Astar Air Cargo said the US Air Force Air Mobility Command recently presented awards to 102 of its employees who operated and provided support for missions during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom at a ceremony at Andrews AFB near Washington.
Ryanair announced that it has implemented a 3% pay increase for its staff following a round of direct negotiations in April. The increase, which will be retroactive to April 1, will apply to all of the carrier's employees except its pilots, who chose not to negotiate directly with the company. However, Ryanair said it remains willing to enter discussions with that group.
American Airlines yesterday said it reached an agreement in principle on a multimillion-dollar contract with Synergy Aerospace to perform heavy maintenance on 29 F100s formerly leased by American. The aircraft, which have been in storage, recently were sold to Brazil's Synergy Group, which holds controlling interest in Avianca of Colombia, OceanAir of Brazil and Wayra Peru.
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, reported a C$77 million ($60.5 million) net loss for the first quarter ended March 31, improved over a net loss of C$304 million in the year-ago period, which included C$132 million in special items related to the company's recent bankruptcy reorganization. Operating loss before one-time items for the quarter also improved year-over-year, moving from C$145 million to C$10 million.
Virgin Blue abandoned negotiations over a planned low-cost joint venture based in Macau, switching its focus to prospects for an international operation linking Australia with the US. The airline confirmed that it has pulled out of long-running talks with gaming magnate Stanley Ho's Shun Tak Holdings and Air Macau concerning establishment of an airline to service the rapidly growing South China Delta region. While Shun Tak continues to hold discussions with Air Macau, Virgin Blue said it now is exploring options for a transpacific operation.
US National Transportation Safety Board yesterday determined that the probable cause of the Dec. 18, 2003, crash of a FedEx MD-10F while landing at Memphis International Airport "was the first officer's failure to properly apply crosswind landing techniques to align the airplane with the runway centerline and to properly arrest the airplane's descent rate" before touchdown.
Sichuan Airlines ordered six A320s and two A319s for delivery from late 2005 to 2008. The Chengdu-based carrier first ordered A320s in 1995 and has a fleet of eight A320s, four A321s and two A319s.
Iberia is preparing a follow-up program to its Director Plan 2003-05 that will target savings of €550-€600 million ($695.2-$758.3 million) in 2006-08 through a series of cost-cutting and productivity-boosting measures that may include creation or acquisition of an LCC to cater to the low-cost air travel segment. "There are markets where we can't compete anymore in current conditions. We either create a second brand or we convince trade unions of the need for a second salary scale for new employees," CEO Angel Mullor told Expansion.
AirTran Airways completed an aircraft pre-delivery deposit financing with BNP Paribas S.A. and separately entered into a new line of credit facility with Bank of America N.A. Under the pre-delivery deposit financing agreement, BNP Paribas provided $19.6 million for six 737-700s to be delivered in 2005 and 2006. SkyWorks Capital LLC advised the carrier on the transaction.
United Airlines late Monday announced that it has reached a new tentative agreement outside of bankruptcy court with its mechanics, represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. Terms of the five-year deal were not released, but it reportedly includes a 3.9% pay cut as well as reductions in sick time and holiday benefits and will save the carrier $96 million a year. United previously had sought $101 million from the group.
TAP Portugal and Varig confirmed Monday that they have signed an MOU to hold exclusive talks aimed at a recapitalization of Brazil's failing flag carrier. "TAP may be able to become a shareholder of. . .up to 20% of Varig's capital, which is the maximum permitted by the Brazilian legislation," the Portuguese carrier said in a statement. TAP CEO Fernando Pinto, who served as CEO of Varig prior to joining TAP, stressed that a merger is "out of the question" and that both companies will "remain independent."
Thomas Cook Airlines UK plans to create two new engineering hubs at Glasgow and Birmingham. The company already maintains its own aircraft at Manchester, Stansted, Gatwick and Newcastle. "Our departures from Glasgow and Birmingham have grown considerably over the past few years and we felt it was the right time to take control of maintenance rather than subcontract this work," said Engineering Director Chris Hubbard. Thomas Cook Airlines UK currently has three aircraft based at Glasgow and two at Birmingham.
CAE was awarded a contract to provide an A320 full flight simulator to Lufthansa Flight Training Berlin, representing the 25th simulator Lufthansa Group has ordered from CAE since 1980. According to CAE, the simulator, which is scheduled for installation at the facility in spring 2006, has a list price of C$14 million ($11 million).
Indonesia's Lion Air expects to make a decision by the end of May on an order for up to 60 737-800s/-900s or A320s to replace its MD-80 fleet. Earlier this year, the carrier signed an MOU for up to 40 737-900s but Airbus made a counteroffer ( ATWOnline, March 1).
ANA and Shanghai Airlines have applied to the Japanese government for permission to extend their existing codeshare arrangements from June 15. ANA is looking to place its code on Shanghai Airlines' seven weekly flights between Shanghai and both Chengdu and Chongqing, while the Chinese carrier hopes to begin codesharing on ANA's four weekly flights from Shanghai to Nagoya.
India's Jet Airways has taken leases on four A330-200s from ILFC for delivery in 2006 and 2007 to complement the three A340-300s it leased from South African Airways that it will use to launch services to London on May 23. Those flights will be operated in a codeshare with United Airlines, with Jet codesharing on United's flights to the US ( ATWOnline, April 29).
Arrow Air installed and implemented Cargo Data Management's hosted browser-based booking, tracking and revenue accounting system Easy Track II under a new five-year contract.
EasyJet yesterday announced that Ray Webster will step down as CEO of the low-cost carrier and Stelios Haji-Ioannou, its founder and largest shareholder, is rejoining the airline's board. "Ray's leadership of the easyJet team for almost 10 years has underpinned this sustained achievement. However, his strong personal commitment to the company has been at considerable personal cost. Given that he planned to retire in 2006, he felt the succession process should be accelerated," Chairman Colin Chandler said.
Global ePoint announced that new German charter carrier Blue Wings installed its Cockpit Door Surveillance System to meet regulations that went into effect in April requiring any German-registered aircraft with more than 66 seats to be equipped with a system allowing pilots to observe any party attempting to gain access to the cockpit area and providing surveillance of the forward area of the cabin.
US airlines flew 40.31 billion domestic RPMs in February, up 3.2% over the year-ago period, according to the US Dept. of Transportation. Domestic capacity climbed 0.9% to 56.32 billion ASMs and load factor gained 2.9 points to 71.6%. Southwest Airlines carried 6.1 million domestic passengers during the month, the most of any carrier. Delta Air Lines at 6 million and American Airlines at 5.4 million ranked second and third respectively.
Alitalia reported a consolidated operating loss of €119.6 million ($147.7 million) in the first quarter ended March 31 compared with a €189.7 million operating loss in the prior-year period.
Alaska Airlines contracted with Menzies Aviation to provide ramp handling services at Seattle-Tacoma International, which will result in the loss of 472 ramp service jobs at the carrier. The airline, which currently contracts with outside companies to provide ramp services in 41 of the 56 cities it serves, expects to save roughly $13 million a year through the move.
European Court of Justice last week ruled in favor of the European Commission and said the Greek government made insufficient efforts to recover from Olympic Airways €41 million ($52.5 million) in restructuring aid and €153 million in new operating aid, which was found unlawful and incompatible with the Common Market rules on state aid. The court also found that the transfer of all the assets of Olympic Airways free of all debt to the new Olympic Airlines made it impossible to recover the funds in question.
Lufthansa Systems announced an agreement with Thai Airways International to implement the SAP Aerospace & Defense industry solution to optimize Thai's MRO planning processes.
