SITA announced that Sky Airline of Chile and Hong Kong Express Airways will implement its Horizon portfolio including Airfare Price and SITA Reservations. SITA also announced that Moscow Domodedovo will be the 33rd airport to implement its BagManager global baggage reconciliation system.
Air Seychelles signed a letter of intent with ILFC to replace its two 767s with 787s for delivery from 2010. Air Canada is accelerating introduction of the 777-300ER with a lease of one aircraft from ILFC to be delivered in May 2007. AC will take delivery of eight 777-300ERs next year. The airline announced its order for up to 36 777s and 60 787s in last May, but delays caused by a dispute with pilots cost it some 777 delivery positions.
Ryanair announced it will base two additional 737-800s at its Liverpool John Lennon base and launch 11 new routes in October, bringing the total number of destinations served to 32 and the number of aircraft to eight. From Oct. 3, it will fly to Aberdeen, Inverness (each seven-times-weekly), Alghero, Ancona, Kaunas, Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw, Santander, Santiago (each thrice-weekly) and Tampere (four-times-weekly).
Cathay Pacific Airways COO Tony Tyler said the Hong Kong airline will focus its mainland China activities on just three cities, Beijing and Xiamen (currently served), and Shanghai with three daily flights starting as early as this year.
VarigLog, the former cargo and logistics subsidiary of Varig that was sold in January to a Brazilian holding company financed in part by US fund MatlinPatterson ( ATWOnline, Jan. 16), offered to buy the restructuring airline for $350 million, according to press reports. The bid was scheduled to be presented to Varig's creditors yesterday.
Bmi Group reported a pre-tax profit of £10 million ($17.3 million) in 2005, nearly four times greater than the £2.6 million earned in 2004. Turnover rose 4.7% to £869 million from £830.1 million on a 6.3% increase in RPKs to 9.33 billion. Operating result before exceptional items moved from a loss of £3.2 million in 2004 to a profit of £5.5 million in 2005. Segment information on the performance of each of the group's operations--the mainline based at London Heathrow, bmi regional and its low-cost subsidiary, bmibaby--was not provided.
European Commission warned the Greek government that it must adhere to a May 2005 European Court of Justice ruling and recover €161 million ($194.6 million) in state aid given to Olympic Airways, now Olympic Airlines, between 1998 and 2002. The EC said Greece has two months to "react" to the decision or it will refer the case back to the Court and seek financial penalties. The government still is trying to privatize the airline.
With Independence Air out of the picture and JetBlue Airways' armor revealing a few chinks, Southwest Airlines has decided to increase its presence in the Washington area by requesting two gates at Washington Dulles for unidentified service scheduled to begin this fall.
American Airlines said it is hopeful that it will be permitted to resume a fourth daily Miami-Caracas flight canceled in January owing to road conditions near Simon Bolivar International Airport. Operations were scheduled to begin last Monday, but the Venezuelan government has prohibited AA from restarting service. Venezuela agreed to postpone restrictions on other US flights until April 25 after meeting with US inspectors last week ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Delta Air Lines pilots voted in resounding favor yesterday to authorize union leaders to call a strike if an arbitration panel permits the carrier to reject the current pilot contract and impose a new, concessionary agreement. Of 5,799 eligible voters, 96.4% voted and 94.7% of voters supported a strike. "The results of this ballot will send the strongest message yet that if Delta's senior executives are successful in their misguided attempt to reject our contract, we will strike," MEC Chairman Lee Moak said in a letter to union members. "Our goal has not changed.
Tiger Airways of Singapore offered to take over routes from archrival Jetstar Asia. Responding to press reports that Orangestar Investment Holdings, parent of Jetstar Asia and Valuair, is seeking fresh funding of S$36 million ($22.3 million) after having exhausted the S$60 million that was pumped in at the time of the merger last July, Tiger CEO Tony Davis said in a statement, "We are well placed to take over some of Jetstar-Valuair's regional routes if they want to give them up.
World Airways last week paid off the remaining $24 million balance of a $30 million term loan guaranteed by the Air Transportation Stabilization Board. World used available cash for the transaction and paid off the first $6 million last December. The loan dates from December 2003. ATSB now has no outstanding guarantees, although it does have an $86 million direct loan to ATA Airlines related to that carrier's bankruptcy.
United Airlines flew 10.15 billion RPMs in March, a 3.4% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 2.3% to 12.08 billion ASMs and load factor increased 0.9 point to 84%.
Qantas opened its A$55 million ($39.4 million), 17,500-sq.-ft. Material and Logistics Distribution Center in Mascot outside Sydney yesterday. Executive GM-Qantas Engineering David Cox said the project is part of a larger investment in the airline's domestic MRO capabilities, which includes an $85 million facility in Brisbane and a $20 million upgrade to its Rolls-Royce Engine Maintenance Center of Excellence. The Mascot center is anchored by a Miniload Automated Storage and Retrieval System comprising four stacker cranes moving at up to 24 m. per sec.
US Dept. of Transportation said the rate of domestic flight cancellations rose in February to 2.1% compared to the 1.7% posted in February 2005. Ontime arrival rate among the 19 reporting airlines fell to 75.3% from 77.6% in the year-ago month. American Eagle Airlines led in cancellations with 3.5% followed by ExpressJet Airlines at 3% and JetBlue Airways at 2.9%. Hawaiian Airlines had the lowest cancellation rate at 0.2%, followed by Frontier Airlines (0.4%) and Southwest Airlines (1.2%).
Grupo TAP, parent of TAP Portugal, reported a summary result showing a net loss of €9.9 million ($12 million) in 2005, reversing a net profit of €8.6 million in 2004, which was fueled by a €30 million extraordinary gain from the partial sale of ground handling unit Servicos Portugueses de Handling.
America West Holdings said last week that it will redeem $112.3 million in debt on April 13. It will redeem its 7.5% convertible senior notes due 2009. Noteholders may convert multiples of the notes into US Airways common stock by April 11 or may opt to receive cash.
Aer Lingus employees represented by the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union voted in favor of industrial action last week by a 94% margin, anticipating the impending privatization of the carrier. The government's Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport will hold its first hearing on the proposed sale Thursday.
Frontier Airlines shareholders approved last week a plan to establish Frontier Airlines Holdings, a Delaware corporation that will be the carrier's parent ( ATWOnline, Feb. 2). The new company will trade on Nasdaq as FRNT. Shareholders in Frontier Airlines will hold the same number and percentage of shares in the new company, which began trading yesterday.
Cathay Pacific Airways, which generates about 30% of its revenue from cargo activities, is evaluating its future freighter fleet and is studying the 747-8F, 777F and A380 freighter. "We are looking at them but we may not make a decision this year, because we are very well served with our strategy not to order [new] aircraft too early," COO Tony Tyler told ATWOnline in Hong Kong. He joked that the airline might make an exception "if Boeing gives us a killer offer."
SN Brussels Airlines and Virgin Express announced they will merge into a single carrier with a new name and two distinct products, a basic service for price-sensitive passengers and an upgraded service for time-sensitive customers seeking greater convenience and flexibility.
Virgin Atlantic Airways committed itself to capturing more business and premium traffic with Friday's announcement of a three-year "global growth plan" that it expects to produce a 10% increase in business travelers in the coming year. It will add services on popular business routes, including a fourth daily London Heathrow-New York JFK flight, and launch a Dubai service.
Delta Air Lines announced it will follow Northwest Airlines' lead and discontinue absorbing certain passenger facility charges, increasing one-way ticket prices $3-$4.50 on applicable connecting domestic itineraries.
SunExpress, jointly owned by Turkish Airlines and Thomas Cook Airlines, increased its turnover in 2005 by 30.5% to €197.2 million ($238.1 million). Passengers grew 30.1% to 1.76 million, with load factor at 81%. Starting with the summer schedule, SunExpress opened a new base at Izmir. It operates a fleet of nine 737-800s and four 757-200s.
Swiss World Cargo and Lufthansa Cargo Charter signed a marketing and sales cooperation agreement last week enabling Swiss to sell charter capacity on Lufthansa flights.
