EasyJet opened its 16th base at Milan Malpensa yesterday and said it expects to handle more than 1.2 million passengers there in the next 12 months flying three domestic and nine international routes. Three A319s will be based permanently at the airport, creating 100 pilot and cabin crew jobs and an additional 1,200 jobs in the Milan area, the carrier said. It already flies to Berlin, London Gatwick and Dortmund from Malpensa and also operates from Milan Linate serving Gatwick and Paris Orly. Italy is one of its fastest-growing markets and now accounts for 5% of its total network.
Frontier Airlines named Roger Morenc senior director-revenue and market management. He comes from ATA Airlines. Star Alliance appointed Philip Saunders VP-sales, marketing and loyalty effective March 20. He joins Star from SN Brussels Airlines, where he was executive VP-commercial. He also held senior positions at British Airways and DBA.
Qantas confirmed yesterday the closure of its 747 heavy MRO operations in Sydney after 55 years in service, resulting in the loss of approximately 480 jobs although up to 140 employees may be transferred elsewhere in the company, CEO Geoff Dixon said. The airline, which has been considering the move since October as part of the restructuring of its maintenance and engineering operations, said it would make an effort to keep the work in Australia but is looking at securing a cost base that will ensure profitability with oil costing more than $60 per barrel.
Barco in cooperation with NCS Group was selected by the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore to "optimize the arrival management at Changi Airport." According to the companies, the contract encompasses integration of Barco's Osyris arrival manager solution with the Singapore ATC system.
European Commission authorized a €25 million ($29.9 million) six-month guarantee from the Italian government to ailing Volare Airlines. "This short-term aid is intended to rescue the firm from bankruptcy and allow it to take steps to continue operating," the EC said, noting that Volare will be able to use the guarantee to obtain credit for that amount from banks. The airline, part of Volare Group, went into extraordinary administration on Nov. 30, 2004, and recommenced flights June 2005 from Milan Linate to Naples, Brindisi, Bari, Catania and Palermo.
WestJet Executive VP-Finance and CFO Alexander Campbell will be leaving the company June 15. In a statement, he said that "now is the best time to make a change." He will assist during the transition period. He becomes the second senior executive to depart in recent months. Last fall, Executive VP-Operations Tim Morgan, a WestJet co-founder, announced his departure for personal reasons ( ATWOnline, Oct. 24, 2005).
American Airlines yesterday said it believes that a content-sharing agreement between Sabre and Amadeus may violate its contracts with the global distribution systems. On Tuesday, the GDSs said they entered into an agreement that enables "Amadeus customers to complete bookings on an airline [through Sabre] in the unlikely event of that airline withdrawing from participation in Amadeus," and vice versa ( ATWOnline, March 8).
Gol's February traffic increased 58.2% over the year-ago month to 940.5 million RPKs. Capacity rose 60.4% to 1.34 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1 point to 70.1%. Domestic traffic climbed 55.6% to 860.8 million RPKs against a 56.1% lift in capacity to 1.22 billion ASKs. Load factor dipped 0.3 point to 70.5%. International traffic increased 93.9% to 79.7 million RPKs, ASKs rose 122.9% to 120.8 million and load factor fell 9.8 points to 66%.
UPS announced yesterday that it will retrofit much of its fleet with Boeing's Class 3 Electronic Flight Bag. The program will begin with 107 757s and 767s operated by the express package and expedited freight provider. UPS said the effort is believed to be the first of its type attempted by any airline, cargo or passenger, "and basically reflects our belief that this technology is ready and should be applied to jets now in service," according to VP-UPS Airline and International Operations Bob Lekites.
Cathay Pacific Airways, ATW's 2006 Airline of the Year, emphatically stamped itself as one the world's strongest performers with a profit of HK$3.47 billion ($446.9 million) in 2005 despite a 38% rise in fuel prices.
ATW Media Group Editorial Director J. A. Donoghue announced he will leave at the end of March to become director of publications at the Alexandria, Va.-based Flight Safety Foundation.
Boeing signed Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center Asia to perform nacelle component MRO services on 737NGs and 777s. GASCA is the fourth member of the airframer's Repair Network Service Center program.
Delta Air Lines announced a significant summer expansion at New York JFK comprising 46 daily mainline and Delta Connection flights to 17 destinations. The vast majority of the flights will be operated to cities in the Northeast US by Delta Connection carriers Comair and Freedom Airlines, the latter a wholly owned subsidiary of Mesa Air Group. New mainline services are a daily flight to Las Vegas and an additional daily frequency to San Diego.
Air France-KLM said it posted a "further good performance both in terms of traffic and unit revenue" in February. Traffic increased 8.5% over the year-ago month to 13.93 billion RPKs on a 6.9% rise in capacity to 17.93 billion ASKs. Load factor improved 1.1 points to 77.7%. The group carried nearly 5 million passengers, up 5.1%. SAS Group carried 2.7 million passengers in February, up 11.4% compared to the same month last year. RPKs increased 8.5% and ASKs declined 2.3%, resulting in a load factor of 66.1%, up 6.6 points.
Phuket Air shareholders scrapped the airline and applied for a fresh license for a new carrier called Suvarnabhumi Airlines, according The Nation newspaper. The new airline will fly from Bangkok to Ranong, Buri Ram, Chiang Mai and Phuket with two 737s. Shareholders also filed to launch a second carrier called Holiday Airlines, which will operate to Beijing, Seoul and Tokyo using three 747s. Phuket Air had a troubled past, with technical problems grounding aircraft around the world.
Kenya Airways continued its strong association with Boeing by becoming the 28th airline to sign up for the 787 with an order for six dash 8s. The 787s will replace the carrier's six 767s, with two to be delivered in 2010 and four in 2011. Kenya Airways carries more than 2 million passengers annually and has the largest network into Africa. It operates a 21-aircraft fleet comprising mostly 737s, 767s and 777s. Boeing said it has 385 orders and commitments for the Dreamliner.
Northwest Airlines' 7,677 customer service and reservations staff, represented by the International Assn. of Machinists, voted yesterday to ratify a concessionary contract with the airline, while 5,632 equipment service employees, also represented by IAM, rejected a similar agreement.
ARINC will provide comprehensive technical and maintenance support for check-in systems, flight information displays and additional IT systems at Dallas/Ft. Worth's new International Terminal D, which opened in July 2005.
Russian airlines reported a combined RUB2.2 billion ($78.7 million) drop in net profit in 2005, according to a statement from the Federal Air Transport Agency cited by Russian media. Revenues increased 10% to RUB180 billion against a 20% lift in costs. The number of passengers grew 3.9% to 35.1 million and passenger revenues rose 3.4%.
Goodrich named Segment President-Electronic Systems John Grisik its new executive VP-operational excellence and technology effective March 15. He will be succeeded by President-Sensor Systems Jerry Witowski, who will be succeeded in turn by President-Actuation Systems Brian Gora. Prism Group named Paul Leyh VP-sales consulting.
Republic Airways Holdings will set up a $21.4 million overnight maintenance facility and crew base at Pittsburgh International Airport to handle its growing fleet of Embraer 170s. Pennsylvania state officials, who said the new facility will generate some 140 jobs over the next three years, put together a $530,000 incentive package for Republic that includes tax credits and job training funds. The airline operates a fleet of 143 RJs, including 48 170s, as a Regional partner of United Airlines, US Airways, Delta Air Lines and American Connection.
Six Arab carriers signed an agreement in late January to form Arabesk Group, a consortium "designed to help members realize better commercial potential," according to Arab Air Carriers Organization Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha. Initial members are EgyptAir, Gulf Air, Middle East Airlines, Royal Jordanian, Saudi Arabian Airlines and Yemenia Yemen Airways. The group said Tunisair likely will join soon. Formation of the entity was discussed last summer ( ATWOnline, June 6, 2005).
Teledyne Controls said CSA Czech Airlines ordered its Wireless GroundLink quick access recorder for its A320 fleet. WQAR fully automates the recording and transmission of flight data.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.68 billion RPMs in February, a 25.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 25.1% to 2.02 billion ASMs and load factor fell 0.1 point to 83.4%. Alaska Airlines' February traffic increased 6.4% to 1.26 billion RPMs. Capacity rose 2.1% to 1.71 billion ASMs and load factor improved 3 points to 73.7%.
SkyEurope Airlines will add the first of two 737-700s on March 10 to its new base in Prague, from which it will launch service to Amsterdam, Barcelona, Milan Bergamo, Naples, Nice, Paris Orly and Rome Fiumicino from April. The carrier also finalized its first jet fuel hedging transaction, covering 90% of its demand between March and May. Hedge was made at a price equivalent to IPE Brent $60.50 per barrel. Separately, SkyEurope reported that it transported 145,425 passengers in February, up 71.9% over the year-ago month. Load factor rose 8.9 points to 75.1%.
