Lufthansa and Frankfurt Airport operator Fraport signed a deal Tuesday lowering the cost of ground handling for the carrier at the airport for the next five years. Savings amount to more than €10 million per year, according to Reuters, which cited Lufthansa Passenger Airline management board member Carsten Spohr. Savings will come from a combination of lower prices and greater efficiencies, Spohr said. Fraport Chief Executive Wilhelm Bender said the airport operator will offset the reduction in ground handling fees from Lufthansa through its own cost savings.
In the largest US airline merger since American Airlines acquired TWA in 2000, US Airways emerged from Chapter 11 and completed its merger with America West Airlines, with the US Airways brand surviving.
Singapore Airlines and Asiana, both members of the Star Alliance, have begun codesharing between Singapore and Seoul. SIA is putting the SQ code on 10 weekly A330 services operated by Asiana, while the latter is putting the OZ code on 44 weekly 747 and 777 services operated by SIA. Subject to regulatory approval, the carriers expect to extend their cooperation to include transpacific flights beyond Seoul, domestic destinations in South Korea, intra-travel in north Asia and flights beyond Singapore.
CSA Czech Airlines intends to move forward on an ambitious cost-cutting plan in response to continuing high oil prices that have caused its fuel bill to rise by more than CZK1 billion ($41 million) in 2005. "The only way to successfully face the increasing pressures of rising fuel costs and competition is to aggressively cut the airline's own costs and to introduce effective, modern technological tools at the same time," said Eduard Janota, chairman of the CSA board of trustees.
British Airways announced that Group Treasurer and Head of Taxation Keith Williams will succeed John Rishton as CFO on Jan. 1 following Rishton's resignation to join Amsterdam-based retailer Ahold.
Alteon said it will place 787 simulator training locations in China, the UK and the US, "enhancing [its] commitment to provide a global training network for the new airplane." Facilities will be established at London Gatwick, in Seattle and at a site to be determined in China. The Boeing subsidiary said it aims to have six 787 locations up and running before the first Dreamliner delivers in 2008. It already reached agreement in cooperation with ANA to establish a center at Tokyo Haneda ( ATWOnline, Sept. 13).
Denim Air on Monday started flying for Voli Regionali from its base in northern Italy to Rome Ciampino, Denim Air CCO Raymond Vrijenhoek confirmed to ATWOnline at Routes in Copenhagen. The Italian startup is Denim Air's first client for its new ACMI Plus product, which offers full operational support to airlines including interlining, sales, distribution and marketing support in addition to the traditional ACMI service. "There is a high demand for this product offering, mainly from startup airlines," according to Vrijenhoek.
AirAsia, Malaysia Airlines and MAS parent PMB took a historic first step toward rationalizing domestic capacity with the announcement in Kuala Lumpur Monday that the two carriers will cooperate to reduce domestic capacity between Oct. 1 and Oct. 15 to address "low travel demand" during the Ramadan period. "We hope that this is a start for greater cooperation which will mutually benefit MAS and AirAsia in reaching our respective objectives.
Telair International said it successfully completed its FAA STC System Conformity Inspection for the first Main Deck Cargo Loading System installation of the 747-400SF passenger-to-freighter conversion. Cathay Pacific is the launch customer for the system with six firm and six option conversions. SriLankan Cargo opened an office at the cargo terminal in Abu Dhabi Airport.
Northwest Airlines' Regional partners Pinnacle and Mesaba will see their wings clipped as a result of the Major's shrinkage during its bankruptcy reorganization, notes JP Morgan's Jamie Baker. In a report released yesterday, Baker stated that Northwest "has significantly modified planned flying levels at its two Regional partners" that participate in the Northwest Airlink codeshare program.
Sterling owner Fons Eignarhalsfelag and Icelandair owner FL Group could announce a merger as early as this week. Reportedly, FL Group, which also has a 13.8% stake in easyJet, is interested in acquiring Sterling, the Denmark-based low-fare airline that is itself is in the process of absorbing Maersk Air, which recently was acquired by Fons.
Attempts to restart Malev's privatization process, which recently failed for a fifth time, could face an extended delay owing to political considerations. Secretary of the Ministry of Economy and Transport Gabor Diossy told ATWOnline that with elections set for May 2006, "it is possible that the current government will not go further with the privatization process" until after the elections.
Mesa Air Group Friday said it plans to set up an independent Hawaiian airline "in partnership with other financial investors," with service expected to commence in the first quarter of 2006.
Greek government gave Olympic Airlines temporary protection from creditors after an adverse European Commission ruling on state aid made the government's effort to privatize the carrier more difficult, Reuters said Friday. In an amendment to an education bill voted into law by parliament late Thursday, Olympic Airlines and Olympic Airways-Services were granted protection from creditors until Feb. 28. "It is imperative that the European Commission's decision be studied in depth. .
EasyJet asked the UK government "to resist calls" from the CAA for a £1 ($1.79) levy per passenger to be imposed on all UK-originating international flights to fund its ATOL scheme to protect customers when tour operators fail. "We agree that consumers should be protected against the financial failure of airlines, but we disagree violently with the solution proposed by the CAA.
Citing "the strength of the combined networks of Air France and KLM" and its strategy of targeting "fast-growing markets in Latin America and Asia, as well as to oil and gas destinations," Air France said it is raising system capacity (ASKs) 6.4% in the 2005-06 winter schedule compared to the 2004-05 schedule, with intercontinental capacity up 8.6%.
Panasonic Avionics Corp. signed a letter of intent to use AeroMobile's inflight mobile communications technology in its S3000 AVOD IFE system as well as its new-generation X series systems efx, eX2 and x-wireless.
Continental Airlines planned to cease operations at Houston by noon today in the face of what is expected to be the second Category 4 hurricane to hit the US Gulf Coast in less than a month. Continental, which maintains its largest hub at George Bush Intercontinental Airport and has limited operations at close-in Houston Hobby, said flight cancellations for the mainline and Continental Express are expected to total 1,089 on Friday and 828 on Saturday.
Swiss International Air Lines board of directors elected Rolf Jetzer chairman in its first meeting since being reconstituted to give effect to the carrier's acquisition by Lufthansa. Walter Bosch was elected deputy chairman. The size of the board was reduced from eight members to five and previous members Pieter Bouw, Claudio Generali, Michael Pieper, Jan Audun Reinas and Peter Siegenthaler retired.
Thales said ANA ordered a 737-700 simulator for installation at the ANA Flight Training Center at Tokyo Haneda for delivery in early 2006. Malaysia Airlines ordered an A380-800 simulator that will fitted with an Evans & Sutherland EP1000 visual system using LaserWide projection.
JetBlue A320 landed safely and without injury to any of those onboard Wednesday evening after its nose landing gear jammed during retraction, leaving the wheels turned 90 deg. from the aircraft centerline. The flight had just departed Burbank en route to New York JFK. After circling for nearly 3 hr. to dump fuel and try to clear the problem, the pilots made an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport around 6:19 p.m. local time and passengers deplaned normally. The landing was captured live on national television and seen by passengers on the aircraft's LiveTV screens.
Avion Group ordered four 777 freighters and took purchase rights on two more with deliveries beginning in February 2008. The aircraft will be offered on ACMI leases by Avion subsidiary Air Atlanta Icelandic. Additionally, Boeing said it is in "serious negotiations" to convert three of the carrier's 747-400 passenger aircraft into freighters. Boeing did not provide a separate value for the 777Fs but said that in combination with the possible conversion program, value of the transaction at list prices is approximately $1 billion.
SkyEurope Holding, parent of the airline, completed its initial public offering of 12.98 million shares priced at €6 ($7.33) per share. The offering consisted of 10 million new shares and 2.98 million existing shares, including an overallotment option of 1.18 million shares. Total proceeds were €78 million of which €60 million went to the company. Market capitalization, based on the offering price, is €120 million.
