Cathay Pacific Airways applied to the Hong Kong SAR government for rights to resume passenger flights to Shanghai, add additional flights to Beijing and increase cargo operations to China in the fourth quarter. The move comes as a result of a recent agreement between Chinese and Hong Kong authorities that expands air services, giving Cathay the opportunity to return to Shanghai after 16 years. Shanghai accounts for 35% of the passenger traffic and 68% of the cargo market between China and Hong Kong.
Loftleidir Icelandic, the charter and ACMI-marketing subsidiary of Icelandair Group, acquired a 55% holding in Latvian charter operator Latcharter Airlines and committed to acquire the remaining shares in the future. The move comes as a result of continuing cooperation between the companies and is part of Loftleidir's strategy to strengthen its position in the Baltic and CIS region as well as adding Airbus aircraft into its worldwide ACMI product line. Latcharter was established in 1992.
Emirates, Airbus's most influential airline customer, expressed disappointment at the resignation of Airbus CEO Gustav Humbert ( ATWOnline, July 3). According to Emirates President Tim Clark, "Gustav was a safe pair of hands. But in the political labyrinth that EADS/Airbus sits, I suspect he had little chance of survival." Clark also said Humbert was handed a "poison chalice" with the A380 and A350 problems.
Air Luxor of Portugal was sold by its parent Mirpuri Group to Longstock Financial Group. Value of the sale was not announced. Air Luxor and its associated companies had revenues of €150 million ($192 million) in 2005. It operates two A320s from Lisbon to Cape Verde, Guinea Bissau and Sao Tome and Principe.
Air France launched a trial with RFID tags to label and track passenger baggage on flights between Paris Charles de Gaulle and Amsterdam Schiphol. KLM joins the trial on July 10 at two baggage drop-off points in Schiphol's Departure Hall 2. The tags will be used for all baggage dropped at those points regardless of destination. Later this year, all drop-off points in DH2 will be equipped to handle RFID tags. KLM developed RFID together with Schiphol, which is responsible for facilitation.
Continental Airlines said it received $156 million from its recent sale of 7.5 million shares of Class A common stock of Copa Holdings, parent of Copa Airlines ( ATWOnline, June 30). Continental will contribute $75 million to its pension plans, bringing its 2006 contribution to $172 million. It still holds 4.4 million shares in Copa.
Swiss International Air Lines and the Aeropers pilots union have been unable to conclude a new labor agreement after 17 months of negotiations. Aeropers declared on Friday, the day the existing deal expired, that talks have failed and that a strike is possible if the carrier changes portions of the current contract. Swiss expects its Airbus pilots to work an average maximum of 19 days per month, take six rather than 7.5 weeks of vacation per year and make reasonable concessions on overall remuneration.
Irish High Court on Monday overturned a 2005 decision by the Commission for Aviation Regulation that imposed strict slot allocation rules on Dublin Airport. CAR had designated Dublin a "full coordination" airport, meaning its slots could be administered tightly to control congestion. Airlines, particularly Ryanair, objected to the designation since it gave them little say in the allocation of takeoff and landing slots. The High Court ruled that CAR had overstepped its bounds and failed to meet the standards of EU regulations governing airport designations.
SAS Cargo will secure 100 tons of space per week on thrice-weekly 747-200F flights from Copenhagen to Beijing and Shanghai operated by Air China. The deal also allows Air China to purchase capacity on SAS flights to China.
SAS Cargo established an independent legal entity called Spirit Air Cargo Handling Group to operate cargo handling at 12 airport terminals in Scandinavia. "The independence will make it easier for the terminals to create their own profile in the Scandinavian market for cargo handling [and] improve the terminals' opportunities to maintain and increase the amount of customers," SAS Cargo President and CEO Kenneth Marx said. The new company commenced operations on July 1.
Alteon Training will place 787 "training suites" in Australia, India and Singapore, adding to previously announced locations in Seattle, Tokyo, London Gatwick and China, the Boeing subsidiary said last week. The suites include full flight and flat-panel simulators, desktop simulation systems and door trainers. Thales will supply the suites, which will be in place by summer 2008.
Delta Air Lines reported a $16 million net loss in May and a net profit of $8 million excluding reorganization items compared to a $140 million loss in the year-ago month. Consolidated unit revenue rose 18.5% year-over-year to 10.77 cents. Mainline CASM increased 5.5% to 10.11 cents but dropped 2.7% to 6.95 cents excluding fuel. "Despite a 35% increase in fuel prices year over year, May's results represent our second consecutive month of profitability, excluding the impact of reorganization items," VP and CFO Edward Bastian said.
Spanair unveiled a four-year Expansion Plan Friday that it said "affirms that the company is the only alternative in Spanish air transport and emphasizes its contribution to the social and economic developments in Catalonia." The carrier said that by 2010 it intends to transport 15 million passengers per year--a 50% increase--grow its market share to 27% from 22% and bring its fleet to 80 aircraft from the current 64. It will focus on Barcelona International, which it intends to use as a domestic and European hub, targeting 60% growth and 5.5 million passengers annually.
Japan Airlines said Friday it plans to sell 700 million new shares in an effort to raise as much as $1.94 billion for aircraft purchases and debt reduction. It said the sale will take place next month and it is leaving open the option of selling another 50 million shares. "We're going to use the funds for expansion," CFO Yuichiro Kito said at a Tokyo news conference. "Rather than waiting for a turnaround in business, we decided to take action." JAL will determine an offer price for the share sale by July 21.
Gol entered into an agreement for $50 million in long-term financing from International Finance Corp., the private sector arm of World Bank Group. The IFC financing is intended to support the LCC's investment in spare parts inventory and working capital requirements.
Embraer 195 received certification from the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil, paving the way for delivery of the first aircraft to launch customer FlyBE later this summer. Certification by the European Aviation Safety Agency is expected to follow shortly. The aircraft, which can be configured for 108-118 seats, is the largest member of Embraer's 170/190 family. In addition to FlyBE's order for 14, Royal Jordanian and Swiss International Air Lines have placed firm orders.
VarigLog's $485-$500 million bid for Varig was declared fit to be considered by the airline's creditors, but a Rio de Janeiro bankruptcy court said there likely will be another auction July 11 just in case anyone wants to offer more, Reuters reported. VarigLog, the former freight and logistics arm of the bankrupt carrier, stepped forward last week after a bid by an employee-led consortium failed ( ATWOnline, June 28).
IATA reported 7% growth in worldwide airline passenger traffic in May compared to the year-ago month. May cargo traffic increased 5.1%. IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said "strong economies" are driving demand and "helping the global airline industry to offset some of the sharp increases in jet fuel prices." ICAO is forecasting worldwide airline scheduled passenger traffic growth of 6.1% for 2006, 5.8% for 2007 and 5.6% for 2008.
Number of passengers willing to pay premium fares has dropped by half over the past five years, giving business aviation a major boost, according to a study by The Velocity Group. The number of higher-yield trips fell from 18% of overall travel pre-9/11 to 9% in 2005. "The decline in higher-yield airline travel since our last survey has been dramatic," said Gerald Bernstein, a partner with Velocity. "Despite a rise in total airline passenger trips, the number of higher-yield trips declined from almost 81 million to 41 million since 2000.
Air New Zealand named Cam Wallace GM-New Zealand & Pacific Island sales replacing Roger Poulton, who becomes GM-Americas. Air Pacific elected Nalin Patel chairman. American Airlines selected Arthur Pappas as VP-Chicago. Aviation Partners Boeing welcomed Jerome C. David as CFO. Aviareto appointed Niall Greene MD. Boeing tapped Judge J. Michael Luttig as senior VP & general counsel succeeding Douglas G. Bain, who retired.
Haruka Nishimatsu was confirmed yesterday as JAL Group's new president and CEO, with former group CEO Toshiyuki Shinmachi confirmed as group chairman. Shinmachi was pressured to relinquish the CEO title four months ago ( ATWOnline, March 2). Nishimatsu, 58, formerly was senior VP-finance and purchasing and has spent most of his working life at JAL. "I adored aircraft. I had watched planes fly over Hamamatsu between Tokyo and Osaka since I was a small boy and was fascinated by them," he said.
Copa Airlines said yesterday that it has priced Continental Airlines' offering of 6.56 million Class A nonvoting Copa shares at $21.75 per share. It added that underwriters will have a 30-day option to purchase an additional 984,375 Copa shares from Continental to cover overallotments, if any. CO will continue to hold a 12.3% interest in Copa once the share sale is completed, or a 10% interest if the overallotment option is exercised in full.
Next Generation Air Transportation System, as the program to modernize the US air traffic control system is now known, will revolutionize the airways in the same way that construction of the US interstate highway system changed how people and goods move on the ground, outgoing Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta said Wednesday at a forum on NGATS in Washington.
India and Kuwait agreed to increase airline seats per week from Kuwait by 1,300. Kuwait Airways will maintain its current 5,200 weekly seats while Jazeera Airways will operate the added 1,300. The expansion is part of a broader agreement expected to be finalized during bilateral talks scheduled for next month.
AeroMexico will lease three 787-8s from International Lease Finance Corp., with deliveries beginning in 2010. The aircraft will replace 767s on leases set to expire and will be used on flights to Europe and Asia. ILFC has 20 787s on firm order. AeroMexico recently took delivery of two 777-200ERs. "With similar speeds, mission capabilities and cockpit commonality, the combination of the 787 with the 777 will provide AeroMexico with optimum fleet flexibility on long-range missions," said Boeing Commercial Airplanes VP-Sales, Latin America and the Caribbean John Wojick.
