ICAO reappointed Taieb Cherif of Algeria as secretary general. His second three-year term will begin Aug. 1. The US had nominated William Voss for the position. Voss, formerly head of the terminal business service of FAA's Air Traffic Organization, currently serves as director of ICAO's Air Navigation Bureau.
B/E Aerospace was contracted by China Southern Airlines to convert six A300-600s from passenger aircraft to freighters. Deliveries will begin in the latter part of 2007. B/E's Flight Structures arm will develop the engineering and certification packages and manufacture required components while China Southern affiliate Guangzhou Aircraft Maintenance Engineering Co. will perform the conversions.
Malaysia Airlines warned yesterday that "on its current business assumptions, course and speed, [it] will likely fail," exhausting its cash "in April 2006" and posting a MYR1.7 billion ($472 million) loss for the year. "A real business turnaround is an imperative for MAS. The management team and our staff believe strongly in our ability to transform the business and, indeed, to go beyond expectations," MD Idris Jala said as he revealed the company's Business Turnaround Plan aimed at returning the airline to profit by 2007, with net earnings of MYR500 million in FY08.
JetBlue, which earlier forecast a full-year loss for 2006, instead should see a return to profit, according to JP Morgan analyst Jamie Baker, who cited the positive impact of dramatic cutbacks by primary competitor Delta Air Lines in key north-south East Coast markets that should boost JetBlue system revenue by 5%.
Swissport finalized an agreement with Ukraine International Airlines to operate jointly the Interavia ground handling company. Swissport will hold 51% of Interavia, which was launched last year by UIA and Airline Business Handling and is the leading ground handler at UIA's Kiev hub. Swissport already works with the airline at other airports.
United Airlines and TACA reached a codeshare agreement giving UA passengers access to TACA's entire network and TACA customers the opportunity to connect to destinations through "several" UA hubs including Washington Dulles, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Regulatory approvals are expected by the second quarter.
South African CAA appointed Zakes Myeza as its new CEO effective March 16. The body has been without a permanent CEO for the past three years. Myeza currently serves as executive director-finance and support services at the Johannesburg Development Authority. Nordam Group named Brian Beair director-aircraft asset management. Beair, reporting to Meredith Siegfried, VP-global sales and marketing, will oversee the procurement, placement and sale of rotables to support Nordam's worldwide repair divisions.
Bawag Leasing of Austria sold an ex-Augsburg Airways Dash 8-314Q to Austrian LCC InterSky. Meridian Jet Prop was the seller's exclusive worldwide agent.
Star Navigation Systems Group signed an MOU with TAP Maintenance and Engineering under which, subject to a final agreement, TAP will market Star's In-Flight Safety Monitoring System to the airline's existing client base and provide installation. ISMS collects aircraft data inflight, analyses it for anomalies and transmits it to Star's ground station. An alert is sent to the airline if a problem is anticipated or an incident has occurred, according to Star. Separately, Star signed an MOU with Kharkov State Aircraft Manufacturing Co.
Egyptian government announced its intention to sell 20% of EgyptAir to the public after an ongoing commercial study is finalized. According to the Arab Air Carrier Organization, the government will maintain 80% control of the airline. Also, the government announced that EgyptAir's fleet will increase from 32 to 52 aircraft next year. It has ordered 12 737-800s with deliveries starting this year.
Northwest Airlines and the unions representing its pilots and flight attendants were granted a second extension, this time through March 1, by a US Bankruptcy Court judge Friday afternoon. The parties originally had until Feb. 17 to reach an accord before the court ruled on Northwest's request to cancel its labor agreements but were given an extension through yesterday ( ATWOnline, Feb. 17). Negotiations continued last week, prompting Judge Allan Gropper to give the parties still more time.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace and Airbus announced a three-year renewable agreement Friday enabling the airframer to place any aircraft for MRO work at any of STA's maintenance and modification sites around the world. Separately, STA announced a five-year, $5.9 million agreement with Pacific Airlines of Vietnam for complete component support and technical services for up to three 737s.
Jagson Airlines of India revealed details of the fleet upgrade first unveiled in January ( ATWOnline, Jan. 6). CEO Uttam Kumar Bose told reporters in India that the carrier has agreed to purchase up to 20 A321s in a deal worth $1.3 billion. The contract covers 14 firm orders and six options and will be finalized once delivery dates can be negotiated. Jagson is making the transition from a regional turboprop operator to a national carrier.
Ukraine International Airlines took delivery of a 737-400 leased from GECAS. It also is planning to take delivery of two dash 500s leased from Boeing Capital Corp. within the next six weeks.
Increases in revenue and traffic and "better capacity management on the domestic front" lifted AirAsia's second fiscal quarter profit to MYR53.4 million ($14.4 million), an increase of 20.3% over the MYR44.4 million earned in the three months ended Dec. 31, 2004. Revenues increased 26.5% to MYR225.9 million as the number of passengers rose 19% to 1.3 million and average fare went up 2% to MYR156. The carrier's "cost of sales" climbed 22.2% to MYR139.8 million and it reported an operating profit of MYR72.9 million, a 32.9% improvement over the year-ago quarter.
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.
