Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines May figures show a 7.3% hike in passengers to 10.1 million while RPKs rose 5.9% on a slightly higher capacity increase of 7.2%, resulting in a 0.8-point decline in passenger load factor to 67.6%. FTKs dipped 1.9% during the month on a capacity increase of 3.9%, producing a 3.8-point drop in freight load factor to 64.4%.
Swiss International Air Lines will raise its fuel surcharge again on July 1. The surcharge will jump to CHF53 ($41.40) from CHF48 per leg on long-haul flights and to CHF20 from CHF18 for European flights.
Austrian Airlines Group extended its e-ticket system Etix to new Etix Interline partners United Airlines and bmi. AAG already has such arrangements in place with Lufthansa, Air Canada and LOT.
International airline traffic (RPKs) rose 8.8% in May compared to the same month last year, according to IATA. With capacity (ASKs) up 7.3%, passenger load factor improved to 71.9%. However, May freight traffic (FTKs) declined 1.6% year-on-year on a 6.9% increase in capacity. "As a leading economic indicator, the slowdown in cargo traffic demonstrates that the high price of oil is slowing the global economy faster than expected," said IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani.
Rockwell Collins issued a Service Information Letter certifying that Blue Sky Network's Iridium satellite phone system is a qualified data channel for its Airshow 4000 moving map and inflight information system. The Blue Sky Network system is also certified for the current fleets of Airshow Network (Genesys) customers.
SAS Technical Services AB will cut about 120 jobs in its medium and heavy maintenance organizations in Norway and Sweden and 80 jobs in its line maintenance operation in Norway out of a total workforce of 3,700. The layoffs are part of SAS Group's Turnaround 2005 program.
Milan Linate and Malpensa operator SEA will not be the subject of an IPO, the City of Milan governing authority has decided. However, a plan to sell off a 34% stake in the company to financial and institutional investors in Italy and abroad was approved. The city holds 84% of SEA and had considered listing it this year. The full municipal authority is scheduled to clear the sale on July 10 with sale proceedings starting in September, AFX reported. "The operation will amount to €600 million ($725.9 million).
Adria Airways opened a new €2.5 million ($3 million) hangar at its base in Ljubljana yesterday. It has capacity for three CRJs or one A320. Bombardier authorized Adria in September 2002 as its only European heavy maintenance center for the CRJ and Adria has worked on more 200 aircraft for customers including Lufthansa, Brit Air and Austrian Airlines Group. It also signed a strategic partnership with Air France Industries/KLM Engineering & Maintenance recently. Adria expects to perform maintenance work on approximately 70 aircraft from foreign carriers this year.
Aviapartner began ground handling French scheduled carrier Aigle Azur in Marseille, Lyon, and Toulouse this month. Aviapartner already handled the airline in Lille and Mulhouse. The new deal also covers Aigle Azur's charter flights at Nantes, operated with A321s.
Lufthansa received the go-ahead yesterday to build a maintenance hangar to handle the A380 at Frankfurt. The administrative court of Kassel rejected opposition to the project from local authorities and environmental groups, upholding the state of Hesse's approval last November of the planned building. "Construction of the hangar will be able to start as scheduled in the autumn. Lufthansa will invest around €150 million ($182 million) in the new hangar," a spokesperson told ATWOnline.
Korean Air reported a 5.5% increase to 4.04 billion RPKs in May. Despite a drop in domestic traffic and slowing passenger flow to Japan and Southeast Asia, traffic between Korea and China jumped 32% to 204.4 million RPKs. Capacity between the two countries also climbed, rising 14.5% to 292.5 million ASKs. Capacity on European operations was up 24.1% while RPKs increased 15.9%. To the US, ASKs grew 14.9% and RPKs 7.1%.
Virgin Atlantic said business-class travel increased 26% in its last financial year. During the 12 months ended Feb. 28, the airline carried 352,095 Upper Class passengers, up from 279,714 in the previous 12 months. This produced an Upper Class load factor of 56%, "the highest enjoyed by the airline since 2000," it noted.
SriLankan Airlines Cargo Center at Bandaranaike International Airport handled an all-time high 146,883 metric tons of cargo in 2004. Previously, the highest total the carrier handled was 127,116 tonnes in 2000. The company said it expects to handle even more cargo this year.
In a big win for the company, MTU Maintenance Hannover was awarded a contract from JetBlue Airways to maintain the 360 IAE V2500 engines powering the carrier's current and future A320s. The contract runs for 10 years and is valued at roughly €750 million ($906.2 million). "This larger order adds substantially to the continued growth of our civil repair business," MTU Aero Engines Holding AG President and CEO Udo Stark said. "Having JetBlue as a partner consolidates our position as the world's largest independent provider of engine services measured by sales."
ASI Entertainment's wholly owned subsidiary ASiQ Pty. Ltd. and EMS Satcom, a division of EMS Technologies, signed a letter of intent under which ASiQ selected EMS Satcom's eNfusion HSD-128 high-speed data solution for the ASiQnet Saudi Arabian Airlines program to provide global inflight Internet connectivity for the carrier.
Lufthansa Technik Malta, a joint venture between Lufthansa Technik AG and Air Malta, will add a second production line by the third quarter of 2006. Effective in July, LHT will raise its share in the JV to 75% from 51%. Air Malta's stake accordingly will be reduced to 25%. LHT Malta operates as a Center of Excellence and provides C checks for 737 Classics, 737NGs and the A320 family. It was established in 2002 and employs 110.
Iberia will increase capacity between Madrid and Beirut by almost 59% in July and August by using 200-seat 757s instead of the 126-seat A319s it now flies on the route. The change is in response to the success of the new thrice-weekly service that launched March 28, the carrier said in a statement.
Varig Engineering & Maintenance, a separate legal entity from parent Varig, has not sought bankruptcy protection and continues to maintain its normal operation, the company noted. The airline is seeking to reorganize under the New Bankruptcy and Restructuring Law of Brazil, which took effect June 9 and is similar to US Chapter 11 ( ATWOnline, June 21).
Alteon Training signed a long term agreement to provide Aerosim Technologies' PC-based training tools in conjunction with its own training services. The trainers will be used with existing training solutions. Aerosim products covered under the agreement include Flight Management System Trainer, Virtual Flight Deck, Virtual Procedure Trainer and Flight Training Devices.
Virgin Atlantic said it plans to recruit 1,500 staff over the next 18 months to support its expansion plans. About 1,000 are new positions and the remainder are a result of the natural turnover of staff, the airline said in a statement. Virgin Atlantic currently employs approximately 8,500 staff worldwide. Separately, the carrier launched services to Cuba and the Bahamas yesterday and intends to increase frequencies on its flights to Shanghai, Las Vegas, Orlando and Port Harcourt this summer. New routes to Dubai and Jamaica are expected to launch in 2006.
Allegiant Air took delivery of an MD-83 on operating lease from SAS in a transaction arranged by Sigma Aircraft Management. It is the last of five MD-82s/83s contracted for by Allegiant in September. The aircraft was operated by SAS as an MD-82 and was upgraded to MD-83 status as part of the transactions with Allegiant. Separately, Aerovias de Mexico agreed to extend the lease on an MD-87 from International Aircraft Holdings Corp. The lease extension was arranged by Sigma Aircraft Management.
