United Airlines flight attendants, represented by the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, granted their "last concession" and ratified a pension replacement plan Friday with an approval rating of 79%. The new defined contribution plan, effective from Jan. 1, 2006, is "significantly better than what United Airlines was originally willing to provide as a replacement to our terminated defined benefit pension plan," according to the union. It includes company direct and matching contributions starting at 5% and escalating to 6% of employee earnings within two years.
JetBlue Airways promoted Assistant Treasurer Gerald Lee to VP-business development and VP-Operational Planning Rob Maruster to senior VP-airports and operational planning.
Boeing named Messier Services-Asia as a new Component Repair Network Service Center. It will perform MRO work on landing gear on MD-11s, 777s and 737NGs.
Excel Airways, part of Avion Group's Charter & Leisure Division, agreed to lease two 737-900ERs and two 737-800s from GE Commercial Aviation Services, plus two 737-800s from ILFC and a pair from Royal Bank of Scotland. The dash 900ERs will be delivered in May 2008 and replace 757-200s. Excel already operates 10 dash 800s. The two dash 800s from GECAS will be delivered in the second quarter of 2007 and the aircraft from ILFC and RBS during the first half of 2007. All are leased for eight years.
California-based Ramco Systems announced that Virgin America selected its Web-based M&E software solution to automate its MRO business processes and integrate with IT systems at partner organizations.
Frontier Airlines announced a firm order yesterday for six new A320s and the exchange of eight existing A319 orders for four A318s and four A320s. Delivery of the carrier's first A320 is scheduled for 2008, with deliveries continuing through 2011 by which time it will operate 11 A318s, 49 A319s and 10 A320s.
Aegean Airlines said its 2005 sales are expected to exceed €330 million ($392.8 million), representing an 18% increase over 2004. The carrier flew 4 million passengers last year, a rise of 12.3%.
Air New Zealand's net earnings for the six-month period ended Dec. 31 plunged 55% to NZ$46 million ($30.3 million), prompting the carrier to say that "streamlining and simplifying the business would now dominate" CEO Rob Fyfe's agenda.
Swiss International Air Lines will lease an A300-600 from Hapag-Lloyd Express to increase capacity on African services to Malabo, Douala, Yaounde, Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. Separately, Swiss will add a third daily Zurich-New York JFK flight from May 1 using A330-200s. All flights will be operated as codeshare services with future Star Alliance partner United Airlines, a previous agreement with American Airlines having expired.
Northwest Airlink Pinnacle Airlines finished 2005 with a $25.7 million profit, down 36.9% from the $40.7 million earned in 2004 but somewhat satisfying during a turbulent year that featured Northwest's entry into bankruptcy and the removal of 15 of Pinnacle's CRJs from service last fall ( ATWOnline, Sept. 27, 2005). The Regional rebounded from a heavy third-quarter loss to net a profit of $9.9 million in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005, just 3.5% lower than the $10.3 million profit in the year-ago quarter.
ARINC was awarded a contract for VHF data link service by Hong Kong Express Airways. The airline will use ARINC's GlobaLink/VHF service on its Embraer 170s.
Boeing selected supply chain management company New Breed Logistics of North Carolina to provide services supporting final assembly of the 787 beginning in 2007. Separately, Boeing named Boeing Fabrication VP and GM Ross Bogue VP and GM for the 747/767/777 programs and the Everett, Wash., site, replacing retiring Dan Becker.
Malev Hungarian Airlines and American Airlines, future oneworld partners, agreed to implement e-ticket capability on each other's flights from March 1.
Southwest Airlines announced a further ramp-up of its New Orleans and Chicago Midway schedules as part of 15 new flights announced yesterday. It will launch daily Las Vegas-Orlando service April 28, daily Midway-Orange County service May 25 and daily service from New Orleans to Ft. Lauderdale-Hollywood, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Baltimore/Washington International and Midway June 10.
Air France Industries signed a six-year deal with Royal Jordanian for full equipment support of four new A320s and two new A321s, along with a Maintenance Base Kit to be installed in Amman. Support will be provided per flight-hr. The first aircraft was delivered on Dec. 4, 2005, and the rest will be delivered by November 2006.
Increased revenues, including double-digit growth in ancillary revenue, and strong performance at its newer bases in Berlin, Dortmund and Basel left easyJet on course "to achieve mid to high single-digit percentage profit growth" in the fiscal year ending Sept. 30 despite rising fuel prices, Chairman Colin Chandler said yesterday.
Aloha Airlines emerged quietly from bankruptcy Feb. 17 but released a statement on its website yesterday saying it "is now a 60-year-old startup company with a low-cost structure" and is committed "to serve the inter-island and transpacific markets," according to President and CEO David Banmiller. The carrier filed for bankruptcy in December 2004. It is serving Hawaiian destinations as well as Oakland, Sacramento, Orange County, San Diego, Las Vegas and Reno with 737s.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance and KLM cityhopper signed a contract covering pooling and maintenance of components for cityhopper's 21 F70s and 18 F100s. Agreement was valued at €60 million ($71.8 million). KLM E&M will cooperate with Fokker Services to support the airline.
US FAA Director-Aviation Research and Development Joan Bauerlein won this year's National Public Service Award presented by the National Academy of Public Administration and the American Society of Public Administration.
China Airlines flew 2.76 billion RPKs in January, a 10.6% increase over the year-ago month. Number of enplaned passengers grew 11.6% to 764,125 and FTKs increased 4% to 469 million. Finnair Group reported an 8.6% increase in January RPKs and a 6.6% rise in capacity, resulting in a 1.4-point gain in load factor to 74.3%.
Nearly five months after its fiscal third quarter concluded, World Air Holdings, parent of World Airways and North American Airlines, reported it earned a $5.5 million profit in the three months ended Sept. 30, 2005, a 22.5% drop from the $7.1 million earned in the corresponding 2004 period.
Austrian Airlines Group completed the sale of its catering company Airest to SAVE Group of Italy. The deal is worth approximately €30 million ($35.8 million) and will require the consent of competition authorities, which is expected in the coming weeks. Airest will continue to supply Austrian with catering service. Separately, Austrian reported an 11.9% increase in January RPKs to 1.73 billion and a 3.3% rise in capacity to 2.38 billion ASKs, driving up passenger load factor 5.6 points to 72.7%.
Estonian Air announced it earned a net profit of EEK65.9 million ($5 million) in 2005, an improvement of 95% over 2004 net earnings of approximately $2.6 million. Operating revenue increased 20% to EEK1.14 billion as the number of passengers carried grew 18% to 642,700. The carrier said it will add flights to Barcelona, Dubrovnik and Simferopol in 2006 as well as frequencies on its Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen routes. Those three, along with London, proved to be Estonian's most popular destinations last year. The company's charter business grew 75% to 65,000 passengers.
Midwest Air Group, parent of Midwest Airlines, announced it adopted an updated shareholder rights plan replacing the one that expired last week. It is effective through Feb. 15, 2016, and "is designed to protect shareholder value over the long term and provide fair treatment of our shareholders in the event of a takeover attempt," according to Chairman and CEO Timothy Hoeksema.
Landmark Aviation said it will provide fueling services for American Airlines when AA begins its Dallas Love Field service March 2. The agreement covers AA's MD-80s and American Eagle's ERJ-145s, which will operate 98 weekly flights to Kansas City, St. Louis, Austin and San Antonio.
