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.
Air France and Ryanair are at odds again, with AF initiating legal action to prevent Ryanair from benefiting from lower charges at Marseille-Provence and Ryanair filing another complaint to the European Commission concerning "Air France's latest attempt to block competition from low fares airlines in France." "We filed a case at the Conseil d'Etat in Paris last Friday against the CCI [Chambre de Commerce et d'Industrie] Marseille-Provence, which holds the concession to operate MRS, claiming it is breaching the law by offering lower airport charges to Ryanair than to us for similar se
CSA Czech Airlines, which plunged to a CZK496 million ($22.1 million) loss in 2005 from a CZK324 million profit the year before ( ATWOnline, June 7), yesterday unveiled a three-year plan to return to profitability dubbed "OK 06-08" that will include a 10%-20% workforce reduction, "especially in administrative positions." President Radomir Lasak said, "An immediate change to internal procedures and business practices is critical to the future of Czech Airlines," adding that "CSA will not become a low-cost carrier.
Airbus has made 10 flights totaling 30 hr. with an A320 equipped with winglets and plans additional flights in July with an A320 equipped with a second winglet design. Senior VP-A320 Mario Heinen said no decisions have been made. "This is a research program still," he said. "We are collecting data." He added that customers such as JetBlue Airways, which provided one of its A320s for the test flights ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Varig representatives said yesterday at a hearing in New York that a second, unidentified investor offered $450 million in cash for the airline, a figure higher than the bid offered last week by a group of employees that included just $125 million in cash, Bloomberg News reported. The employees' bid was approved in principle yesterday by a Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court judge ( ATWOnline, June 13), who asked the group to double its cash commitment before he issues a final ruling today.
Embraer consolidated its offices in France into a single location near Paris Charles de Gaulle. The new office provides customer support, administration, information technology and spare parts sales for Embraer operators in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Only one day after SAS Braathens CEO Petter Jansen resigned ( ATWOnline, June 13), the Norwegian National Authority for Investigation and Prosecution of Economic and Environmental Crime (Okokrim) said it filed charges against the airline for illegal computer access and misuse of business secrets.
A Brazilian bankruptcy court judge granted Varig a glimmer of hope yesterday, approving an employee group's BRL1.01 billion ($445.5 million) offer for the beleaguered airline with certain conditions. NV Participacoes (TGV), composed of pilots and flight attendants, presented the only bid at last week's auction, one that fell well below the minimum ( ATWOnline, June 9).
Aer Arann appointed Garry Cullen as its new chief executive, ending a months-long search for a successor to the airline's founder and outgoing MD, Padraig O'Ceidigh. He will take up the post of executive chairman while outgoing chairman Paul D'Alton will become a nonexecutive director. Cullen was chief executive of Antigua-based LIAT. Separately, Aer Arann will launch four-times-weekly London Luton-Newquay service from July 3 aboard a 66-seat ATR 72. It already serves Newquay from Cork.
SAS Braathens CEO Petter Jansen resigned from the airline yesterday, a day after disagreeing with the airline's board about the future direction of the Norwegian carrier, which is the largest member of the Scandinavian Airlines Businesses unit of SAS Group. Although SAS Braathens was the only member of SAB to post an operating or pre-tax profit in 2005, it has been hit by labor unrest in 2006 that contributed to first-quarter losses.
Aerosim Technologies said UPS extended a contract for Web-based FMS training for MD-11 pilots. The extension covers a two-year term following an initial term of three years.
Northwest Airlines and the Professional Flight Attendants Assn. agreed to resume contract negotiations Wednesday after union members last week voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative agreement between the airline and union negotiators ( ATWOnline, June 7).
CAE won orders for four full flight simulators from Flight Simulation Co. and Flight Training Finance. With a list price value of C$52 million ($46.6 million), the contracts bring the number of FFS sales CAE has announced in FY07 to seven. It will provide two 737-800 FFSs and one A320 FFS to Flight Simulation Co.'s training facility at Amsterdam Schiphol. All three will feature electromechanical motion systems and Tropos II Enhanced visual systems. Flight Training Finance ordered an Embraer 170/190 FFS that also features the Tropos visual system.
Nine SkyTeam member carriers signed an MOU with BAA Friday confirming their co-location at London Heathrow's Terminal 4 in 2008, when the new T5 opens and the airport reorganizes ( ATWOnline, March 28).
Brazilian bankruptcy court postponed its Friday decision on whether to allow a group of Varig employees, NV Participacoes, to buy the bankrupt airline for a bid that came in at about half the $860 million minimum at last week's auction ( ATWOnline, June 9). The judge opted to delay his ruling until today in order to learn more about the bid, according to a court statement cited by press reports.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.5 billion RPMs in May, a 7.9% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.9% to 1.93 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.7 point to 77.5%.
Lufthansa Flight Training placed its second CAE-built A320 simulator at its training center at Berlin Schoenefeld. The Level D device is equipped with an EP-1000CT visual system from Evans & Sutherland and will be used mainly by Air Berlin. It is the first simulator installed in LFT's new simulator building. Total investment in the simulator and expansion of the facility amounts to more than €18 million ($22.9 million). LFT now operates 32 full-flight simulators, seven of them at its Berlin base.
United Services, United Airlines' maintenance and engineering division, signed a contract with France's Eagle Aviation to provide overhaul and ring-case modifications on PW4060 engines that power three former UA 747-400s that the charter and wet-lease operator is acquiring from a third party. United Services also recently signed a contract with Azteca Airlines for services that include the overhaul of a 737 landing gear set.
Delta Air Lines announced it will recall 60-70 furloughed pilots this summer "to improve revenue and better meet customers' domestic and international travel needs." The carrier has been expanding its route network dramatically in the past few months; it added 50 new international routes in the past year and last week launched 23 new North American services in one day ( ATWOnline, June 9). The pilots will begin training later this month and return to line flying toward the end of the summer.
The much-anticipated change in shareholder structure among Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair and Air China announced Friday by owners Swire Pacific, CNAC and CITIC Pacific is set to create the most powerful airline group in Asia.
Dba purchased the remaining 40% stake in LTU German Airlines held by Rewe Group through the Intro Verwaultungs investment concern belonging to Hans Rudolf Woehrl, dba's largest shareholder. Intro now owns 100% of LTU, having acquired a 60% share of the struggling charter carrier in a deal announced in February ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20). Woehrl will face difficulties attempting to implement a €45 million ($57.3 million) cost-cutting program at LTU.
Ethiopian Airlines will wet-lease one A330-200 from June 17 and one MD-11 from July 1 to handle expected growth. It cancelled plans to lease two 747-400s because the aircraft would not deliver on time ( ATWOnline, May 2). "The lease is for six months, then we want to have two 777-200s or more 767-300ERs. It depends what is available on the market," CEO Girma Wake told ATWOnline at last week's IATA AGM in Paris.
Airbus and the National Development & Reform Commission of China announced the selection of the Tianjin Binhai New Coastal District as the site for a potential A320 final assembly line should Airbus decide to move forward with the project.
