Finnair went live with the Amadeus electronic miscellaneous document, the fulfillment solution that will allow airlines and travel agencies to sell and track the usage of ancillary charges, on its website. Such charges may be linked to the flight coupon, such as for excess baggage and seat selection, or standalone charges such as lounge access and rebooking fees. Finnair's EMD capability will be extended to Amadeus travel agencies in Europe in September following a pilot with agents in the Finnish market.
Global aircraft charter specialist Chapman Freeborn has arranged 30 flights from numerous locations carrying relief and emergency supplies into Uzbekistan. Using their global network in 22 countries, they were able to arrange and coordinate the first relief flight in less than 24 hours of first contact with the aid agencies.
Dubai-owned Emivest Aerospace, the manufacturers of the SJ30 light business jet and their Middle East distributor Action Aviation are unveiling an medevac version jet at Farnborough tomorrow
Royal Jordanian transported 268,000 passengers in June, a 13% increase on the year-ago month. Load factor reached 70% while number of flights lifted 10% to 3,465. RJ expects to reach a record number of passengers in July, estimating the figure to surpass 330,000. JetBlue Airways flew 2.47 billion RPMs in June, up 10.9% year-over-year, while capacity rose 5.8% to 2.93 billion ASMs. Load factor was up 3.9 points to 84.2%.
Qantas Group is signaling a reshaping of its domestic and international strategy with the bringing forward of eight of its 50 787s on order to mid-2012, according to the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation.
Lufthansa said Friday that closing much of Europe's airspace for six days in April "caused unprecedented chaos" and "utter pandemonium" that must be avoided in the future, stating that airspace closure decisions need to be based on "reliable measuring data and internationally coordinated threshold levels."
IATA reported that the recovery in premium travel resumed in May following April's volcanic ash-driven slowdown, rising 18.7% year-over-year for the month, a sharp contrast from April's 1.1% growth.
IFE Services won a contract from Thomas Cook Airlines UK to supply 32 of its 44 aircraft with the PlayStation Portable. The handheld entertainment consoles will come pre-loaded with a selection of movies, television programs, children’s shows and the latest PSP video games. The carrier will introduce the individual PSPs on its short- and medium-haul flights this summer. UK-based IFEServices said it signed PSP distribution deals with seven airlines and “advanced negotiations are currently ongoing with several more.”
The US and Laos yesterday signed a comprehensive open skies agreement to expand and liberalize their bilateral civil aviation relationship. The US has reached open skies agreements with nearly 100 countries.
Strong domestic market demand helped propel Chinese airlines to an aggregate net profit of CNY10 billion ($1.48 billion) in the first half of 2010, up 2.6% over income of CNY3.85 billion in the prior-year period. According to CAAC, China’s airlines transported a total of 126 million passengers for the first six months, up 17.6% over the same period in 2009, while cargo traffic climbed 38.6% to 2.6 million tonnes. Domestic carriers took delivery of 90 aircraft in the same timeframe.
The European Commission yesterday approved the proposed merger between British Airways and Iberia without imposing conditions as well as BA/IB's planned joint venture with American Airlines on transatlantic flights.
Lufthansa has taken a swipe at the EU Aircraft Fleet Recycling Assn. has a key role to play Delta Air Lines and Wayne County Airport Authority expanded their commitment American Airlines and American Eagle fuel consumption fell
The aviation industry spends around $20 billion annually on reducing CO2, or $10 billion for each of the 2% of CO2 for which it is responsible, Rolls-Royce Strategic Marketing Manager-Civil Aerospace Future Programs Paul Randall told the Eco-Aviation Conference. “That’s not bad for an industry that some say is environmentally irresponsible,” he added. “I’m willing to take a bet that no other industry spends so much. I certainly doubt that the manufacturers of cement spend $30 or $40 billion each year on lowering their CO2!”
Airlines do not want to compromise reliability and low maintenance costs in the quest for lower emissions, according to CFM International GM-Marketing Bill Brown. Speaking at the Eco-Aviation Conference, he said CFM surveyed 400 operators over four years as it developed the Leap-X and ontime departures and a hold on maintenance costs were the key operator expectations. He said CFM operators now are enjoying 99.98% dispatch reliability from an engine that has 31 applications with 480 million flight hr. of experience.
The US military is a vital ally, not a competitor, in the drive to develop and commercialize biofuels, according to experts at ATW's Eco-Aviation Conference in Washington last month. “The military needs airlines and commercial aviation needs the military" is how AltAir Fuels Principal Bryan Sherbacow put it, adding, “The military is working with the industry on a collaborative basis and there is a significant relationship benefit.”
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.
