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%.
EAE European Air Express became the newest carrier to complete an IATA Operational Safety Audit on March 6. On the same day, the German Regional started codeshare services with KLM between Munster/Osnabruck and Amsterdam. EAE operates a fleet of seven ATR 42-300s on six routes to eight destinations.
Qantas shelved plans to establish intra-Asia freight services through a Thai-based joint venture amid deepening concerns about rising fuel prices and the medium-term outlook for air cargo. Executive GM-Associated Businesses Grant Fenn said the airline has "put back indefinitely" the start of flights by 49%-held Thai Air Cargo.
Northwest Airlines' tentative agreement with its pilots ( ATWOnline, March 6), if ratified, likely will curtail growth opportunities for Pinnacle Airlines, Northwest's primary Regional partner, said JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker.
Gol exercised two more options from its order for 101 737-800s, increasing the number of firm orders to 67 from 65 and leaving 34 options. It currently operates 43 737s and will begin taking delivery of its 737NGs this year. By year end it will operate 12 dash 300s, 26 dash 700s and 20 dash 800s. By 2012 it plans a fleet of 90 aircraft comprising 19 dash 700s and 71 dash 800s.
Lufthansa was forced to cancel about 56 domestic and European flights Friday morning owing to heavy snowfall across Germany. Flights were delayed by up to an hour. The airline said that all long-haul flights were expected to operate on time.
Midwest Airlines partnered with rival Northwest Airlines on a loyalty program initiative that will allow members to earn and redeem miles on each other's flights. Midwest members can redeem miles on KLM flights as well.
British Airways flew 8.1 billion RPKs in February, up 3.6% on the year-ago month, against a 3% rise in capacity to 11.38 billion ASKs. Passenger load factor inched up 0.4 point to 71.2%. Southwest Airlines reported a 17.3% increase in February RPMs to 4.69 billion. Traffic climbed 8.5% to 6.85 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 5.2 points to 68.5%. Ryanair flew 2.6 million passengers in February, an improvement of 22%. Load factor declined 1 point compared to February 2005 to 78%.
SAS Cargo said it had its best-ever result last year as it reported a pre-tax profit of SEK68 million ($8.6 million), up from SEK14 million in 2004, on revenues of SEK3.3 billion, up 17%. EBIT jumped to SEK83 million from SEK35 million. Improvement was achieved in spite of a 5.4% decline in yield.
ANA's codeshare agreement with Skynet Asia Airways ( ATWOnline, Jan. 31) will commence April 1 and calls for the placement of ANA's code on SNA flights from Tokyo Haneda to Miyazaki, Kumamoto and Nagasaki. SNA flights will be available through ANA sales and reservation systems. In addition, SNA will move from Terminal 1 at Haneda to ANA's Terminal 2, where its customers will have access to ANA's self-serve check-in and ticketing kiosks.
IATA reported that the world's airlines continued their momentum into the new year as international passenger traffic rose 6.2% in January while airfreight grew 5.3%, suggesting that the world economy may be heating up after last year's second-half slowdown in FTKs. Total passenger capacity climbed 4.6% and cabin factor was 74.6%. Cargo capacity kept pace with the rise in traffic with ATKs up 5.2%. Strongest RPK growth was recorded by Middle East airlines, up 18.3% on an 11.7% rise in ASKs.
Business Turnaround Plan released last week by Malaysia Airlines charts a course for a return to the black by 2007 and outlines an economic, operational and philosophical overhaul of the underachieving carrier, which admitted that low yields and surging costs will exhaust its cash by April unless it implements drastic changes ( ATWOnline, Feb. 28). Following three consecutive loss-making quarters, MAS said its "primary obligation to the government and all other shareholders is to drive top-tier financial performance.
