Lufthansa believes that the 747-8, which will enter service late next year, will have almost the same fuel burn per passenger as the A380 on LH’s typical missions while the CSeries will outperform both.
Copa Airlines flew 533.8 million RPMs in June, up 10.6% year-over-year, against a 9% lift in capacity to 728.9 million ASMs. Load factor lifted 1.1 points to 73.2%. Affiliate Aero Republica flew 99.8 million RPMs, up 10.3% while capacity grew 3.9% to 138.5 million ASMs. Load factor improved 4.1 points to 72%. EasyJet transported 4.5 million passengers in June, up 9.4% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 87.2%.
Six airlines formed a member-based, not-for-profit organization called Open AXIS Group to promote a standardized XML (eXtensible Markup Language) schema as the optimal electronic messaging structure for airline system connectivity used in content distribution. Members are Air Canada, American Airlines, Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways. ATPCO has been invited to serve as the founding Allied Member and former Frontier Airlines VP Jim Young will serve as executive director.
US FAA awarded Metron Aviation a $1.15 billion, 10-year NextGen contract, making it the largest single award to a small business in FAA history. The System Engineering 2020 (SE-2020) Research and Mission Analysis Set-Aside is the FAA's strategic program for implementing the NextGen satellite-based ATC system. "This program allows us to build upon our heritage of partnering with the FAA to pioneer innovative and transformational capabilities that help open America's skies," said CEO Dave Ellison.
The probable cause of the 2008 runway overrun of a Continental Airlines 737-500 at Denver International was "the captain's cessation of right rudder input, which was needed to maintain directional control of the airplane, about four seconds before the excursion," the US National Transportation Safety Board concluded yesterday.
A US federal appeals court yesterday upheld the Dept. of Transportation's 2008 rule allowing airports to charge higher landing fees during "peak" periods, with the presiding judge telling objecting airlines that congestion pricing's "creativity should be welcomed on its merits, not spurned for its novelty."
The governments of Serbia and Turkey have pledged to speed up talks that could result in indebted Serbian flag carrier Jat Airways merging with Turkish Airlines. During a news conference, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said, “We are ready for steps that will make that cooperation possible. I am promising to do my best [to provide] the people of Serbia with links to every corner of the world through our two companies.”
Travelport GDS reached a 2.5-year extension of its full-content distribution agreement with Continental Airlines. Sabre Airline Solutions announced that Avior Airlines is the launch customer for its Electronic Miscellaneous Document solution. EMD is a component of the Sabre merchandising platform that allows an airline to accept electronic payment for many of its ancillary services and products. Sabre said additional carriers will begin using the EMD capabilities in "the coming months."
Air Berlin transported 3.02 million passengers in June, up 3.4% from the year-ago month, while load factor fell 3.7 points to 75.1%. Allegiant Air flew 479.9 million RPMs in June, up 7.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 6.2% to 516.7 million ASMs and load factor increased 1.4 points to 92.9%.
Air France KLM and Martinair agreed to pay €87 million ($110 million) to settle civil antitrust claims in the US related to price-fixing in the air cargo business on flights to/from the US between 2000 and 2006.
With Emirates expanding rapidly and showing no sign of slowing down, European airlines are looking at how to counter a carrier that has become a formidable threat.
Air China is looking at combining Ameco Beijing, its successful MRO joint venture with Lufthansa, and its internal maintenance organization, Air China Engineering and Technics. According to an industry insider, CA is having internal discussions about how the companies might be integrated but has not determined a specific plan. Ameco, which was created in 1989, is the oldest JV MRO organization in China involving mainland and foreign participants.
Southwest Airlines flew 7.07 billion RPMs in June, a 5% increase on the year-ago month, against a 1.9% lift in capacity to 8.63 billion ASMs. Load factor grew 2.4 points to 81.9%. US Airways operated 5.79 billion system RPMs in June, a 2.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.7% to 6.7 billion ASMs and load factor gained 0.2 point to 86.4%. Domestic RPMs declined 0.8% to 4.18 billion against a 0.2% rise in capacity to 4.83 billion ASMs.
US FAA and Georgia Institute of Technology will research jointly the effects the NextGen ATC system will have on flight crew members and controllers with respect to the "increased sophistication on the flight deck." FAA said it will be the first of several "aviation-related human factors research" studies it plans to collaborate on with universities, with more to be announced "in the coming months."
ARC reported that ticket sales through participating travel agencies climbed 21.9% in June compared to June 2009 to $7 billion, marking the eighth consecutive month of improvement. June credit card sales grew 22.6% year-over-year to $6.3 billion. Total fares excluding taxes and fees rose 22.9% to $6 billion. Domestic fares jumped 18.9% to $3.1 billion on a 5% lift in transactions and international fares leaped 27.7% to $2.9 billion on a 6% rise in transactions.
China's airlines are bracing for a CNY140 ($20.70) per ton increase in domestic fuel costs after the Chinese government announced it is raising its domestic fuel price from CNY5,470 to CNY5,610 per ton.
The European Commission confirmed yesterday that it has been informed by the World Trade Organization that the release of its interim report on whether Boeing receives illegal subsidies will be delayed, possibly until mid-September.
Delta Air Lines flew 18.53 billion system RPMs in June, a 4.2% rise year-over-year. Capacity lifted 1.5% to 21.13 billion ASMs and load factor increased 2.2 points to 87.7%. American Airlines operated 11.25 billion system RPMs in June, up 3.2% year-over-year, while capacity rose 1.3% to 12.96 billion ASMs. Load factor increased 1.6 points to 86.8%. American Eagle flew 736.5 million RPMs, up 5.3%, against a 6.5% increase in capacity to 956.3 million ASMs. Load factor fell 0.9 point to 77%.
