Hawaiian Airlines and its pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., reached agreement on a new three-year contract. Terms of the deal were not released. The agreement will be sent to union members for a ratification vote. Hawaiian, which already has new deals in place with four of its six unions, said it will be able to exit bankruptcy if the new agreement and a recently negotiated accord with its flight attendants are ratified. Separately, the carrier reported net income of $588,000 for January, an 82% reduction compared to net income of $3.3 million in January 2004.
USA3000 Airlines will begin two weekly nonstop flights from Washington Dulles to Ft. Myers May 2, three weekly nonstop flights from Baltimore-Washington International Airport to Ft. Lauderdale May 2 and six weekly nonstop flights between Orlando and Chicago O'Hare May 3.
Malaysia Airlines, hot on the heels of the Ryanair order (see above), is expected to order up to 60 737-800s with the first to be delivered later this year. Insiders told ATWOnline that the purchase should be announced shortly. If confirmed, it would be a stunning reversal for Airbus, which had been tipped to pick up the order.
Tianjin-based Okay Airlines, the first private Chinese carrier, is expected to receive its operating certificate shortly. The airline is expected to launch operations in March, and according to the Sydney-based Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation, it will be followed by several others, including Spring International Airlines (Shanghai), Eagle Airlines (Chengdu) and Huaxia Airlines (Gansu Province).
Frontier Airlines took delivery of its 35th and 36th 132-seat A319s, which are on lease from GECAS. Its fleet now totals 47, comprising four 737-300s, 36 A319s and seven A318s.
US FAA yesterday proposed new rules requiring "significant upgrades" to cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders at an estimated cost to the industry of $256 million. Under an NPRM, CVRs must record the last 2 hr. of cockpit audio instead of the currently required 15-30 min. Also, a 10-min. independent backup power source for CVRs and FDRs will be required. Voice recorders would have to use technology other than magnetic tape, which is vulnerable to damage and decreased reliability.
Emirates will launch daily nonstop service from Dubai to Beijing on Feb. 1, 2006, using an A340-300. The airline said the new route is part of its strategic growth plans for its China operations.
Air Transport Assn. member airlines flew 51.41 billion RPMs in Jan., up 9.3% over the year-ago period. Capacity climbed 3.3% to 70.8 billion ASMs and load factor gained 3.9 points to 72.6%.
UPS announced yesterday that in 2006 it will close its package sorting hub at Dayton International Airport, its only sorting hub for heavy airfreight, which will result in 1,400 job losses. According to the Associated Press, a new hub for heavy freight will be constructed at another UPS facility with a goal of improving efficiency. UPS acquired the Dayton facility last Dec. from Menlo Worldwide Forwarding for $150 million.
Boullioun Aviation Services delivered a 737-800 to Air-India on medium-term lease. The aircraft will be used by Air-India Express, the low-fare unit set to debut in mid-March. During the first phase, it will operate 6-7 daily flights to and from Kerala, the Gulf region and Southeast Asia.
US Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta speaking at the Canadian Open Skies Forum in Canada yesterday, said he believes the US and Canada can "move ahead quickly with exploratory discussions to establish a framework for a more open bilateral agreement." He also said a liberalized agreement between the countries leading to a unified approach in aviation policy would permit the US and Canada "to work together to achieve regional liberalization across the Atlantic."
Brazilian government has given approval to a request by Varig and TAM to end their codesharing relationship, the last remaining element of a cooperation agreement that originally was intended to lead to a merger between the country's two largest airlines. According to the Associated Press, the alliance will be dissolved within three months.
Northwest Airlines and Korean Air announced a cargo codesharing agreement yesterday under which Northwest is placing its NW code on cargo flights operated by Korean from Seoul to Anchorage, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth and San Francisco. KAL in turn is marketing its KE code on NWA-operated freighters from Anchorage to Chicago and Cincinnati as well as between Seoul and Anchorage.
Cathay Pacific Airways took delivery of a new 747-400F, its 88th aircraft. Initially, the company will use the freighter on flights between Hong Kong and Singapore.
AeroMexico acquired two GE90-94B-powered 777-200ERs through operational lease. The aircraft, which will replace 767-300ERs, will be operated on intercontinental routes from Mexico City to Madrid and Paris.
Mesa Air Group CEO Jonathan Ornstein said his airline will not add 737s to its fleet, an idea it has been considering since last year. "We've shelved those plans for now," he said in a speech to the Aero Club of Washington yesterday. "We have had some difficulty negotiating rates that were acceptable to us." He said the company had considered the 737s for service out of Pittsburgh in conjunction with partner US Airways.
Alaska Airlines applied to the US Dept. of Transportation for authority to launch twice-daily nonstop service between Los Angeles and Mexico City May 1. In the application, the airline proposed flights with Seattle-Los Angeles-Mexico City and Portland-Los Angeles-Mexico City routings.
Air Algerie placed an order for three shipsets of Aviation Partners Boeing 737-800 Blended Winglets. The contract includes an option to upgrade all of its existing 737-800s with winglets.
Flynordic, the low-cost subsidiary of Finnair in Sweden, and Sterling, a low-cost carrier in Denmark, have signed a codeshare agreement. Under the deal, the two will share 11 destinations operating mainly from Stockholm and Copenhagen. Sterling, owned by Norwegian firms Bonheur and Ganger Rolf, has a similar deal in place with budget airline Norwegian Air Shuttle.
Goodrich Corp. was selected by Air China to supply the main deck and lower lobe cargo handling system for its two new 747-400Fs, which will be delivered in Nov. 2005 and March 2006. The Goodrich cargo system includes the mechanical system, power drive units, electrical control system and floor panels.
Air France-KLM Group Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta urged US and EU negotiators to accept "a certain degree of realism" and not get diverted by "tricky" issues such as cabotage in pursuing a proposed transatlantic Open Aviation Area.
United Airlines will launch daily service between Taipei and Nagoya April 29 using a 777 in a three-class configuration. In addition, the airline is advancing its scheduled increase in flights on its existing daily service between Chicago O'Hare and Hong Kong to May 6 from the original date of June 7. The service increase will add three more flights per week between the cities for a total of 10. United also said it will upgrade from a 777 to 747 on its Chicago-Beijing service from June 6 to Oct. 29 owing to increased demand.
Pratt & Whitney is developing an all-digital wireless broadband inflight entertainment solution that will offer video-on-demand, live television and broadband Internet connectivity to airline passengers.
JetBlue Airways will launch new daily nonstop service to Portland, Ore., from New York JFK May 17 and add a second daily nonstop flight between Seattle and JFK June 17.
Air France and Continental Airlines will begin a codesharing agreement Feb. 26. Under the deal, Continental will place its code on AF flights from Paris Charles de Gaulle to 12 destinations in Europe and the Middle East, while AF will codeshare on flights from Newark and Houston to 21 destinations in the US.
