Lufthansa Systems said it will provide a package of aeronautical IT solutions to Meridiana under a five-year contract that also covers Eurofly. Solutions include Lido RouteManual navigation charts, the Lido FMS navigational database and the Lido OC flight planning solution.
ILFC said in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it needs to find secured financing to continue meeting its obligations through the spring. The lessor is hampered by its parent company, American International Group, which was bailed out by the US government last year and had its credit rating downgraded. ILFC's access to credit has been curtailed and it now needs more money from AIG via the US government or funds from an outside lender.
Air France KLM yesterday announced that it completed the acquisition of a 25% stake in Alitalia through a reserved share subscription worth approximately €323 million ($439.1 million). Its partnership with the restructured Italian carrier was announced in January but required approval from competition authorities ( ATWOnline, Jan. 13). At that time, AZ said AF KLM would be entitled to nominate three of the 19 members of the board and two members of the executive committee.
Turkish Airlines informed the Istanbul stock exchange yesterday that it will purchase five 777-300s. In a statement on its website, the carrier said the aircraft will "be delivered each month starting October 2010 until February 2011." It currently operates three leased 777-300s and has been hinting that it is on the verge of making a big long-haul order ( ATWOnline, Jan. 14).
Mesa Air Group, which ended its codeshare agreement with Mokulele Airlines earlier this week, forged a new agreement with another Hawaiian carrier, Island Air. Mesa subsidiary go! yesterday began marketing services by Island Air, which operates a fleet of 37-seat Dash 8s between Honolulu and Molokai, Lanai, Maui (Kapalua and Kahului), Kauai (Lihue) and the "Big Island" of Hawaii (Kona and Hilo).
El Al posted a 2008 net loss of $38.8 million, reversed from a $44.8 million profit in 2007, citing fuel expenses. The Israeli airline said high fuel prices in the first half of the year, followed by hedging charges in the second half when the price of oil dropped, led to a 45% year-over-year increase in fuel costs to $771.2 million. But President Haim Romano said the carrier "recorded a drop in most expense items aside from fuel" and has focused on "becoming more efficient."
In the biggest management shakeup in its history, Qantas eliminated 90 senior management positions to cut costs and streamline the airline as analysts warned that further layoffs and aircraft deferrals are inevitable. CEO Alan Joyce would not rule out the option. "It is certainly a lever we may have to use," he conceded to ATWOnline yesterday.
CAAC put an A320 full flight simulator into service at its Hua-Ou Aviation Training Center, the facility's third FFS. The Thales simulator will increase Hua-Ou's training capacity by more than 25%, it said.
B/E Aerospace received an FAA STC for installation of its Overhead Flight Crew Rest on British Airways' 777-200ERs, replacing the B/E Aerospace Overhead Attendants Rest. The OFCR order is valued at $15 million.
FedEx said that it will cancel 15 firm orders for 777Fs if a proposed US House of Representatives bill that calls for the delivery giant to be governed by the National Labor Relations Act rather than the Railway Labor Act becomes law.
Shanghai Airlines reported a 2008 net loss of CNY1.25 billion ($182.8 million), nearly tripling a net deficit of CNY435.12 million in 2007, on an 8.6% lift in revenue to CNY13.37 billion.
Frontier Airlines Holdings, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, posted a $3.2 million net loss and a $1.5 million operating profit in February, numbers it said bode well for its effort to secure financing to exit Chapter 11.
US Regional airlines enjoyed robust growth and financial returns over the past several years when mainline partners reduced capacity and outsourced flying, but those days may be coming to an end, Delta Connection Senior VP Don Bornhorst told ATWOnline. "In the old days, capacity pulldowns meant more flying for the regionals," he said, but prospects for regional airline growth are limited this year as capacity cutbacks by mainline carriers likely will be "mirrored" by their regional partners.
UK Secretary for Transport Geoff Hoon said the government would be "completely at ease" if the merged British Airways and Iberia chose to locate their headquarters in Spain, The Times reported ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3).
Eurocontrol said the number of flights in Europe this year will decrease 8.1%-1.4% from 2008, with a "most likely case" of 4.9%, and demand is not expected to recover this year. It said drops will occur across all sectors of the industry, including low-cost airlines, which operated 5% fewer flights last month than in February 2008.
Air China parent CNAC intends to move forward with its acquisition of a stake in East Star Airlines despite the Wuhan-based carrier's "strong opposition" to its "forceful purchase."
Alaska Airlines flew 1.27 billion RPMs in February, down 10.2% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 10.5% to 1.73 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.2 point to 73.5%. Allegiant Air flew 351.2 million RPMs in February, a 6.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.9% to 401.6 million ASMs and load factor climbed 3.5 points to 87.4%. Copa Airlines flew 485.6 million RPMs in February, up 9.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 15.7% to 627.2 million ASMs and load factor fell 4.1 points to 77.4%.
SR Technics and Air India announced that their existing maintenance contract covering Air India Express's CFM56-7B engines will expand to include CFM56-5Bs on AI's fleet of 27 A320 family aircraft (planned to increase to 43 by 2010). Extended contract will expire in May 2010 and contains an extension clause for an additional two years. Services will be performed at SR Technics' engine services center in Zurich.
US Airways expects to generate $400-$500 million this year in ancillary revenue, according to President Scott Kirby. Speaking yesterday at the airline's media day in Phoenix, Kirby said that after initial negative reaction, there has been "very little consumer pushback" to the new fees. Ancillary revenue contributed $165 million to US last year, with $116.5 million coming from the first-bag fee, $37.6 million from the second-bag fee, $5.3 million from the Choice Seats program and $5.7 million from increased beverage fees.
Greek government signed an agreement to sell Olympic Airlines' flight, maintenance and ground handling divisions to Marfin Investment Group, which should take over the carrier in October if the deal is approved by the country's parliament ( ATWOnline, March 11). It is worth a reported €177.2 million ($241.5 million). The new OA will employ some 4,000 workers, about half the current total.
Delta Air Lines and V Australia signed an interline agreement covering each carrier's transpacific flights and remaining networks. DL's Los Angeles-Sydney service begins July 1. V Australia signed an interline agreement with Northwest Airlines, now a DL subsidiary, last year ( ATWOnline, April 1, 2008).
A FedEx MD-11 en route from Guangzhou to Tokyo Narita crashed yesterday on landing in high winds, cartwheeling on the runway and catching fire, killing the two pilots. Video of the crash shows the aircraft landing hard, lifting back into the air briefly and then bouncing on its front and then rear ends. The left wing hit the runway, starting a fire as the MD-11 rolled. The crash occurred at 6:50 a.m. and closed the longer of NRT's two runways, forcing Japan Airlines and ANA to cancel at least 40 flights combined.
GE Aviation said it completed its acquisition of Airfoil Technologies International-Singapore with the purchase of Teleflex's 51% stake for $300 million. ATI-Singapore employs some 535 and repairs more than 2 million compressor airfoils per year, GE said.
