Lufthansa, including its Swiss International Air Lines subsidiary, has become continental Europe's biggest North Atlantic carrier despite its reluctance to take quick advantage of open skies, flying 22 nonstop routes between Germany/Switzerland and North America.
British Airways is retreating from its position that BAA should be broken up ( ATWOnline, March 12), according to a letter the carrier sent to the UK Competition Commission that was obtained by The Independent. BA wrote that it now is "concerned that ownership separation may prove counterproductive in so far as it diverts BAA management attention away from expansion of runway capacity or creates uncertainty around the status of government policy, thereby jeopardizing construction of a new runway at Heathrow.
Etihad Airways increased passengers during the first half of 2008 by 41% year-over-year to 2.8 million and said it remains on track to carry 6 million for the full year. Load factor averaged 73%, up 9 points. Its Crystal Cargo division transported more than 127,000 shipments in the first half, up 22%.
Jet Airways said it has gained approval from India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation to serve as the Type Rating Training Organization for its Type Rating Training School, which will enable it to "induct pilots in smaller batches at regular intervals in order to optimize the usage of simulator as well as ground school training facilities. . .[leading to] faster, more-efficient induction of pilots into its workforce to fly its growing fleet."
Alitalia is facing its "last chance" for survival and needs a "complete break" from its past, Chairman Aristide Police told shareholders at the ailing flag carrier's annual meeting last week. "We are facing the last chance and we cannot risk missing it," he said. "We will certainly need to follow new paths which will represent a complete break with the past, abandoning quickly what is unjustifiable and inadequate."
Frontier Airlines promoted Senior VP-Finance Edward Christie III to senior VP and CFO. He joined Frontier in 2002. Swissport International appointed John Batten executive VP-cargo.
Qantas Group unveiled an overhauled Qantas Frequent Flyer program, offering its more than 5 million members the option of using points to book any seat on any Qantas or Jetstar Airways flight. Qantas Frequent Flyer CEO Simon Hickey said the enhanced program combines a range of new and expanded benefits with the more traditional fixed points redemption option that has been available for many years.
ABX Air welcomed Mike Gerdes as VP-flight operations. AeroInfo Systems tapped Kenneth J. Goosen as president. AirBridgeCargo Airlines appointed Ludwig Hamburger regional dir.-Europe, Middle East & Africa. AirTran Airways announced that Bob Fornaro has become chairman, succeeding Joe Leonard, who is retiring. Fornaro remains president & CEO as well. Arne G. Haak was elevated to senior VP-finance, treasurer & CFO. Alteon promoted Allen Thompason to chief pilot & VP-flight operations.
Alaska Airlines, in an effort to conserve fuel and reduce carbon emissions, has implemented mobile ground-based air units for cabin venting, cooling and heating on parked aircraft at 19 gates at Seattle-Tacoma International. It also retrofitted its 737s with blended winglets manufactured by Aviation Partners Boeing.
S7 Airlines announced the issuance of RUB2.3 billion ($98.2 million) in debentures scheduled to mature five years from the date of issue. Alpha Bank is lead manager. S7 said the issue is designed to "refinance the debt portfolio."
MAIR Holdings, which shut down its Big Sky Airlines subsidiary in March ( ATWOnline, Feb. 12), said shareholders last week approved the dissolution and liquidation of the parent company. Yesterday it filed a notice to delist its stock from NASDAQ, with the last day of trading scheduled for July 7.
Helvetic Airways, based in Zurich, will stop operating all scheduled flights at the end of October owing to high fuel prices and instead will use its four F100s on ACMI and charter flights. Three of its aircraft already are on wet-lease with Swiss International Air Lines. Helvetic's scheduled routes to Brindisi, Catania, Lamezia Terme, Palermo and Jerez de la Frontera will be closed this fall. It said all 125 employees will remain on staff. It launched operations in 2002.
Horizon Air said it will increase the pace with which it will transition to an all-Q400 fleet and retire its remaining 12 Q200s by Oct. 28 rather than April 2009. It also will begin phasing out its CRJ700s in September ( ATWOnline, April 25). During the transition it is scheduled to take delivery of 14 more Q400s. It currently operates 34 and now expects to fly nothing but the turboprop by the end of 2009.
A fiscal second quarter during which it faced a legal challenge from Hawaiian Airlines, moved forward on the closure of its Air Midwest operation and received notification that Delta Air Lines would terminate its capacity purchase agreement still ended positively for Mesa Air Group, which reported a $9.4 million profit compared to a $24 million loss suffered in the three months ended March 31, 2007.
Natixis Transport Finance will provide pre-delivery payment loan financing to Norwegian for 10 737-800HGW aircraft scheduled for delivery between summer 2009 and spring 2011, the carrier announced. Norwegian placed an order for 42, plus 42 options, last year ( ATWOnline, Aug. 31, 2007).
China Eastern Airlines announced a CNY1.3 billion lease deal for three A340s with Industrial and Commercial Bank of China Financial Leasing Co. CEA plans to add 20-30 aircraft each year through 2013, increasing capacity by 12% annually. It currently operates 220 aircraft. CEA MD Cao Jianxiong said the leases will help with the carrier's cash flow problem.
Sterling Airlines no longer will staff bases permanently at Aalborg, Billund, Malmo and Gothenburg Landvetter from Jan. 1 and will focus on its operations at Copenhagen, Stockholm Arlanda and Oslo Gardermoen, the LCC announced yesterday.
Struggling Wuhan-based East Star Airlines, which claimed it is in "financial crisis," last week was dealt a further blow by CAAC, which decided to suspend its right to fly to Guangzhou and Shenzhen from July 7. This makes the second time ESA has faced such a sanction. Flights to Shanghai were suspended by the regulator last month owing to the airline's inability to submit its "air transport funds" to CAAC in time.
Delta Air Lines will add fuel surcharges to SkyMiles award tickets effective Aug. 15 amounting to $25 on flights within the US and between the US and Canada and $50 on flights from the US and Canada to all international destinations. DL called it a "difficult but essential decision in the face of record-high fuel costs" and said it "hope[d] this is temporary."
Air France KLM flew 17.83 billion RPKs in May, up 6% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.8% to 22.48 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.2 point to 79.3%. Iberia flew 4.52 billion RPKs in May, up 6% year-over-year, against a 3.2% increase in ASKs to 5.68 billion. Load factor rose 2.1 points to 79.5%. Air Canada and Jazz flew 4.31 billion combined RPMs in May, up 4.5% year-over-year. Capacity rose 4% to 5.17 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.3 point to 83.2%.
Icelandair will cut 20% of its workforce of 1,230 employees as a result of financial pressures brought on by rising fuel prices, it announced last week. The reduction of approximately 240 staff will occur in the fall. The airline also will reduce its winter flying schedule by 14% and suspend service during the winter to Berlin Tegel, Toronto and Minneapolis/St. Paul from Keflavik. Service to Paris Charles de Gaulle will be reduced while flights to New York JFK will increase.
Malaysia Airlines is prepared to "take the lead" in increasing fuel surcharges and perhaps raising fares by as much as 50% in order to negotiate a "frightening" economic environment, MD and CEO Idris Jala wrote in an open letter last week. "Change, and I mean drastic change, is absolutely vital for our survival. That, and a willingness to reinvent the way we operate, including through mergers and acquisitions," Jala said.
Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines pilots, whose leaders reached a tentative agreement on a joint contract last week with DL management ( ATWOnline, June 25), will enter into a period of "good faith" negotiations over details of seniority list integration and agreed to enter into binding arbitration by year end if differences still remain.
Survey of International Air Travelers, which has been conducted on international flights and at airport gates by the US Dept. of Commerce on a monthly basis for 25 years, is taking steps toward automating the process, and airlines can benefit from the move by placing a link on their websites that will appear when a passenger completes an international booking to or from the US. The link will take the passenger to a web portal set up by DOC's Office of Travel & Tourism Industries to conduct the surveys and collect the data.
