Skymark Airlines is set to join the 787 club, according to sources at the Japanese carrier. Skymark, which operates five 767-300ERs, has advised Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport that it will add four 787s between 2010 and 2012. It operates a 10-times-daily shuttle service from Tokyo Haneda to Sapporo and Fukuoka in addition to four-times-daily flights to Kobe and twice-daily service to Naha. It is expected to be granted additional slots at HND when the fourth runway is opened in 2009.
AirTran Holdings reported record traffic in August, but it was not strong enough to counter the "softening demand" that the carrier expects to continue this month and that prompted a revision to its third-quarter guidance and future growth plans.
Gol announced the withdrawal of the May registration statement filed in Brazil and the US for a secondary and primary preferred share offering totaling 14.4 million nonvoting shares ( ATWOnline, May 18). The carrier did not give a reason for the move, but Bloomberg News reported that prospects for the sale, worth approximately BRL1 billion ($463.5 million), were hurt by a 13% drop in the Bovespa index since May. Separately, Gol launched daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-Ilheus flights.
WestJet Executive VP-Guest Services and EVP-IT Russ Hall resigned on Sept. 8. Hall's departure came a day after the company promoted Executive VP-Sales and Marketing and Airports Sean Durfy to president, succeeding airline co-founder Clive Beddoe ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8).
Bmibaby pilots, represented by the British Airline Pilots Assn., reached a deal with the company last week and will not strike, the union announced. The company has signed the agreement, which has been sent to membership for ratification. The pilots, along with those at bmi and bmi regional, voted to strike late last month over a variety of compensation and work rule issues ( ATWOnline, Aug. 25).
EasyJet said it lost approximately £4 million ($7.6 million) as the result of last month's security alert as it canceled 469 flights Aug. 10-14. "In spite of this, easyJet maintains its current guidance for pre-tax profit growth for the full year ending Sept. 30 to be in the region of 40%-50%," it said. The LCC transported 3.1 million passengers in August, an 8.4% increase over the year-ago month. Load factor was up 0.9 point to 89.2%.
Qantas yesterday blasted a draft report from Australia's Productivity Commission that said it is too soon to tell whether regulatory restrictions on airport pricing removed in 2002 should be reinstated. The report called for six more years to study the current "light-handed" system. Qantas believes the system in place gives airports too much leeway to set landing and terminal rent fees, especially in major markets. Executive GM-Associated Businesses Grant Fenn said it was "particularly concerning" that Qantas's request that binding arbitration solve pricing disputes was rejected.
Continental Airlines said yesterday that its application to launch daily Newark-Shanghai service in March 2007 ( ATWOnline, April 8, 2005) should be approved by the US Dept.
JetBlue Airways achieved an estimated 15% increase in passenger RASM in August, a figure that was "not as strong as anticipated," according to CEO David Neeleman. He said the security alert, Tropical Storm Ernesto and "lower-than-expected demand toward the end of the month" contributed to the result. JetBlue flew 2.22 billion RPMs in August, an 11.6% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity surged 20.1% to 2.65 billion ASMs and load factor fell 6.4 points to 83.7%.
AerVenture, a joint venture between AerCap and Kuwaiti cargo startup LoadAir ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3), placed an order valued at $360 million for CFM56-5Bs to power the 30 A319s/A320s ordered late last year.
WestJet announced the promotion of Executive VP-Sales and Marketing and Airports Sean Durfy to president succeeding airline co-founder Clive Beddoe, 60, who will remain chairman and CEO of the Calgary-based LCC. Durfy, 40, joined WestJet in late 2004 from Enmax Energy Corp., where he was president and COO of the Calgary power utility. "Over the past two years I have progressively passed many of my duties over to our executive team as a natural progression of the growth of our company," Beddoe said in a statement.
A consortium of United Arab Emirates-based investors is to acquire 90% of SR Technics from its current owners in a transaction valued at CHF1.6 billion ($1.3 billion). The consortium is led by Mubadala Development, the investment vehicle of the Abu Dhabi government, which will own 40% of the Zurich-based maintenance, repair and overhaul company after the purchase is completed in about two months.
UK NATS reported a 3.1% year-over-year increase in the number of flights handled in August despite the uncovering of a terrorist plot Aug. 10 and subsequent security alert. The ATM provider handled 220,408 flights. Overflights showed the greatest increases, with transatlantic flights up 7.1% and nontransatlantic up 18.3% with routes between Ireland and Italy, France, Spain and Germany showing the largest increases. The domestic market improved 0.3%. Traffic at the 15 airports where NATS operates grew 1.2%. The picture was mixed owing to the security alert.
Air France ordered Boeing Class 3 electronic flight bags for its fleet of 777s, comprising 42 in-service aircraft and 13 to be delivered. It is the eighth carrier this year to order the Class 3 EFB, Boeing said, adding the order was the "most significant" to date from a European airline. AF partner KLM was the launch customer for the 777 EFB in 2002. The Dutch flag carrier currently operates 13 EFB-equipped 777s and eventually will have 18.
US FAA approved the AmSafe Child Aviation Restraint System safety device for use on commercial flights. The device features an additional belt and shoulder harness that wraps around the seat and attaches to the lap belt and is designed for children weighing 22-44 lb.
World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, posted a second-quarter net loss of $7.5 million, down from $5.5 million in net income in the year-ago quarter.
Air Berlin said that competition authorities approved its takeover of dba without restrictions ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18). AB CEO Joachim Hunold now will chair dba's board. Starting this week, dba flights can be booked through AB's website and call center.
Philippine Airlines told stockholders last week that the carrier will continue to push into new markets and modernize its fleet, with evaluations underway for acquisition of five regional widebody aircraft and three long-haul aircraft in addition to the order for 20 A320 family aircraft ( ATWOnline, Nov. 9, 2005) that will begin delivery this month.
TAP Portugal reached agreement with OMNI Aviation of Portugal for the sale of TAP's small leisure carrier White Airways for an estimated €5 million ($6.4 million). White operates one A310-300 and one L-1011-500. According to the terms, the ownership of the L-1011 is transferred to TAP, due for subsequent alienation, while OMNI will operate the A310 currently under lease.
Oneworld redesigned its website that now features an interactive route map, more accessible schedules, country and language specific sites, itinerary planning aids and other enhancements.
United Airlines flew 10.6 billion system RPMs in August, a 1.5% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 3.2% to 12.69 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 1.3 points to 83.5%. Gol flew 1.34 billion RPKs in August, a 72.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 47% to 1.75 billion ASKs and load factor was up 11.3 points to 76.9%.
Frontier Airlines placed a firm order with Bombardier yesterday for 10 74-seat Q400 turboprops with 10 options and said it plans to launch a wholly owned subsidiary carrier to operate the aircraft. The new unnamed airline will "use its fleet of Q400s to bring low-cost service to underserved markets in Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region," Frontier said in a statement. "The subsidiary expects to serve as many as 18 destinations using the new aircraft and to create 300-400 new jobs." Destinations will be announced at a later date.
ABX Air won a new four-year contract to manage US Postal Service terminal handling services in Indianapolis in a deal expected to generate $17.7 million in revenues through October 2010. ABX, whose main US client is DHL, has managed the USPS Indianapolis sort facility since 2004. It has similar handling contracts with USPS in Dallas and Memphis.
