Members of SkyTeam, facing opposition to their application for antitrust immunity from the US Dept. of Justice ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23), quietly offered to amend the application to address DOJ concerns that the requested immunity would reduce competition in nontransatlantic international markets and on US domestic routes.
Low-cost carrier AirAsia and loss-making Malaysia Airlines are close to a wide-ranging agreement, according to AirAsia founder and CEO Tony Fernandes. Speaking to reporters in Kuala Lumpur, Fernandes said, "we will have an announcement shortly as our relationship with Malaysia Airlines is improving rapidly, which gives us ways of potentially maximizing our revenue."
KLM appointed Peter T.M. Elbers senior VP-corporate communications effective Nov.1. He replaces Jan Christiaan Hellendoorn, who took up a new position as head of communications at Albert Heijn.
Continental Airlines repeated earlier warnings that it expects to post "a significant loss for 2005 due to record high fuel prices" in spite of improving unit revenue trends and savings from pay and benefit reductions estimated at $300 million this year. The information was contained in a letter to shareholders included in a government filing last week. The company earlier estimated that mainline passenger RASM rose 4%-5% in August compared to the year-ago period following a 4.6% year-over-year increase in July. It has no fuel hedges in place.
United Airlines flew 10.4 billion RPMs in August, down 4.4% compared to the year-ago period, as a 12% decline in domestic traffic offset double-digit gains in Latin America and the Pacific. Capacity dropped 5.6% to 12.3 billion ASMs owing to a 14% decrease in domestic ASMs. The domestic market represented 60% of UA capacity in the month, down from 66% in August 2004. System load factor was a record 84.8%, up 1 point. EasyJet carried 2.9 million passengers in August, up 18% on the year-ago period. Load factor slipped 0.2 point to 88.4%.
Skyways Aviation arranged the sale of three Saab 340As to Nordic Solutions AB of Sweden, which will operate them on a newly established Nordic Solutions Air Services AOC in Lithuania. All three will be converted to freighters.
SkyWest Inc., parent of SkyWest Airlines, completed the purchase of Delta Air Lines' wholly owned Regional subsidiary Atlantic Southeast Airlines ( ATWOnline, Aug. 16).
Italian Civil Aviation Authority ENAC suspended Tuninter's authority to operate to Italy after the continuing investigation into the Aug. 6 crash of one of the airline's ATR 72s revealed that the turboprop had been fitted with a fuel gauge for the smaller ATR 42. "If it is proved that the fuel gauge was not the one prescribed for this plane, that means to say that the company has not respected quality norms," ENAC Chairman Vito Riggio said. The Tunisian aircraft went down in the Mediterranean after both engines quit, killing 16 people ( ATWOnline, Aug. 9).
UK and India officially signed a bilateral air services treaty replacing the one dating to 1951. The bilateral formalizes new traffic rights that will allow UK airlines to operate 56 services per week between London Heathrow and Delhi or Mumbai, 14 weekly services from the UK to Bangalore and to Chennai and seven weekly services to each or any other destination in India by the end of next year. Indian airlines can operate a similar number of services on routes between Heathrow and Delhi or Mumbai and may provide unlimited service to other UK destinations.
Lufthansa Cargo plans to raise prices on some routes out of Germany. The increases start Oct. 1 and mostly will be 3%-5%, though the hike on some routes may be higher. The carrier raised fuel surcharges 11% to 50 euro cents per kilo Monday.
British Airways is increasing the fuel surcharge on its long-haul flights from £24 to £30 per sector (£60 per roundtrip) from Sept. 12. Fuel surcharges on short-haul flights will remain unchanged at £8 per sector (£16 return). Earlier this week, Virgin Atlantic Airways announced it is raising its fuel surcharge on tickets sold in the UK to £30 per flight.
Northwest Airlines and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. were set to resume federally mediated negotiations yesterday, but earlier in the week the carrier warned the union that it may begin hiring permanent replacement workers as early as Sept. 13 if employees do not return or it does not reach a new agreement with the union. Northwest has been operating with a mix of supervisory staff, temporary replacements and third-party providers carrying on the work done by 4,000 striking AMFA mechanics and aircraft cleaners. In a letter to AMFA head O. V.
Bombardier opened a new spare parts distribution center adjacent to Chicago O'Hare that will consolidate facilities in Detroit and Wichita and streamline the delivery of spares to customers in North America. The 238,000-sq.-ft. center is being operated in partnership with Caterpillar Logistics Services. "They have the infrastructure, knowledge and systems we need to run our business," said Bombardier VP-Parts and Logistics Desmond Bell at an opening ceremony this week in Chicago. A similar Caterpillar-run facility is scheduled to open later this year in Frankfurt.
United Airlines yesterday filed its Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement, beginning the final leg of a journey through the bankruptcy process that began in December 2002. The company set Feb. 1, 2006, as its target for exiting Chapter 11. "United has made tremendous progress in our restructuring to improve performance across the board, in costs, revenue, operations and service to our customers. Today, we are more flexible, more efficient and more resilient," Chairman, President and CEO Glenn Tilton said in a statement.
ANA customers by the end of September will be able to use a single e-ticket when traveling on ANA and connecting to flights of any of the 11 Star partner airlines. Currently, ANA e-tickets are valid for connections on nine Star carriers: Air Canada, Air New Zealand, Asiana, Austrian Airlines, bmi, LOT Polish Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways and United Airlines. Lufthansa and Varig will be added by month's end.
Delta Air Lines will cut capacity at Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky International Airport, its second-largest hub, by 26% effective Dec. 1 and will sell 11 767-200s to ABX Air. Additionally, it will drop nonstop service operated by Delta Connection carriers in nine Cincinnati markets in favor of connecting service via Atlanta. In a letter to staff, the company said the reductions will result in around 1,000 job eliminations at the hub among Delta and Comair staff.
Air France-KLM Group said August passenger traffic increased 8.1% compared to the year-ago period to 17.3 billion RPKS on 5.1% higher capacity of 20.5 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2.4 points to 84.1%. The group carried more than 6 million passengers in the month, up 6.9% over August 2004. The European network remained "particularly buoyant," with traffic increasing 7.4% on a 1.5% rise in capacity and load factor improving 4 points to 72.8%. Cargo traffic climbed 3.2% on a 7% hike in capacity, pushing load factor down 2.2 points to 60.9%.
LOT Polish Airlines ordered seven 787-8s and took options on two and "hold purchase rights" on five more. Boeing valued the firm aircraft at around $910 million at list prices. They will be powered by Rolls-Royce Trent 1000s and deliveries begin in 2008. The 787s will replace LOT's six 767-300s and two 767-200s. Airbus had offered the A350 in competition. LOT said the evaluation process was supported by Sabre Airline Solutions while the final results were scrutinized by Ernst &Young. The supervisory board's decision in favor of the Boeing product was unanimous.
Aug. 14 crash of a Helios Air 737-300 occurred owing to a series of errors and miscues that will likely have human factors experts studying it for years. According to a report in the International Herald Tribune that cites several people "connected with the investigation," the problem began during an overnight maintenance check in which a technician apparently left a "pressurization controller rotary knob" out of place. The cockpit crew did not discover the mistake during their pre-flight check and the cabin failed to pressurize after takeoff.
Olympic Airlines reported that revenue and passenger traffic increased in the first seven months of 2005 compared to the year-ago period. Revenue rose 14.6 % to €298.6 million ($372.4 million) on a 3.6% gain in passengers to 3.34 million. Results were achieved with four fewer aircraft as the fleet dropped to 40 from 44.
B/E Aerospace was selected by Connexion by Boeing to provide integration, certification and kit production of inflight high-speed Internet service for 777s and 767s.
Phuket Airlines requested a clarification from both the UK and France as to why it is banned, according to the Bangkok Post, which quoted a letter from Senior VP Kanin Phuvasiten to the French DGAC.
China Southern Airlines ordered eight A330-300s and two A330-200s with deliveries in 2007-08, Airbus said, noting that the carrier already operates four A330-200s. China Aviation Supplies Import and Export Group also was involved in the deal, signing a GTA with Airbus. Engine selection and value of the agreement were not announced. China Southern's current A330s are powered by Rolls-Royce Trents.
Mandala Airlines 737-200 PK-RIM crashed Monday seconds after taking off from Medan in Indonesia, killing 102 of the 117 aboard plus as many as 47 people in a marketplace where it came to rest. Passengers who survived the crash all appeared to have been seated in the rear of the aircraft. The accident occurred around 9:40 a.m. local time and the 737 went down just 500 m. from the end of the runway. Mandala was formed in 1969 and is run by a military foundation. It operates a 727-200, 13 737-200s and two 737-400s on domestic routes. The accident aircraft was built in 1981.
Boeing named Jean Pritchard VP-Commercial Airplanes and commercial activities for Washington operations. Pritchard, 53, most recently served as director-commercial international programs for Asia and the Americas for five years.
