Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines pilot groups resumed meetings on a proposed merger after a break of nearly two weeks, The Detroit News reported. The airlines last month briefed their pilot groups on details of a potential merger, but leaders of the two carriers' pilots, all of whom are represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., reached an impasse over combining seniority lists ( ATWOnline, Feb. 29). NWA and DL appear reluctant to move forward with a merger agreement absent the support of pilots.
Sun Country Airlines ended a 10-month search for a new chief executive yesterday, naming AirTran CFO Stan Gadek as its new president and CEO effective March 10.
Lufthansa said its operations were "gradually returning to normal" yesterday following a series of 3-hr. "token strikes" by German airport workers represented by the ver.di and komba unions early in the day. LH said it canceled 300 of its 1,850 flights yesterday, affecting about 18,500 passengers. Its long-haul operation was not impacted.
CTC Aviation and flyLAL Training signed an agreement to cooperate in the training and supply of flight deck and cabin crew. Contract calls for delivery of training courses and other activities to support airlines in Europe and Russia.
British Airways flew 8.04 billion RPKs in February, a 5.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 4.4% to 11.77 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.6 point to 68.4%. Southwest Airlines flew 5.43 billion RPMs in February, up 12% from the year-ago month, against a 9% increase in ASMs to 7.91 billion. Load factor rose 1.8 points to 68.6%. Ryanair transported 3.8 million passengers in February, up 20% from the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 2 points to 75%.
Varig added to its growing list of interline agreements by reaching deals with six more European carriers: Aegean Airlines, Air Moldova, Air Comet, CSA Czech Airlines, LOT Polish Airlines and Ukraine International Airlines. The new agreements follow interline accords already forged with its parent Gol, Air France KLM, Hahn Air, Malev Hungarian Airlines, El Al, Air One, Japan Airlines, Mexicana, Korean Air, Iberia, Qatar Airways and Delta Air Lines.
Germanwings will increase the number of employees from the current 1,087 to 1,300 during 2008, MD Thomas Winkelmann said at the ITB convention in Berlin Wednesday. Some 200 new employees will be needed as cabin and cockpit crew as the A319/A320 fleet increases from 28 to 31 this year. He said the carrier was profitable in 2007 but declined to provide figures. Turnover rose 12.7% to €630 million ($957.7 million) and passengers increased 12.5% to 8 million. Last year's load factor was 82%.
JetBlue Airways named Joseph Eng to the new position of executive VP-systems and technology. He formerly was president and CEO of IT solutions and services provider Spectrum Systems. SkyWest Airlines promoted Casey Madsen to director-employee relations, Christopher Brown to director-flight operations and Robin Wall to director-training.
Cathay Pacific Airways reported a profit attributable to shareholders of HK$7.02 billion ($901.9 million) in 2007, up 71.8% from the HK$4.08 billion earned in 2006.
American Airlines likely would have gotten credit in the old, pre-global-warming days for operating a nearly empty 777 across the Atlantic to avoid further disrupting the travel plans of a handful of customers. But in today's hyper-climate of environmental concern, the airline is taking some heat for the decision. The Feb. 9 flight from Chicago O'Hare to London Heathrow, revealed in London newspapers yesterday, occurred when the originally scheduled flight was delayed 11 hr. owing to a mechanical failure and most passengers were moved to other flights.
Silvio Berlusconi, head of the Forza Italia party and the favorite to be elected Italy's new prime minister in April, said this week that he opposed Air France KLM's acquisition of Alitalia. The comments, made on domestic television, conflict with those by Lega Nord officials last month. LN is allied to the center-right coalition headed by FI ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20). "On Alitalia I am critical, very critical. I think Italy should not be deprived of its flag carrier," Berlusconi reportedly told Sky TV 24.
Singapore and Portugal concluded an open skies agreement that will become fully effective from the 2010 IATA summer schedule. Singapore now has concluded open skies agreements with 14 EU countries.
SAS yesterday announced the launch of an aggressive environmental strategy aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 20% from 2007 levels by 2020. The airline group said it will reach the target, which assumes passenger growth of 4% annually, by "implementing energy enhancements and mixing jet fuel with renewable sources."
Turkish Airlines took delivery of its second converted A310-300F from the EADS EFW facility in Dresden. A third A310-300 will be converted beginning in July.
Continental Airlines paid $209 million for four pairs of slots at London Heathrow, according to a US Securities and Exchange filing cited by several press reports. CO did not identify the seller of the slots. It plans to serve the airport from both Newark and Houston Intercontinental ( ATWOnline, Jan. 18). The Financial Times said GB Airways (two), Air France and Alitalia sold the slots and that CO will pay $116 million for the summer season and an additional $93 million for the next witner schedule.
Alaska Air Group announced completion of a $100 million stock repurchase program authorized last September. It repurchased approximately 4.1 million shares of outstanding common stock, or 10%, at an average price of $24.31. The company now has around 36.5 million shares of common stock outstanding. US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. sold 12% of its stake in Delta Air Lines for $106.2 million, the Associated Press reported, citing regulatory filings. PBGC reduced its DL stake to 43.6 million shares from 49.5 million shares through 14 separate sales.
Alitalia Group said its net debt as of Jan. 31 was €1.28 billion ($1.95 billion), up 6.8% from a month prior. It made €3 million in debt repayments last month.
Lufthansa said it will cancel 142 flights today "as a precautionary measure" in the face of "token strikes" scheduled by workers at German airports. Domestic flights to and from Frankfurt will be most severely affected, it said.
Singapore Airlines will open a new front in the increasingly heated competition for premium travelers, announcing yesterday that it will reconfigure its five A340-500s with 100 lie-flat business class seats for use on transpacific routes to the US. Since the routes were launched several years ago, SIA has operated the A340-500s in a business class/premium economy configuration seating 181. Owing to range shortfalls, it never was able to incorporate a first class cabin into the aircraft. The all-business-class configuration will feature a 1-2-1 arangement.
American Airlines flew 9.97 billion system RPMs in February, up 2.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2% to 12.98 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.3 point to 76.9%. American Eagle flew 607.7 million RPMs, down 2.4%, against a 1.9% decline in capacity to 880.6 million ASMs. Load factor slipped 0.4 point to 69%. United Airlines flew 8.15 billion system RPMs in February, down 0.5% from the year-ago month, against a 3.7% climb in capacity to 10.95 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 3.1 points to 74.4%.
Pratt & Whitney selected Hamilton Sundstrand to provide engine controls and accessories for engines covering Mitsubishi Regional Jet, Bombardier CSeries and Cessna Citation Columbus aircraft. Contract also includes fuel, pneumatic and thermal management systems.
Air China parent China National Aviation Holding Co. Saturday urged China Eastern Airlines to reconsider its rejection of CNAC's bid to raise its stake in the Shanghai-based airline from 12% to just over 26% and return to the negotiating table with the Beijing-based carrier. CEA formally rejected CNAC's proposal last week ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28) and accused CA of "lacking sincerity to make the cooperation happen," claiming CA had made no contact and conducted no negotiations following its bid submission.
Enigma said Korean Air selected its InService MRO and Oracle Complex MRO solutions to streamline maintenance operations across its fleet of A300, A330, 737, 747 and 777 aircraft. Features include comprehensive airframe, engine and component maintenance data as well as troubleshooting, repair and reporting capacities.
