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.
News from Travel Technology Update: Early next year, Amadeus will begin rolling out technical standards that it has developed in conjunction with ATPCO to enable travel agencies to sell airlines' ancillary fees through the GDS, David Jones, Amadeus chief executive officer, told TTU. The pace and urgency with which airlines have gone "charging in" to create new ancillary revenue streams is uncharacteristic of the industry, Jones said. The development of electronic distribution and the protocols of interlining required a shared set of technical solutions, he said.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani does not expect the EU Emissions Trading Scheme to start in 2012 as scheduled owing to legal challenges concerning its unilateral implementation. "I am convinced it will not happen," he told ATWOnline at the industry body's Global Press Day in Geneva. "You will see that many governments will legally challenge the unilateral approach of EU ETS in the coming years," he said, adding that he anticipates filings from the US, Japan, China and others.
Airlink said the South African Civil Aviation Authority decided not to ground the regional carrier following two recent accidents and confirmed its "status as a safe airline." CAA conducted an audit of Airlink's operation and still is investigating separate incidents in Durban, Port Elizabeth and George ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10).
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.
OnAir said it is offering airlines the chance "to communicate directly with their passengers once onboard through personalized text messages." OnAir chose Halys to provide the SMS system that allows carriers to communicate with individual passengers during the flight.
AerData, which provides software and back office services for aircraft asset managers, said that DVB Bank acquired a 2% stake. Other shareholders are AerData Management and AerCap with 49% each.
UK Committee on Climate Change report published on Dec. 8 said that the country's aviation policy should be based on the assumption that demand growth between now and 2050 cannot exceed 60% if the UK is to meet the government's target that aviation emissions in 2050 must not exceed 2005 levels. The CCC said that left unchecked, aviation in the UK would grow by 200% by 2050.
Colgan Air and the Air Line Pilots Assn. issued contradictory findings regarding the cause of the February Q400 crash that killed 50 people near Buffalo. The airline said the pilots' "loss of situational awareness and failure to follow Colgan Air training and procedures," along with a lack of low-speed warnings from the aircraft, were the principal causes, while the union blamed the carrier for inadequate training ( ATWOnline, May 15).
International Aero Engines named Executive VP-Customer Business Ian Aitken president and CEO, succeeding Jon Beatty, who will return to United Technologies Corp. Aitken joined IAE in June 2008 after nine years at Rolls-Royce.
The US and Japan announced late Friday that they reached agreement on an "open skies" accord that will liberalize access, largely removing restrictions on the number of airlines allowed to serve each market as well as the number of flights.
GE said that KLM Engineering & Maintenance selected GE Sensing & Inspection Technologies' USM Go inspection device to perform nondestructive aircraft and engine testing.
