Goodrich is expanding its Aerostructures Prestwick Service Center in Scotland. The facility, originally opened in 2004, will double in size to 250,000 sq. ft. The plant provides maintenance support services for engine nacelles and thrust reversers, flight controls, quick engine change and engine buildup components.
Korean Air signed a contract with China's Sinotrans Air, a subsidiary of logistics giant Sinotrans Ltd., to form a cargo joint venture airline in China. Sinotrans is taking a 51% stake while Korean Air will own 25% and be responsible for filling the CEO and CFO positions. The balance of ownership was taken by two Korean investment companies, Hana Capital with 13% and Shinhan Capital with 11%.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, promoted General Counsel and Senior VP John Dietrich to Executive VP and COO, giving him oversight over all aspects of operations. Dietrich has been with Atlas since 1999 and previously worked as an attorney for United Airlines for 13 years.
SAS will launch a four-times-weekly nonstop route between Stockholm and Beijing in April using A340-300s. With the direct route to China from Stockholm, SAS intends to counter the growing success of Finnair's Helsinki-Far East services as well as secure its position in the Swedish market. "Sweden accounts for about 60% of the Scandinavian long-haul market," Swedish airports operator LVF Group Director-Aviation Marketing Mats Sigurdson told ATWOnline at the Routes conference in Dubai.
EgyptAir parent EgyptAir Holding placed firm orders valued at more than $160 million for six Embraer 170s with options for six more and plans to launch a Regional subsidiary to operate the aircraft. First delivery is slated for April 2007, with the 170s comprising the fleet of the new EgyptAir Express, described by its chairman, Mohamed Hassan, as "a high-profile domestic and Regional airline." No other details on the subsidiary, scheduled to launch in the 2007 second quarter, were released. The 170s will seat 76 in a single-class layout.
News from Travel Technology Update: Air Canada and ITA Software put the finishing touches on a contract under which ITA will build a new reservations management system for the carrier, replacing its old RES III system. Lise Fournel, the airline's senior vice president of e-commerce and chief information officer, said the new system will take a modular approach and include all reservations, inventory control, seat availability, check-in and airport operations systems.
Denim Air intends to widen its geographical scope, including the startup of operations in the Middle East. "The Middle East market is developing rapidly and I am convinced this offers huge potential for Denim Air," CCO Eric Hespeel said at the Routes conference in Dubai. "We are able to tailor our aircraft to our customers' needs at very short notice due to our flexibility, worldwide experience and creativity." Denim Air has been specializing in ACMI charter activity for 10 years.
Abanco International of Illinois will partner with Midwest Airlines to offer payments for services on Midwest flights from November using Abanco's mobile data technology inflight application to process credit card transactions.
TAM flew 1.68 billion domestic RPKs in August, up 32.5% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 25.2% to 2.28 billion ASKs and load factor rose 4.1 points to 73.7%. International traffic was up 33.9% to 604 million RPKs against a 34% rise in ASKs to 773 million, leaving load factor steady at 78.2%. The airline said its domestic market share was 51.3%, up 9.6 points year-over-year, and its international market share climbed 34 points to 54.6%. Horizon Air flew 254.6 million RPMs in August, up 7.7% from the year-ago month.
Skyways Aviation arranged the long-term ACMI lease of an F100 from Romania's Carpatair to PGA Portugalia. The aircraft, set for delivery at the end of October, will operate in Portugal through March 2007. Carpatair will provide flight crews and maintenance.
Alitalia said a 4-hr. strike yesterday by 6% of flight personnel and 20% of ground workers forced the cancellation of 67 flights. Workers are protesting a management business plan proposal that one union leader claimed "heavily penalized" labor, dismissing further talks with management as "useless, hollow," according to Italian media reports. The carrier was forced to cancel 105 domestic and 74 international flights on Sept. 7 because of a 24-hr. strike called by four trade unions ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8)
Virgin Atlantic Airways banned Apple and Dell laptop computer batteries from international flights following last month's recall of 1.8 million batteries by Dell as possible fire hazards. Virgin passengers must remove the batteries from the computer, wrap them and place them in carry-on bags, reported BBC. Passengers can use the computers sans batteries in flight if seats are equipped with electrical sockets and can transport two of the batteries in a carry-on bag. Korean Air and Qantas also have placed restrictions on laptop batteries in response to the recall.
US Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that a group of 21 US passenger airlines, consisting of the seven largest network, low-cost and Regional carriers based on operating revenue, reported a collective domestic operating profit margin of 7.9% in the second quarter, the largest quarterly margin for the group since 2000. BTS said yesterday that the LCCs reported a domestic operating profit margin for the quarter of 10.6%, up 5.3 points compared to the year-ago quarter.
Chinese airlines have been forced to cut fares to Tibet by up to 55% following the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, according to China Daily, as concern grows among carriers over the impact of rail expansion. The paper reported that nine flights operated by Air China, Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines have been discounted 45%-55% since Sept. 13. The Qinghai-Tibet railway opened July 1 and the train fare between Chengdu and Lhasa is CNY331 ($41) with a sleeper fare of CNY712. Airlines now are offering fares on the route at CNY975.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., set up a strike center at an undisclosed location in Atlanta in apparent frustration over the status of four-year-old contract negotiations.
US Airways named Thomas Chapman VP-congressional and federal affairs effective Oct. 16. Currently legislative counsel for Southwest Airlines, Chapman replaces the retiring Rosemary Murray. Pratt & Whitney Canada appointed John Saabas executive VP and Benoit Brossoit senior VP-service centers and operations. Saabas, previously senior VP-engineering and operations, will be responsible for engineering, operations, quality, service centers, customer support and marketing. Brossoit, previously VP-service centers, will provide "strategic direction" and report to Saabas.
Midwest Air Group said its August yield rose 8.6% to an estimated 14.6 cents. Passenger RASM surged 17.5% to 11.5 cents. Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect flew 361.7 million consolidated RPMs in August, up 18.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9.2% to 460.5 million ASMs and load factor increased 6 points to 78.6%.
TAM on Friday concluded the public distribution of R$500 million ($231.3 million) worth of nonconvertible debentures. The three banks coordinating the operation, the first public offer of debentures of an airline company in Brazil, reported that the 50,000 debentures offered were subscribed and integrated by a total of 140 investors. "The purpose of the issue is to use the resources to finance aircraft components for future fleet expansion," TAM said. "As previously announced, the expectation is to end 2006 with at least 96 aircraft, reaching 127 aircraft at the end of 2010."
Air Canada launched twice-weekly flights to Las Vegas from Edmonton aboard an A319 and from Winnipeg aboard a CRJ705 operated by Jazz. Also, AC signed a deal with ITA Software to develop a new reservation management system for deployment late next year.
Air France KLM CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said yesterday that "KLM has started to discuss a cargo joint venture with China Southern" but cautioned that "the talks are in the initial stage," according to Reuters. Beijing is encouraging foreign airlines to set up cargo JVs with Chinese companies in order to meet the nation's explosive growth in airfreight demand.
Hainan Airlines ordered 15 additional 737-800s, completing the distribution of the 150-aircraft order placed by China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group ( ATWOnline, April 12), Boeing announced yesterday. The 150 737-700s/-800s are worth approximately $10 billion at list prices and will delivered to Air China (25), China Eastern Airlines (20), China Southern Airlines (30), Shandong Airlines (12), Shanghai Airlines (13), Shenzhen Airlines (10), Xiamen Airlines (15) and Hainan (25) between this year and 2010.
Mesaba Airlines was dealt a setback by a US District Court judge in Minneapolis who determined the company could not reject its collective bargaining agreements with union employees as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. In July, a bankruptcy court judge granted Mesaba authority to reject the deals as part of its effort to reduce labor costs by 10.4% over a six-year period ( ATWOnline, July 17).
Delta Air Lines this week unveiled "the industry's first two-class domestic flight experience to feature [on-demand] digital entertainment," a result of the carrier's decision to fold its low-cost Song subsidiary and reintegrate the 48 757s and portions of the Song inflight product into the mainline fleet ( ATWOnline, April 6).
Aerospace Products International announced that JetBlue Airways selected API's Electronic Supply Program to manage the inventory of shelf-life-limited chemicals and other products at the carrier's line stations.
Qantas has been given the green light by Australia's competition regulator to work closely with its offshore low-cost subsidaries based in Singapore. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission issued a ruling authorizing Qantas to enter into a cooperation agreement with Orangestar Investment Holdings, the holding company for Jetstar Asia and Valuair. The decision follows preliminary approval granted in May ( ATWOnline, June 1).
