Bahrain Air said it is targeting a breakeven 2011 and that its board has boosted its authorized capital by 50% to BHD30 million ($79.3 million). The carrier, which began flying two years ago, launched thrice-weekly flights to Dhaka and four-times-weekly service to Chittagong last month and plans to begin serving Istanbul Ataturk on June 16. It operates four A320s and two A319s.
ICAO said its four-day High-Level Safety Conference in Montreal concluded with a "strong mandate" by attendees to "create a global safety information exchange to enable analysis of key safety indicators." The HSC, attended by more than 600 participants including ministers and directors general of civil aviation from 150 member countries, called upon ICAO "to facilitate the collection, analysis and dissemination of safety information" provided by member states and industry stakeholders throughout the international aviation community.
Bombardier reported net income of C$707 million ($696 million) for its fiscal year ended Jan. 31, down 31.1% from C$1.03 billion in the prior fiscal year, blaming a "challenging economic backdrop" for the drop.
When Turkish Airlines launched an advertising campaign last year featuring Hollywood actor Kevin Costner praising its operation and customer service under the tagline "Feel Like a Star," it was clear that it had taken the next step in a strategy that has seen it rise to the top of the charts of fast-growing network carriers.
NCR Corp. announced that Grupo TACA is deploying a self-serve enterprise software solution that "enables passengers to manage a broad range of check-in services, beyond simple check-in, through the Web or at a kiosk," including changing seats or adding frequent-flier information. The capability is available at San Salvador's Cuscatlan International.
Gategroup announced a series of contracts worth nearly CHF200 million ($187.9 million) combined, highlighted by deals with Virgin Atlantic Airways and American Airlines. Virgin awarded inflight catering and provisioning at its 10 North American destinations for three years to gategroup subsidiaries Gate Gourmet, Pourshins and Supplair. AA extended its Gate Gourmet and Pourshins contract at Los Angeles. Other agreements include catering for Aer Lingus at Washington Dulles and Chicago O'Hare and Swiss International Air Lines at San Francisco, Boston and ORD.
Royal Jordanian launches online check-in today. Service is available 24 hr. prior to departure for passengers leaving Amman for all international destinations except those in the US. The remainder of the network will be added "at a later stage," RJ said.
Hawaiian Airlines announced a tentative four-year labor deal with 600 aircraft inspectors, mechanics, line service workers, cleaners and contract service personnel represented by the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers. HA said it now has reached new deals with all labor groups.
ST Aerospace reached a $750 million, 10-year maintenance-by-the-hr. deal with Jet Airways covering the CFM56-7B engines powering the Indian carrier's 67 737NGs. Work by STA subsidiary ST Aerospace Engines will involve off-wing, on-wing and on-site support, as well as fleet technical and asset management support.
Air Canada and Asiana Airlines said they signed an MOU to create "a strategic partnership," building on their existing Star Alliance partnership and codeshare agreement. AC operates daily year-round nonstop service between Vancouver and Incheon with same-plane service from Toronto Pearson and codeshares on eight Asian routes operated by OZ. Asiana codeshares on seven routes operated by AC including YVR-ICN, as well as several domestic Canada routes. Canada and South Korea signed an open skies agreement in 2009.
The ICAO High-Level Safety Conference in Montreal was the site of a "milestone agreement" among ICAO, FAA, the EC and IATA that the airline trade group called "the first step to creating a global information exchange to improve aviation safety."
Ameco Beijing signed a five-year contract with United Airlines covering heavy airframe MRO on UA's 747s and 777s including C checks, and cabin upgrades. Work on 777s begins in June and 747 MRO will start in October. The parties' five-year 777 heavy maintenance deal expired last year. UA currently operates 52 777s and 24 747s. Ameco Beijing is a joint venture between UA Star Alliance partners Air China and Lufthansa.
Gol launched a new fare structure featuring four categories--Comfort, Flexible, Scheduled and Promotional--with varying features and prices. Comfort is available on Varig-branded flights to Bogota, Caracas and Aruba and includes more comfortable seating, a mileage bonus, check-in and boarding priority and lounge access. Flexible allows for flight changes and offers boarding priority, lounge access and a mileage bonus, Scheduled "offers the best prices for those booking in advance" and Promotional is for those "seeking to take advantage of offers and obtain the lowest prices," Gol said.
SAS Group expects a first-quarter loss before taxes and nonrecurring items of approximately SEK1 billion ($137.7 million). It reported an SEK889 million loss on a similar basis in the first quarter of 2009. The company said its pre-tax loss through the first two months of 2010 was SEK960 million, widened from SEK420 million in the year-ago period. It lost SEK719 million on currency fluctuations year-over-year. Revenue dropped 15.3% to SEK5.89 billion as yield was down 12.2% when adjusted for foreign exchange fluctuations.
European Commission's 13th update of its list of airlines banned from operating within EU borders includes all carriers from the Philippines and Sudan as well as Iran Air. Philippine Airlines currently operates to five North American destinations but neither it nor its affiliates fly to Europe, while Iran Air does serve the continent.
US National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating a near midair collision Saturday involving a United Airlines 777-200 departing San Francisco and a private aircraft that came within 300 ft. of each other. According to NTSB, the incident occurred at about 11:15 a.m. local time. UA Flight 889 carrying 268 passengers and crew was cleared to take off from Runway 28L and climb to an initial altitude of 3,000 ft. The first officer, who was flying the aircraft, reported that as the jet was at about 1,100 ft. the tower controller reported traffic at his 1 o'clock position.
IATA reported that February international passenger traffic (RPKs) for member airlines surged 9.5% compared to February 2009 on just a 1.9% rise in ASKs, pushing load factor up 5.6 points year-over-year to 75.5%.
