Air India will launch daily Delhi-New York JFK service Feb. 8 aboard a 777-200LR. It took delivery of its fourth aircraft of the type on Jan. 2. It is equipped with eight seats in first class, 35 in business and 195 in economy. AI already serves JFK from Mumbai. It will take a sixth -200LR next month and the remaining three it has on order in mid-2009.
Austrian Airlines Group appointed Walter Reimann to the position of VP-international and aeropolitical affairs and alliances. He succeeds new COO Peter Malanik.
Pinnacle Airlines filed suit in US District Court against the Air Line Pilots Assn. charging the union that represents the carrier's pilots with "bad faith bargaining" in contract talks that date back to 2005. Pinnacle operates as a Northwest Airlink and Delta Connection carrier. An ALPA spokesperson told ATWOnline that the suit was "unprecedented," adding, "The lawyer who will handle the case can't remember when we were sued for failing to bargain in good faith."
Clickair carried 4.5 million passengers in 2007, in line with its business plan, but full-year revenue came in lower than forecast, CEO Alex Cruz told ATWOnline while also confirming the LCC will scale down its planned fleet expansion this year.
Encomium Media, founded recently by former OAG VP Duncan Alexander, launched services for Athens International. Company offers consulting, public relations, marketing and research expertise.
China Eastern Airlines Chairman Li Fenghua insisted yesterday that the carrier's plan to sell a 25% stake to Singapore Airlines and its parent Temasek was not dead even after more than 77% of CEA's minority shareholders voted against the deal, effectively killing it.
EasyJet yesterday launched thrice-weekly Liverpool-Innsbruck service. The LCC transported 2.9 million passengers last month, up 9.9% from December 2006. Load factor fell 2.2 points to 78.9%.
Frontier Airlines will report a pre-tax loss for the third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, 2007, President and CEO Sean Menke said. A $0.78-$0.88 per share loss excluding special items, larger than forecast, was caused by "higher-than-expected operating expenses" related to winter weather in Denver and the Midwest late last month and "weaker-than-expected performance in some sun destination markets," he said. December yield rose 1.5% year-over-year to 11.55 cents and passenger RASM climbed 8.1% to 8.39 cents.
Standard Aero announced completion of a $1.6 million transformation project at its PT6A MRO facility in Winnipeg. Enhancements are expected to boost overhaul capacity and accelerate turn times.
British Airways flew 9.08 billion RPKs in December, up 1% from the year-ago month, against a 2% rise in ASKs to 12.35 billion. Load factor slipped 0.7 point to 73.5%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.27 billion consolidated RPMs in December, a 1.7% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity declined 2.2% to 7.72 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.5 point to 81.2%.
China National Aviation Holding Co. and Air China announced yesterday that CNAC will make its own bid for China Eastern Airlines in two weeks if the latter's stake sale to Singapore Airlines is vetoed by shareholders at a meeting scheduled for today.
Finnair shut down Estonian subsidiary Aero Airlines Sunday as part of its strategy to concentrate on its mainline business and development of its Asian route network. The closure also ends its propeller aircraft era, as the ATR 72s owned by Finnair Aircraft Finance and operated by Aero have been sold ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7). Finnair took control of Aero in 2001, hoping to develop a cost-effective model for a regional operator while increasing its market share in the Baltic.
UPS is launching a "simplified global portfolio for shipping airfreight" that appears to leverage the company's position as both a cargo airline and a freight forwarder. In recent years, UPS has built up its express delivery airline operation and its supply chain management business significantly, attempting to become a wide-ranging service provider for all forms of time-sensitive cargo transport.
US Aerospace Industries Assn. elected Rockwell Collins Chairman, President and CEO Clayton Jones as its 2008 chairman, succeeding Raytheon Chairman, President and CEO William Swanson, who held the post last year.
Pinnacle Airlines announced the purchase of its Class A Preferred Share from Northwest Airlines for $20 million ( ATWOnline, Dec. 3, 2007). "This is the last step in the process of becoming independent that began with our IPO in 2003, and well positions us to take advantage of future opportunities," President and CEO Phil Trenary said. "We remain firmly committed to Northwest Airlines, our largest customer."
Virgin Atlantic Airways and the Unite union reached agreement yesterday on a two-year pay deal for cabin crew, averting the first flight attendant strike in the carrier's history. Unite planned 48-hr. strikes on Jan. 9-10 and Jan.16-17 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7). "The outcome is a triumph of common sense," Virgin's Richard Branson said. Agreement includes a 4.8% pay increase in the first year and a guarantee of RPI in the second.
Emirates will quit its management contract with SriLankan Airlines following a public spat after the Sri Lankan government withdrew the work permit of Peter Hill, Emirates' secondee and CEO of the Colombo-based carrier. The trouble started when SriLankan refused to offload 35 passengers on a London Heathrow-Colombo flight in order to accommodate President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his entourage. The government owns 51% of the airline while Emirates holds 43.6%, and negotiations have been underway for 18 months to renew an eight-year-old management contract.
Poland's Treasury Ministry plans to sell its 68% stake in LOT Polish Airlines, Deputy Treasury Minister Zdzislaw Gawlik said last week, although there first must be changes to current regulations that permit the sale of only a minority stake, Reuters reported. "There are no rational grounds for the carrier to remain state-owned. We want to change the law in order to sell the shares," Gawlik said. The ministry plans to float the carrier this year on the Warsaw Stock Exchange, possibly in the third quarter.
United Airlines flew 9.23 billion system RPMs in December, down 1.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.1% to 11.76 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 0.8 point to 78.8%. A record 19 "severe" weather days during the month will result in a 1% year-over-year drop in fourth-quarter capacity rather than the forecast 0.8%, UA said. Ryanair transported 3.95 million passengers in December, up 18% from the year-ago month. Load factor slipped 2 points to 79%.
Finnair said it intends to buy back up to 600,000 shares through public trading on the Helsinki Stock Exchange, with the purchase beginning on Feb. 5 at the earliest and ending April 1. Separately, the carrier announced the sale of the last three ATR 72s operated by its Aero subsidiary to Russia's Utair. Aero's four other ATR 72s were sold last year to ATR Leasing ( ATWOnline, July 25, 2007).
Fraport Cargo Services said the German Civil Aviation Authority granted it final accreditation as a regulated agent. Awarded until December 2011, accreditation follows efforts by FCS to observe EU Directive 2320/2002 including measures to enhance air cargo handling safety, operating area security, warehouse entrance efficiency and various training initiatives.
China Southern Airlines will report a nearly tenfold increase in full-year pre-tax profit under domestic accounting standards, to CNY3 billion ($411.9 million) in 2007 from CNY306 million the year before, GM Liu Shaoyong told the state Xinhua news agency. Revenue rose 13.6% to a record CNY50 billion on a 15.3% year-over-year increase in passenger numbers to 56.7 million.
Air China plans to raise its stake in Air China Cargo to 76% from 51% in order to pave the way for its joint venture with Cathay Pacific Airways ( ATWOnline, April 17, 2007).
