Southwest Airlines has committed to growth in 2010, according to a copy of its tentative contract with the Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn. ( ATWOnline, March 30) obtained by The Dallas Morning News.
Avianca reported a $23 million profit in 2008, down from $222.4 million in 2007, a drop it attributed partly to early pension payments. Revenue rose 25.3% to $1.9 billion on a 2.4% climb in passenger numbers to 9.8 million.
Blue Wings ceased operations yesterday following suspension of its operating license by the German LBA, which had changed the Dusseldorf-based carrier's operating status to provisional in January. Blue Wings launched in 2003 and flew mainly for German tour operators with nine A320s but has faced significant financial difficulties recently. It had an additional 20 A320s on order ( ATWOnline, Oct. 18, 2006). It transported 1.1 million passengers last year and employs 400.
TAM sank to a BRL1.34 billion ($577.4 million) loss in 2008, a reversal from the BRL468.6 million profit the Brazilian carrier earned in 2007, as its fuel hedges and the depreciation of the real eclipsed operational improvements.
Reeling from a C$1.03 billion ($824.3 million) loss in 2008 and facing worker discontent over a growing pension shortfall and the pending dissolution of parent company ACE Aviation Holdings, Air Canada yesterday announced a front office restructuring and the resignation of President and CEO Montie Brewer effective today. He will be succeeded by Calin Rovinescu, who was an AC executive from 2000 to 2004 before joining Genuity Capital Markets, a Canadian investment bank.
Nav Canada said it reached a tentative collective agreement with the Canadian Auto Workers/Canadian Air Traffic Control Assn. Agreement is subject to ratification. Terms were not released.
Usablenet, a mobile-Web platform, launched mobile browser service for Emirates' and British Airways' websites, allowing travelers to access them from phones or PDAs.
East Star Airlines will go bankrupt because of its inability to pay off its debts, according to the Wuhan municipal government. East Star's six debtors reportedly have asked the local court to liquidate the carrier, which suffered a CNY500 million ($73.1 million) operating loss last year. It is in arrears with both GECAS and Wuhan Tianhe International Airport and also is behind on its fuel and insurance payments ( ATWOnline, March 25).
Nordam Group's interiors and structures division delivered bar structures for Air New Zealand's 777-200s and V Australia's 777-300s. Nordam was awarded the ANZ bar project by Altitude, ANZ's aircraft interiors business, in December covering eight aircraft. Two delivered in February, four are scheduled to deliver this month, with the last in April. Additionally, Nordam said it was awarded a contract from Altitude for 20 shipsets that represents the first program award directly to the OEM.
41st Parameter said US Airways selected its FraudNet solution to detect and prevent "card not present" fraud across multiple reservation channels and to protect its loyalty program accounts from compromise and fraudulent access. Solution uses PC fingerprinting technology.
Air Berlin yesterday reported a €75 million ($99.6 million) loss for 2008, reversed from a €21 million surplus the prior year, but buttressed its long-term future with the sale of a 15.3% stake to Turkey's ESAS Holding and a share swap with TUI Travel's TUIfly.
Aeroflot officially dismissed CEO Valery Okulov last week and replaced him with Vitaly Savelyev, a VP at Russian conglomerate Sistema who reportedly has no previous aviation experience. The Moscow Times reported that SU minority investor Alexander Lebedev (through his National Reserve Corp.) withdrew his support of Okulov, paving the way for his ouster ( ATWOnline, March 24).
Qantas domestic flights were halted for 4 hr. yesterday during a wildcat strike by the airline's baggage handlers. The action affected some 400 flights and about 50,000 travelers. The Transport Workers Union was protesting Jetstar Airways' decision to take its ground handling contract away from Qantas Airport Services and award it to independent, and cheaper, Aero-care. TWU officials initially claimed Aero-care's workers lacked security clearance but later changed the focus of the dispute to job security.
American Eagle will furlough 75 pilots and eliminate 45 management positions in line with planned schedule reductions, the company confirmed to ATWOnline yesterday. The pilot reductions will take place in two stages, with the first 35 on May 1 and the remaining 40 on June 1. The management positions will be eliminated over the next few months and are in addition to the 30 layoffs previously announced for 2009.
Norwegian said February yield rose an estimated 8% year-over-year to NOK0.64 (9.64 cents) in February. It flew 528 million RPKs, up 14%, against a 15% increase in capacity to 679 million ASKs. Load factor was level at 78%. Vueling Airlines flew 306 million RPKs in February, down 24.3% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 27% to 457 million ASKs and load factor rose 2.4 points to 67%.
Air France will launch twice-daily London City-Nantes flights April 27 aboard F50s. Finnair will operate four-times-weekly Helsinki-Ljubljana seasonal service March 29-Oct. 23. Separately, it took delivery of its first of eight A330-300s. El Al will start six-times-weekly Tel Aviv-London Luton 767 flights on May 3. Lufthansa Cargo today will launch new weekly MD-11F Frankfurt-Hanoi service. It also will add a weekly Frankfurt-Hyderabad freighter flight on April 6.
Southwest Airlines Pilots Assn. Friday endorsed the tentative five-year deal reached with SWA management earlier this year ( ATWOnline, Feb. 2) and sent the agreement to its more than 5,900 members for a ratification vote. "We believe this contract addresses the needs of our pilot group," SWAPA President Carl Kuwitzky said.
SAS took delivery of its first of 12 88-seat CRJ900s last week. All aircraft should be delivered by January 2010. The carrier also holds options for another 17. It told reporters in Copenhagen that talks to turn the options into firm orders will be held in September for possible deliveries starting in 2010. The 12 CRJ900s a part of a settlement with Bombardier and Goodrich over the Q400 landing gear incidents that led the airline to retire its 27 Q400s in October 2007 and have forced it to wet-lease aircraft to fill the gap.
Emirates said it will introduce an A380 on its Dubai routes to Bangkok (daily) and Toronto (thrice-weekly) on June 1. The aircraft will provide a capacity increase of about 30% on each route.
Air France KLM said last week that it likely will report a €200 million ($271.4 million) operating loss for its fiscal year ending March 31 and stated that its focus for the year beginning April 1 is "to limit our operating loss."
Australian government will conduct an inquiry into security at the nation's airports amid allegations that it is well below recommended standards. Federal Home Affairs Minister Bob Debus said the inquiry will be independent of the Australian Federal Police, who are responsible for airport security, and initially will focus on the events surrounding the brutal killing of a man at Sydney Airport on March 22 in what appears to have been part of a feud between two biker gangs.
Virgin Blue grounded five 180-seat 737s and cancelled 28 daily flights from its schedule of 300. The moves affect 400 workers, who will be offered leave without pay, job sharing and shorter hour options. The Australian airline emphasized that it has not withdrawn from any destinations but only consolidated flights. CEO Brett Godfrey said in a statement that the reductions are a prudent interim capacity management plan necessitated by the continued and forecast deterioration in domestic demand.
The primary initiatives of "Core SAS," the restructuring plan unveiled last month to transform the airline following a heavy 2008 loss, should be completed by the end of April, SAS officials told ATWOnline this week in Copenhagen.
