Boeing confirmed yesterday that Air Sahara is a previously unidentified customer for 10 737-800s. The order, worth more than $700 million at list prices, was placed in the first quarter of this year. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in mid-2009. "This order reflects our confidence both in the growth of India's aviation market and Air Sahara's modernization and expansion plans," President Alok Sharma said.
China Eastern Airlines lost CNY1.72 billion ($215.4 million) in the first six months of 2006, it told the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to the Associated Press. The result compares to a CNY580.6 million loss in the year-ago period. The carrier did not offer additional details. It reported a loss of CNY 955.1 million in the first quarter ( ATWOnline, April 27), implying a CNY764.9 million deficit in the quarter ended June 30.
Air New Zealand described its full-year result as "solid" in a "challenging environment," with a net profit decline of 48% to NZ$97 million ($61.7 million) for the year ended June 30 from NZ$180 million in the prior year. Chairman John Palmer said, "We clearly acknowledge this is not the result we would have liked to have achieved at the end of the financial year. But given the extraordinarily challenging business environment the airline is operating in, this is a respectable result."
Ryanair followed through on its threat Friday and submitted a claim for compensation worth just over £3 million ($5.7 million) to the UK Dept. for Transport.
ABX Air, which was Innovative Solutions & Support's first customer for its Flat Panel Display System retrofit on the 767, announced Friday that the two companies will partner in developing and installing a system on a 767-200ER belonging to an unidentified third party. ABX holds a supplemental type certificate for the work, which is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2007. IS&S announced development of an FPDS for the 737-300/-400/-500 at the Farnborough Air Show ( ATWOnline, July 20).
Delta Air Lines said it received US Dept. of Transportation permission to begin selling seats on its daily New York JFK-London Gatwick service scheduled to begin Nov. 15. Delta purchased the route authority from United Airlines last month ( ATWOnline, July 31). Final government approval is expected "within the next few weeks," DL said. It plans to add a second daily flight May 1.
SkyWest Airlines flew 1.47 billion RPMs in July, a 107.5% increase over the year-ago month reflecting the acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Capacity climbed 99.4% to 1.79 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.2 points to 82.3%. Mesaba Airlines flew 100.5 million RPMs in July, down 43.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 42.1% to 147.1 million ASMs and load factor dipped 2.2 points to 68.3%.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a temporary injunction Friday afternoon preventing Northwest Airlines flight attendants represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA from conducting any strike or work action, granting the airline's appeal and reversing an earlier ruling by the US Bankruptcy Court ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18).
KLM appointed Arend de Jong as senior VP-marketing & network within the Joint Cargo Management Committee of Air France-KLM Cargo. He succeeds Bram Graber, who will become senior VP-KLM Benelux. Pieter Elbers succeeds De Jong as KLM senior VP-network.
The pilots of the Comair CRJ200 that crashed into a field while taking off from Lexington, Ky., Blue Grass Airport early Sunday morning used the wrong runway, National Transportation Safety Board Member Deborah Hersman confirmed in an evening briefing. The aircraft apparently was cleared to depart from Runway 22, the main runway with a length of 7,003 ft. However, it lined up on the shorter general aviation runway, 26, which is 3,500 ft. in length, insufficient for the fully loaded jet to become airborne.
Finnair subsidiary FlyNordic said it will trim last year's €17 million ($21.7 million) loss as it cut unprofitable routes during the summer and changes its focus to charter service. It was profitable in July as it transported 116,390 passengers, up 20% year-over-year, with a load factor of 80.6%. It said it will continue to trim its network during the winter. "This year we have begun hedging our fuel purchases in the same manner as Finnair," Deputy CEO Henrik Arle said.
Bmi faces pilot strikes following a vote by British Airline Pilots Assn. members who fly for the mainline, bmi regional and bmibaby units. Mainline pilots approved strike action by an 89%-11% margin while 86% of regional pilots voted to strike, according to results released yesterday. Bmibaby pilots were balloted last week, with 73% voting to strike. The airline had said that just 47% of bmibaby pilots favored a work stoppage, but the union contradicted that figure yesterday.
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.
