Continental Airlines said September estimated consolidated RASM increased 19%-20% year-over-year. Consolidated traffic rose 3.1% to 7.16 billion RPMs against a 1.4% increase in capacity to 8.64 billion ASMs. Load factor was up 1.4 points to 82.9%.
Air Line Pilots Assn. International reported Wednesday that its pilots ratified a tentative agreement with Air Transat ( ATW Daily News, Sept. 6). It said 75% of the pilots who voted were in favor of the agreement, which included employment protection for long-term job stability, improvements to pay rate, and lifestyle considerations that incorporated fatigue-mitigation factors.
US Dept. of Transportation on Wednesday proposed granting antitrust immunity to oneworld members American Airlines and Japan Airlines and, separately, to Star Alliance members United Airlines, Continental Airlines and All Nippon Airways, to operate their respective transpacific partnerships.
Three young Belgian pilots who plan to fly round the world in a self-built single engine light aircraft say the project has only been made possible by JetEx Flight Support.
ATR announced it will open a training center in Johannesburg, South Africa, in partnership with Comair, slated to be operational by April 2011. It will be the turboprop manufacturer's first training center in Africa. The center will be equipped with a full flights simulator and will offer training for ATR 42-300, ATR 42-500, ATR 72-200 and ATR 72-500 aircraft.
Delta TechOps signed a 3-yr. "multimillion" contract with Cimber Sterling to provide time and materials services for 11 CFM56-7B engines and GTCP131-9B APUs, more than one-third of the fleet’s engines. Embraer and Air France Industries signed a 5-yr. Flight Hour Pool Program contract with Alitalia to support the carrier’s fleet of six Embraer 170s.
Embraer closed a credit agreement for $1 billion, which it said it intends to use "to ensure access to short-term funds at pre-negotiated rates, if the company should need them." The agreement, which was made with a group of 25 financial institutions under the coordination of BNP Paribas, renews a syndicated credit operation of $500 million from August 2006. The funds will be available for two years with a payment deadline of September 2013.
Air Canada said Tuesday it has "settled the terms" with the Toronto Port Authority for operating to/from Toronto City Centre "long term," and announced it will launch 15 daily YTZ-Montreal Trudeau flights in February 2011.
Ryanair, which announced Tuesday it was forced to cancel 1,400 flights and delay more than 12,000 others as a direct result of Belgian, French and Spanish ATC strikes in recent months, formally called on the European Commission to “end this ATC chaos” by removing the “right to strike” provision of essential ATC services in Europe and reforming the controversial EU261 passenger rights legislation (ATW Daily News, Sept. 28).
AirTran Airways operated 1.39 billion RPMs in September, up 1.7% year-over-year. Capacity increased 0.6% to 1.79 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.7 points to 77.7%. Monarch Airlines carried 464,697 passengers in September, an 8.26% increase year-over-year. Its load factor jumped 4.7 points to 93.35%. Ryanair transported 6.84 million passengers in September, up 12% year-over-year, while load factor rose 1 point to 86%
Travelport released its Universal API, a technology interface that will enable third-party developers, online travel agencies, travel agencies and consolidators to aggregate content from a variety of sources.
Pratt & Whitney Canada announced Monday it opened the company's global flight test operations center, the first phase of its Mirabel Aerospace Centre at Montreal Mirabel.
The world's airlines posted a cumulative second-quarter net profit of $4.4 billion, reversed from a $620 million loss in the year-ago period and improved over a $1.9 billion loss in the 2010 first quarter, IATA reported.
The US Air Transport Assn. on Monday said it was "business as usual" for US carriers operating transatlantic services despite the issuance of a "travel alert" by the State Dept. warning of "the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe."
The US State Department on Sunday issued a "travel alert" warning US citizens of "the potential for terrorist attacks in Europe," but a department official emphasized that it is "absolutely not" telling Americans to avoid traveling across the Atlantic.
Kenya Airways, facing a new strike threat by its employees represented by the Aviation & Allied Workers Union, appealed to the country's Central Organization of Trade Unions to "intervene and ensure AAWU does not deviate" from the terms of an agreement reached following a two-day strike in August 2009.
Continental Airlines announced Thursday it reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract with its 9,300 CO flight attendants represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. In a statement, CO said the IAM is expected to hold a ratification vote in the coming weeks. “We appreciate the IAM’s leadership in reaching this important agreement that recognizes the interests of our flight attendants and the company,” said CO Senior VP-Human Resources and Labor Relations Mike Bonds.
Southwest Airlines' $1.4 billion acquisition of AirTran Airways will, if consummated, give it access to Atlanta for the first time, but the deal does not significantly threaten Delta Air Lines' mega-hub, J.P. Morgan analyst Jamie Baker stated in a report released this week ( ATW Daily News, Sept. 28).
