Siemens Energy & Automation's Airport Logistics Division was awarded a $28 million contract to design and build the baggage handling and inline screening system at JetBlue's new Terminal 5 at JFK. The terminal is scheduled to be completed in early 2009.
CityJet, Air France-KLM's Dublin-based Regional subsidiary, said it has concluded negotiations for the acquisition of 23 Avro RJ85s worth a combined $221 million. The supplier was not announced but likely they will come from BAE Systems, which continues to manage a number of the aircraft. CityJet will take first delivery in November. It now operates 19 BAe 146s. "The close relationship of the new aircraft type to the BAe 146 currently operated allows the airline to dovetail its introduction into the existing fleet," CityJet said.
On the eve of next week's Farnborough International Airshow, Airbus still has not presented a formal offer on the revised A350--dubbed the A350N--to key customer Emirates. An airline spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline that "no formal offer has been made," which some say indicates that the manufacturer is some ways away from firming up its revised A350.
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise will lease two new 737-800s to Shandong Airlines for 10 years each. Aircraft will be delivered from Boeing in the first half of 2007. It is Shandong's first contract with SALE, which has 30 dash 800s on firm order. Separately, SALE named former GECAS Singapore VP and Regional Manager-Structured Finance-Asia David Farrell as head of risk management.
Air France-KLM flew 16.92 billion RPKs in June, a 7.1% increase over the year-ago month. ASKs increased 5.8% to 20.53 billion and load factor rose 1 point to 76.2%. Cathay Pacific Airways flew 6 billion RPKs in June, a 14.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 10.4% to 7.24 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.7 points to 82.8%. Midwest Airlines flew 352.9 million RPMs in June, a 25.6% increase over the year-ago month. ASMs were up 17% to 416.8 million and load factor climbed 5.9 points to 84.7%.
Finnair will fly nonstop from Helsinki to Madrid by September and to Manchester from Oct. 29, eliminating the Stockholm stopover on each flight. It will start four-times-weekly Helsinki-Ljubljana flights in April 2007 aboard Embraer 170s.
South African Airways and Lufthansa were fined yesterday by South Africa's Competition Tribunal for anticompetitive behavior. SAA agreed to the fines in May ( ATWOnline, May 26) for allegedly colluding with LH to fix ticket prices on flights between Cape Town, Johannesburg and Frankfurt. SAA will pay ZAR40 million ($5.6 million) while Lufthansa agreed to pay ZAR8.5 million.
Kenya Airways added a seventh 767-300 to its fleet last week to meet rapidly growing demand on its network from West, East and Central Africa to Dubai, Guangzhou, Thailand and Mumbai. The new aircraft is on lease. KQ is looking to expand its Nairobi hub this year and aims to operate daily flights to most of its African destinations. Recently it started daily service to Douala and increased frequencies to Entebbe and Dar es Salaam. It also will start flights to Brazzaville and Cotonou by September.
ANA is moving forward with plans to build its fleet around twin-engine aircraft with the sale of six of its 23 747-400s to Avion Aircraft Trading of Iceland. The aircraft are configured for both domestic routes (569 passengers) and international operations (from 287 passengers). ANA has been replacing the dash 400s on domestic routes with 777-300s seating 477 passengers. It is moving to smaller types such as the 777, 767 and 787 because of the addition of a second runway at Tokyo Narita and a planned fourth runway at Tokyo Haneda, which has reduced the requirement for larger types.
Iberia pilots agreed yesterday to end their strike, which started Monday and was to have lasted through Sunday, after winning guarantees from the carrier that new LCC Catair, in which Iberia is one of five shareholders, will not lead to job losses. The agreement among Iberia, the SEPLA union and the Spanish Development Ministry ensures that no Iberia pilots will be laid off through 2010 because of Catair operations. The government will act as guarantor of the deal, which does not include salary hikes or guarantees, according to reports.
Air New Zealand announced a series of changes to its international route network with an increased focus on profitability. The airline will suspend its daily 777-200ER service to Singapore and will not relaunch its twice-weekly 747 summer flights from Christchurch to Los Angeles. ANZ said O&D traffic to Singapore accounted for just 5% of passengers on the service, with most flying on to Europe, which can be served just as well through Hong Kong. Its market share is less than 30%.
Outsize-freight specialist carriers Volga-Dnepr Airlines and Antonov Airlines, which operate a combined 17 of the 23 massive An-124s in commercial service worldwide, are teaming to launch a joint-venture marketing company aimed at streamlining management of their respective fleets. Both carriers "will continue to operate as separate and distinct," according to Volga-Dnepr, but JV Ruslan International will provide more flexibility for the airlines' often-pressed An-124s.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines pilots voted to authorize a strike if negotiations for a new labor contract fail. The Air Line Pilots Assn. said in a statement yesterday that 92% of ASA pilots casting ballots favored giving union leaders authority to pursue a work stoppage.
Lufthansa flew 9.83 billion RPKs in June, a 0.5% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.7% to 12.6 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.2 point to 78%. Continental Airlines said its June mainline RASM rose by an estimated 9%-10% and consolidated RASM by 10.5%-11.5% compared to June 2006. Consolidated RASM grew 9.3% in May.
Brazilian freight and logistics company VarigLog, a former subsidiary of its namesake airline, boosted its bid for the bankrupt carrier after a Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court judge reversed his decision last week to present the approximately $500 million bid to creditors, who may be better off if Varig is liquidated, Bloomberg News reported. The judge will ask creditors to review the higher offer at a July 17 meeting. If it is approved, VarigLog could win the carrier's operating assets at an auction scheduled for the following day.
Malaysia Airlines received government authority to increase its revised domestic network by three cities--Kuching, Tawau and Sandakan--and to price tickets on the routes as it chooses.
Resolution to the Iberia pilots' strike remained elusive yesterday as the carrier cancelled more than 200 flights for a second straight day and hinted it will seek to have the work action declared illegal. The airline said it attempted to present pilots with a letter guaranteeing their job security but the SEPLA pilots union refused to accept the document. The pilots began a weeklong strike Monday to protest Iberia's plans to launch an LCC, which the pilots say would threaten their jobs ( ATWOnline, July 11).
Ryanair will cut its services to and from Sweden by more than half following proposals by the Swedish government to introduce a SEK94 ($13.10) ticket tax on European flights and a SEK188 levy on long-haul flights beginning Aug. 1.
Transaero Airlines wants the Russian government to lift duties on imported aircraft in order to spur fleet renewal. DG Olga Pleshakova said in Toulouse that the A330, A340 and A350 "perfectly suit Transaero's development strategy in the field of servicing long-haul routes from Moscow and St.
Aviareto announced that the International Registry of Mobile Assets, which it manages on behalf of ICAO, has surpassed expectations in its first three months of operation with more than 3,500 users registered, four times the number forecast for the first year. The number of aircraft and engines recorded by Dublin-based IRMA has exceeded forecasts by more than 25%.
Cyprus Airways finalized the sale of charter subsidiary Eurocypria to the government, according to press reports. The deal, worth CYP13.5 million ($29.9 million), is part of the carrier's restructuring ( ATWOnline, March 1). The government said that the acquisition and spinoff of Eurocypria were designed to create a second, debt-free scheduled carrier. Eurocypria took delivery of its fifth 737-800 last month.
Air Wisconsin yesterday named Skyway Airlines President and CEO James Rankin as its new president and CEO effective Aug. 1. Rankin, who also is senior VP and GM of Midwest Airlines Saver Service, joined Skyway as a pilot in 1990 before moving to Midwest Express Airlines five years later. He succeeds interim CEO Patrick Thompson, who has been filling the role since Geoffrey Crowley's departure in April. Thompson will remain vice chairman. "Jim is a strong leader with great operational and business acumen," Thompson said.
Goodrich said yesterday that it shipped proximity sensors from its Vermont fuel and utility systems facility to Boeing last month for installation on 787s, becoming the first Dreamliner supplier to ship production components.
Ferrovial Group, the new owner of BAA, said it remains committed to constructing a second runway at London Stansted but will reevaluate the project's estimated £4 billion ($7.4 billion) price tag.
