Air Canada launched daily Montreal-Denver service Friday aboard an A319. AC flew 4.06 billion RPMs in May, a 5.7% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.2% to 4.93 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.7 points to 82.3%. Domestic traffic grew 2.6% to 1.32 billion RPMs as capacity increased 4.9% to 1.67 billion ASMs and load factor fell 1.7 points to 79%. International RPMs jumped 4.9% to 2.1 billion as capacity dropped 0.8% to 2.44 billion ASMs, raising load factor 4.7 points to 86.2%.
Air India said it received expressions of interest from seven parties/consortia in serving as its consultant in preparing a "road map" for its merger with Indian Airlines. Its board will invite the bidders to make presentations June 26-27.
Alitalia and Meridiana signed a codeshare agreement for the Rome-Cagliari route. Alitalia will add its code to Meridiana's flights while Meridiana will lease an AZ aircraft to operate on the route. Alitalia lost the right to fly to Cagliari and Olbia in April because it applied for renewal after a deadline set by ENAC. The three-year concession was awarded to Air One and Meridiana. Separately, Alitalia flew 3.35 billion RPKs in May, a 2.3% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.9% to 4.55 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 3 points to 73.6%.
Air Berlin is expanding its presence in Zurich, turning it into a minihub for flights to Spain and Portugal. From Nov. 4, the carrier will start weekly flights from ZRH to Las Palmas, Tenerife, Lanzarote, Fuerteventura and Madeira. A spokesperson confirmed to ATWOnline that flights will be fed by services from Frankfurt, Berlin, Hamburg, Dusseldorf and Vienna. Air Berlin will add a third daily flight from Zurich to Hamburg on Nov 1. It has become the No. 2 carrier at ZRH behind Swiss International Air Lines, serving 700,000 passengers in 2005.
EgyptAir is looking for ways to increase its capital by 20% by year end to finance fleet expansion. According to the Arab Air Carriers Organization, the airline intends to add another 12 aircraft by 2016, a mix of short- and long-haul types. It ordered six 737-800s plus six options in 2005 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 10, 2005) and plans to take delivery of all 12 by 2010, increasing its fleet to 52 aircraft.
Delta Air Lines asked Wednesday for a four-month extension to the exclusivity period for filing its reorganization plan. The period is set to expire on July 11. The airline said in its filing submitted to the US Bankruptcy Court in New York that the extension to Sept. 9 is required to address pension plan obligations, retiree benefit issues and its business model, "among other things."
British Airways announced changes to its baggage policy on mainline services, including allowances for hand, checked and excess baggage that will be phased in over the next five months. BA will not, at least yet, start charging for checked luggage as do LCC peers like FlyBE and Ryanair ( ATWOnline, Jan. 26). "We have created new policies which are easier to understand and will reduce queuing time at airports," BA Commercial Director Martin George said.
Finnair said a €100 million bond issued Wednesday and directed at Finnish institutional investors was fully subscribed. It matures in 2012. "With this emitted bond we wanted to expand our financing flexibility. Our fleet investment program is over €1 billion for the years 2006-2015," CFO Lasse Heinonen said.
Republic Airways Holdings promoted Tim Dooley to VP-financial planning & analysis. Alaska Airlines named Chris Glaeser VP-safety. He comes from Northwest Airlines, where he was director-flight safety, quality assurance and industry affairs.
Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines and AeroRepublica, filed a registration statement yesterday with the US Securities and Exchange Commission for the sale of 6.6 million nonvoting shares held by Continental Airlines, which would hold a 12.3% stake in Copa following the sale or 10% if the overallotment is exercised. Copa said it will not receive any of the proceeds.
SITA signed an agreement with Athens International Airport to distribute and sell its AirportConnect CUTE, AirportConnect Kiosk, BagManager and BagMessage IT applications in Greece. This is the third agreement of its kind since SITA announced plans in February to establish a global network of Indirect Channel partners to provide its IT solutions to medium-size and small airports that handle 5 million passengers or fewer per year ( ATWOnline, Feb. 3).
Gol flew 1.17 billion RPKs in May, a 55.9% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 53.8% to 1.6 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1 point to 73%.
China and Taiwan continued to relax air transport restrictions with the decision to allow more direct flights during holiday periods and cargo charters for the first time, Reuters reported. Flights operated between the countries during the Chinese New Year proved popular and led to calls for increased service ( ATWOnline, Feb. 9). Passenger flights could take place as early as October's Mid-Autumn Festival, Taiwan Mainland Affairs Council Chairman Joseph Wu said.
Varig and the group of employees and unidentified investors who bid for the carrier, NV Participacoes, were granted another extension by Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court Judge Luiz Roberto Ayoub, who had given the group until Wednesday to make a case for its BRL1.01 billion ($439 million) bid ( ATWOnline, June 13). The court now will reconsider the bid next week, giving it time to examine documents NVP delivered just half an hour before the Wednesday deadline and the opportunity to consider other offers.
Air China intends to raise CNY8 billion ($996.3 million) through the sale of 2.7 billion shares on the Shanghai stock exchange later this year, an airline official told reporters yesterday. The offering constitutes 28.62% of its existing share capital, the Associated Press reported. The carrier, which already has shares traded in Hong Kong, is awaiting approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission. China International Capital Corp., CITIC Securities and Galaxy Securities reportedly will be the underwriters.
Hawaiian Airlines flew 555.1 million RPMs in May, a 1.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.1% to 639.4 million ASMs, lifting load factor 1.4 points to 86.8%. SkyWest, parent of SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines, said its airlines flew a combined 1.36 billion RPMs in May, a 117.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 100.6% to 1.71 billion ASMs and load factor increased 6.2 points to 79.6%.
DayJet, which plans to offer what it describes as "the world's first Per-Seat On Demand" jet service ( ATWOnline, April 25) using Eclipse 500 very light jets, said it will begin by operating in five Florida cities--Boca Raton, Gainesville, Lakeland, Pensacola and Tallahassee--later this year. The company is in "final negotiations" with FBOs and airports in each of the cities to operate what it calls DayPorts.
United Airlines will lay off at least 1,000 salaried workers by year end, CEO Glenn Tilton said yesterday at the Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference in New York. The figure represents approximately 11% of UA's salaried employees. Overall, the airline is targeting savings of $400 million in 2007 ( ATWOnline, May 9).
Lufthansa Cargo will take over sales and marketing of Air Madrid's freight capacity and handling effective Sept. 1. The agreement calls for LHC to open five new handling stations in Latin America.
WestJet said its executive VP-finance and CFO position, vacated this week with the departure of Alexander Campbell ( ATWOnline, March 9), will be filled jointly on an interim basis by VP-Controller Janice Paget (internal) and VP-Finance & Corporate Services Derek Payne (external). The carrier is continuing its search for a permanent successor.
Lufthansa flew 9.74 billion RPKs in May, a 2.2% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.4% to 13.06 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 0.6 point to 74.5%. Iberia flew 4.33 billion RPKs in May, an 8.1% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 6% to 5.68 billion ASKs and load factor increased 1.5 points to 76.2%. Copa Airlines flew 309.5 million RPMs in May, a 31.3% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 22.6% to 418.4 million ASMs and load factor jumped 4.9 points to 74%.
Goodrich Corp. was selected by Hawaiian Airlines to perform heavy maintenance checks, interior standardizations, painting and ETOPS modifications and other work on four 767-300s prior to their entry into service later this year.
