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.
British Airways named Tim Steeds its new director-safety and security from next month, succeeding Geoff Want, who was promoted to director-ground operations earlier this month. Steeds, a captain with 31 years of flying for BA, has spent the last three years as head of quality and regulations and was the airline's chief technical pilot in 1997-2002. He will retire from flying at the end of 2005.
World Air Holdings raised its revenue and operating income guidance for the third quarter that ends today on better-than-expected performance at World Airways and recently acquired North American Airlines. The parent now is forecasting quarterly revenues in the range of $215-$225 million compared to $195-$205 million previously, with military revenues of $145-$155 million versus $121-$131 million. It expects operating income to be $22-$24 million compared to the prior forecast of $15-$17 million.
Memphis-based Pinnacle Airlines is bracing for inevitable staff reductions that could begin as early as next week owing to planned capacity cuts at bankrupt Northwest Airlines, with which Pinnacle codeshares ( ATWOnline, Sept. 27).
Alitalia denied that it had agreed to acquire a majority stake in Air Alps and planned to relocate the Austrian Regional to the province of Bolzano, Il Sole 24 Ore reported. Alitalia noted that any agreement with Air Alps would be limited to commercial considerations, as it is not permitted to buy shares in other airlines until the end of 2005 under the conditions set by the European Commission in approving a government-guaranteed €400 million ($482 million) bridging loan.
Air France will increase its fuel surcharge by €6 ($7.22) to €44 for long-haul flights and by €2 to €12 for mid-range flights from Oct. 4. It also will raise its domestic flight surcharge by €1 to €8.
MAIR Holdings, parent of Mesaba Aviation, reported yesterday that Northwest Airlines paid it only a fraction of what it is owed for participating in the Northwest Airlink feeder program for the first half of September.
Ryanair joined easyJet in calling on the British government to reject CAA's proposal to increase the tax on tickets for all UK passengers ( ATWOnline, Sept. 26). Last week, CAA published an assessment supporting its case for what it calls "modernizing the financial protection of air travelers and holidaymakers." It recommends that the scope of the current protection system be extended to protect all air travelers flying from the UK on international flights, with tour operator and airline passengers being covered by a single scheme funded by a short-term £1 levy on tickets.
Northwest Airlines is seeking concessions valued at $190 million per year from the approximately 14,400 fleet and passenger service employees, stock clerks and other workers represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and also wants to impose a temporary 5% pay cut that will remain in place until the company exits bankruptcy.
SAS Cargo, in conjunction with Sterling's purchase of Maersk Air's passenger business, is taking over the former Maersk Air Cargo from Oct. 1. The takeover includes the freight sales agency for eight foreign airlines in the Nordic and Baltic countries and 22 employees. Terms of the deal were not released.
Boeing and Malaysia Airlines incorporated a new Jeppesen Terminal Charts application into the Class 3 Boeing Electronic Flight Bag on MAS's two 777-200ERs, giving pilots access to Jeppesen's extensive library of more than 40,000 charts for airports around the globe while eliminating the volumes of paper charts once required on the flightdeck. The airline must complete a six-month evaluation period that began in July before it can cease using paper charts on its EFB-equipped aircraft.
Air France exercised options for three additional CFM56-powered A318s seating 123 in a single-class layout. AF launched the model in 1999 with an order for 15. It brought its first A318 into service in October 2003 and currently operates nine fitted with seating for 34 passengers in business class and 72 in coach. It will take delivery of nine more, including the three newly ordered aircraft, between now and spring 2007.
Emirates signed a leasing agreement with two UAE banks, National Bank of Dubai and Emirates Bank Group, for a new A340-500. The $119.5 million financing is for the last of the 10 A340-500s Emirates has on firm order. It is structured as an operating lease over a 12-year term and carries a weighted average cost of funds 0.9% over six-month Libor.
Etihad Crystal Cargo extended its ULD control and pooling contract with Unitpool, a load device pooling company, with the signing of a new long-term contract.
AirAsia will launch service from its base at Kuala Lumpur to Chiang Mai and Phnom Penh on Oct. 20 and Nov. 1 respectively with a single daily roundtrip to each destination. To kick off the routes, it is offering 10,000 seats to each city at an introductory fare of MYR49.99 ($15) each way excluding airport fees and taxes.
General Electric named Bradley Mottier president and CEO of GE Engine Services within GE Transportation, Aircraft Engines. He replaces Dan Heintzelman, who assumes the role of VP-energy services for GE Energy. Mottier has served as president and CEO of Unison Industries, a wholly owned subsidiary of Aircraft Engines' Engine Services operation, since GE acquired Unison in 2002. Prior to the acquisition he worked for more than 20 years at Unison.
North American Airlines, a wholly owned subsidiary of World Airways, renewed its contract to provide service to GWV Vacations flying from Providence and Hartford to Caribbean and Mexico vacation destinations.
SkyEurope shares began trading on the Vienna and Warsaw stock exchanges yesterday at an initial price of €6 ($7.25) per share and climbed to €6.60 on the Vienna exchange before closing at €6.30 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 23).
Swiss International Air Lines reportedly plans to supply up to 60 pilots to China Airlines for the carrier's 747, A330 and A340 fleets. Pilots have been made surplus to Swiss needs owing to its decision to phase out its Embraer 145s and Saab 2000s. Another 15 pilots may find some work with Etihad Airways. Also, Jet Airways of India is looking for some A340 pilots from Swiss.
