Boeing and Qualcomm said they successfully demonstrated "the simultaneous use of CDMA and GSM mobile phone technology over an onboard network inflight mobile phone" on Boeing's Connexion One 737demonstrator. Passengers were able to download a variety of applications, send and receive e-mail and use instant message functions.
EVA Air will offer OnAir's two-way SMS beginning with its first 777-300ER that enters service this month. An English-language version will be followed by a Chinese version later in the year. The service will be available to passengers in all cabins and will cost $1.50 per message sent or received. It allows passengers to use the in-seat entertainment system to send messages to mobile phones and e-mail addresses and also to receive replies. The system will be installed on the entire EVA Air fleet over the next few years.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. said it largely has "completed its aircraft restructuring effort," saving it approximately $300 million annually. The contractual savings associated with the agreement-in-principle reached with the Public Debt Group, which controlled 105 United aircraft, is subject to approval by the bankruptcy court. When coupled with previous restructurings, UAL said it will result in the company reducing its fleet costs by approximately $850 million in average annual savings since entering Chapter 11.
Royal Jordanian carried 186,300 passengers in July, up 3.8% over the same month in 2004 and a record for July. VP-Commercial Hussein Dabbas said load factor rose 3.8 points to 81.6% . The airline carried approximately 984,000 passengers between January and July, up 4.2% over the year-ago period. Based on preliminary figures, it expects to carry around 192,000 passengers in August.
FLYi, parent of Independence Air, reported that its loss for the second quarter ended June 30 widened to $98.5 million from $27.1 million in the year-ago period. Current-period results are net of a $43.4 million pre-tax noncash impairment charge related to asset writedowns, while last year's results included $21.9 million in pre-tax special charges. Excluding special items from both periods, net loss widened from $14.1 million in 2004 to $55.5 million in 2005.
US Bankruptcy Court overseeing US Airways' Chapter 11 reorganization authorized the carrier to solicit votes from its creditors in favor of its Plan of Reorganization, which if approved will clear the way for the company to exit bankruptcy and merge with America West Airlines in late September/early October, the airline said yesterday. A hearing on confirmation of the reorganization plan is set for Sept. 15.
Lufthansa Systems announced that Airbus successfully integrated its Lido eRouteManual and electronic airport and route charts into the On-board Information System of the A380. The eRouteManual presents a worldwide data set of airport and en route aeronautical information and detailed taxi, departure and approach charts, "as well as global, seamless en route moving charts." LHS will offer it for all Airbus electronic flight bags.
OnAir announced that Munich-based TriaGnoSys and Alabama-based Miltope Corp. will provide the software and server respectively for the OnAir onboard GSM solution that "will allow the safe and effective use of mobile phones on aircraft for the first time." With the recent selection of Siemens as the pico cell manufacturer, all suppliers for the system are identified and fully engaged with Airbus. A pre-production version of the server with the TriaGnoSys software is expected by year end.
Lufthansa will add six new destinations from Hamburg from Oct. 15. It will base four 737s there and start services to Budapest, Gothenburg, Madrid, Nice, Prague and Rome. Separately, Lufthansa said passenger traffic rose 6.8% in July to 10.23 billion RPKs, while capacity climbed just 2.1% to 13.13 billion ASKs. The result was a 3.4-point improvement in cabin factor to 77.9%. Most of the growth occurred on long-haul routes to the Americas and Asia/Pacific, LH said in an statement. The number of passengers rose 2.2 % to 4.76 million.
Gulf Air appointed Rohan Alce regional GM for Europe, Africa and the Americas. Clive Wratten succeeds Alce as UK GM. Alce has been with Gulf Air since 2002 and previously held positions at Qatar Airways, bmi, Virgin Atlantic and British Caledonian. Wratten joined Gulf Air in 2003 after stints with Qantas and British Airways
Adria Airways and LOT Polish Airlines will launch service between Ljubljana and Warsaw Sept. 2. The four weekly flights will be evenly divided between the carriers, which are codesharing on the route.
Germanwings, the low-fare clone of Eurowings in which Lufthansa holds 49%, will open a new base at Hamburg this winter. The carrier will base two A319s/A320s at Hamburg and offer services to London Gatwick, Stockholm, Oslo, Krakow, Warsaw, Zagreb, Munich, Toulouse and Istanbul. It also will increase flights on its existing Hamburg-Stuttgart route to thrice-daily. Fares will start at €15 ($18.50) including taxes. It will add another domestic route from Hamburg in the near future and expects to carry around 500,000 passengers in its first year there.
SAS Group flew 3.2 billion RPKs in July, up 5.2% over the year-ago period. Group capacity rose 1.8% to 4.4 billion RPKs and load factor improved 2.4 points to 74.1%. Flagship Scandinavian Airlines reported a 1.5% decline in RPKs to 2.4 billion while ASKs fell 5.4% to 3.1 billion, pushing load factor up 3 points to 76.9%.
Aerleasing.com, which celebrated its first month in business on Aug. 4, aims to use Web auctions to bring together buyers, lessors and sellers of aircraft and engines. The site is the brainchild of Jason Bell, a UK-based software designer who admits his background is in software and systems, not wheeling and dealing in airplanes. "I've come from the outside in," he told ATWOnline. The site has "two tracks: You are either sourcing an aircraft or you have an aircraft you want to part with via sale or lease," he explained.
Sun-Air of Scandinavia took delivery of a second Dornier 328JET specially configured for short takeoffs and landings and will use it for new service at London City Airport starting in November. The airline, which also operates 328 turboprops, is a franchise partner of British Airways. Private Wings, a charter carrier based at Berlin Templehof, also purchased a 328JET, boosting its total fleet to six.
Pakistan's Airblue ordered eight A320-200s and two A330-200s valued at $800 million. The airline, which started operations in 2004, operates three A320s. It is one of three private carriers in Pakistan. The order is in part a response to additional overseas route allocations from the Pakistan government. The A320s will be used on domestic routes and the A330s on flights to the UK.
United Services announced that MD-Sales and Marketing Gene House has retired. He was replaced by Garth Peterson, who assumed the role on July 1. Aviareps named Johnny Gardsaeter as the new GM of its office in Stockholm.
EasyJet raised its earnings forecast for the fiscal year to Sept. 30 and now expects that full-year pre-tax profit "will be broadly in line with last year," when it earned £62 million. CEO Ray Webster, who is retiring from the airline this fall, attributed the more bullish outlook to "the improving revenue position and our continued focus on cost."
Lufthansa Flight Training began work on the expansion of its training facility at Berlin Schoenefeld by laying the cornerstone for a new complex in the presence of Deutsche Lufthansa AG Executive Board Chairman Wolfgang Mayrhuber. LFT currently is investing some €18.5 million ($22.9 million), which covers the cost of a new CAE-built A320 simulator that will be operational early next year plus two buildings that initially will house two simulators as well as supporting facilities including a canteen, several classrooms and terminals for computer-based training.
Air Canada flew 4.55 billion RPKs in July, up 6.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 2.8% to 5.44 billion ASKs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 83.6%. For the seven months ended July 31, RPMs increased 5.8% to 25.7 billion, ASMs rose 1.3% to 32.01 billion and load factor gained 3.4 points to 80.3%.
British Airways reported that net profit for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30 more than doubled to £90 million ($160 million) from £43 million in the year-ago period. Making his final quarterly results presentation as CEO, Rod Eddington said, "These are good results despite a 37.6% increase in fuel costs." He attributed a 4% rise in passenger revenue to "more customers flying in our premium cabins." Yield (pence/RPK) grew 1.5% on 2.5% gain in passenger traffic.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.98 billion RPMs in July, up 31.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity grew 27% to 2.17 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 91.1%. For the seven months ended July 31, RPMs increased 30.9% to 11.54 billion, ASMs jumped 24.6% to 13.19 billion and load factor gained 4.3 points to 87.5%.
Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management entered into an agreement with Kingfisher Airlines to purchase and lease back to the Indian carrier two new V2500-powered A320s for delivery in September 2005 and February 2006.
Northwest Airlines chose the Trent 1000 to power its recently ordered 787 fleet comprising 18 firm and 18 option aircraft ( ATWOnline, May 6). The deal also includes a long-term TotalCare maintenance agreement. Rolls-Royce valued the order plus options and spares at up to $2 billion at list prices.
