American Airlines took another step in its effort to assert control over how its inventory is distributed, selecting ITA Software's availability engine to manage its fare availability across all its channels.
Turkish Technic will provide 10 C checks to Pegasus Airlines' fleet as well as seven redelivery checks including landing gear overhaul and aircraft paint services. It will also conduct five C checks for IZair. Maintenance work for both will be carried out at Turkish Technic's facilities in Istanbul. AFI KLM E&M signed a five-year component and brake support agreement with Martinair covering the carrier's seven MD-11Fs. Contract includes the positioning of spares at Amsterdam Schiphol.
Airbus appointed long-time automotive industry executive Gunter Butschek as its executive VP-operations, effective March 1. He replaces Gerald Weber, who will leave the company "after successfully completing his missions," the company said. Butschek is president and CEO of Beijing Benz Automotive Co., a joint venture between Daimler AG and Beijing Automotive Industrial Holding. He has spent 25 years with Daimler in international automotive production, industrialization and procurement, having begun his career in 1984 at Mercedes-Benz.
Cathay Pacific Airways is facing possible industrial action from its flight attendants after a majority of members of the Cathay Pacific Flight Attendants' Union voted in favor of labor measures, including refusing to work overtime. CPFAU represents 5,800 of 14,000 CX cabin crew. Company insiders suggest that many non-members will also follow the union's directives.
New York-based Buckingham Research Group believes that Boeing will counter the Airbus A320neo with an all-new narrowbody design to be launched later this year or early 2012 for delivery in 2017/2018.
Indian LCC IndiGo on Tuesday signed an MOU with Airbus to place an order for 180 A320s including 150 A320neos, making the carrier the launch customer for the re-engined version of the A320.
Travel Leaders acquires Vacation.com from Amadeus A half-dozen distribution trends to watch in 2011 Delta asks passengers: What’s being bumped worth to you? Saudi Arabian Airlines to join SkyTeam next year New version of Sabre CentralCommand is released In Focus: Corralling the best international fares, wherever they are World news briefing
American Airlines was granted a temporary restraining order to prevent Sabre from biasing the carrier’s displays in the Sabre GDS. American also filed a lawsuit against Sabre in Texas state court in Tarrant County alleging that Sabre’s recent actions “violates agreements between American and Sabre and harms American, the travel agent community, and the traveling public.” The TRO will be in effect until the court considers American’s request for longer-term relief.
Emirates SkyCargo operated its longest-ever non-stop flight, a 17.5 hour trip from Sydney to New York JFK aboard a Boeing 777F. Previously its longest flight was a 16.8-hour passenger flight between Dubai and Houston Intercontinental. Separately, the carrier named Angelo Mule as its new cargo operations manager for Germany.
An AirAsia Airbus A320 skidded off the runway at Kuching in Malaysia during a heavy rainstorm on Monday. According to Ascend, the aircraft veered to the right and ran off the side of the runway onto soft ground where its nose undercarriage apparently collapsed. There were no serious injuries reported among 124 passengers and crew aboard.
Chinese carriers earned a collective net profit of CNY35.1 billion ($5.28 billion) in 2010 owing in large part to surging domestic growth, according to CAAC Vice Minister Wang Changshun.
News from Travel Technology Update: American Airlines was granted a temporary restraining order to prevent Sabre from biasing the carrier’s displays in the Sabre GDS. American also filed a lawsuit against Sabre in Texas state court in Tarrant County alleging that Sabre’s recent actions “violates agreements between American and Sabre and harms American, the travel agent community, and the traveling public.” The TRO will be in effect until the court considers American’s request for longer-term relief.
The Air Line Pilots Assn. announced Monday that 97% of cargo carrier Evergreen International Airlines crewmembers would support a lawful strike if a satisfactory collective agreement is not reached with management. ALPA, which represents EIA's 228 flight crew, said in a statement that 86% of eligible pilots voted in the poll. Crewmembers have been in negotiations since 2005 ( ATW Daily News, Aug. 18, 2010).
US Dept. of Transportation's Aviation Enforcement Office on Monday issued guidance to airlines regarding displaying codeshare partners in online ticket advertising, warning that in 60 days it will begin taking action against carriers that fail to clearly reveal which airline is operating a given flight.
British Airways flew 8.08 billion RPKs in December, down 8.3% compared to December 2009. Capacity fell 7.7% to 10.58 billion ASKs while load factor dipped 0.4 points to 76.4%. For the fiscal nine months April-December, BA saw a 5.5% decline in RPKs to 81.9 billion, a 4% drop in capacity to 104.2 billion ASKs and a 1.2 point decrease in load factor to 78.6%.
US Dept. of Transportation fined Mesaba Aviation a civil penalty of $125,000 for violating rules protecting air travelers with disabilities. DOT said complaints from passengers filed during 2007 and 2008 revealed "a number of violations" suggesting that the airline did not provide adequate enplaning and deplaning assistance nor the required written responses to complaints from passengers within the mandatory 30-day period.
IATA reported that international scheduled passenger traffic rose 8.2% year-over-year in November while air cargo traffic lifted 5.4% compared to November 2009.
New York-based Bernstein Research believes the airline industry is firmly in the recovery period on a global basis, citing four key positive indicators—“increasing traffic, rising load factors, higher yield and positive operating profits.”
[Corrected version] Row 44 announced Friday it has received US Federal Communications Commission approval to operate and charge for in-flight broadband connectivity service aboard commercial aircraft over the Atlantic Ocean, making it the only Ku-based connectivity provider allowed to operate and charge for the service on transatlantic flights.
Prompted by the Oct. 26 incident involving an American Airlines 757 that experienced a decompression event after a hole opened in the fuselage on the upper crown just above the left door, US FAA on Monday plans to issue a new airworthiness directive requiring "repetitive inspections" of 757s to look for fuselage skin cracking and make repairs if needed.
Delta Air Lines flew 15.04 billion system RPMs in December, up 2.4% from the year-ago month, on a 3.9% increase in capacity to 18.78 billion ASMs. Load factor slipped 0.6 points to 79.6%. Full-year traffic grew 2.2% to 193.17 billion RPMs on a 1% lift in capacity to 232.68 billion ASMs. System load factor rose 1 point to 83%.
Passengers aboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo on Wednesday overpowered a hijacker as the plane landed at Istanbul Ataturk, Reuters reported. According to the Turkish Dogan News Agency, the attempt took place as Flight TK1754 started its descent. A man tried to force his way into the cockpit of the aircraft saying, “I have a bomb,” but was subdued by passengers, the news agency reported.
US passenger airlines' costs rose 5% year-over-year in the 2010 third quarter, the third straight reporting period that saw costs increase, according to the latest Airline Cost Index released Thursday by the US Air Transport Assn.
