Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly conceded that there "was clearly a mistake with our regulatory compliance" when the carrier operated 46 737 Classics for nine days in March 2007 after it had disclosed to US FAA that the aircraft were in noncompliance with an agency airworthiness directive but insisted that "safety of flight" was not compromised.
TAP Portugal reported its "best year ever" in 2007 with a net profit of €32.8 million ($51.2 million) that represented a more-than-fourfold increase over the €7.3 million earned in 2006 as operating profit more than doubled to €79.3 million from €30.3 million a year earlier.
United Airlines grounded all 52 of its 777s after disclosing to US FAA that a review of its maintenance records revealed that required checks on cargo fire suppression systems were "not performed." UA cancelled an estimated 38 flights yesterday as it conducted the inspections. It said one of five bottles in the 777's cargo fire suppression systems had been overlooked during routine maintenance checks.
Delta Air Lines will terminate an agreement as of May 3 with Mesa Air Group subsidiary Freedom Airlines, which operates 34 ERJ-145s on behalf of Delta Connection, for failing to meet an agreed-upon completion rate.
Lufthansa Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber said the economic and industry downturn predicted by many, including IATA ( ATWOnline, April 2), likely will not have a significant effect on the German company. "Lufthansa started very well this year," he told ATWOnline this week in Istanbul. "We have invested carefully for the future." He said LH's flexibility will enable it to weather any crisis.
Amadeus Activities & Entertainment destination services platform was selected by Iberia. It will be integrated on IB's website and contain more than 7,000 bookable destination products at more than 400 destinations worldwide. It automatically displays content according to the destination and dates of the customer's booked flight segment.
Virgin Atlantic Airways reaffirmed its well-known interest in acquiring bmi and reportedly is seeking support from Lufthansa, which holds 30%-minus-one-share in bmi and an option to acquire Chairman Michael Bishop's 50%-plus-one-share stake by the end of June 2009, for the tie-up. "We are very interested in a merger with bmi," VS External Affairs and Route Development Director Barry Humphreys told Sueddeutsche Zeitung, noting LH could hold a stake in the new merged entity.
China Southern Airlines will sell and lease back five A321-200s in order to reduce its high debt ratio, it said in a filing with the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The aircraft are part of an order for 50 Airbus narrowbodies placed in summer 2006 ( ATWOnline, July 10, 2006). CZ said it will transfer ownership of three aircraft to China Aircraft Leasing Co. and two to Shenzhen Financial Leasing Co. Last year it struck a similar deal with the two lessors, selling two -200s to CALC and one to SFLC.
Etihad Airways carried 1.4 million passengers in the first quarter, up 40% year-over-year, leaving the carrier "confident" it will reach 6 million by year end. Load factor was 75%, up 7 points, and yield grew 25% to an undisclosed figure. Its summer flying program will increase 47% to 728 weekly flights. Continental Airlines' March consolidated and mainline RASM each rose an estimated 5.5%-6.5% year-over-year. CO flew 8.29 billion consolidated RPMs last month, up 4.3%, against a 4.6% increase in capacity to 10.07 billion ASMs. Load factor slipped 0.3 point to 82.3%.
GE Aviation won US FAA GEnx-1B engine authority for the 787 following a two-year ground and flight-test program involving eight engines and two flight-test programs. The GEnx-1B, now FAR 33 certified, ran 4,800 cycles and more than 3,600 hr.
Air France KLM extended the deadline to reach agreement with Alitalia's unions to today, AZ announced, noting that all parties including Fintecna and AZ Servizi agreed on the continuance. AF KLM initially set March 31 as the date by which the so-called effectiveness conditions of its binding offer for the failing carrier had to be fulfilled ( ATWOnline, April 1). It reportedly has agreed to further concessions in order to win trade union approval for the takeover.
EasyJet said it successfully completed the operational integration of GB Airways following the transition of 15 GB aircraft into its new EU-Ops Air Operators Certificate ( ATWOnline, Jan. 4). It is the first major airline to operate under the new European certificate.
NATS appointed Anne Lambert to the new role of director-government and European affairs. Bmibaby named IATA Head of Marketing and New Business Development Julian Carr as commercial director.
US Dept. of Homeland Security gave Maine until 5 p.m. today to agree to requirements of a federal law or face the prospect of the state's residents being unable to use their driver's licenses as valid identification at airports from May 11.
Turkish Airlines became the 20th member of Star Alliance in ceremonies in Istanbul yesterday, culminating a 16-month process that began in December 2006 when the airline signed a protocol agreement to join the grouping.
CONFIRMING THE LONG-PREDICTED leveling off of the aircraft re-equipment cycle, the 2008 Singapore Airshow (Feb. 19-24) lacked the feeding frenzy of new orders that has characterized the air show circuit since the current cycle began in 2005. In fact, the biggest surprise at the spanking new exhibition center came from the sidelines, not at one of the formal press conferences.
MATS JANSSON DID NOT GET A LOT OF TIME to grow comfortable in his new position as president and CEO of SAS Group. Like his predecessor, Joergen Lindegaard, he was presented with a crisis shortly after he came aboard. For Lindegaard, who took over in the spring of 2001, it was the Maersk price-fixing scandal and then, a few months later, far worse. Jansson's baptism by fire came four months into the job when Danish and Swedish cabin attendants walked out, costing the company an estimated SEK265 million ($43 million) in the 2007 second quarter.
On March 18, American Airlines experienced one of its most horrendous weather days ever at its principal hub, Dallas/Fort Worth. It canceled hundreds of flights. Yet by the next evening, its operations were largely back to normal. American's quick recovery from what could have been a headline-making nightmare was due in large part to new software developed by its operations research department.
ETIHAD AIRWAYS IS THE KIND OF Persian Gulf carrier that frustrates the chief executives of European legacy airlines: Determined to expand its global footprint through the aggressive use of sixth and seventh freedom rights, always in talks with Airbus or Boeing for a large aircraft order and controlled by a shareholder that is keen to put its home base on the world map--and has plenty of petrodollars to do so (ATW, 2/08, p. 80).
Air France Industries KLM Engineering & Maintenance named Pierre Teboul VP-sales. AJ Walter Aviation Singapore tapped Allan De Cruz as VP-sales-Asia region. Atlantic Southeast Airlines selected Terry Vais as VP-customer care and Kevin Wade as VP-administration & resources. BAA chose Colin Matthews as CEO. Bmi welcomed Marc Newell as western regional sales dir. and Scott Toelle as dir.-US key accounts. Boeing named Ralph "Skip" Boyce president-Boeing Southeast Asia.
THERE IS POSSIBLY NO MORE demanding yet resource-rich territory than the "outback" of Western Australia. With summer temperatures above 40 deg. C (104 deg. F) and rugged mountain ranges, it is a challenging environment for the airlines that service almost 50 towns and mine sites spread over an area about one-third the size of the continental US. But those challenges are the fuel that feeds the innovation and success of Perth-based Skywest Airlines, one of Australia's fastest-growing carriers.
V Australia, the long-haul international arm of Virgin Blue, announced yesterday that it will launch daily Sydney-Los Angeles on Dec. 15. It offered 1,000 fares at A$999 ($916) including taxes to celebrate the launch that were snapped up in minutes. Its standard economy return fare is A$1,899, which it claims is 16% lower than the current lowest available published fare. V Australia's 777-300ERs will be fitted with a three-class configuration including a business cabin with lie-flat seats. Premium economy will feature a 2-4-2 layout with 38-in.
FL Group has sold its entire stake in Finnair, the airline announced yesterday. It reduced its 24.4% stake to 12.7% in December ( ATWOnline, Dec. 20, 2007) and yesterday sold all of its remaining 16.3 million shares. Neither company revealed the buyer[s], but FL said the transaction was valued at ISK13.6 billion ($174.4 million).
Air France KLM and Alitalia unions will continue negotiations today after AZ Chairman Maurizio Prato gave both parties another 24 hr. to reach a basic accord, according to widespread press reports. Neither AF KLM nor the Italian carrier issued a formal statement yesterday as the deadline for reaching an agreement on the so-called effectiveness clauses for a possible tie-up expired. AF KLM previously had indicated a willingness to continue negotiating beyond the deadline ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Austrian Airlines will add three new destinations to its network this month as part of its Focus East strategy, which it credits with helping its return to profitability in 2007 ( ATWOnline, March 14). The cities, Sochi and Nizhniy Novgorod in Russia and Baia Mare in Romania, bring to 48 the number of destinations in Central and Eastern Europe and the CIS served from Vienna. But OS still sees plenty of opportunity for growth, Executive VP Rudolf Mertl told journalists assembled in Vienna yesterday.
