Airlines & Lessors

China Eastern Airlines has signed a deal for 80 Boeing 737 series aircraft, which includes 737 MAXs and 737-800s.

FAA and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) have certified the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for commercial service.

Hungarian carrier Wizz Air decided to stop the planned initial public offering (IPO) at the last minute due to the “current market volatility in the airline sector.”

Air New Zealand CEO Christopher Luxon has confirmed to ATW it is expecting the first Boeing 787-9 delivery in early- to mid-July.

JetBlue Airways has launched its new premium service, Mint, on an Airbus A321 flying between New York JFK and Los Angeles (LAX).

UK regional carrier Flybe has unveiled a new purple livery, which will be gradually rolled out across its fleet over the next three years.

WestJet has launched daily Boeing 737-700 flights between St. John’s, Newfoundland and Dublin, its first-ever transatlantic service.

Philippine low-cost carrier (LCC) Cebu Pacific will operate direct flights from Manila to Sydney, Australia and Kuwait in September, to serve Filipino expatriates and open more opportunities for tourism.

United Airlines will launch daily Houston Intercontinental-Santiago, Chile service from Dec. 7, pending government approval.

Finnair has postponed its deadline for reaching an agreement with the Finnish Air Line Pilots Association (SLL) so it can get closer to its cost-savings target.

US Airways and the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) have reached tentative agreements on contracts covering approximately 11,000 mechanic and related, fleet service, maintenance training specialist and stock clerk employees.

Berlin-based Germania is expanding its operations from Hamburg. The carrier will launch weekly flights to Rhodos June 17.

U.S. Gulf Coast Kerosene-Type Jet Fuel Spot Price, showing the current week and comparisons to the same week for each year of the past decade. FACT: June 8, 2004 was the last day jet fuel prices were ever below $1 per gallon. Figures are released every two weeks by the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Top 25 US Airlines for the month ranked by Full-time Equivalent (FTE) employees. Full-time Equivalent (FTE) Employee calculations count two part-time employees as one full-time employee.

Firm aircraft orders and commitments placed at the Paris Air Show, June 15-16, 2015. Source: ATW Research.

Iberia and Interjet signed a codesharing agreement linking 80 Iberia European cities with 24 Mexican cities on Interjet map. This is Interjet’s first codesharing agreement and links it to Iberia’s routes in Spain, Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Iberia operates 2X-daily Madrid-Mexico City.

Briefs from the June 16, 2014 issue of ATW's Skypaths

UK regional carrier Flybe is hoping to stem the losses of its Finnair joint venture, Flybe Finland, with the scheduled return of two ATR 42s to their lessor.

Airport freight traffic, year-to-date, organized by world regions. Year-over-year percentage changes provided by Airports Council International.

Ryanair has issued €850 million ($1.2 billion) in new bonds to fund its new aircraft acquisitions, attracting a strong take-up.

Safety levels remain high within European airspace, but Eurocontrol’s Performance Review Commission (PRC) said occurrence reporting and incident analysis still need to be improved.

Air Seychelles has posted what it describes as strong result for the 2014 first-quarter, which saw a 38.2% increase in passenger numbers to 95,372 compared to the same period in 2013.

Airline Routes

Qatar Airways this week launched 4X-weekly Boeing 777-200 flights between Doha International Airport (DOH) and Miami International Airport (MIA).

Airport passenger traffic, year-to-date, organized by world region. Year-over-year percentage changes provided by Airports Council International.