Airlines & Lessors

Lufthansa and Deutsche Post World Net confirmed yesterday that they are launching a joint venture cargo airline based in Leipzig in which Lufthansa Cargo and DPWN subsidiary DHL each will hold a 50% stake.

British Airways will end daily service between London Heathrow and Detroit effective March 30 after 50 years of operating the route. "It's just that the nature of Detroit has changed," spokesperson John Lampl told ATWOnline. He said the automotive industry, a major economic engine for the area, has become fragmented over the years. "They give us almost no business. The premium-class passenger is just not there anywhere.

Wizz Air will add a third A320 to its base at Gdansk in March, launch thrice-weekly service to Bournemouth, Coventry and Gothenburg and add frequencies on its existing routes. The LCC said it expects to grow the number of passengers traveling to and from its Gdansk base to more than 1 million in 2008. Separately, Wizz Air will introduce "comfort seats" with extra legroom in rows 12 and 13 on its A320s on Oct. 29. The extra legroom costs €5 ($6.98) if paid online concurrently with the booking and €10 if paid after the initial booking.

FedEx reported net income for its fiscal first quarter ended Aug. 31 of $494 million, up 4% over a net profit of $475 million in the year-ago period, on an 8% rise in revenue to $9.2 billion, but lowered its full-year earnings guidance owing to an uncertain US economy.

SITA added Eclipse as a new member to its Channel Partner Program. Under terms of the agreement, the French IT distributor is allowed to sell a select number of SITA's systems to about 100 small and medium-sized airports in France handling up to 5 million passengers per year. Average passenger growth at French regional airports last year exceeded 5% to almost 40 million. Solutions and services available under the Indirect Channels label include SITA's AirportConnect CUTE, AirportConnect Kiosk, Bag Manager, Bag Message and DCS in Application Service Provider mode.

After extensive deliberation, Southwest Airlines said yesterday it has decided to maintain its "legendary" open-seating policy but will change its boarding process to eliminate "the perceived cattle call" experience at gates in which its passengers "camp out in their boarding line."

Shanxi Aircraft Industry Group, a subsidiary of AVIC II, signed a framework agreement at the Beijing Air Show yesterday with Antonov to establish an aircraft engineering center in the Chinese capital by year end. SAIG MD Bai Songbai said that the center will be engaged mainly in retrofits of Y8 aircraft in its initial phase.

A J Walter Aviation will help Thales Training and Simulation support customers of its flight simulators by providing maintenance and spare parts supply of aircraft avionics and instruments fitted to the simulators. Initially, Thales will use the service to support its contract to maintain Qatar Airways' three C2000X simulators for the A320, A330 and 777.

Austrian Airlines Group CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline in Astana this week that talks are underway with government officials to open up new routes to destinations in Kazakhstan to augment the thrice-weekly Vienna-Astana service launched earlier this month. AAG also is looking to increase its presence in other Central Asia countries such as Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan. "Every year, we see a potential to launch up to four new destinations. . .in a radius [a maximum of] six hours flying time from Vienna," Oetsch explained.

Gate Gourmet completed the purchase of deSter Holding BV of Amsterdam. According to Gate Gourmet, deSter is the world's largest provider of inflight hospitality items. It also owns Supplair, a supplier of packaged airline meals. The company was purchased from EQT, a private equity fund that bought deSter in 1999. Terms were not disclosed.

Lufthansa's supervisory board yesterday approved orders for nine A330-300s and 32 A320 family aircraft. All nine A330s and two A320s will be operated by Swiss International Air Lines, with deliveries starting in early 2009. The -300s will replace A330-200s that Swiss currently operates. Lufthansa will take delivery of 20 A321s, four A320s and six A319s beginning in 2011 to operate within Europe.

Lufthansa and Deutsche Post are expected to announce the launch of a JV cargo airline today, The Financial Times reported. The new carrier is planning to start operations in the summer of 2009 and will have up to 11 777-200Fs based in Leipzig by 2011.

Safran Group announced that Snecma Services Chairman and CEO Jean-Lin Fournereaux, 55, will be nominated as chairman and CEO of Sagem Defense Securite at a board meeting scheduled for Sept. 27. He will replace Jean-Paul Herteman. Succeeding Fournereaux, who has led Snecma Services since early 2004, is Denis Vercherin, 54, currently senior VP of Hispano-Suiza.

United Airlines said yesterday in a government filing that third-quarter unit revenue will increase 7.5%-8.5% year-over-year while unit costs will rise 5.25%-5.75% compared to the same period last year. Capacity will be down 1.2% year-over-year in the quarter, UA added.

Alaska Airlines and sister regional carrier Horizon Air introduced a new online service that allows passengers to go to the carriers' websites to make changes to itineraries. "The Change Itinerary feature. . .is the first online tool in the industry that displays an easy-to-read matrix of 20 itinerary change options with corresponding adjustments to fares and taxes," the carriers claimed. "The new tool allows customers to change travel dates as well as departure and arrival cities, and can be used even after some of the itinerary's travel has been completed.

Qantas Group launched a comprehensive "carbon offset program" under which Qantas and Jetstar passengers can elect to offset their share of flight emissions by making monetary contributions through qantas.com and jetstar.com.

Bombardier said that 35 of 85 Q400s targeted for detailed inspection after the landing gears on two SAS flights collapsed last week have returned to service ( ATWOnline, Sept. 18).

Rockwell Collins said it is adding several new features to its Airshow 4200 moving map display and flight information system. The additions provide passengers with an upgraded system with a complete new Atlas Style Map Set, more details on existing maps, and new features including a World Clock page and a Flight Deck Instrument Panel page.

Chinese carriers' share prices collectively are soaring as the nation's airline industry enters what analysts are predicting will be a period of robust growth driving demand for a large volume of new aircraft. Air China's share price jumped from CNY14.5 ($1.90) to CNY25.3 yesterday while China Southern's doubled from CNY13 to CNY26.77 and China Eastern lifted from CNY11 to CNY20.22. Shanghai Airlines grew from CNY12 to CNY18.36 and Hainan Airlines rose from CNY6 to CNY12.34.

UK budget carrier easyJet is calling on politicians to take a "more intelligent" approach when it comes to aviation's environmental impact.

Thai Airways' board will decide next month on a fleet expansion plan that could include as many as 65 new aircraft, with eight 747-8Is likely to be among the orders. President Apinan Sumanaseni told media in Bangkok yesterday that the board is looking at two options, one for 61 aircraft and the other for 65. Other aircraft mentioned were the 787, 737-900, A350 and A321. According to an airline source, the aircraft would be delivered over 10 years and likely would be valued at THB390 billion ($12.1 billion).

Lufthansa Systems launched Lido electronic Aircraft Performance Monitoring, a Web-based tool for determination of inflight performance levels of an aircraft and especially its propulsion and flight control efficiency. Separately, LHS said Condor chose it to support the airline's scheduling, operational flight planning and crew planning processes.

JetBlue Airways appointed Glenn Hipp to the position of VP-supply chain and fuel. He will be responsible for companywide sourcing efforts and corporate purchasing as well as JetBlue's fuel procurement strategy. Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, named Jason Grant senior VP and CFO succeeding Michael Barna, who resigned from the post he has held since 2005 "to pursue other interests." Grant, 35, has been with the company since 2002 and most recently served as senior VP-network planning and business development.

Aloha Airlines, which has been battling for market share in the competitive Hawaiian Islands, posted a net loss of $18.7 million for the second quarter ended June 30, widened from a $2.8 million loss in the year-ago period, according to data it filed with the US Dept. of Transportation. Operating revenue declined 6.1% to $96.3 million.

AirAsia X's first 396-seat A330 is due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur today for the carrier's service launch later this month. The A330 will be the first of three leased by the long-haul LCC to arrive with another 10 on firm order to be delivered next year. Air Asia X initially will launch flights from Kuala Lumpur to Melbourne Avalon and London Stansted.