access to airport lounges across North America. Agreement announced yesterday is an extension of an existing deal between Midwest and DL subsidiary Northwest Airlines. The codeshare arrangement between Midwest and DL takes effect in June, with the loyalty program link to follow.
Gol said yesterday that it will take a "disciplined" approach to capacity in 2009, reducing overall full-year capacity by 1% year-over-year comprising a 25% cut in international ASKs and 5% growth in the domestic market.
Air Canada and Jazz flew a combined 3.41 billion RPMs in February, a 10.5% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 11% to 4.28 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.4 point to 79.6%. EasyJet transported 3 million passengers in February, down 6.8% year-over-year. Load factor rose 2.4 points to 87%. Air Berlin said February unit revenue rose 12% year-over-year to €5.28 cents (6.68 cents). Passenger numbers declined 8.5% to 1.9 million on a 6.3% cut in capacity. Load factor fell 1.7 points to 72.5%.
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary late last week continued to insist he was serious about charging for onboard lavatory use but issued a rare mea culpa regarding the LCC's investment in rival Aer Lingus. Many observers believe that the outspoken O'Leary merely was stirring the pot when he suggested charging £1 ($1.41) to use the bathroom inflight ( ATWOnline, March 2), but in a press briefing on March 5 he claimed he already has been in touch with Boeing about modifying the lavatory doors on Ryanair's 737s.
Air France KLM flew 14.04 billion RPKs in February, down 6% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 4.5% to 18.92 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 1.2 points to 74.3%. Delta Air Lines flew 7.69 billion RPMs in February, down 9.2% year-over-year. Capacity fell 6.2% to 10.61 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 2.4 points to 72.5%. Northwest Airlines flew 5.14 billion RPMs in February, a 13.6% decline year-over-year, against a 10.2% fall in ASMs to 6.66 billion. Load factor dropped 3 points to 77.2%.
Lufthansa Cargo said Friday that it will ground two MD-11 freighters based at Leipzig/Halle and park two more aircraft at Frankfurt. The FRA pair will not fly but will be maintained so that they may resume operations immediately if demand dictates. "This reduction equals about 20% of the total capacity of our 19 MD-11F strong fleet. We transferred the [two] aircraft to Leipzig because we got a good offer from the airport [for long-term parking]," an LH spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline.
Frontier Airlines Holdings announced a firm commitment for $40 million in post-petition debtor-in-possession financing from Republic Airways Holdings, subject to bankruptcy court approval. The new facility refinances an existing loan scheduled to mature in April and increases available financing, Frontier President and CEO Sean Menke said. Frontier hopes to exit bankruptcy protection this year.
Air Astana carried 2.3 million passengers in 2008, up 8% on the prior year, at a 64% load factor. Capacity rose 16% to 7.5 billion ASKs, the Kazakh flag carrier said. It took delivery of three A320 family aircraft last year, bringing its fleet to 21 planes. It confirmed orders for an additional six A320s and plans to be operating 34 aircraft by 2015. It currently flies two 767s, four 757s, one A319, two A321s, seven A320s and five F50s to 25 domestic and 21 international destinations.
US FAA Acting Administrator Lynne Osmus yesterday formally named Peggy Gilligan associate administrator-aviation safety, replacing the retired Nicholas Sabatini. Gilligan previously served as deputy assistant administrator-aviation safety. John Hickey, director of FAA's Aircraft Certification Service, will replace Gilligan. He in turn will be replaced by Dorenda Baker, formerly deputy director-Aircraft Certification Service.
