Unite union will re-ballot British Airways cabin crew members for industrial action starting Jan. 22, according to a union letter cited in UK press reports. A strike could begin as early as March 1. The new ballot comes despite last week's statement from Unite that it had reached agreement with BA to "hold talks aimed at finding a negotiated settlement to their dispute over cabin crew terms and conditions under the auspices of the [Trades Union Congress]" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7).
The European Commission claimed that "creation and evolution" of its public list of airlines banned from operating in the EU, updated 12 times since its March 2006 launch, has been a "success story from every angle."
Assn. of European Airlines admitted airBaltic, Aegean Airlines and Montenegro Airlines as members. It now comprises 36 carriers. AEA also announced that British Airways CEO Willie Walsh will serve as the organization's chairman in 2010, succeeding Croatia Airlines President and CEO Ivan Misetic.
Two Australian Qantas executives have been restricted from leaving Vietnam while the former CEO of Jetstar Pacific has been arrested over losses at the budget carrier, a joint venture between QF (27%) and the Vietnamese government and investors ( ATWOnline, May 26, 2008). COO Daniela Marsilli and CFO Tristan Freeman were not charged and are assisting authorities in investigating currency losses at the airline.
OnAir announced that Afriqiyah Airways selected its Mobile OnAir and Internet OnAir connectivity suite for the Libyan carrier's A330s and Mobile OnAir for its A320 family aircraft. The order marks the first time an airline has announced its intention to install connectivity on both its long- and short-range fleets, according to OnAir.
Air New Zealand confirmed Friday to ATWOnline that it has joined Qantas in withdrawing from the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines. An ANZ spokesperson told this website that the airline chose not renew its membership late last year. Neither ANZ nor Qantas sent a representative to AAPA's Assembly of Presidents in Singapore in late November ( ATWOnline, Jan. 7).
Boeing announced completion of a "detailed site survey" of the Terma facility in Grenaa, Denmark "to assess the capabilities for possible Commercial Airplanes work." Terma is a supplier for Boeing's defense business and "has highly specialized production capability in composites." It already produces winglets for commercial aircraft.
US airlines canceled 0.5% of their scheduled flights in November, improved from 0.8% in the year-ago month, while the ontime arrival rate of 88.6% set a record and was up 5.3 points year-over-year. The 19 reporting airlines also posted a record mishandled bag rate of 2.78 per 1,000 passengers compared to 3.75 in November 2008. JetBlue Airways and Hawaiian Airlines cancelled just 0.1% of their November 2009 flights, followed by Northwest Airlines' 0.2%. Mesa Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the highest cancellation rate at 0.9%, followed by Alaska Airlines at 0.8%.
The US Dept. of Transportation issued a ruling last week that Virgin America "remains a US citizen and remains under the actual control of US citizens" after the San Francisco-based airline agreed to changes regarding investment and board composition.
UPS said Friday that it is "streamlining" its US domestic management structure, leading to elimination of 1,800 management and administrative jobs this year. The delivery giant said it is "leveraging technology" to simplify its domestic small package business, which uses both air and ground, by dividing the US into three regions from April instead of the current five.
Delta Air Lines flew 14.69 billion system RPMs in December, a 7.5% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 8% to 18.08 billion ASMs, boosting load factor 0.4 point to 81.2%. Southwest Airlines said December passenger RASM rose an estimated 7% year-over-year. It flew 5.97 billion RPMs during the month, up 3%, against a 5.8% cut in capacity to 7.83 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 6.5 points to 76.2%.
Hahn Air announced an insurance agreement with Generali Versicherung under which passengers in possession of a Hahn e-ticket will get a full refund in the event of the operator's bankruptcy. The transaction will processed by the travel agency through which the passenger purchased the ticket.
EASA reported that 2009 had the fewest fatal aviation accidents on record for its 31 member states, comprising the 27 EU nations plus Iceland, Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein. The May loss of an Air France A330 in the South Atlantic was the only fatal accident involving a commercial aircraft.
Oman Air transported 2.3 million passengers in 2009, up 17% from the prior year, boosting revenue 67%. It increased its fleet by eight aircraft to 21 and its network by five destinations to 32. It plans to add two more A330s in 2010.
United Airlines will lay off 140 employees this month, including 50 at Chicago O'Hare, the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers told the Chicago Tribune. An additional 100 customer service and ramp workers will be demoted to part-time status. A UA spokesperson told the paper the moves are a "result of our overall reduction in capacity." Mainline ASMs fell 9.7% in 2009.
Last year was "the safest year ever" for airline operations in terms of the rate of fatal accidents, Ascend reported, though it noted that the severity of several accidents resulted in the number of passengers and crew killed increasing "significantly" from 2008.
AirBaltic yesterday said it expects to report a full-year pre-tax profit of LVL14 million ($28.3 million), making it "the only profitable airline in Europe that is majority-owned by the state." In 2008 the Latvian carrier posted a pre-tax loss of LVL30.4 million. "Due to the strong development of transfer traffic, it was possible to maintain the level of passenger revenue. The profit has been greatly enhanced by the sale of different services--hotels, insurance, car rentals, etc.," President and CEO Bertolt Flick said.
Wizz Air said it transported 7.8 million passengers in 2009, up 33% from 2008, as it opened its 11th base (Prague), increased its A320 fleet to 27 aircraft from 20 and launched 40 new routes. It said it will be "opening new operating bases, launching new routes, adding more capacity and carrying over 10 million passengers" in 2010.
Air France added the deputy CEO title to CFO Philippe Calavia, Chief Marketing Officer Bruno Matheu and COO Alain Bassil. Calavia will take over responsibility for all IT activity, Matheu will add the Commercial France and I&N Division to his department and Bassil will succeed Gilbert Rovetto as head of Air France. Rovetto is leaving the executive committee to serve as an adviser to CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon.
Blue Wings is facing financial difficulty again less than a year after having its operating license suspended by German authorities ( ATWOnline, May 6, 2009). A spokesperson for the Dusseldorf-based airline told n-tv that employees still have not received their December checks and that Russian investors have not followed through on certain commitments.
Aer Lingus and United Airlines said the first flight operated under the transatlantic marketing and codeshare arrangement announced one year ago will be an EI A330 service between Madrid and Washington Dulles on March 28. "It is anticipated that additional routes may be made available for sale during 2010 to commence operation in summer 2011," EI said yesterday ( ATWOnline, Jan. 23, 2009).
The White House yesterday released the review of US security and intelligence systems that President Barack Obama ordered after the failed terrorist attack onboard a transatlantic flight two weeks ago and conceded that the government possessed "sufficient information. . .to have potentially disrupted" the plot before it occurred.
Slovak Border and Immigration Police confirmed that one of its officers "forgot about" 90 grams of research development explosive placed into the luggage of a passenger without his knowledge as part of a security exercise. The explosives were planted prior to Sunday's Danube Wings flight from Poprad-Tatry to Dublin. One sample reportedly was detected by sniffer dogs at TAT but the second was undiscovered. The police told Bloomberg News that the officer "forgot about the second sample" that eventually made its way into Ireland. The RDX was not a threat to detonate.
Unite union and British Airways agreed to restart negotiations regarding the dispute over the airline's imposed conditions on flight attendants that resulted in an invalid strike vote before Christmas ( ATWOnline, De. 18, 2009).
United Airlines flew 9.21 billion consolidated RPMs in December, flat compared to the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.1% to 11.24 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.5 points to 81.9%. Allegiant Air flew 406.2 million RPMs in December, up 18.6% year-over-year. Capacity rose 16.1% to 448.4 million ASMs and load factor increased 1.9 points to 90.6%.
