When Southwest Airlines decided to retrofit Blended Winglets on its 170 737-700s two years ago, managers had the advantage of a clear, concise cost-benefit tradeoff: The $750,000 drag-reducing devices would save the discount carrier an average of 92,000 gal. of jet fuel per aircraft per year and boost payload by about 6,000 lb., paying for themselves long before the aircraft would have to be retired.
One does not have to go all the way back to the postwar era captured in Carol Reed's film noir masterpiece "The Third Man" to recall a time when Vienna was a popular conduit between East and West for the movement of people and goods. Until the end of the Cold War, Austria's status as a member of the nonaligned community of nations and its geographic location astride the Iron Curtain enabled flag carrier Austrian Airlines to develop an effective route network into the East Bloc and USSR, while Vienna Airport itself became the preferred gateway for such journeys.
Not for nothing is the training branch of Airbus designated the Airbus Training & Flight Operations Support and Services Division. This reflects the recognition that a holistic approach to training and day-to-day operations is critical to the safe and efficient operation of the fleet. Training in new technologies and procedures for the A380 has served as a catalyst for revision of the Airbus training methodology and, where appropriate, is already being integrated into training programmes for the rest of the Airbus fleet.
Six former executives of Volare Airlines have been arrested and accused of diverting funds to set up a new carrier, Reuters reported. "The diversion of funds was aimed at creating the necessary capital for the new airline, which not by coincidence used people, means and structures from the Volare Group," financial police investigating the demise of the Italian carrier said in a statement. The statement did not name the new airline.
United Airlines' settlement with the US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. that permits the bankrupt carrier to terminate its defined benefit pension plans ( ATWOnline, April 26) also requires it to transfer to PBGC securities having a face value of $1.5 billion. These include $500 million in principal amount of 25-year 6% senior subordinated unsecured notes, 5 million shares of 2% convertible preferred stock with a liquidation value of $100 per share and $500 million in principal amount of 8% contingent senior subordinated unsecured notes.
Continental Airlines applied to the US Dept. of Transportation to operate daily nonstop flights from Houston to Buenos Aires. If approved, the carrier said it would launch the flights in November using a 767-200 in a two-class configuration.
G2 SwitchWorks Corp. signed long-term commitments with American Airlines, America West, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines, United Airlines and US Airways that designate G2 as a provider of choice for alternative GDS distribution services between themselves and key agency clients.
GMF AeroAsia, the maintenance arm of Garuda Indonesia, and GE Transportation Aircraft Engines signed a two-year component repair contract worth roughly $10 million over the life of the deal.
Boeing reported net earnings of $535 million for the first quarter ended March 31, a 14% decline versus net earnings of $623 million in the 2004 period, as significantly higher noncash expenses for share-based plans, pensions and deferred compensation offset strong performance by its Commercial Airplanes and Integrated Defense Systems units. Total revenue rose just 0.3% to $12.99 billion and total costs and expenses declined 0.2% to $10.78 billion. Earnings from continuing operations fell 16.6% to $687 million from $824 million in the 2004 first quarter.
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines released traffic results for March that show continued robust growth. The number of international passengers carried rose 13.4% to 10.7 million while RPKs increased 11.3% to 43.77 billion on a capacity hike of 7.5% to 60.1 billion ASKs. Load factor gained 2.5 points to 72.8%. International FTKs grew 3.5% to 43.7 billion in March but capacity was up 8.4%, resulting in a decline of 3.2 points to 67.5% in load factor.
Independence Air began offering the digEplayer personal inflight media player to customers on all flights from its hub at Washington Dulles to Las Vegas and San Diego. The players also will be available on the airline's new flights to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and San Jose that begin May 1. The carrier said it will charge $10 for the players.
Debis AirFinance confirmed that its current shareholders, DaimlerChrysler, Bayern LB, Dresdner Bank, DZ Bank and HypoVereinsbank, are in the process of selling the aircraft finance and leasing company to Cerberus Capital Management. Terms were not disclosed. Headquartered in Amsterdam, debis AirFinance has a fleet of 141 aircraft and manages a further 108 under full-service contracts for third-party owners. It provides financial and corporate services for 164 aircraft. The company employs 113 people.
Air Transport Assn. member airlines flew 60.35 billion RPMs in March, up 9% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.8% to 74.47 billion ASMs and load factor gained 3.9 points to 81%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs rose 7.5% to 159.44 billion, ASMs increased 2.5% to 211.01 billion and load factor jumped 3.5 points to 75.6%.
Construction of Emirates' new engineering center is on target to be able to handle the carrier's future fleet of 45 A380s, the first of which arrives in October 2006. The $353 million complex, built on a 55-hectare (136-acre) site at Dubai Airport, will have seven hangars and one paint hangar, each capable of handling the A380, making it the biggest maintenance center in the world for the newest Airbus. Two bays can provide A380 heavy maintenance and all can handle a stretched A380-900 version. The complex will employ 3,000.
PolyVista announced that Southwest Airlines has implemented and deployed its Discovery solution to "enhance the analysis capability of its existing pilot reporting program data through the addition of PolyVista's text and data-mining analysis solution."
SAS said that passengers traveling from the UK to Denmark and Norway as well as onward to Finland and Eastern Europe now can combine fares across business, Economy Flex (premium economy) and economy classes. The minimum stay rule for business travelers flying on higher economy fares has been reduced to one night and the minimum stay for the lowest economy fares to two nights.
Boullioun Aviation Services reached a medium-term lease with Ukraine International Airlines for a CFM56-3C1-powered 737-300. The aircraft was delivered last week and brings the carrier's fleet to nine 737s.
Sabena Technics signed a contract with German charter operator Germania Fluggesellschaft for overhaul of the brakes on the company's fleet of 19 F100s over a period of five years. The F100s are operated by Germania Express, DBA, Air Berlin and Hapag-Lloyd.
RightNow Technologies announced that Alaska Airlines and sister carrier Horizon Air have selected RightNow CRM to "enhance and streamline the sales, customer service and marketing functions of its air cargo business."
SIA Engineering Co. signed a joint venture agreement to form an aerospace hydraulic equipment MRO service center with Parker Hannifin Corp.'s Parker Aerospace covering aircraft such as 747-400s, 777s, A320s, A330s and A340s. It will be called Aerospace Component Engineering Services Co. and will be incorporated in Singapore.
Lufthansa Technik Composite Tulsa expanded its product portfolio with the launch of MRO services for the thrust reversers and inlets of the PW2000. It also started a program to service the inlets of the IAE V2500 and expects to complete it in the second quarter.
