EU last week finalized and implemented an open skies accord with Canada, signed an air services pact with the West African Economic and Monetary Union and reached agreement with Iceland and Norway to allow those nations to become part of the EU-US open skies deal. The Canada agreement, first announced in May, allows airlines from each side to operate freely without any restrictions on the number of carriers or flights between any airport in the EU and any in Canada ( ATWOnline, May 8).
Unite, the union that represents London Heathrow and Aberdeen baggage handlers and check-in staff employed by SAS Ground Services UK, said the workers "will strike next week unless there is movement on resolving a pay dispute." It said a series of strikes would take place Dec. 22-24 (48 hr.), Dec. 26-27 (24 hr.) and Jan. 3-4 (24 hr.). "The stoppages will hit travelers on Turkish [Airlines], Emirates and Thai [Airways] at London Heathrow and KLM, Air France, Wideroe and [Virgin Atlantic Airways] at Aberdeen," the union said.
Pemco World Air Services agreed to acquire the 757 cargo conversion operations and assets of Alcoa--SIE Conversions, a California-based Alcoa company joined with Structural Integrity Engineering. Pemco will acquire ASCC's 757-200 STC, allowing it to add the conversion program to its product line early next year. It currently offers freighter, combi, and quick-change configurations of the 737-300 and 737-400. Financial details were not disclosed.
Trans States Airlines will cut 50 baggage handlers and customer service representatives handling its United Express flights at St. Louis, according to an announcement cited by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Layoffs will take effect Feb. 11.
Ryanair said it will begin displaying third-party advertising on boarding passes early next year. The carrier this year implemented 100% online check-in and said the ads will appear on passes printed by customers. "Ryanair passengers must reference their boarding cards on a number of occasions during a trip, providing repeat exposure for advertisers," it said.
Austrian Airlines passed a resolution to squeeze out remaining minority shareholders, who will be paid €0.50 ($0.73) per share. Transactions "probably" will take place in the first half of 2010, it said. Lufthansa subsidiary Osterreichische Luftverkehrs Holding currently holds 95.4% of the company.
Russia's Ministry of Transport could banish Austrian Airlines from its airspace on Jan. 31 owing to a dispute over the carrier's nationality, with Russian authorities arguing that based on current bilateral agreements with Austria, OS no longer is considered a domestic airline following its acquisition by Lufthansa in September.
Ryanair transported 5 million passengers in November, up 15% year-over-year, while load factor rose 1 point to 82%. EasyJet transported 3.4 million passengers in November, up 12.2% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 0.9 point to 84.8%. AirTran Airways flew 1.47 billion RPMs in November, a 10.5% lift year-over-year. Capacity rose 9.2% to 1.92 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.9 point to 76.7%.
Air India plans to operate 105 aircraft by March 2011 compared to the 146 currently in the fleet, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel told Parliament, according to The Wall Street Journal. He added that 133 of AI's 192 routes were loss-making during the April-October period and that the loss on unprofitable routes was INR15.23 billion ($325.1 million).
Lufthansa Technik signed a five-year contract with bmi to handle "all aspects" of MRO for V2500 engines powering the airline's 25 A320 family aircraft. First services are expected to be carried out around the end of the 2010 first quarter. No contract value was given.
Airbus said its Tianjin final assembly line achieved its 2009 target when it delivered the 11th A320 family aircraft to HNA Group subsidiary Deer Air yesterday. The first plane went to Sichuan Airlines on June 23 and subsequent units were delivered to the aforementioned pair as well as China Eastern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines. The FAL has assembled six A320s and five A319s.
Etihad Airways said its technical division was awarded EASA Part 145 certification following an audit by the Swiss Federal Office of Civil Aviation and now is fully accredited to perform line maintenance on A319, A320, A330, A340 and 777 aircraft for European airlines.
Fokker Services signed an exclusive licensing agreement with Goodrich Corp. covering future manufacture and supply of F70 and F100 main landing gear spare parts.
The Australian government will relax the ownership rules for Qantas, allowing the national airline to play a bigger role in consolidation of the global airline industry.
Continental Airlines yesterday announced it will offer Aircell's Gogo inflight Internet on 21 757-300s operating primarily on domestic routes beginning in the 2010 second quarter. Service cost will start at $4.95 and will be based on length of flight, CO said.
The Luxury Network, which has a franchise in Dubai, has signed with Hong Kong's ASA Group, which offers VVIP security, ground handling and concierge services in the Asia Pacific region, to bring a new concept in high-end B2B and B2C marketing to Asia.
Etihad Airways joined the Sustainable Aviation Fuel Users Group, an airline-led industry working group established in 2008 to accelerate the commercialization and availability of sustainable biofuels.
Air France KLM flew 15.47 billion RPKs in November, down 3.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2.9% to 19.83 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 0.2 point to 78%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 13.59 billion RPKs in November, a 14.9% increase year-over-year, while capacity rose 16.2% to 18.1 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 0.9 point to 75.1%. Lufthansa Passenger Airlines flew 9.59 billion RPKs, up 0.2%, against a 1.3% lift in capacity to 12.81 billion ASKs. Load factor was down 0.9 point to 74.8%.
US Air Transport Assn. announced that 15 airlines have signed MOUs with either AltAir Fuels, Rentech or both expressing nonbinding commitment to support future biofuel supply. Air Canada, American Airlines, Atlas Air, Delta Air Lines, FedEx Express, JetBlue Airways, Lufthansa, Mexicana, Polar Air Cargo, United Airlines, UPS Airlines and US Airways signed with both providers. Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines went with AltAir only and AirTran Airways signed with Rentech. ATA said discussions with additional fuel producers "about other projects" have started.
While asserting that the industry downturn has reached bottom with load factors returning to pre-recession levels and yields experiencing a timid recovery, IATA has become less positive about prospects for 2010 and yesterday deepened its forecast for global industry losses to $5.6 billion from $3.8 billion owing to renewed pressure on passenger yields, higher fuel prices and low aircraft utilization. The organization maintained its forecast of an $11 billion net loss this year ( ATWOnline, Sept. 16).
Air France A380 was held at New York JFK Monday night because of a fuel transfer problem. Passengers scheduled to fly to Paris Charles de Gaulle on Flight AF007 were put on alternate flights yesterday. AF took delivery of the aircraft on Oct. 30 and it first flew from CDG to JFK on Nov. 20 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 2).
Aeronautical Engineers announced it has become a Boeing Licensed Third Party STC Provider for the 737-200SF, 737-300SF and the 737-400SF passenger-to-freighter conversions.
AerCap signed two debt facility agreements that will provide $127 million in funding, the lessor announced. The first, worth $67 million, was inked with Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale for two existing A330s on long-term leases. The second, worth $60 million, was signed with Natixis Transport Finance to finance AerCap investments.
