Air France-KLM Group reported an 11.9% increase in December traffic to 15.6 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 9% to 19.54 billion ASKs and load factor rose 2.1 points to 79.8%. Passengers enplaned increased 8% over the year-ago month to 5.6 million. Cargo RTKs grew 7.5% to 985 million against a 9% lift in ATKs to 1.4 billion and cargo load factor declined 1 point to 70.4%. Northwest Airlines reported systemwide December traffic of 5.82 billion RPMs, a decline of 5.7% from December 2004. ASMs dropped 8.6% to 7.21 billion and load factor was up 2.5 points to 80.7%.
US FAA last week proposed to fine Alaska Airlines $500,000 for flying a 737 without required cabin floor lighting on 478 revenue flights between July 12 and Dec. 2, 2004. The agency said Goodrich Aviation Technical Services performed "extensive" MRO on the aircraft but did not reinstall the floor proximity lighting system's emergency exit identifier lights. Following 40 additional inspections, Alaska discovered the problem and installed the identifier lights on Feb. 2, 2005.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. remains on course to leave bankruptcy in early February after the company announced the launch of its oversubscribed exit financing loan for up to $3 billion. The six-year loan consists of a $300 million revolving credit facility and an up-to-$2.7 billion term loan, both priced at LIBOR plus 450 basis points. It is secured by "substantially all available assets."
Alitalia won the bidding for Volareweb.com, the LCC subsidiary of Volare Airlines. It reportedly offered €38 million ($46.2 million), some €10 million more than Air One, for the carrier, which has been in extraordinary administration since Nov. 30, 2004, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Air One is considering suing Alitalia, questioning its right to participate in the auction, Corriere della Sera said. Official results of the sale are due to be announced Jan 15.
JAT Airways will become a member of SkyTeam with sponsorship from Air France, according to media reports in Serbia citing JAT Commercial Director Milutin Popovic.
Japan Airlines announced it is increasing the number of 747-400BCFs it has on order to eight with four options, up from its October 2004 commitment of three firm orders and four options. Value of the contract was not disclosed. JAL's first 747-400 passenger-to-freighter conversion entered modification at Taikoo Aircraft Engineering in Xiamen last month and will be delivered in May. Boeing said it now has 37 firm orders and 29 options for the aircraft. JAL also ordered four 767-300Fs last year.
Precision Conversions received an STC from FAA to carry out passenger-to-freighter conversions of PW2000-powered 757-200s. In conjunction with the awarding of the STC, CAAC approved the conversion, clearing the way for delivery of the first converted aircraft to Shanghai Airlines. The work was carried out on behalf of ILFC, which is leasing the jet to the Chinese carrier. Work will begin shortly on converting a second ILFC 757 for Shanghai Airlines. Precision received an STC for conversion of Rolls-Royce-powered 757s last June.
Northwest Airlines' markets are particularly well-adapted for new-generation large regional jets, the company argues in a special edition of its internal newsletter Passages. As previously reported, the carrier is seeking permission from its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., to create a standalone subsidiary to operate 70/100-seat jets ( ATWOnline, Jan. 6).
Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said JFK, Newark and LaGuardia airports handled nearly 100 million passengers last year, a new record. A final tally is still a couple of weeks away, but preliminary figures suggest a 6% rise in passenger throughput, the Port Authority said. JFK handled nearly 41 million, Newark 33 million and LaGuardia about 26 million.
Frontier Airlines mechanics, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, approved a three-year labor contract. The agreement was reached in December and includes a 3% pay raise over the life of the deal, reinstitution of a company 401(k) match, increased pension contributions and other benefits, according to media reports. Separately, Frontier intends to begin serving five cities in Canada in late May, according to the Rocky Mountain News.
ANA said it will retire its last 747SR March 10 following a flight from Kagoshima to Tokyo Haneda. The carrier's first 747SR took flight 27 years ago. It was the first aircraft to carry 500 passengers in an all-economy configuration. At one point ANA operated a fleet of 23 of the type.
National Air Traffic Services said it handled a record 2.3 million flights through British airspace in 2005, a rise of 5.7% over the previous year and the highest annual growth since 1999.
American Airlines' December system traffic rose 4.6% over the year-ago month to 11.49 billion RPMs. Capacity dropped 1.1% to 14.55 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 4.3 points to 78.9%. The number of enplaned passengers lifted 4.8% to 8.2 million. Domestically, RPMs rose 2.6% to 7.55 billion, ASMs fell 4.5% to 9.42 billion and load factor surged 5.6 points to 80.1%. International traffic grew 8.8% to 3.94 billion RPMs with capacity up 5.7% to 5.13 billion ASMs, resulting in a load factor of 76.9%, up 2.2 points. Cargo ton-miles lowered 3.1% to 185.9 million.
Delta Air Lines was granted an extension last week by the US Bankruptcy Court to file its reorganization plan by July 11. The original deadline was Jan. 12.
CAE signed a deal with Oman Air to extend its pilot training program. It will involve instructor-led upgrade training and recurrent training for 737NGs at the ECFT center in Dubai. SpiceJet of India signed a similar deal. CAE also reached an agreement with Qatar Airways for A330/A340 pilot training. Separately, CAE said it will invest $630 million in a six-year R&D program dubbed Project Phoenix "with the goal of improving current leading-edge technologies and developing additional ones."
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines released preliminary traffic results for November that show a significant slowing in passenger growth. Passenger numbers were up just 1.2% to 10.6 million, making the month the weakest in 2005. In terms of RPKs, passenger traffic rose by 2.1% on a restrained capacity increase of 2.9%, resulting in a marginal decline in passenger load factor to 72.3%. International cargo traffic fared much better with 4% growth in FTKs after four months of virtually flat numbers. Capacity was up 3.1%, resulting in a slightly higher freight load factor of 68.7%.
British Airways flew 9.16 billion RPKs in December, up 4.7% over December 2004, on a 2.6% passenger capacity hike to 12.34 billion ASKs. Passenger load factor rose 1.5 points to 74.2%. The number of passengers carried dipped 0.2% to 2.73 million, including a 3.1% reduction on the European network to 1.68 million. Cargo, measured in CTKs, rose 0.2% to 436 million. BA's Asia/Pacific routes showed the most growth with a 16.7% increase in RPKs to 1.7 billion and a 13.3% gain in capacity to 2.22 billion ASKs.
Volito Aviation placed a 1995-vintage A320-200 with Aigle Azur for lease through April 2009. Aircraft is financed by DVB Bank. Midwest Airlines sold an MD-81 to AeroTurbine of Miami. Meridian Aerospace acted as an exclusive agent for the seller.
Northwest Airlines continues to seek agreement from its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., for permission to launch a new subsidiary carrier that would operate 70/100-seat regional jets at Regional airline industry average pilot labor costs ( ATWOnline, Oct. 14). NWA outlined its plans for the subsidiary in a special edition of its internal newsletter Passages. The airline, which has a working name of NewCo, would have its own AOC and would employ furloughed NWA pilots, who would have the right of recall to NWA when that opportunity arises.
Air France-KLM Group denied reports it is increasing its stake in Alitalia. Earlier this week, Finanza e Mercati indicated AF-KLM might take over the struggling Italian carrier. "We are currently not holding merger talks and we are not increasing our holding in Alitalia," Air France spokesperson Samuel Coulon told ATWOnline. "We start to get used to the reports in the Italian press." He added that the French-Dutch group's position has not changed: "We have always said Alitalia has to be privatized and be profitable before we initiate talks to join our group."
EADS named Michael Hauger head of corporate media relations and communications-Germany. He succeeds Rainer Ohler, who took over as head of government relations, communications and external affaires at Airbus on Jan. 1.
CSA Czech Airlines announced that President and Chairman Jaroslav Tvrdik is resigning, subject to formal approval at extraordinary board meetings scheduled Jan. 18. Tvrdik is leaving to become general campaign manager of the Czech Social Democratic Party.
United Airlines' budget for 2006 includes capital spending of $400 million that will be invested in new resources including more airport check-in kiosks, refurbishing aircraft interiors, upgrading computer systems and new ground equipment. The information was contained in UAL Chairman and CEO Glenn Tilton's weekly telephone message to employees.
