and Finnair Technical Services signed a contract for MD-11 component support. Earlier this month, AJW signed a contract to provide MD-11 power-by-the-hr. support to Belgium-based Avient.
Sabre Airline Solutions renewed its contract with Aeroflot to continue to provide its SabreSonic customer sales and service reservations system, including new website capabilities. Terms were not disclosed.
Nav Canadasaid it will issue C$250 million three-year floating rate General Obligation Notes. The notes bear interest at the three month Bankers’ Acceptance rate plus 40 basis points. Closing is scheduled for April 29. Proceeds will be used to refinance C$250 million Series MTN2007-1 floating rate General Obligation Notes that will mature on May 3.
UK Office of Fair Trading announced last week that Virgin Atlantic Airways and Cathay Pacific Airways are being investigated for possible price-fixing on the London-Hong Kong route, adding that CX brought the allegations to its attention.
US Air Transport Assn. in comments filed at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission Friday supported a proposed CFTC rule intended to reduce the volatility of energy prices caused by excessive market speculation. The proposed rule would establish speculative position limits and increase market transparency and reporting requirements, ATA said (ATWOnline, Jan. 18).
United Airlines, in an 8-K document filed with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, announced that owing to a change in accounting for unused frequent-flyer miles it would recognize an additional $64 million of incremental passenger revenue for the recently ended first quarter of 2010.
Boeing's 787 has begun a series of extreme-weather tests at Valparaiso, Fla. The manufacturer said a special hangar at McKinley Climatic Laboratory at Elgin AFB allows the airplane to experience temperatures as high as 115 deg. F (46 deg. C) and as low as minus 45 deg. F.
Transaero Airlines said passenger traffic during the first quarter rose 72.7% year-over-year to 5.56 billion RPKs with both domestic and international operations experiencing growth.
Aeroflot this year will become the first Russian carrier to offer inflight Internet and mobile phone services, both of which it said will be available on four aircraft by year end. "Mobile telephony onboard an aircraft is a breakthrough for Russian aviation," CEO Vitaly Savelyev said. JSC MegaFon, a Russian mobile services operator, will install mobile communication "base stations" onboard four aircraft in 2010, with the first to be deployed on an A320 this summer followed by an A330 serving transcontinental flights and two additional A320s.
Finnair, one of the airlines most affected by the volcanic ash crisis, said its flight schedule likely will return to normal over the weekend. On Thursday it operated only around 30% of its European flights but was able to resume almost all of its long-haul flights. Seperately, Finnair Technical Services signed a maintenance agreement with Swedish charter airline TUIfly Nordic. The long-term agreement includes C checks for 757-200s and daily line maintenance in Helsinki for 757-200s and a 767-300. TUIfly Nordic operate two 757-200s and one 767-300.
US Dept. of Transportation yesterday denied requests from five US airlines for temporary exemptions from the new tarmac delay rule that takes effect April 29. JetBlue Airways, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines sought exemptions for their operations at New York JFK until the main runway, which is undergoing rehabilitation, reopens later this year. This was followed by requests from Continental Airlines for exemptions at New York LaGuardia and Newark and by US Airways at Philadelphia ( ATWOnline, April 7) .
European Volcanological Society President Henry Gaudru said yesterday that European authorities had no choice but to close much of their airspace for multiple days when volcanic ash drifted over the continent from Iceland
DeTect said it was awarded a contract to supply a Merlin Aircraft Birdstrike Avoidance Radar system to Riga International. The company said RIX will become the second commercial airport in the world to deploy the bird radar technology in the air traffic control tower, the first being the new King Shaka International near Durban, South Africa, that installed a Merlin system in 2009.
Delta TechOps signed a long-term contract with Global Avia Logistics to support overhaul and repair services on Nordwind Airlines' PW2000s and GTCP 331-200 APUs supporting the airline's 757 fleet.
Quintiq was awarded a 9.5-year ATC employee scheduling contract from FAA worth up to $17.6 million to provide its workforce planning solution. The employee scheduling software features "advanced optimization engines" and "what-if" capabilities. The solution will manage annual leave planning, create shift plans, allocate shifts to individual employees and support short-term absenteeism management, Quintiq said.
Hawaiian Airlines and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers announced that union members approved a new four-year contract negotiated last month. The new contract features increased compensation for 600 of HA's employees working as aircraft inspectors, mechanics, line service personnel, cleaners and contract service personnel. The airline previously reached agreements with its pilots ( ATWOnline, January 5), flight attendants, clerical workers and dispatchers
African Airlines Assn. Executive Committee meeting in Kenya endorsed a restructuring strategy intended to revitalize the organization. "AFRAA has lost relevance in the eyes of some of its members, has seemed to lack the international stature, authority and prestige needed to command global attention on key issues and currently faces financial challenges," said Secretary General Nick Fadugba.
US Air Transport Assn. said March passenger revenue rose 15.4% compared to March 2009 based on data provided by a sample of its member carriers, marking the third consecutive month of year-over-year improvement. Passenger numbers were up 1.4% in the month, while average yield grew 11.7%. Domestic yield climbed 12.5% to 15 cents, Atlantic yield rose 17.4% to 12.37 cents and Latin yield lifted 4.9% to 13.36 cents, marking the first positive yield growth since January 2009 for that region. Pacific yield gained 7.4% to 12.25 cents.
ICAO Council Tuesday welcomed the decision by EU transport ministers to gradually reopen European airspace and cited the success of the International Airways Volcano Watch system established by ICAO and the World Meteorological Organization in "providing critical information to states, allowing them to exercise their responsibility as regards the use of their airspace." But the organization said "more effort needs to be undertaken to establish a global safety risk framework for routinely determining safe levels of operation in airspace contaminated by volcanic ash" in light of "the unpr
With air traffic beginning to return to normalcy in Europe, airlines are tallying the bill for the six-day disruption in service caused by volcanic ash, with IATA estimating cumulative lost revenue at $1.7 billion.
