Boeing Commercial Airplanes will cut some 4,500 positions from its payroll this year in "an effort to ensure competitiveness and control costs in the face of a weakening global economy," it said Friday.
SkyWest Inc. reached an agreement with Delta Air Lines for subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines to operate 10 CRJ900s on Delta Connection service starting later this year. The aircraft were ordered by DL and will be contracted to ASA, the principal Delta Connection carrier at DL's Atlanta hub. ASA currently operates 110 CRJ200s and 39 CRJ700s. Separately, ASA announced Friday that 80 pilots will be furloughed effective Feb. 9. "We do everything we can not to have to do that. It's a last resort option for us," a spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Disgruntled with what it believes is an overcrowded low-cost airline terminal at Kuala Lumpur International, AirAsia revealed plans to shift its operation to its own new airport just 30 min. outside the capital.
Oneworld announced the following London Heathrow relocations: Finnair will transfer to Terminal 3 from T1 on Jan. 27; Iberia will switch to T3 from T2 on Feb. 25; British Airways will transfer remaining flights at T1 to T3 on Feb. 25. American Airlines, Cathay Pacific Airways, Japan Airlines and Royal Jordanian all are based in T3. Qantas will switch over from T4 later this year.
US National Transportation Safety Board in a preliminary report issued this week offered no scenarios to explain what factors may have caused a Continental Airlines 737-500 to depart the runway during takeoff on Dec. 20. The aircraft was destroyed when it veered from the left side of the runway on its takeoff roll, crashing into a ravine and catching fire, injuring 38 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7). NTSB said the runway "was bare and dry and free of debris." Winds of 24 kt. gusting to 32 kt.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.78 billion system RPMs in December, a 0.7% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2.4% to 12.2 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.4 points to 80.1%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.04 billion system RPMs in December, down 3.6% year-over-year, against a 4.5% decline in capacity to 7.38 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 0.7 point to 81.9%.
Vietnam Airlines reported a $14 million pre-tax profit in 2008, down 39% from the $23 million earned in 2007, according to a statement cited by Agence France Presse. GD Pham Ngoc Minh said the carrier "has never faced so many continuous challenges and disadvantages," even though full-year revenue climbed 22.8% to $1.56 billion. It transported 8.8 million passengers and load factor rose more than 1 point to approximately 76%.
Air Berlin's single largest shareholder, Dutch investment company AI Aviation Cooperatief, sold its 18.94% stake in the carrier, AB said yesterday. AI is a subsidiary of Access Industries, which is controlled by Len Blavatnik, a Russian/American investor. No details were released regarding the buyer. "We made this ad hoc announcement today. According to company law it is not possible to say more about the deal at the moment," an AB spokesperson told ATWOnline in Berlin.
Lufthansa confirmed yesterday that it did not make an offer for Alitalia, which Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi revealed Wednesday ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8). An LH spokesperson told both Germany's dpa news agency and Reuters that the airline preferred to cooperate with its Star Alliance partners in the Italian market. In November, LH announced the launch of an Italian subsidiary based at Milan Malpensa ( ATWOnline, Nov.
Mesa Air Group announced that shareholders approved an increase in the number of authorized shares of common stock to 900 million from 75 million and the issuance of shares to satisfy Mesa's potential obligation to repurchase outstanding senior convertible notes due in 2023 and 2024. "We appreciate our shareholders giving us this flexibility while we continue to discuss a number of options with our bondholders," Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said.
AAR named Dave Cann VP-regulatory compliance. He was head of US FAA's Flight Standards Service Aircraft Maintenance Division until his retirement one year ago.
US Airways confirmed yesterday that it will report a full-year loss, which was expected after it ended the third quarter $1.67 billion in the red. Its fourth-quarter result will be impacted by a $0.77-per-gal. loss on its fuel hedging contracts, which accounted for 60% of its mainline consumption. However, it expects to report a full-year gain of $0.12 per gal. In December the group flew 4.82 consolidated RPMs, down 0.9% from the year-ago month, against a 6.2% fall in capacity to 6.06 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 4.3 points to 79.6%.
Air France KLM appears to be on the verge of being named a minority partner in the reorganized Alitalia, beating out Lufthansa for the right to purchase a 20%-25% stake, according to widespread press reports from Italy. Investor group Compagnia Aerea Italia met with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday and "explained . . . their preference for Air France and were told there were no objections from the government," a CAI source told Reuters in Rome ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15, 2008).
Thai Airways will seek a delay in the delivery of six A330s scheduled to arrive between April and year end, having already received permission from Airbus to push back payments ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7). "We want to negotiate for more time before the delivery. The more months we can delay, the easier it is for us to manage our expenses," acting Chairman Surachai Thansitpong told Bloomberg News. Thai will continue to use aircraft that were scheduled to be replaced by the new A330s.
Cathay Pacific Airways said it expects to report a HK$7.6 billion ($980.2 million) unrealized mark-to-market loss on its fuel hedging contracts for 2008 and that its full-year financial result is "still expected to be disappointing." It issued a profit warning two months ago and said that "revenue has continued to weaken" since that time ( ATWOnline, Nov. 7, 2008).
Goodrich and Rolls-Royce completed formation of their 50/50 engine controls joint venture. Aero Engine Controls will supply controls for Rolls aircraft engines. Goodrich said it will retain the aftermarket products and services business associated with the JV's products and that as part of the transaction it received $100 million in cash, which was used to make a voluntary incremental contribution to its pension plan.
Continental Airlines 737-800 took off from Houston Intercontinental yesterday afternoon and flew for approximately 1 hr. 45 min. with the No. 2 CFM56-7B powered by a biofuel blend including algae oil supplied by Sapphire Energy and jatropha oil provided by Terasol Energy. The flight follows Air New Zealand's 747-400 test flight last week that featured one engine powered by a jatropha blend ( ATWOnline, Jan. 6). The CO aircraft burned 3,600 lb. of 50/50 mix of jet fuel and biofuel in one engine and 3,700 lb.
Ryanair and Aer Lingus both confirmed Tuesday talks, and while the former did not comment, EI released a statement yesterday saying the LCC's bid is "not capable of completion."
Austrian Airlines has found places in its network for two 767-300ERs made available through a reduction in service to Mumbai and Chicago O'Hare. One will operate on OS's daily Vienna-Tel Aviv service beginning this spring while the other will fly on its six-times-weekly VIE-Dubai service beginning March 1, increasing capacity on the route by 20%. Five additional flights to DXB are operated with A320s or 737-800s.
Wizz Air said it transported 5.9 million passengers in 2008, a 41% increase over 2007. It currently operates 20 A320s and plans to take delivery of seven this year. It is targeting more than 8 million passengers in 2009. Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.28 billion RPMs in December, down 6.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 9.9% to 4.56 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.9 points to 81.7%. EasyJet transported 3.1 million passengers in December, up 7.3% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 3.3 points to 82.3%.
British Airways soon will announce new restructuring measures designed to reduce costs and increase efficiency, it indicated in BA News, its in-house weekly newspaper. "Only through delivering fundamental change can we achieve the small profit we are targeting this year and emerge from the crisis as a strong global player," CFO Keith Williams said, warning that the shakeup will be "far-reaching, reshaping our company from top to bottom."
AerCap Holdings announced a facility agreement with Calyon SA and "other banks and financial institutions" outlining terms under which European export credit agencies Coface (France), ECGD (UK) and Euler-Hermes (Germany) may guarantee up to $1.4 billion in financing. AerCap said the figure "represents a significant portion" of the financing required for an A330 order scheduled for delivery in 2009-12. According to AerCap, the loans are to be provided by a syndicate of banks led by Calyon acting as Global Arranger "and are subject to customary ECA requirements."
