ACT Airlines A300F operated on behalf of DHL "suffered a landing mishap" yesterday at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan, leading to "a collapse of. . .[its] left hand main undercarriage," according to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network. The Turkish airline operates a fleet of seven A300Fs, according to its website. ASN said the CF6-powered aircraft involved in the accident first flew in November 1980.
Gol expects domestic demand to increase 12.5%-18% in 2010, more than double the rate of Brazil's expected 5%-6% growth in GDP. The LCC said it anticipates yield this year in the BRL0.195-BRL0.21 (10.79-11.62 cent) range and an operating margin of 10%-13%. It plans to operate 111 aircraft by year end compared to 108 on Dec. 31, 2009, and to transport 31.5-36.5 million passengers. Gol was BRL493 million in the black through the first nine months of 2009. It is scheduled to release its full-year results on March 11.
Gulf Air yesterday launched a combined premium product called Falcon Gold, "offering the very best elements of Gulf Air's first class for the price of a traditional business class fare." Cabin will feature former first class catering, new bedding and overnight amenity kits and beginning at the end of 2011 a new lie-flat seat on flights longer than 4.5 hr. In the interim, passengers traveling on a more expensive, fully flexible FG ticket will have priority access to Gulf's lie-flat first class sleeper seats. Interior refurbishment in the combined cabin will be finished by April.
TSA Branch Chief-Certified Cargo Screening Program Marc Rossi, speaking at the recent FAA Aviation Forecast Conference in Washington, emphasized that there will be zero tolerance for unscreened domestic and outbound cargo when the deadline arrives. "This is a firm, fixed date," he explained. "Come August 1, that which is screened will be uplifted, that which is not won't be."
Airlines are doing a much better job of keeping track of baggage but it is unclear how much of their success is owed to the fact that there are far fewer bags to track.
US major passenger airlines spent another year in the red, but losses in 2009 were much lower than in 2008 and 2010 is starting to look like it will be a year of recovery.
Pratt & Whitney announced a multiyear fleet technical management agreement with Singapore Airlines Cargo under which Pratt & Whitney Commercial Engines & Global Services will provide powerplant engineering and on-wing fleet management for SIAC's PW4000s.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 13.06 billion RPKs in January, a 17.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 20.1% to 17.91 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 1.4 points to 72.9%. LH Passenger Airlines flew 9.2 billion RPKs, up 3.1%, against a 4.7% lift in ASKs to 12.52 billion. Load factor slipped 1.1 points to 73.5%. Skywest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.37 billion RPMs in January, up 9.9% year-over-year. Capacity rose 8.4% to 1.87 billion ASMs and load factor was up 1 point to 73.3%.
Air Line Pilots Assn. and the Southwest Airlines Pilots' Assn. issued statements last week protesting a proposal from Sen. Jim DeMint (R.-S.C.) that data from cockpit voice and flight data recorders be available to use as evidence when disciplining individual pilots. DeMint is the ranking member of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation's subcommittee on aviation operations, safety and security.
British Airways cabin crew represented by Unite last week announced they "unanimously backed the work of their negotiating team attempting to resolve the current dispute" and steered away from setting a date for strike action. Unite members endorsed strike action in a vote that saw 80.7% call for a walkout ( ATWOnline, Feb. 23). The union reportedly has until March 22 before its strike mandate expires under trade union legislation.
Ukraine International Airlines posted a UAH7.9 million ($977,400) profit in 2009, down 26.9% from the UAH10.8 million surplus reported in 2008. It was UIA's 10th consecutive year in the black. Revenue climbed 15.8% to UAH2.2 billion but operating income plunged 51.8% to UAH40 million from UAH83 million. President Yuri Miroshnikov said the carrier suffered just a 6% fall in passenger traffic despite a 17% decline in demand in the Ukrainian market. It operates 19 737s.
Turkish Airlines will introduce a new class and service product in between business and economy on its new widebody aircraft, CEO Temel Kotil told ATWOnline last week in Istanbul. The class is unnamed but "will exceed the premium economy standards of most other carriers and will be close to the business class of some other carriers," he said.
GuestLogix reached a multiyear agreement with Republic Airways to deploy its retail transaction platform and OnTouch, its branded onboard store design.
American Airlines and China Eastern Airlines are negotiating the latter's possible entry into oneworld, AA CFO Tom Horton said this week in comments cited by Reuters. CEA is in the market for an alliance and was hoping to make a decision by last week ( ATWOnline, Jan. 26). Horton also said that oneworld is talking with a Brazilian airline about oneworld membership. TAM is committed to Star Alliance but Gol remains in play and currently codeshares with AA.
Alaska Airlines, which tested Row 44's inflight Internet service last year, has chosen instead to offer Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on its passenger fleet, excluding combis, by year end. The decision will prompt Aircell to add coverage in Alaska. It currently provides Wi-Fi coverage in the lower 48 states but said it wants "to ensure the service is available to the airline's namesake state." A 60-day customer trial of Row 44's inflight Internet conducted onboard an AS 737-700 last year found that 96% of passengers would use the service again
American Eagle Airlines is installing nine first class seats on each of its 25 CRJ700s and will offer "the same level of outstanding service customers experience on American Airlines" beginning July 2. By that time it also will have taken delivery of two of the 25 CRJs it has on order, all of which will be equipped with the new product
US Senate aviation subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.) said long-stalled FAA reauthorization legislation "ought to be an urgent national priority." Speaking to the Aero Club of Washington, he said moving a reauthorization bill through the Senate is "my priority at the moment." Passage should be a "noncontroversial issue" that "in the end" will pass by a wide margin, he claimed. The agency's authorization officially expired on Sept. 30, 2007, and it since has remained operational via a series of temporary extensions passed by Congress
Etihad Airways said it will install new technology on its long- and ultra-long-haul aircraft that will aid it in managing inflight medical emergencies. The Tempus IC system "allows cabin crew to gather vital information about a passenger's health quickly and efficiently," including blood pressure and an electrocardiogram. It also enables the crew to take photo imagery. The information is transmitted to a medical team on the ground for further diagnosis and to make recommendations.
Amadeus reached a multiyear global distribution agreement with WestJet giving worldwide Amadeus agents access to the airline's content and real-time data.
Lufthansa Cargo and Austrian Airlines Cargo announced increased cooperation that will eliminate about 25% of the latter's 200 employees. Beginning July 1, the companies said they will "optimize" traffic through their Frankfurt, Munich and Vienna Hubs, merge global distribution services and "harmonize" product portfolios and production processes. LHC and OSC will integrate handling and distribution in Austria while freight activities in all other countries will be combined under LHC.
European Commission launched an investigation into a CZK2.5 billion ($131.7 million) loan to CSA Czech Airlines from state-owned firm Osinek in April 2009. Last October, the Czech government decided to free up the assets that secured the loan in order to allow CSA to use it as collateral to secure additional commercial loans "and continue in business," according to the EC
ANA will make one lavatory on international widebody flights available to women only beginning March 1 under a plan announced yesterday. The airline said it received "numerous requests" for the service. Lavatories will be located in the rear of the aircraft and will be available to passengers in all service classes. It said men will have access to the facilities in certain circumstances, such as illness, "personal emergency" or if the crew lifts the restriction because there are "very few female passengers" onboard.
US Air Transport Assn. reported yesterday that US airlines' passenger revenue rose 1.4% year-over-year in January, marking the first time since October 2008 that monthly revenue did not fall, while full-year 2009 cargo numbers revealed the largest one-year decline in history at 11%. The organization said that 0.4% fewer passengers traveled on US airlines for the month but the average price to fly 1 mi. rose 0.6%, the first such increase since November 2008. "Growth was strongest on transatlantic routes, where passenger revenue rose 3.4%," ATA said.
