OnAir, the SITA/Airbus joint venture, said it selected the Airbus facility at Buxtehude near Hamburg to develop and seek certification for its airborne system for the use of mobile phones onboard aircraft.
The European Commission's proposed regulation governing transport of disabled passengers will create a new and unaccountable enforcement "monopoly" while saddling airlines with the cost of funding it, the Assn. of European Airlines said Tuesday. In February the EC introduced a draft regulation establishing the rights of persons with reduced mobility to use air transport and outlawing discrimination on the basis of age or disability. It also guarantees such individuals the right to receive assistance free of charge in airports and onboard aircraft ( ATWOnline, Feb. 17).
Delta Air Lines flew 10.36 billion RPMs in March, up 14.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7.8% to 12.93 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 4.6 points to 80.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs increased 12.3% to 27.22 billion, ASMs rose 6.4% to 36.54 billion and load factor gained 3.9 points to 74.5%.
US Airways flew 3.81 billion RPMs in March, up 9.6% over the year-ago period. Capacity increased 5.2% to 4.72 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.2 points to 80.7%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs climbed 5.8% to 9.65 billion, ASMs grew 1.5% to 13.19 billion and load factor rose 2.9 points to 73.2%.
United Airlines flew 9.81 billion RPMs in March, up 2.4% over the year-ago period. Capacity dipped 1.3% to 11.81 billion ASMs and load factor gained 3 points to 83.1%. For the three months ended March 31, RPMs rose 1.9% to 26.53 billion, ASMs declined 2% to 33.94 billion and load factor jumped 3 points to 78.2%.
Emirates has begun construction of a Dhs1.3 billion ($353.9 million) engineering center on a 136-acre site on the north side of Dubai International Airport. The airline will use the facility to perform maintenance on its fleet, which is expected to double from the current 74 aircraft over the next seven years, and for third-party maintenance.
Goodrich Corp. yesterday unveiled the world's largest landing gear test facility, which was built to accommodate the A380 main gear. The facility at Goodrich's site in Oakville, Ontario, encompasses 2,100 sq. m. (22,604 sq. ft.) of floor space. It houses a Super Rig for structural testing that includes strength and fatigue testing of the A380 body and wing landing gears. The test rig rests in a cavity 55 m. long and stands approximately 8 m. high. In addition to the Super Rig, the facility accommodates rigs for endurance testing.
In an about-face for an airline that has shunned travel search engines, American Airlines formed a partnership with San Mateo, Calif.-based Mobissimo, one of the new meta search companies. An American spokesman would not provide details of the agreement but said American had determined that Mobissimos business model represents a low-cost form of distribution.
Malaysia Airlines Engineering Division was named as an authorized mod center for Aviation Partners Boeing Blended Winglet retrofits for 737NGs, 757-200s and 737 Classics.
American Eagle, the Regional affiliate of American Airlines, started selling snack boxes for $3 on most of its flights. AA also sells the snack boxes in the main cabin on select domestic flights longer than 3 hr.
SriLankan Airlines launched an Internet booking engine on its website that allows customers to make reservations online. In addition, it introduced e-ticketing on flights to 10 destinations.
Aloha Airgroup and subsidiary Aloha Airlines finalized a $65 million debtor-in-possession financing facility with Ableco Finance, an affiliate of Cerberus Capital Management, and Goldman Sachs Credit Partners. Aloha said it used some of the funds to pay off the last portion of its Air Transportation Stabilization Board federal loan guarantee and certain local bank term loans.
The world's airlines will lose $5.5 billion in 2005 if oil prices average $43 per barrel for the full year, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani stated yesterday in New York (on April 1, the price of the May crude-oil contract hit a record $57.70 a barrel on the NY Mercantile Exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported).
Continental Airlines last week recalled the last of the 637 pilots that were furloughed following 9/11. Separately, Continental said it flew 6.92 billion RPMs in March, up 14.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 7% to 8.6 billion ASMs and load factor jumped 5.6 points to 80.5%. In March, the carrier said consolidated passenger RASM is believed to have increased 4%-5% compared to March 2004, while mainline passenger RASM is estimated to have climbed 4.5%-5.5%. For February, consolidated passenger RASM rose 2.1% over February 2004 and mainline passenger RASM grew 3%.
European Regions Airline Assn. reported a 7.1% increase in traffic for its member airlines in 2004. Capacity climbed 6.9% year-over-year and load factor rose almost 1 point to 60.3% for the year. Passenger growth averaged 4.1% with the largest increases seen in the Baltic states. Ireland and Finland also saw significant growth in passenger numbers by ERA members based in these countries.
EU-US talks on eliminating launch aid for new aircraft programs appear to have broken down among mutual recriminations and allegations of bad faith. Yesterday, US Deputy Secretary of State Robert Zoellick told reporters in Brussels that the EU is not serious about negotiations, the Associated Press reported, while the EU has accused the US of backing away from an agreement to try to resolve the dispute outside of the World Trade Organization.
B/E Aerospace was selected by Air France to provide business class seating for two of the carrier's widebody fleets in programs valued at up to $40 million. Under the agreements, B/E will manufacture and deliver versions of its MiniPod lie-flat business class seats for AF's A380s and part of its 777 fleet.
Lufthansa Flight Training and Austrian Airlines will establish a simulator training center in Vienna. The companies will hold a joint press conference April 14 to discuss the program.
US Dept. of Transportation gave final clearance to several passenger and cargo airlines that tentatively were granted rights in February to launch services to China ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). As a result, American Airlines officially can start marketing its new Chicago-Shanghai flights that will begin next year. In addition, Federal Express, Northwest Airlines, Polar Air Cargo and UPS will be able to boost their cargo service to China in 2006 by adding three weekly flights each.
ATA Holdings Corp., which has been operating under Chapter 11 since October 2004, reported a massive $816.9 million net loss available to shareholders for 2004 in its annual report filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission last week. The figure included $638.5 million in reorganization expenses and a noncash charge of $27.3 million related to the company's bond exchange in the first quarter. This compares to a net income of $15.8 million in 2003, which was bolstered by $37.2 million in security rebates from the US government.
