Jazeera Airways announced the purchase of Sahaab Aircraft Leasing for KWD25.6 million ($88.3 million), a transaction the carrier said will offer "a platform to pursue strategic vertical integration initiatives lined up for 2010 and 2011 that include an airline acquisition and access to global leasing markets." Sahaab currently owns nine A320s that Jazeera operates under a sale-and-leaseback deal and has firm orders with Airbus that will see its owned A320 fleet increase to at least 38 units by 2016.
Amadeus has formalized a change in the way it draws up airline contracts, replacing the Participating Carrier Agreement with a Global Distribution Agreement, covering core GDS services, and an Optional Services Agreement.
Tripology lays off staff, seeks investor Kuoni buys TBA Global's U.S. DM division Sabre to launch multi-source, graphical agent desktop New Amex brand to serve small, medium-size companies Citing market conditions, Travelport drops plans for IPO Rue La La's private sales let travel products shine World news briefing
Commercial transport aircraft could be 100% powered by biofuels by 2037 in a best-case scenario, according to a new report by E4tech. Air Transport Action Group Executive Director Paul Steele, who fronted the industry's delegation at Copenhagen in December 2009, used an A380 event in Geneva on Jan. 21 to detail biofuel progress. According to Steele, a recent UK Climate Change Committee study conducted by E4tech showed that a worst-case scenario saw a 40% replacement of existing fuel with biofuels by 2040 and a best case of 100% by 2035-37.
Efficiency gains in air traffic management offer the quickest route to cutting aviation CO2 emissions, a report from the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment at Oxford University has found. According to the report, biofuels and technology improvements will boost efficiency significantly in the long term, but neither will have the global impact that improved flight management could achieve in the shorter term.
Airports Council International's Airport Carbon Accreditation continues to attract participants, with seven more airports across Europe added to the list in the past two months. The program independently assesses and recognizes airports' efforts to manage and reduce their CO2 emissions and certifies airports at four different levels of accreditation: Mapping, Reduction, Optimization and Neutrality.
British Airways in partnership with Washington-based Solena Group said it plans to establish "Europe's first sustainable jet-fuel plant" and will use the low-carbon fuel to power part of its fleet from 2014. The fuel will be derived from waste biomass.
Market Intel Group LLC has produced a new report supporting the warning by Fatih Birol, the International Energy Agency's chief economist, in the Dec. 18, 2009, issue of The Economist that oil production will peak in 2020 if a "business as usual" approach continues and no new discoveries are made. Ed Herlik, managing partner of MiG, told ATW's Eco-Aviation Today that the forecast, which the magazine calls "a new and striking claim," must be "music to the ears of anyone involved in biofuels."
Third Annual Eco-Aviation Conference will take place June 22-24 in Washington at the Marriott Metro Center. Organized by ATW, this year's conference will include sessions on developments in alternative fuels/biofuels, the EU Emissions Trading Scheme, proposed environmental regulations in the US and their potential impact on airlines, green technology and industry self-help measures and other sessions devoted to this important subject.
US Dept. of Transportation on Saturday issued a show cause order tentatively approving the application for antitrust immunity from oneworld partners American Airlines, British Airways, Iberia, Finnair and Royal Jordanian and also tentatively approved the three-way transatlantic joint venture among AA, BA and IB under which the carriers jointly will plan and manage capacity and share revenues.
Continental Airlines fleet service employees comprising ramp, operations and cargo agents voted in favor of representation by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Virgin America is raising its flat fee for checked bags from $20 to $25 for bookings made on or after Feb.12 for travel on or after March 1. The fee will be the same for "a first checked bag. . .through a tenth checked bag," the airline said. First-class passengers' first and second checked bags will be exempt, as will the first bag checked by business-class passengers and economy passengers with refundable tickets.
GuestLogix and Jetera Precision Media announced OnTouch Ads, available to carriers using the GuestLogix Onboard Retail Solution. GuestLogix will print destination-based advertisements on receipts issued from its POS handheld devices "featuring offers related to the passenger's various attributes and their travel itinerary." It said the long-term rollout "will include the integration of the new advertising service from GuestLogix with other OnTouch services deployed on travelers' mobile devices, including smartphones."
Spirit Airlines on Friday unveiled a feature on its website allowing potential customers to see how much of a given fare is comprised of fuel costs. "When a fare is $137 and fuel makes up $78 of that fare, customers can decide if the remaining $59 makes this a good time to buy," it said. The Miramar, Fla.-based LCC provides a chart showing how much fuel is used per passenger for A319 trips of various lengths with an 80% load factor. It also shows the current price of fuel and a per-passenger, per-trip fuel cost.
Kingfisher Airlines named former Delta Air Lines MD-Revenue Management, Pricing and Network Amit Agarwal senior VP-corporate development and planning. Air Berlin named SR Technics Senior Executive VP Helmut Himmelreich its new chief maintenance officer. Oman Air named former Coca-Cola executive Philippe Georgiou chief officer-corporate affairs.
The nine largest US airlines posted a cumulative net loss of $3.43 billion in 2009, ATWOnline calculated, considerably improved over a net deficit of $25 billion in 2008 when heavy goodwill impairment charges and Delta Air Lines/Northwest Airlines merger costs weighed down the collective bottom line.
Transaero Airlines, which operates 14 weekly codeshare flights with Austrian Airlines on the Moscow Domodedovo-Vienna route, is concerned about the Russian Ministry of Transport's decision to question OS's nationality. The government is arguing that, based on current bilateral agreements between Russia and Austria, OS no longer is considered a domestic airline following its acquisition by Lufthansa. It currently flies to Russia on temporary traffic rights ( ATWOnline, Feb. 8).
Blue Wings announced that it was insolvent yesterday, a month after suspending service. The Dusseldorf-based carrier said that "insolvency has become unavoidable since our principal Russian investor [48% shareholder Alexander Lebedev] has not kept his financial promises over the past several months." There is no indication that the carrier may resume flights, and no information was available regarding CEO Jorn Hellwig's effort to purchase Lebedev's stake. Hellwig owns 26% of Blue Wings ( ATWOnline, Jan. 22).
Arlington, Va.-based ARC reported ticket sales through participating travel agencies totaled $5.95 billion in January, up a healthy 10.7% over January 2009. Credit card sales, representing the bulk of agency sales, rose 12.3% year-over-year to $5.37 billion. Total fares excluding taxes and fees grew 11.1% to $5.0 billion. Domestic fares climbed 7.3% to $2.62 billion on a 6.1% gain in transactions, while international fares were up 15.6% to $2.38 billion on a 10% rise in transactions.
CSA Czech Airlines put up its entire fleet as a guarantee against loans offered by banks and the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade, Czech Civil Aviation Authority sources told media in both the Czech Republic and Austria. The airline reportedly is depending on the cash to maintain operations and expects to report a record full-year loss of €115 million ($158.2 million) for 2009.
British Airways debuted its new first class cabin onboard a 777, featuring a bed widened by 60% at the shoulders, a personal wardrobe, electronic blinds and other amenities. BA said it is investing £100 million ($156.6 million) in the revamp.
The European Commission yesterday said it issued charges against "a number of companies concerning their alleged participation in price-fixing cartels in the airfreight forwarding business" and major air cargo players including UPS and DHL confirmed they were included. Other companies confirming receipt of a formal "statement of objections" from the EC included Panalpina, Kuehne & Nagel and DSV.
South African Airways said it is seeking private investors for its SAA Voyager division that administers its frequent-flyer program and its SAA Technical maintenance division. The state-owned carrier would remain in control of the two divisions but wants "equity partners," a spokesperson told Bloomberg News, while denying the move is a precursor to privatizing the airline.
American Airlines yesterday modified standby procedures for travel within and between the US, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands and Canada, stating that for tickets purchased from Feb. 22 it will only allow premium loyalty program members, holders of first- and business-class tickets, those who paid unrestricted economy fares and military personnel to remain eligible to fly standby at no charge on the day of travel for a flight on which they are not confirmed. Holders of standard economy tickets who want to change flights on the day of travel will be charged $50 if space is available.
