Dublin Airport Authority said it welcomed the decision by the Irish High Court to reject Ryanair's appeal against the granting of planning permission for a second terminal at Dublin.
Boeing kicked off its 2008 sales campaign with another 747-8I sold for private use plus one 777 for Turkmenistan Airlines. The 747-8I is the sixth sold to Boeing Business Jets.
Delta Air Lines CEO Richard Anderson is expected to ask the carrier's board of directors today for permission to enter into merger talks with both Northwest Airlines and United Airlines.
Australian aviation regulatory authorities are going to come under the spotlight after Indonesian low-cost carrier Lion Air announced its plans to launch domestic operations in Australia with six 737-900ERs. According to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, the airline has "reportedly reached agreement with an Australian company to take a 49% stake and base six aircraft in Australia."
Air Canada Flight 190, an A319 en route from Victoria to Toronto, was diverted to Calgary yesterday for an emergency landing following what was described as extreme turbulence that caused 10 passengers to sustain what the airline termed "non-life-threatening injuries." Emergency personnel met the aircraft following a smooth landing in Calgary and transported 10 of the 83 passengers to a local hospital. There were five crew onboard. AC said it was investigating an "incident" that created a "very stressful experience" for passengers and crew.
WestJet will start daily Toronto-Quebec City service on May 18 as part of a summer schedule that also will include new daily seasonal flights from Toronto to Regina, Saskatoon and Abbotsford as well as service from Ottawa to Edmonton and Halifax. Frequencies will be increased on nine current routes including seven from Toronto. The LCC flew 1.05 billion RPMs in December, a 17.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 15.2% to 1.32 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1.3 points to 79.3%.
Air China parent China National Aviation Holding Co. is preparing its own bid for China Eastern Airlines following the Tuesday rejection of the latter's stake sale deal with Singapore Airlines but is doing so with an eye toward cooperation rather than acquisition.
GKN Aerospace said it received FAA PMA authority and EASA STC authority for 737 No. 1 and No. 2 heated cockpit windshields. Separately, GKN reached a three-year, $1.5 million overhaul and repair deal with Prime Air to support Delta radomes on the 777, 767, 757, 737 and MD-80.
Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.99 billion RPMs in December, up 2.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.6% to 5.07 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 78.8%. SkyWest Airlines flew 1.39 billion RPMs in December, a 7.9% increase from the year-ago month, against an 11% rise in capacity to 1.89 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 2.1 points to 73.6%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 655.7 million RPMs in December, up 2% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.5% to 798.8 million ASMs and load factor dropped 2.1 points to 82.1%.
Alitalia Chairman and CEO Maurizio Prato said early negotiations with Air France KLM "are going rather well," according to press reports, with the early buzz surrounding the recently launched talks ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3) centering on the amount of AZ that will remain with the Italian state once AF KLM takes over and a share swap is completed. Originally pegged at 3%, the stake may rise to 5% if Prato and the UGL union have their way, Reuters reported.
Ryanair will establish its 24th European base at Bournemouth on England's south coast. From April the LCC will base one 737-800 there and launch service to Malaga, Murcia, Nantes, Palma and Wroclaw, lifting to 12 the number of routes it serves from the airport. It also will add a second daily flight to Glasgow Prestwick. It expects to bring 1 million passengers per year to Bournemouth. Separately, Ryanair said its proposal to establish operations at Milan Malpensa has been rejected by airports operator SEA, which is 84.5% controlled by the municipality of Milan.
British Airways will launch its new transatlantic subsidiary, OpenSkies, in June with daily flights from New York JFK to Brussels or Paris Charles de Gaulle using 757s carrying up to 82 passengers in business, premium economy and economy sections.
Air Canada Technical Services reached a 10-year OnPoint Solutions agreement with GE for material to repair CF34 engines and a 10-year materials deal with CFM for the repair and overhaul of CFM56 engines, specifically the -2, -3, -5A, -5B and -5C. Contracts total an estimated $2.5 billion covering life-limited and nonlife-limited parts plus component repair and used materials for work on GE and CFM engines.
China Eastern Airlines began assessing its options in the aftermath of Tuesday's rejection by minority shareholders of its planned 24% stake sale to Singapore Airlines and parent Temasek, with pressure mounting for it to resolve its ownership situation quickly.
Southwest Airlines released a summer schedule that features the elimination of 57 roundtrip flights and the addition of 40 new flights, including service to six new destinations from Denver. The schedule takes effect May 10 and reflects the fact that the airline is "concerned about slowing economic growth, and we want our flight schedule to be built around flights that are in high demand," according to CEO Gary Kelly ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9).
SAS Group airlines flew 2.71 billion RPKs in December, up 2.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 3.3% to 4.11 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 0.3 point to 65.8%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines enjoyed a 1.1% increase in yield as traffic climbed 2.2% to 1.81 billion RPKs. Capacity was up 3.6% to 2.61 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 1 point to 69.3%.
Kuwaiti government yesterday approved the sale of 40% of Kuwait Airways in a domestic public placement and another 35% to a long-term investor within two years, according to press reports. The government will hold 20% with workers taking the remaining 5%. The head of the parliament's financial committee told reporters that KU will place an aircraft order following the privatization, according to Reuters
AWAS, the Dublin-based lessor, gave Airbus a strong start to the year with an order for 75 A320s plus 25 options. The firm aircraft will bring its Airbus portfolio to 145 units, the manufacturer said. The deal is valued at $6.9 billion at list prices.
Etihad Airways is targeting 6 million passengers in 2008 compared to the 5 million it served last year. The Arab Air Carriers Organization reported that the airline will relocate to the new passenger terminal at Abu Dhabi, where 10 aircraft parking stands will be available and a dedicated runway for Etihad will be ready in April. The carrier is preparing to launch flights to Beijing and Moscow in March.
AerVenture Ltd., a joint venture among AerCap Holdings, LoadAir and Al Fawares, will lease six new A320-200s to TAP Portugal under eight-year lease agreements. Aircraft will be delivered in 2009 and are part of a 2005 order from Airbus.
JetBlue Airways will increase 2008 capacity 6%-9% year-over-year, CEO Dave Barger said. "Given an uncertain economic environment and record high fuel prices, we plan to grow more conservatively in 2008," he said. "Assuming market conditions remain favorable, we expect to take advantage of continued strength in the worldwide aircraft market to manage our fleet growth." JetBlue's December passenger RASM rose 5% from the year-ago month while traffic increased 6.4% to 2.16 billion RPMs. Capacity climbed 10% to 2.81 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 2.6 points to 76.8%.
Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly told Bloomberg News that the airline will cut its 2008 capacity increase to 4%-5%, compared to 7.5% last year, and that it must realize $1 billion in new annual revenue before it increases its growth rate. The airline has, however, identified several possibilities for new revenue growth, such as marketing seats on ATA Airlines flights to Mexico and selling vacation packages on Southwest's website, Kelly told Bloomberg. "There is a $1 billion-plus potential there.
IATA blasted the Brazilian government's proposal to raise per-hr. aircraft parking fees at Sao Paulo Guarulhos significantly, asserting that the hike could cost international airlines operating there as much as $90 million per year and likely violates bilateral aviation accords. It is not uncommon for aircraft operated by international carriers to land at GRU early in the day and remain parked before departing again that night.
