Jet Airways and Kingfisher Airlines, India's two largest private carriers, yesterday announced the formation of an "alliance" that will include codesharing on both domestic and international flights and a wide-ranging pooling of resources.
Airstream International Group announced the lease of four ERJ-145s to regional startup Athens Airways. Aircraft currently are operated by Flybe and will be delivered to Athens starting next month. Airline is scheduled to begin flying next April to "most of the basic regional Greek destinations," Airstream said.
Iberia flew 4.43 billion RPKs in September, down 6.3% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.4% to 5.5 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 4.2 points to 80.6%. TAM flew 1.91 billion domestic RPKs in September, up 15% year-over-year, against a 17.5% increase in ASKs to 2.95 billion. Load factor fell 1.4 points to 64.6%. International RPKs jumped 41.5% to 1.33 billion, capacity rose 25.4% to 1.66 billion ASKs and load factor was up 9.2 points to 80.4%.
Australian investigators said there is no evidence linking the use of mobile telephones or laptops with last week's Qantas A330-300 inflight incident that injured more than 70 people ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9) as has been speculated. The aircraft remains grounded at Learmonth while Australian and French investigators, Airbus and QF staff examine its computers.
Continental Airlines' third-quarter result, scheduled to be released Thursday, will include $91 million in special charges, it said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
Alitalia investor group CAI will delay its formal offer to the airline's administrator by two weeks to Oct. 28, when it will hold a shareholder meeting to approve a charter and capital increase, Agence France Presse reported ( ATWOnline, Oct. 3).
Investigators probing the Aug. 20 Spanair MD-82 crash concluded that the aircraft's flaps were not extended as it attempted to take off and that no warning was sounded in the cockpit.
US Dept. of Transportation announced expanded aviation agreements with Vietnam and Armenia. Vietnam deal affects all-cargo carriers, removing route restrictions and allowing US airlines to carry freight between Vietnam and third countries without stopping in the US. Further liberalization, including on passenger flights, will be discussed at meetings to be held by October 2010. Deal with Armenia is a full open skies accord.
Turkish Airlines released a statement Friday saying it has not received "any notice" regarding its bid for B&H Airlines. A Bosnian government official told media last week that THY had won the tender ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9). "If such notice is received we will inform the public accordingly," THY said.
Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes on Friday announced the formal integration of Gol and VRG (once again called Varig) into a single airline company and from Oct. 19 will launch a new route network in which Gol will focus on shorter routes and Varig will operate longer-haul flights.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, said last week that full-year 2008 pre-tax operating profit will "exceed $65 million," a downgrade from previous guidance of "approximately $85 million." President and CEO William Flynn cited "lower utilization of our 747-200 aircraft and weaker yields [owing to a weak economy] having a negative impact."
Republic Airways Holdings is considering a move into the Hawaii inter-island market to operate 70-seat E-170s in partnership with Mokulele Airlines. An internal memo dated Oct. 1 and obtained by The Honolulu Advertiser said Republic subsidiary Shuttle America "has a potential opportunity for a new codeshare agreement with additional flying beginning on or before Nov. 15, 2008. . .
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh said competing with Lufthansa and Air France KLM for a minority stake in Alitalia "is certainly possible if the CAI investor group restructuring really succeeds," Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported ( ATWOnline, Sept. 30). He also reiterated that BA still is "observing the development of bmi very carefully and we are interested in any acquisition that strengthens our position at Heathrow" ( ATWOnline, Feb. 7).
US FAA tentatively determined that Los Angeles International may have acted illegally in providing more than $40 million to the city's convention and visitors bureau, L.A. Inc., the Los Angeles Times reported. Funds were given to the tourism promotional office over a period dating back to 2002. US law allows advertising or marketing efforts aimed at increasing travel at a particular airport but forbids spending on general promotion of local tourist attractions. FAA could require that the money be returned or could seek civil penalties of up to $50,000 from LAX.
AirAsia majority shareholder Tune Air, which holds 30.9% of the LCC, said in a statement to Bursa Malaysia that it is "considering" privatizing the airline at an indicative price of approximately MYR1.35 ($0.39) per share, according to press reports. AirAsia has 2.36 billion shares outstanding, according to its website. Separately, the carrier this week retired the final 737-300 used on its Malaysian network. It now operates A320s on those routes. The company has 175 firm A320s on order plus 50 options and currently operates 42 in Malaysia, seven in Thailand and one in Indonesia.
SEPLA, representing Iberia pilots, and the British Airline Pilots Assn., representing British Airways pilots, said yesterday at a joint news conference in Madrid that they support a BA/IB merger. Union leaders said the combination would generate more than $560 million in combined cost savings and revenue enhancements annually. Last month the respective unions signed a bilateral agreement in anticipation of the proposed merger in which they pledged to work together.
Air France will abandon its daily London Heathrow-Los Angeles International service launched when the EU-US open skies agreement came into force on March 30 and opened LHR to flights to/from the US to all EU and US carriers.
Network carriers based in the US that cut fall and winter capacity as a result of soaring fuel prices may have insulated themselves somewhat from the steepening global economic downturn, United Airlines Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton told ATWOnline.
Lufthansa Flight Training announced the opening of its Munich training center. Expected to have a staff of 24, the facility initially will accommodate E-190, A320 and A330/A340 simulators. CAE said it will add a CRJ200 FFS to support the CRJ200/900 FFS currently installed at its Madrid training center. Simulator is slated to enter service early next year.
Virgin Atlantic Airways posted a pre-tax profit of £72 million ($125.9 million) in the fiscal first half ended Aug. 31, up 67.4% from the £43 million reported in the year-ago semester. Revenue climbed 15% to £1.37 billion and passenger numbers were up 3% to 3 million. Premium traffic rose 6% year-over-year. Separately, VS this week launched a website "showing why passengers will lose out" if antitrust immunity for American Airlines, British Airways and Iberia is approved ( ATWOnline, Sept. 15).
Turkish Airlines won the tender to acquire a 49% stake in B&H Airlines ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5), a Bosnian government official told Reuters in Sarajevo. "After the evaluation of all bids, we found the offer of Turkish Airlines by far the best," the unnamed official told the news service. Comintel Corp. of Malyasia and a Jordanian consortium including Royal Jordanian were among THY's competitors.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.71 billion system RPMs in September, down 0.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 3.7% to 12.14 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.4 points to 80%. Etihad Airways transported 4.4 million passengers through the first nine months of 2008, up 33.3% year-over-year. Overall load factor rose 7 points to 75% while business class loads climbed at the same rate to 63%. It launched routes to four new destinations this year and will add two more, Moscow Domodedovo and Almaty, in December. It said it is "set to exceed" its full-year target of 6 million passengers.
Star Alliance returned to Latin America yesterday, formally inviting Brazil's TAM to be its 24th member, and said it will look to increase its presence further in the region next year.
