Emirates SkyCargo and Korean Air Cargo agreed to share cargo capacity on KAL flights to Delhi and Mumbai. Emirates SkyCargo now has an additional 22 tons on offer to Dubai on Korean's 747-400F weekly services from Delhi (Fridays) and Mumbai (Wednesdays).
British Airways CEO Willie Walsh reiterated earlier statements from the board that BA will remain true to its full-service concept, again rebuffing rumors that he intends to copy the low-fare strategy he implemented at Aer Lingus to turn to Irish carrier around. BA has "a renowned reputation for premium travel, and my aim is to make sure that we deliver a world-class experience for all," Walsh said in an interview with the Financial Times.
Eos Airlines moved forward its planned startup of services between New York JFK and London Stansted to Oct. 18 from Nov. 1 owing to earlier-than-expected route approvals from the US Dept. of Transportation and UK Dept. of Transport. The carrier intends to operate 757s configured for 48 passengers in an all-business-class cabin featuring lie-flat seatbeds. The base unrestricted roundtrip fare is $6,500 but Eos is offering an introductory fare of $5,000.
SAS reached an agreement with Sabre under which the GDS will continue to distribute its "comprehensive and complete content" while achieving lower distribution costs. "We endeavor to give the market full access to SAS's products through the global distribution systems, but while doing so, we need to seek new means to reduce our distribution costs to a competitive level. The agreement with Sabre is a step in the right direction," said SAS Senior VP-Commercial Robin Kamark. Details of the agreement were not released.
US Airways pilots, with an eye on JetBlue, reached a tentative agreement with the airline to operate the Embraer 190 as part of mainline service at a rate that will make the jets competitive with the low-cost carrier that launched the 100-seater. "We agreed on a pay rate as well as a restriction to fly only as mainline," Jack Stephan, a spokesperson for the US Airways pilots, told ATWOnline. "That one issue was sent out for member ratification with a strong endorsement to ratify the agreement."
Boeing said it will introduce passive radio frequency identification "smart labels" on significant 787 maintenance parts. Typical parts to include RFID tags will be "serialized end items such as LRUs and life-limited parts, as well as onboard emergency equipment."
New British Airways CEO Willie Walsh, who formally took over from Rod Eddington last Friday, said he is determined to realize his predecessor's goal of a 10% operating margin. "We have made tremendous progress in the last five years but I've been very impressed by the fact that everyone I've met at British Airways believes there is room for further improvement," Walsh said. "We must redouble our efforts to make this airline more efficient, more focused and better able to serve our customers."
US Airways, which merged with America West Airlines last week, said it reached agreement with the Air Transportation Stabilization Board to repurchase approximately 7.7 million warrants that have an exercise price of $7.27 per share. The warrants originally were created in conjunction with America West's $439 million ATSB-guaranteed loan in 2002 and reissued to ATSB in connection with the merger of America West and US Airways. The total purchase price will be around $115.8 million.
US FAA on Friday gave the green light to the City of Chicago's massive O'Hare Modernization Program and Airport Layout Plan that calls for realignment of the airport's runways to eliminate most intersecting runways. Currently, six of ORD's seven runways cross paths. In its Record of Decision, FAA said the plan "is the best alternative to improve safety, increase capacity and reduce delays with the least environmental impact."
Lufthansa Group Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber is no fan of the European Commission's proposal to bring air transport into the EU's Greenhouse Gas Emissions Trading Scheme.
Japan Airlines Group appointed Katsuhiko Nawano to serve on the boards of JAL International and JAL Domestic with responsibility for China business activities for JAL International. He also will handle special assignments at the direction of President Toshiyuki Shinmachi in both JAL International and JAL Domestic. Nawano, 58, is a former senior official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
Continental Airlines selected General Electric's GEnx engine to power its recently ordered fleet of 10 787s, becoming the first North American customer for the powerplant on the 787. GE valued the order at more than $250 million. Deliveries are set to begin in 2009. The other customer for the GEnx on the Dreamliner is First Choice of the UK with six aircraft on order. The GEnx still is the exclusive engine being offered on the proposed A350 and GE and Airbus have signed agreements to transition to firm orders for 122 aircraft with seven customers.
American Airlines said Friday that "the skyrocketing price of jet fuel" had "forced" it to suspend 15 daily roundtrips at its Dallas/Ft. Worth and Chicago O'Hare hubs and end service between Chicago and Nagoya at the end of October. The temporary cuts take effect beginning Oct. 5 and last at least through Oct. 29, when AA will make the decision whether to resume service.
Aegean Airlines is a possible candidate to be the next Star Alliance regional member. The Greek carrier begins codeshare services with Lufthansa this autumn. Lufthansa, which was the sponsoring airline for Adria Airways and Croatia Airlines to join Star regional, could offer the same option to Aegean. "Normally the carrier decides which sponsoring partner they want. But we would be interested to help," Lufthansa Group Chairman and CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber told ATWOnline.
Independence Air expects to eliminate some 600 jobs in the coming weeks, representing 18% of the workforce, as it matches employment levels to a reduced number of aircraft and daily departures. "As a result of the change in our operations, our overall employment will go from 3,400 to 2,800," spokesperson Rick DeLisi told ATWOnline Friday. "This will be accomplished through a variety of methods." In addition, the current 350 daily departures will be reduced to 230. At startup the carrier had up to 600 daily departures.
Lufthansa Commercial Holding GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Deutsche Lufthansa AG, is selling its 52.6% stake in Loyalty Partner GmbH to British private equity company Palamon Capital Partners. Lufthansa said it will realize a book profit of around €100 million ($121 million) in the just-ended third quarter. After the sale, the carrier will continue "the successful cooperation between Miles & More and the Payback bonus card program operated by Loyalty Partner." Iberia board is expected to approve its 2006-08 Director Plan when it meets Thursday.
EasyJet is seeing further management changes in the wake of the appointment of Andrew Harrison to succeed Ray Webster as chief executive effective Dec. 1 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 2). Webster announced in May that he would be retiring. Joining the exodus of senior managers is COO Ed Winter, who stepped down Sept. 30 and is being replaced by Mike Szucs, who came to easyJet from British Airways in 2003. Winter joined the Luton-based LCC in August 2002 when it acquired BA's Go Fly low-fare subsidiary, where he held the COO position.
Qantas appears to be moving toward a 787/777 order after airline sources confirmed to ATWOnline that the carrier and Boeing are close to finalizing a longer-range variant of the 777-200LR that would have a reach of just over 10,000 nm. (18,500 km.), enabling the Australian airline to operate from Sydney to London nonstop year round with 250 passengers.
Swissport is selling its 49% shareholding in its S. Stuttgart Ground Services joint venture to AHS, citing a desire to focus on its majority-owned operations. Terms were not disclosed. The JV dates back to 2001 when it was established by Swissport Stuttgart and Flughafen Stuttgart. The sale to AHS is being done "in amicable agreement" with Stuttgart Airport. The transaction will be transparent to customers and no redundancies or major organizational changes are planned. Current CEO Klaus Knopfle will remain as head of the company, Swissport said.
AirTran Airways' approximately 300 mechanics and aircraft inspectors, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ratified a new 48-month labor contract. The airline said more than 70% of IBT members voted in favor of the agreement. AirTran will introduce service from Richmond to Ft. Myers Feb. 15 with a single daily roundtrip using a 717. It begins nonstop service between Richmond and Orlando on Nov. 8 as previously announced. AirTran also announced a fifth daily nonstop from Richmond to Atlanta effective Nov. 16.
International passenger traffic growth slowed in August from the torrid pace set in the first seven months of the year, IATA reported. August international traffic (RPKs) rose 6.1% compared to August 2004 versus a year-over-year improvement of 8.3% for the first eight months of the year. Cargo traffic increased just 2.8% in the month against an average of 3.6% year-to-date through August. "While we have tracked a softening cargo market since the beginning of the year, this is the first indication of a slower demand for passenger services.
Boeing employees represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers ratified their tentative agreement with company in voting Thursday, putting an end to the nearly four-week walkout that began Sept. 2. In a statement, Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Alan Mulally said, "We're very pleased with today's contract ratification by our machinists and look forward to their return to work. Our focus now shifts to ensuring a smooth restart of our production system and a return to a steady flow of airplane deliveries to our customers.
AAXICO hired Juergen Schibalski as regional business development mgr.-Hamburg office and Paula Glover as dir.-sales-the Americas. ACE Aviation Holdings named Brian Dunne executive VP & CFO, succeeding Rob Peterson, who becomes executive VP-finance & CFO at Aeroplan. Greg Cote was named senior VP-corporate finance & strategy. Aerospace Products Int'l. chose Jean-Marie Pogu as senior VP-marketing & sales. Air Transport IT Services appointed T. Jeffrey Shull senior VP-airport solutions.
With Northwest Airlines set to return 15 CRJs to lessors and Delta Air Lines expected to downsize its wholly owned Regional subsidiary Comair, eyes are focused on Independence Air, which could saturate the market for 50-seat regional jets if it enters bankruptcy and liquidates as some analysts expect. The financially struggling carrier already has cut its fleet from more than 80 CRJ200s to 57, with more reductions likely to follow.
