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.
US Dept. of Transportation approved Mesa Air Group's use of the name go! for its Hawaii inter-island startup over the objection of mainland-based GoJet Airlines. The new carrier, which will operate from the commuter terminal at Honolulu International, is scheduled to launch service today offering one-way fares from $19. GoJet, a subsidiary of Trans States Holdings that operates a fleet of CRJ700s as a United Express carrier, argued that Mesa's new name "would cause public confusion." Mesa responded that go!
SAS Scandinavian Airlines said passengers on four flights this month between New York and Stockholm will have the opportunity to test new Sony Ericsson mobile phones using VOIP technology rather than a mobile/cellular network. The aircraft are equipped with Connexion by Boeing, which makes it possible for passengers traveling with laptops accessing the Connexion service to use VOIP phones without risking interference with aircraft systems or avionics.
Varig received just one bid at yesterday's bankruptcy auction, a BRL1.01 billion ($446.4 million) offer during the second round from a consortium of employees, well below the minimum bid for just the domestic routes, which was $700 million ( ATWOnline, May 22). The bankruptcy court judge said he would take a day to decide whether to approve the sale anyway. A $75 million deposit would be required, the Associated Press reported. The judge also may liquidate the carrier. There will not be another auction.
BAE Systems confirmed that it served upon EADS a formal notice of exercise of its put option regarding BAE's sale of its 20% stake in Airbus back to the French-German company. BAE Systems had announced May 2 it would use the put option if it could not reach agreement on the value of the stake.
Cathay Pacific announced yesterday that the heads of Cathay, Air China, China National Aviation Co., Swire Pacific and CITIC Pacific met in Hong Kong to "finalize details of the formal agreement" related to CX's acquisition of Dragonair, confirming this week's reports ( ATWOnline, June 8). A press conference was scheduled in Hong Kong for Friday morning local time.
El Al hopes to make Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport a connecting hub for transport to the Far East. "We already have passengers who are traveling with us from Europe and the US to Asia. We see some potential for us in this business," Chairman Israel Borovich told this website at the IATA AGM in Paris. Asian destinations currently comprise Beijing, Hong Kong and Bangkok. El Al will add two more 777s by next year and has begun installation of a new business class product, including lie-flat seats, on its long-haul fleet.
Delta Air Lines continued to expand its network yesterday with the launch of 23 new North American routes that will serve 19 states and Canada and each of DL's major hubs. Six of seven new routes from Atlanta are operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, four of five from New York JFK are flown by Comair and six of seven from Salt Lake City are handled by SkyWest. More routes will be inaugurated throughout the month. Separately, Delta raised fuel surcharges on "most" transatlantic flights by $10 effective yesterday.
United Airlines flew 10.13 billion system RPMs in May, a 4.5% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.1% to 12.13 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2 points to a May-record 83.8%.
Air France-KLM said May traffic rose 6.2% over the year-ago month to 16.18 billion RPKs against a 4.3% lift in capacity to 20.45 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 1.4 points to 79.1%. The company posted a "significant increase" in unit revenue last month, "once again driven by sustained levels of premium traffic." EasyJet carried 2.9 million passengers in May, up 15.2% on the year-ago month. Load factor dipped 0.2 point to 83.9%.
Royal Jordanian intends to make a decision before year end on the replacement of its long-haul fleet, President and CEO Samer Majali told ATWOnline during the IATA AGM in Paris. He said the initial version of the A350 "could have worked for us" but that deciding between the 787 and A350 has become problematic as "it is difficult to base an analysis on an aircraft that is not yet defined." The long-haul fleet renewal should start in 2010 and comprise 8-10 aircraft. RJ currently deploys three A310s and four A340s on its long-haul network.
Jade Cargo International will begin operations at the beginning of August, immediately after taking delivery of its first 747-400ERF. It initially will serve Amsterdam and Seoul Incheon three times a week from its hub in Shenzhen. Its second 747-400ERF is due to arrive in November. It has ordered a total of six with deliveries through January 2008. "We will rapidly expand our route network and serve intra-Asian, European and American destinations. From the start, Jade Cargo will assume a leading role in China's fast-growing air cargo market," MD Rudolf Tewes said in a statement.
JetBlue Airways broke ground yesterday on its $24.5 million crew facility at Orlando International. Scheduled for completion in 14-18 months, the JetBlue Crew Lodge will include 292 guest rooms, a 4,000-sq.-ft. assembly hall, fitness facilities and other features. The LCC already operates a training center at MCO that opened in June 2005 and a three-bay hangar facility used by LiveTV, its wholly owned subsidiary. Separately, JetBlue will launch thrice-daily New York JFK-Nashville flights aboard Embraer 190s from Aug. 31.
Cathay Pacific's acquisition of Dragonair and its routes into mainland China appeared imminent yesterday as trading in the Hong Kong-listed shares of Cathay, Air China, China National Aviation Co., CITIC Pacific and Swire Pacific was suspended for a third consecutive day, according to press reports. CITIC MD Henry Fan told reporters he expected an official announcement to come by today. Cathay already holds 17.8% of Dragonair and reportedly will pay approximately HK$8 billion ($1 billion) in cash and stock for the rest.
British Airways intends to resolve its pension issue before it moves forward with significant long-haul aircraft orders and does not want to take delivery of any new types ahead of its 2008 move into London Heathrow's Terminal 5, CEO Willie Walsh confirmed earlier this week at a meeting of oneworld executives ahead of the IATA AGM.
Air One is set to become a regional member of Star Alliance in the future, but the Italian carrier is aiming higher, Head of Network & Marketing Giorgio De Roni told this website at the IATA AGM. "First, I think, it makes sense that we become a regional member, then we will apply for full membership," he said. As a first step, Air One is planning to introduce more codeshare agreements with Star carriers.
Lufthansa Cargo in a significant operational change is closing its station in Fairbanks, which was used for 16 years for technical stops on flights to Japan, in favor of routing all services through Astana in Kazakhstan for refueling and crew changes. The move should reduce flying time and complexity. The station at Almaty also will be closed. From July, 40 weekly LHC flights will take off and land in Astana, making it the cargo giant's second-biggest airport.
CSA Czech Airlines posted a CZK496 million ($22.6 million) loss in 2005, a significant reversal from the CZK324 million profit earned in 2004, and expects to finish 2006 in the red, the carrier told the CTK Czech News Agency. Operating revenues rose 12% to CZK22.4 billion against a 21.4% increase in costs to CZK23.4 billion. CSA transported 5.2 million passengers last year, a 20% increase that "was achieved at the cost of inadequately high expenditures," President Radomir Lasak told CTK. "This problem has roots in 2003, when CSA decided to increase its fleet by 45% in a leap.
British Airways flew 9.66 billion RPKs in May, a 6.9% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 5.1% to 12.97 billion ASKs and load factor went up 1.3 points to 74.5%. Separately, BA and Malev Hungarian Airlines signed a codeshare agreement effective Nov. 1, placing BA's code on Malev's twice-daily London Gatwick-Budapest flights and seven Eastern European routes from BUD. Malev will place its code on BA's thrice-daily London Heathrow-BUD service and on flights to five British markets from LGW.
Boeing and FedEx jointly have initiated a 120-day in-service evaluation of active radio frequency identification tags on some major airplane parts for a FedEx MD-10F. Active tags provide considerably greater read range than passive tags, 300 ft. compared to 10 ft., giving the ability to inventory an aircraft without opening access doors, according to Boeing. Active tags also operate more quickly and provide more storage memory. The tags were created by Identec Solutions, are battery powered and contain a microchip and transmitter that operate at 915MHz.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants overwhelmingly rejected a tentative agreement reached in March that would have provided the bankrupt carrier with $195 million in annual work rule, benefit and salary concessions ( ATWOnline, March 2). According to the Professional Flight Attendants Assn., 85% of the 7,625 eligible workers cast votes and of those, 80% voted to reject the agreement. "The Flight Attendants understood how harsh and unfair the bankruptcy process can be to loyal employees.
Ryanair called its growth "inexorable" as it reported a record €302 million ($390.9 million) after-tax profit for the financial year ended March 31, a figure approximately €7 million above forecast and 12% higher than the €268 million earned in the previous fiscal year. It did issue a "cautious" outlook for the coming term, predicting that traffic will climb 20%, yields will remain flat and profit will grow by a more "modest" 5%-10%.
