Middle East Airlines took the "first steps" toward joining SkyTeam, signing an MOU Monday with Air France, which will serve as its sponsor. MEA joins Air Europa, Copa Airlines, Kenya Airways and Tarom as Associate Airline candidates and is on course to become SkyTeam's first carrier from the Middle East. Rival alliance oneworld is set to admit Royal Jordanian. MEA operates a fleet of three A330-200s and six A321-200s to 26 destinations in 17 countries, expanding SkyTeam's reach to new destinations like Dhahran and Sharm el Sheikh. It is expected to meet SkyTeam standards in 2007.
Shanghai Airlines said it has entered negotiations to join Star Alliance, according to media reports citing board secretary Xu Junmin. The carrier currently codeshares with alliance members Lufthansa and ANA.
A fourth-quarter net loss of $43 million, representing a significant improvement over a $208 million loss in the year-ago quarter, allowed Continental Airlines to close 2005 just $68 million in the red and in far better shape than it was one year ago, when it posted a $409 million deficit. Still, airline executives said yesterday that when combined with crippling fuel prices and competition from both encroaching LCCs and revamped legacy carriers, the improvement was not sufficient to forecast a return to profitability anytime soon.
DGI Training Center introduced a training program that adheres to FAA's new SFAR 99, which covers airline personnel involved in dangerous goods transport.
San Francisco International Airport will begin limited testing of e-passports that include biometric information in an embedded chip. The test will apply to passengers who are citizens of Australia or New Zealand, Singapore Airlines crewmembers and US diplomatic officials holding e-passports and traveling to SFO, Singapore Changi or Sydney. The testing, which will run through April 15, will measure the operational impact of new equipment and software used to verify the embedded information.
Alaska Airlines announced changes to its senior management team Friday, including the promotions of Kevin Finan to executive VP-operations and Glenn Johnson to senior VP-customer service for airports. The carrier said the appointments were part of the "succession plan" following the Dec. 31 retirement of Executive VP-Operations George Bagley. In addition, Alaska said VP-Safety Dave Prewitt will be leaving the company next month to take the same position at Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.
Varig paid $56 million owed to aircraft leasing companies last Thursday, eliminating the threat that 40 of its aircraft--around 70% of its fleet--would be repossessed. The carrier, which has been operating under Brazilian bankruptcy protection since last June, also announced that it completed the sale, announced in December, of two subsidiaries for $72 million. A portion of the proceeds from the sales was used to pay off the lessors.
Gol marked its fifth anniversary of operations yesterday. In December its market share rose to 30%, making it the second-largest domestic carrier in the Brazilian market.
Although SAS Group has succeeded in reducing costs by SEK14 billion ($1.8 billion) over the past three years through its Turnaround 2005 program, the company's namesake airlines, collectively known as Scandinavian Airlines Businesses, continue to underperform.
Air Baltic carried 93,442 passengers in December, up 73% compared to the same month in 2004. In 2005 it carried 1,037,925 passengers, 76% more than in 2004. President Bertolt Flick said it was the first time the airline carried more than 1 million passengers in a year. Load factor in December was 60%, up 11 points compared to the year-ago month.
Austrian Airlines Group is eyeing service to new destinations in Siberia. "We are currently studying whether to start services from Vienna to Tjumen and Celyabinsk. We also hope to get permission to operate regular services to Kazakhstan during 2006," CCO Josef Burger told ATWOnline. In addition, Austrian plans to add 19 weekly frequencies to Eastern European destinations and 21 frequencies to Western Europe.
World Airways signed an $11 million, nine-month contract with an unidentified international freight forwarder to provide DC-10-30F cargo lift. The deal calls for World to operate five international roundtrips per week.
Antitrust motion filed by unsecured creditors of Delta Air Lines against certain aircraft bondholders "highlights the growing strength of lessors from the tightening of the worldwide aircraft market," according to debt and equity research firm CreditSights. Proposed lease rates for the 89 older aircraft "are above current market [rates] with return conditions significantly improved," CreditSights stated. The aircraft are a mix of MD-88s, 757s and 767s between 13 and 22 years old backed by Equipment Trust Certificates.
Taiwan's China Airlines acquired a 25% stake in China's Yangtze River Express Airlines. CAL Chairman Philip Wei attended a share transfer ceremony yesterday in Beijing finalizing the company's acquisition of shares in Yangtze River. The deal was valued at $38.7 million, according to media reports. Total share transfer among four investors was for 49%. Other partners include Yang Ming Marine Transport Corp., which holds a 12% stake; Wan Hai Lines with 6%, and China Container Express Lines with 6%.
American Airlines and United Airlines are objecting to BAA's handling of the ongoing fuel shortage situation at London Heathrow caused by the Buncefield oil depot fire last month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 15). The carriers state that BAA's rationing policy is "blatantly discriminatory" because "so-called 'base' carriers at Heathrow, including British Airways and Virgin Atlantic," are provided with 82% of their fuel requirements for long-haul services, while "so-called 'visiting' carriers," including American and United, receive only 70% of their requirements.
Italy's Air One, which operates an all-737 fleet to 23 domestic destinations, repositioned itself as a European player yesterday by signing a contract with Airbus for 30 A320s and 60 options. The deal reportedly is worth $1.8 billion at list prices. The CFM56-5B6/P-powered aircraft will be configured in a two-class layout seating 159 and gradually will replace the carrier's leased fleet of 21 737-400s, six dash 300s and three dash 200s.
United Airlines' Ted low-cost subsidiary said it will become the first carrier to use the DoubleDocker Bridge boarding system, an over-wing bridge that allows passengers to enter or exit an aircraft from front and/or rear doors. An earlier version of the bridge was used in Canada. Ted initially will install the system at Denver International Airport's Concourse B and expects to have five bridges in place by year end. Dewbridge Airport Systems of New York designed the bridge mainly for use on narrowbody aircraft. Ted operates A320s.
Finnair Group named Executive VP-Scheduled Passenger Traffic Henrik Arle to the position of deputy CEO. Arle has been with Finnair since 1976 and is a member of the group management board. Also, Kaisa Vikkula was appointed senior VP-leisure and travel services and member of the management board from March 1. Vikkula previously was MD of Mascus Oy and head of corporate communications and a member of the management board at Partek. She has been a member of the Finnair board since 2003.
Air Berlin once again is considering an IPO and will make its decision in the spring, according to a company spokesperson cited by Reuters. Handelsblatt reported that the carrier plans to launch an IPO designed to raise up to €700 million ($845.6 million). Separately, Air Berlin said it transported 13.5 million passengers in 2005, up 12.45% compared to 2004. Turnover grew 17.1% to €1.23 billion ($1.49 billion). During 2006 it expects to take delivery of nine A320s and a further 49 through 2011. It currently operates a fleet of 52 aircraft.
SITA was contracted by Beijing Capital International Airport to equip the new Terminal 3 with its passenger check-in platform. T3 will more than double the airport's passenger capacity from 27 million to 68 million in time for the 2008 Olympic Games. The $10.8 million contract covers installation of SITA's common-use check-in platform AirportConnect CUTE and will support up to 500 CUTE workstations at BCIA's T3A and T3B terminal buildings. In addition, SITA will install and maintain BagMessage and AirportConnect Platform Services.
UAL Corp., parent of United Airlines, reached agreement with the Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors ahead of next week's bankruptcy court hearing to affirm UAL's Plan of Reorganization. According to a statement from the company, the committee will "withdraw all objections to the POR." The creditors objected to the amount of stock set aside for 400 United managers and executives under the proposed Management Equity Incentive Plan ( ATWOnline, Jan.
LAN Airlines said December traffic rose 12.6% over the year-ago month against a capacity increase of 8.5%, sending load factor up 2.7 points to 72.8%. Domestic traffic dropped 5.3% alongside a 2.8% decline in capacity and load factor fell 1.7 points to 66.6%. LAN was stronger internationally as traffic rose 16.4%, capacity increased 11% and load factor climbed 3.4 points to 73.9%. Separately, LAN finalized a 10-year component support agreement with Air France Industries and KLM E&M covering its 24 767-300ERs. It is planning to add 10 more 767-300ERs through 2008.
