SAS Braathens CEO Petter Jansen resigned from the airline yesterday, a day after disagreeing with the airline's board about the future direction of the Norwegian carrier, which is the largest member of the Scandinavian Airlines Businesses unit of SAS Group. Although SAS Braathens was the only member of SAB to post an operating or pre-tax profit in 2005, it has been hit by labor unrest in 2006 that contributed to first-quarter losses.
Aerosim Technologies said UPS extended a contract for Web-based FMS training for MD-11 pilots. The extension covers a two-year term following an initial term of three years.
Northwest Airlines and the Professional Flight Attendants Assn. agreed to resume contract negotiations Wednesday after union members last week voted overwhelmingly to reject a tentative agreement between the airline and union negotiators ( ATWOnline, June 7).
CAE won orders for four full flight simulators from Flight Simulation Co. and Flight Training Finance. With a list price value of C$52 million ($46.6 million), the contracts bring the number of FFS sales CAE has announced in FY07 to seven. It will provide two 737-800 FFSs and one A320 FFS to Flight Simulation Co.'s training facility at Amsterdam Schiphol. All three will feature electromechanical motion systems and Tropos II Enhanced visual systems. Flight Training Finance ordered an Embraer 170/190 FFS that also features the Tropos visual system.
Nine SkyTeam member carriers signed an MOU with BAA Friday confirming their co-location at London Heathrow's Terminal 4 in 2008, when the new T5 opens and the airport reorganizes ( ATWOnline, March 28).
Brazilian bankruptcy court postponed its Friday decision on whether to allow a group of Varig employees, NV Participacoes, to buy the bankrupt airline for a bid that came in at about half the $860 million minimum at last week's auction ( ATWOnline, June 9). The judge opted to delay his ruling until today in order to learn more about the bid, according to a court statement cited by press reports.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.5 billion RPMs in May, a 7.9% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.9% to 1.93 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.7 point to 77.5%.
Lufthansa Flight Training placed its second CAE-built A320 simulator at its training center at Berlin Schoenefeld. The Level D device is equipped with an EP-1000CT visual system from Evans & Sutherland and will be used mainly by Air Berlin. It is the first simulator installed in LFT's new simulator building. Total investment in the simulator and expansion of the facility amounts to more than €18 million ($22.9 million). LFT now operates 32 full-flight simulators, seven of them at its Berlin base.
United Services, United Airlines' maintenance and engineering division, signed a contract with France's Eagle Aviation to provide overhaul and ring-case modifications on PW4060 engines that power three former UA 747-400s that the charter and wet-lease operator is acquiring from a third party. United Services also recently signed a contract with Azteca Airlines for services that include the overhaul of a 737 landing gear set.
Delta Air Lines announced it will recall 60-70 furloughed pilots this summer "to improve revenue and better meet customers' domestic and international travel needs." The carrier has been expanding its route network dramatically in the past few months; it added 50 new international routes in the past year and last week launched 23 new North American services in one day ( ATWOnline, June 9). The pilots will begin training later this month and return to line flying toward the end of the summer.
The much-anticipated change in shareholder structure among Cathay Pacific Airways, Dragonair and Air China announced Friday by owners Swire Pacific, CNAC and CITIC Pacific is set to create the most powerful airline group in Asia.
Dba purchased the remaining 40% stake in LTU German Airlines held by Rewe Group through the Intro Verwaultungs investment concern belonging to Hans Rudolf Woehrl, dba's largest shareholder. Intro now owns 100% of LTU, having acquired a 60% share of the struggling charter carrier in a deal announced in February ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20). Woehrl will face difficulties attempting to implement a €45 million ($57.3 million) cost-cutting program at LTU.
Ethiopian Airlines will wet-lease one A330-200 from June 17 and one MD-11 from July 1 to handle expected growth. It cancelled plans to lease two 747-400s because the aircraft would not deliver on time ( ATWOnline, May 2). "The lease is for six months, then we want to have two 777-200s or more 767-300ERs. It depends what is available on the market," CEO Girma Wake told ATWOnline at last week's IATA AGM in Paris.
Airbus and the National Development & Reform Commission of China announced the selection of the Tianjin Binhai New Coastal District as the site for a potential A320 final assembly line should Airbus decide to move forward with the project.
US Dept. of Transportation approved Mesa Air Group's use of the name go! for its Hawaii inter-island startup over the objection of mainland-based GoJet Airlines. The new carrier, which will operate from the commuter terminal at Honolulu International, is scheduled to launch service today offering one-way fares from $19. GoJet, a subsidiary of Trans States Holdings that operates a fleet of CRJ700s as a United Express carrier, argued that Mesa's new name "would cause public confusion." Mesa responded that go!
SAS Scandinavian Airlines said passengers on four flights this month between New York and Stockholm will have the opportunity to test new Sony Ericsson mobile phones using VOIP technology rather than a mobile/cellular network. The aircraft are equipped with Connexion by Boeing, which makes it possible for passengers traveling with laptops accessing the Connexion service to use VOIP phones without risking interference with aircraft systems or avionics.
Varig received just one bid at yesterday's bankruptcy auction, a BRL1.01 billion ($446.4 million) offer during the second round from a consortium of employees, well below the minimum bid for just the domestic routes, which was $700 million ( ATWOnline, May 22). The bankruptcy court judge said he would take a day to decide whether to approve the sale anyway. A $75 million deposit would be required, the Associated Press reported. The judge also may liquidate the carrier. There will not be another auction.
BAE Systems confirmed that it served upon EADS a formal notice of exercise of its put option regarding BAE's sale of its 20% stake in Airbus back to the French-German company. BAE Systems had announced May 2 it would use the put option if it could not reach agreement on the value of the stake.
Cathay Pacific announced yesterday that the heads of Cathay, Air China, China National Aviation Co., Swire Pacific and CITIC Pacific met in Hong Kong to "finalize details of the formal agreement" related to CX's acquisition of Dragonair, confirming this week's reports ( ATWOnline, June 8). A press conference was scheduled in Hong Kong for Friday morning local time.
El Al hopes to make Tel Aviv Ben Gurion Airport a connecting hub for transport to the Far East. "We already have passengers who are traveling with us from Europe and the US to Asia. We see some potential for us in this business," Chairman Israel Borovich told this website at the IATA AGM in Paris. Asian destinations currently comprise Beijing, Hong Kong and Bangkok. El Al will add two more 777s by next year and has begun installation of a new business class product, including lie-flat seats, on its long-haul fleet.
Delta Air Lines continued to expand its network yesterday with the launch of 23 new North American routes that will serve 19 states and Canada and each of DL's major hubs. Six of seven new routes from Atlanta are operated by Atlantic Southeast Airlines, four of five from New York JFK are flown by Comair and six of seven from Salt Lake City are handled by SkyWest. More routes will be inaugurated throughout the month. Separately, Delta raised fuel surcharges on "most" transatlantic flights by $10 effective yesterday.
United Airlines flew 10.13 billion system RPMs in May, a 4.5% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.1% to 12.13 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2 points to a May-record 83.8%.
Air France-KLM said May traffic rose 6.2% over the year-ago month to 16.18 billion RPKs against a 4.3% lift in capacity to 20.45 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 1.4 points to 79.1%. The company posted a "significant increase" in unit revenue last month, "once again driven by sustained levels of premium traffic." EasyJet carried 2.9 million passengers in May, up 15.2% on the year-ago month. Load factor dipped 0.2 point to 83.9%.
Royal Jordanian intends to make a decision before year end on the replacement of its long-haul fleet, President and CEO Samer Majali told ATWOnline during the IATA AGM in Paris. He said the initial version of the A350 "could have worked for us" but that deciding between the 787 and A350 has become problematic as "it is difficult to base an analysis on an aircraft that is not yet defined." The long-haul fleet renewal should start in 2010 and comprise 8-10 aircraft. RJ currently deploys three A310s and four A340s on its long-haul network.
