American Airlines flew 10.58 billion system RPMs in March, a 2.5% rise from the year-ago month, while capacity dipped 0.7% to 12.95 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 2.6 points to 81.7%. American Eagle Airlines flew 664.4 million RPMs, up 3.3%, against a 3.4% rise in capacity to 924.4 million ASMs. Load factor matched the year-ago month at 71.9%.
Responding to Spirit Airlines' industry-first decision to impose a carryon bag fee, US Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he is considering introducing legislation to ban such charges and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood called the fee "outrageous." Sprit has gotten considerable attention in the US media since last week announcing it would begin charging customers up to $45 for cabin luggage that goes into overhead bins ( ATWOnline, April 7).
Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson said he will consider some form of "legal process" to block the British Airways/American Airlines/Iberia transatlantic joint venture if it is approved by the European Commission.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani in Tokyo called on the Japanese government to "put its aviation house in order to compete in the Asia/Pacific market." Following a meeting with Japanese Transport Minister Seiji Maehara, Bisignani said IATA supports the minister's vision "to increase the competitiveness of Japan's air transport sector" and praised the country's airlines and airports for working together to meet the organization's target to achieve 100% barcoded boarding passes by year end.
ST Aerospace reached a $105 million, eight-year maintenance-by-the-hr. deal with Spring Airlines, expanding an existing contract covering 15 A320s to an "expected fleet" of up to 78 A320s. The contract, which includes the setup of a new warehouse at Spring's base at Pudong International, will commence in April.
ARINC and subcontractor IBM announced a four-year, multimillion-dollar contract from BAA to upgrade temporarily 150 older check-in kiosks at London Heathrow Terminals 1, 3 and 4 with new IBM software this month, followed by a complete replacement of all older kiosk units in September. A total of 202 new IBM kiosks will be installed by the 2011 first quarter, the largest deployment of common-use self-service kiosks at the airport, serving more than 18 airlines, ARINC said.
AirBaltic announced an insurance agreement with ERGO/ERV to offer passengers traveling on the airline "improved travel insurance," including coverage for sports injuries and sports equipment. ERGO Baltic States Management Board Chairman Kestutis Bagdonavicius said the "main advantage" of the "completely new travel insurance product" is that "winter sport and snorkeling [are] included into insurance coverage without any extra insurance payment."
US FAA said Friday it is proposing a $380,000 civil penalty against Frontier Airlines "for operating several aircraft on approximately 900 flights when they were not in compliance with federal aviation regulations." According to the agency, the carrier reconfigured passenger cabins on some of its A318s and A319s in 2008 and 2009 "to permit dual-aisle access to the overwing emergency exits. However, the airline did not replace the existing placards with placards showing the new configuration, as required. The placards are in place to tell passengers how to operate the overwing exits.
IATA said last week that it "strengthened its commitment to China's aviation development" with the opening of its new North Asia Regional Office in Beijing.
The new pipeline to supply aviation fuel to New Doha International Airport from Mesaieed refinery will become operational by the end of this year according to Mohamed al-Sobai, vice-chairman and managing director of Qatar's Woqod .
Air Berlin said it transported 2.4 million passengers in March, up 4.8%, and load factor fell 1.7 points to 72.3%. Air France KLM flew 16.78 billion RPKs in March, a 4.7% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 1.9% to 20.83 billion ASKs and load factor lifted 5 points to 80.5%. Aer Lingus flew 1.09 billion RPKs in March, down 11.1% year-over-year, against an 11.3% cut in capacity to 1.44 billion ASKs. Load factor dipped 0.3 point to 75.9%
US National Transportation Safety Board stated that US scheduled airlines operating under FAR Part 121 experienced just one fatal accident in 2009, the Colgan Airways/Continental Connection crash in which 50 persons died, according to preliminary safety statistics. Nonscheduled Part 121 operators had one fatal accident in which two persons died--the FedEx MD-11 that crashed while landing at Tokyo Narita in March. Scheduled airlines experienced a total of 26 accidents, or 0.149 per 100,000 flight hr., while the fatal accident rate was 0.006/100,000 flight hr.
African Airlines Assn. stated its "concern" over the EU's latest blacklist, noting that the list of airlines banned from European airspace for safety reasons heavily penalizes Africa-based carriers. The 13th update of the list was announced late last month ( ATWOnline, March 31). AFRAA said "13 of the 17 countries affected by the EU ban are from Africa, with a total of 111 African airlines 'blacklisted' . . .
Lufthansa pilots represented by the Vereinigung Cockpit union agreed to drop their call for a four-day strike starting April 13 and enter mediated talks with LH management instead. An LH spokesperson told this website in Frankfurt that the two parties had agreed on key points for mediated discussons. A date for the talks was not set.
United Airlines passenger who caused a panic that sent two USAF F-16s scrambling to intercept UA Flight 663 and escort it to Denver International was a Qatari diplomat traveling to Denver on "official embassy business. . .and was certainly not engaged in any threatening activity," according to a statement from Qatar Ambassador to the US Ali Bin Fahad Al-Hajri posted on the embassy's website.
ARC reported that the recovery in US air travel sales that began last November accelerated in March as ticket sales through participating travel agencies surged 29.2% compared to March 2009 to $7.60 billion while credit card sales soared 30.5% to $6.83 billion, the highest figure for March since 2001.
British Airways and Iberia formally signed a definitive merger agreement yesterday, creating a third mega-airline grouping in Europe if all the necessary approvals are granted.
Lufthansa Technik gave its A380 maintenance facility in Frankfurt a trial run Wednesday and Thursday with a test aircraft flown in from Toulouse. "After seven years of preparation to maintain the A380 in the future, this is a very important day for us," LHT Director-New Aircraft Readiness and Aircraft Maintenance Dean Raineri told ATWOnline at the FRA hangar. "Having the A380 here in Frankfurt is the last opportunity to re-check all our devices before scheduled operations start."
WestJet flew 1.37 billion RPMs in March, up 10% year-over-year, on a 7.4% lift in capacity to 1.63 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 1.9 points to 83.8% Air Canada and Air Canada Jazz flew a combined 4.23 billion RPMs in March, up 9.6% year-over-year, on a 7.7% lift in capacity to 5.16 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 1.4 points to 82.1%. Ryanair transported 5.3 million passengers in March, a 13% increase year-over-year. Load factor rose 2 points to 79%.
Jeppesen yesterday unveiled FliteDeck Pro, an electronic flight bag application integrated with its moving map applications including airport moving map. It also includes data distribution management and features "clear guidance on how to handle failure conditions," "easily managed inflight chart revisions," the ability to incorporate "data from wireless or portable memory stick technology," "enhanced touchscreen highlighting" and the "ability to easily record air traffic control instruction and integrate performance tools from airframe manufacturers."
Aircell yesterday announced its Gogo Inflight Internet service will be available as a monthly subscription for $34.95, initially purchasable through inflight portals on AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America. The subscription, which automatically renews each month, will be redeemable on all equipped airlines. More than 800 aircraft currently are equipped with the Gogo service, Aircell said. It will continue to offer single-flight passes that start at $4.95.
Turkish government is considering selling part of its 49.1% holding in Turkish Airlines, although neither the size of the stake to be offloaded nor the timing have been determined. Reuters quoted Transport Minister Binali Yildirim as saying, "We don't think it is right to leave such a strategic company completely to private ownership. We would prefer to keep some public stake."
American Airlines yesterday became the first US airline to "test next-generation technology and procedures" on a transatlantic flight aboard a 767-300 from Paris Charles de Gaulle to Miami using several fuel conservation measures including single-engine taxi on departure and arrival, continuous climb and descent, a tailored arrival and "several key elements" of its existing fuel conservation program Fuel Smart.
