Gulf Air and Lufthansa Technik tomorrow are scheduled to reveal at the Aircraft Interiors 2005 conference in Hamburg the details of what LHT terms a "far-reaching" MRO contract to be signed by Gulf Air President and CEO James Hogan and Lufthansa Technik Executive Board Chairman August Henningsen.
PACE Aerospace Engineering and Information Technology announced that Seattle-based International Aero has purchased its standard cabin interior configuration software Pacelab.
ACE Aviation Holdings, parent of Air Canada, entered into agreements with a group of underwriters to sell an aggregate of roughly 11.4 million Class A and B shares at a price of C$37 ($30) per share for proceeds of C$420 million. ACE also will sell C$300 million of 4.25% convertible senior notes due 2035. The notes will be convertible into shares at an initial conversion price of C$48 per share. ACE said both offerings were increased following strong investor demand.
AirNav Systems released AirNav Live Flight Tracker Gold, a new multiwindow airline flight tracking application that enables the user to track several areas with several different filters simultaneously.
Aiming to reduce the risk of fire spreading aboard an aircraft, FAA Friday proposed a new rule that will require airlines to replace or modify certain insulation blankets on more than 800 US-registered Boeing aircraft over the next six years.
Measured, prudent expansion is also key, with the accent on "close to home" training. In addition to its main Stockholm Arlanda base with 14 simulators and a smaller unit without full flight simulators at Copenhagen, the Flight Academy opened a spacious 5,000-sq.-m. purpose-built training center with 25 staff last August in Norway near Oslo Gardermoen's passenger terminal.
Bypassing the global distribution systems whenever possible has been a goal of the Major airlines for several years. Segment fees rose by an average of more than 6% a year from 1990 to 2000, but the airlines say the increases were not accompanied by a proportionate improvement in value to them. The rate of increase slowed following 9/11, but carriers now pay more than $4 per segment or an average of $12.50 per ticket-a hefty chunk of today's low fares.
It is almost one year since the implementation of the AF-KLM merger and you have stated several times that the first results are "extremely positive." How positive is this?
By summer, the fruits of nearly four years of seemingly disparate government biometric technology tests could weave together quickly into a cohesive strategy for US airports as key mandates come due and various trials conclude. Because of the sheer size of the US market, with more than 200 airports receiving scheduled service, decisions here will play a large role in influencing technology development and choices around the globe.
Original equipment manufacturers intend to grow their share of the commercial aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul business aggressively in response to both the needs of their customer base and their own internal corporate goals. Although this trend dates back more than a decade, it has accelerated owing to the tremendous upheavals of the past four years.
The variety of successful strategies in use today was in full display at the ATW Winning Strategies conference in Washington, where some of the airline industry's keenest minds shared their wisdom. Dr. Adam Pilarski, senior VP at consultancy Avitas, opened the conference with a controversial statement, "the myth of overcapacity is an urban legend," pointing out that historically high load factors should push fares up. "If airlines don't make money when they have the highest load factors ever, there is something wrong with their business model."
Albert Einstein said, "We owe a lot to the Indians, who taught us how to count, without which no worthwhile scientific discovery could have been made."
"There's an old saying around here that you never go bankrupt with too few seats or too few airplanes," Southwest Airlines CEO Gary Kelly tells ATW at the airline's Dallas headquarters.
Although traffic and capacity continue to grow, IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani yesterday warned that if fuel prices continue to rise, the industry could see more red ink this year. "If the average price of oil settles at $43 per barrel for the year, the total cost of fuel to the industry will exceed $73 billion," Bisignani said. "Clearly 2005 will be another year of industry losses, despite aggressive airline cost cutting."
Lufthansa Technik Group, which includes LHT and 18 consolidated companies, grew stronger than the market itself and substantially improved earnings last year as evidenced by the €227 million in income from operations reported for 2004. "After three years of turbulence, the market is still under pressure but the demand for MRO services picked up for the first time since 9/11, resulting in a market growth of 5.3%," explained LHT AG Executive Board Chairman August Wilhelm Henningsen.
Swiss International Air Lines' large shareholders sold almost 84% of the carrier's capital to AirTrust, the holding company through which Lufthansa is taking over Swiss. According to the carrier, the newly formed company now holds 83.96% of Swiss share capital, almost all of the 86.13% previously held by majority shareholders. As part of the deal, AirTrust is offering major shareholders $342.3 million. It is offering another $58.1 million to individual investors whose shares are in free float.
Pacific Blue, the international arm of Virgin Blue, will begin to offer passengers APS digEplayers on flights between Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. The carrier said it will begin phasing in the portable on-demand entertainment players from late May and they will be available on all flights by June 13. Each aircraft will be equipped with 60 players and the airline will charge A$12 ($9) to rent one.
Continental Airlines flight attendants late Wednesday rejected a new agreement, becoming the only work group at the carrier that did not ratify a new deal. Earlier Wednesday, Continental's pilots, mechanics, dispatchers and simulator engineers all approved new contracts that include pay and benefit reductions ( ATWOnline, March 31).
Pinnacle Airlines named Clive Seal VP-fight operations effective April 18. He will be responsible for the administration and management of Pinnacle's pilots, the Pinnacle Airlines Corporate Education Center and System Operations Control.
ASiQ Pty. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of ASI Entertainment, signed a contract with Saudi Arabian Airlines for the AsiQnet inflight e-mail, Internet and SMS system. The company said further details of the deal will be released shortly.
Latin American Airline Assn. member carriers flew 10.9 billion RPKs in January, up 17.7% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 12% to 15 billion ASKs and load factor gained 3.5 points to 72.2%.
Air Nelson signed an agreement with FlightSafety International to purchase a flight simulator to provide the pilot training required for its new Q300. The simulator will be based within Air New Zealand's new simulator facility in Auckland and will be fully operational by October.
Telair International received a firm order from Shandong Airlines for four Sliding Carpet Loading Systems for installation in the aft cargo compartments of the carrier's 737-800s, with an option for four additional systems. Delivery and installation are scheduled for mid-2005.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace yesterday unveiled its newest hangar in Singapore. The facility, which cost roughly $12 million, is capable of holding two narrowbody aircraft simultaneously.
