Continental Airlines yesterday said it applied to the US National Mediation Board for the immediate appointment of a federal mediator to help in its negotiations with its flight attendants. Earlier this year, the flight attendants rejected a tentative agreement, becoming the only workgroup at the carrier that did not ratify a new deal ( ATWOnline, April 1). Continental has said it needs $500 million in annual pay and benefit savings from its employees and has achieved roughly $418 million of that total.
Actel Corp. announced that it has provided field-programmable gate arrays and intellectual property core modules for a number of applications onboard the A380. More than 700 devices from the company's ProASIC Plus and SX-A FPGA families have been designed into the following applications: Flight computers, engine control monitoring, braking systems, safety warning systems, cabin air conditioning and pressurization and cockpit displays.
United Airlines is offering a 5% discount for residents of Washington on flights departing from any of the three D.C.-area airports purchased through the carrier's website. The offer is good for tickets booked between June 21 and Aug. 31 and the travel period for the deal is June 21 to Oct. 31.
Smiths Detection has formed a strategic partnership with Paladin Capital Corp., a private equity investment firm based in Washington. Smiths said the relationship aligns it with a partner "focused on investing in homeland security technology businesses."
TAP Portugal ended negotiations to acquire a 20% stake in Varig following the Brazilian carrier's bankruptcy filing Friday. The bankruptcy filing voided the agreement, a senior Varig official told the Associated Press. The carrier will continue to operate as it seeks to reorganize under the New Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law of Brazil, which took effect June 9 and is similar to US Chapter 11. The filing became necessary, Varig said, to prevent lessors from repossessing aircraft for which payments are in default.
Continental Airlines named Mike Bonds senior VP-human resources and labor relations replacing Michael Campbell, who retired at the end of 2004. In this position, Bonds will be responsible for all of Continental's human resources and labor relations including compensation, benefits, staffing and corporate training. Bonds, who has served as VP-human resources since 2003, will continue to report to President Jeff Smisek.
Following a meeting with senior management, leaders of the pilots union at America West Airlines expressed "deep concern" that AWA management continues to ignore "reasonable requests to help the union protect its membership" if the proposed merger with US Airways is approved.
LTU German Airlines, which will offer low-fare scheduled service under the brand City Quickies by November, is expecting the arrival of a new financial investor. MD Juergen Marbach told the German daily Welt am Sonntag that in a few days a positive acceptance from a potential investor could be announced.
CAE was awarded a contract to provide a Dash 8-400 full-flight simulator to ANA. The simulator will be used for training at the ANA Flight Training Center at Haneda with delivery slated for fall 2006.
Lithuanian Airlines carried 48,081 passengers in May, up 18.7% over the year-ago period. Of the total, 42,792 were carried on the carrier's 478 scheduled flights and 5,289 on its 28 charter flights. For the first five months of the year, Lithuanian carried 186,622 passengers, a 43.9% increase over the prior-year period.
China Eastern Airlines placed an order with Aviation Partners Boeing for six 737-700 blended winglet shipsets that will be installed between February and August 2006. Currently, China Eastern subsidiary Wuhan Airlines and China Eastern's Shanxi brand operate five blended winglet-equipped 737-800s.
Air Canada pilots over the weekend rejected a new tentative agreement, and as a result the carrier informed Boeing that it has canceled the massive $6 billion 777/787 order it placed in April. "We are naturally disappointed at having to cancel the widebody aircraft order, but these aircraft can only be brought into our fleet on a predetermined economic basis. Despite best efforts on the part of [the pilots union], the agreement has been rejected," AC President and CEO Montie Brewer said.
Midwest Airlines flew 254 million RPMs in May, up 38.2% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 26.7% to 358.2 million ASMs and load factor gained 5.9 points to 70.9%. For the five months ended May 31, RPMs rose 22.8% to 1.21 billion, ASMs increased 12.4% to 1.69 billion and load factor jumped 6.1 points to 71.3%.
Independence Air celebrated its one-year anniversary last week. In addition, the carrier greeted its 5 millionth passenger at a ceremony at Washington Dulles.
Northwest Airlines named William Lentsch as its new VP-station operations. He replaces Suzanne Boda, who became VP-inflight services earlier this month. Lentsch joins Northwest from Champion Air, where he served as COO.
Finnair's board of directors appointed Jukka Hienonen as the company's next president and CEO effective Jan. 1. He will replace Keijo Suila, who is retiring on Dec. 31. Hienonen has worked for Stockmann Oy since 1995 and has been executive VP of that company since 2003. "Suila has very successfully piloted Finnair through difficult years for the airline industry and he saw early on the growth opportunities in Asian traffic.
Germanwings placed an order for 18 156-seat A319s and took options for 12 more, the carrier announced Friday, adding that the new aircraft are scheduled to arrive between 2006 and 2008.
LAN Airlines implemented interline e-ticketing with the alliance's member airlines--American Airlines, British Airways, Qantas, Cathay Pacific, Iberia, Finnair and Aer Lingus--and their 17 affiliates.
Alaska Air Group's board of directors elected Marne McCluskey to the newly created position of VP-employee resources for Horizon Air. In this role, she will be responsible for the employee resource teams in Seattle and Portland and oversee recruiting and staffing, learning and development, performance management, employee compensation, employee relations and employee records and systems.
Iberia flew 3.99 billion RPKs in May, up 9.4% on the year-ago period, while capacity increased 7.3% to 5.35 billion ASKs. Consequently, load factor improved 1.4 points to 74.7%, the highest level ever reached by the airline in the month of May. The number of passengers carried grew 6.8% to 2.5 million. For the first five months of the year, passengers increased 2.8% on the year-ago period to 11 million, RPKs grew 7.1% on a 6.2% rise in ASKs, and load factor gained 0.6 point to 74.5%.
United Airlines and its International Assn. of Machinists-represented employees finalized a five-year agreement reached in principle last month, the union said Friday.
Pinnacle Airlines Corp. placed a new $17 million revolving credit facility with First Tennessee Bank. The facility replaces the existing revolving credit agreement with Northwest Airlines, which was set to expire June 30.
Frontier Airlines will launch three weekly flights between Denver and Cozumel Dec. 17. In addition, the carrier will resume seasonal service to Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo on Nov. 19, adding a weekly flight versus November 2004 for a total of three per week. It also will increase service from Denver to Cabo San Lucas and Puerto Vallarta from Dec. 17 with an additional Saturday frequency during peak periods to complement daily service to both destinations, and will offer three daily flights to Cancun from Denver during the peak winter periods.
CSA Czech Airlines completed reconstruction of its catering building in Prague, which will allow it to increase production of meals from 15,000 to 18,000 a day. CSA invested CZK136 million ($5.5 million) in the facility. The additional capacity could raise planned revenues from services for third parties by up to 25%.
