Regional Express of Australia pulled the plug on its previously announced plans to acquire Brisbane-based Sunshine Express ( ATWOnline, Aug. 16). Rex MD Geoff Breust said that Sunshine came up with new, last-minute conditions that were "not acceptable" to the company or its shareholders. "We extend our best wishes to Sunshine Express and hope that its management and owners are able to overcome its current difficulties," Breust said.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, a startup slated to launch in October, yesterday selected PAM (Oasis) Ltd. to establish, operate and maintain its Hong Kong-based call center.
Taiwan's China Airlines lost TWD257.1 million ($7.8 million) in the second quarter, double its TWD124.1 million loss in the year-ago quarter, according to a filing with the Taiwan stock exchange cited by the Associated Press in Taipei. Revenues climbed 12% to TWD28.86 billion, but "oil remained our main problem in the second quarter, with fuel accounting for over 40% of costs," a spokesperson said.
SITA and SIIC Shanghai International Trade Co. were awarded a four-year, $8 million contract to equip Shanghai Pudong's new Terminal 2, scheduled to open next year, with integrated airport management systems including SITA's Common Use Terminal Equipment passenger check-in system and BagManager baggage system.
Delta Air Lines said it is using a new decision support tool called Attila that allows it to manage landings in Atlanta better during congested periods. The program sends information from Delta's operations control center to cockpits to provide pilots with coordinated speed adjustments so landings are more evenly spaced.
EasyJet is launching a base at Madrid Barajas, its 17th, and said operations will start Feb. 16 with several new routes, details of which will be announced next month and will include domestic services. "Spain has been a key market for easyJet for the past 10 years and the new base will take our commitment to a completely new level. While Madrid is one of Europe's largest and most important capital cities, it is still underserved by low-fares airlines," CEO Andy Harrison said.
SAS Group executive Hakan Ericson, who had been responsible for the company's Airline Support Businesses including SAS Ground Services, SAS Technical Services, SAS Cargo, SAS Flight Academy and SAS Media, will resign Aug. 31 to become president of Loomis Cash Handling Services. His duties will be assumed by John Dueholm (Technical Services), Gunna Reitan (Cargo Services), and Bernhard Rikardsen (Ground Services, Flight Academy and Media). AirTran Airways' board of directors elected Mark Osterberg VP and chief accounting officer.
China Southern Airlines ordered GEnx engines to power its 10 787s to be delivered beginning in 2008 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 1, 2005). Value of the order is estimated at $240 million.
Delta Air Lines has made the self-service booking, check-in, loyalty program and shopping functions on its website available in Spanish. It added that it will introduce Spanish and French check-in kiosks early next year.
US Dept. of Justice yesterday waded into the dispute between Northwest Airlines and its flight attendants, arguing in a Statement of Interest filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA does not have the right to strike because the parties still are bound by the Railway Labor Act.
London Stansted passengers will not face a strike by baggage handlers and check-in staff this weekend ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21) after the TGWU and GMB unions reached a two-year labor deal with Swissport. GMB said the company offered an 11% pay increase.
Cathay Pacific starting putting its stamp on Dragonair yesterday, appointing Kenny Tang as CEO designate of the Hong Kong carrier a day after shareholders of the involved companies approved Cathay's takeover ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23). Tang replaces Stanley Hui, who resigned earlier in the day. Tang joined CX in 1979 and became GM-corporate finance in 1994, COO of Air Hong Kong three years later and GM-cargo for CX in 2000. He was seconded to Swire Pacific two years ago as MD of Taiwan's Taikoo Motors.
Australia-based Virgin Blue announced a 12% lift in net profit to A$84.5 million ($64.4 million) for the nine-month fiscal year ended June 30 despite a 35% surge in fuel costs. The carrier changed its year-end accounting period to June 30 from Sept. 30 after Toll Holdings, Australia's largest transport group, acquired the airline's majority owner, Patrick Corp. ( ATWOnline, April 17).
CSA Czech Airlines President Radomir Lasak this week reported half-year losses of CZK773 million ($35.2 million), widened from a CZK240 million loss in the first six months of 2005 but CZK20 million less than forecast, the CTK Czech News Agency reported. The carrier expects a full-year loss similar to the CZK496 million suffered last year ( ATWOnline, June 7) but intends to return to the black in 2008.
Pinnacle Airlines, a Northwest Airlink partner, has been notified by NWA that the company is ready to begin renegotiating its Airline Service Agreement, according to a recent filing with the SEC. The current service contract prohibits Pinnacle from operating aircraft with more than 50 seats. In addition to its exclusive agreement with Northwest, Pinnacle CEO Phil Trenary said the Regional will continue to look for other opportunities and has completed work on a second certificate enabling it operate aircraft for other partners.
Boeing announced that China Airlines will use the Maintenance Performance Toolbox and will be the first carrier to use it in conjunction with Boeing's Maintenance and Engineering Management application, which CI adopted last year.
LTU German Airlines majority owner Hans Rudolf Woehrl said he wants to use the proceeds of the sale of dba to Air Berlin ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18) to strengthen the financial situation of the Dusseldorf-based leisure carrier. He told Die Welt that he wants to improve the product, especially in business class. Woehrl is expecting LTU to lose €10-€15 million ($12.9-$19.3 million) this year. No financial details have been released about the sale of dba.
Lufthansa CityLine took delivery yesterday of an 84-seat CRJ900, the first of a dozen that will come into the fleet this year. They will be replacing 50-seat CRJs as the company continues reconfiguring its fleet. "With the new aircraft model, Lufthansa CityLine is taking a major step forward economically and technologically and is thus ideally prepared to face up to the future competition," MD Thomas Drager said. First destinations for the new type include Munich, Brussels, Lyon, Munster/Osnabruck, Nice, Oslo and Geneva.
Pinnacle Airlines flew 381.3 million RPMs in July, an 8.1% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.7% to 484.2 million ASMs and load factor rose 0.5 point to 78.7%. Frontier Airlines flew 849.3 million RPMs in July, a 16.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 11.6% to 996.4 million ASMs and load factor was up 3.3 points to 85.2%.
United Airlines will close its Washington Dulles reservations facility by mid-October, resulting in the loss of 504 jobs, according to a letter sent last week by the airline to the Virginia Employment Commission cited by the Washington Business Journal. UA issued a release last week saying its fall schedule at IAD included a 13% increase in departures over the year-ago period. Separately, UA's Sean Donohue is on the move again. Parent UAL Corp. announced yesterday that he will take on a newly created role as senior VP-Flight Operations and Onboard Service divisions.
Jetstar Airways won approval from the US Dept. of Transportation to begin marketing proposed A330-200 flights from Sydney (thrice-weekly) and Melbourne (twice-weekly) to Honolulu scheduled to commence Nov. 23. While final approval has not been granted, Jetstar CEO Alan Joyce said DOT has "indicated to Qantas that Jetstar is qualified to perform these international operations." Qantas will continue to operate thrice-weekly Sydney-Honolulu service after Jetstar launches. Separately, Jetstar said last week it initially will hire 200 flight attendants.
Korean Air said it will ask Boeing for about $12 million to reimburse it for costs associated with preparing 29 aircraft for the Connexion by Boeing service that was pulled from the market last week ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18). An airline official told The Korea Times that it cost $400,000 to furnish a plane with the Connexion service. The carrier planned to introduce the service in an additional 25 aircraft by 2008.
