“Despite the global economic climate, this year has been a very good year for Alsalam,” Mohammed Fallatah, President and CEO of Riyadh's Alsalam Aircraft Company, told Arabian Aerospace at the Dubai Air Show.
IATA yesterday announced the signing of a multinational agreement under which the European Commission as well as the US and six other nations have agreed to consider a liberalization of the restrictions that govern bilateral air services agreements, including a promise "to consider the possibility of a multilateral agreement to waive ownership restrictions."
CSA Czech Airlines named Marek Tybl, head pilot of its ATR fleet, as VP-flight operations and CSOB executive Philippe Moreels as VP-marketing and sales.
TAM flew 2.39 billion domestic RPKs in October, up 22.3% from the year-ago month, against a 9.6% lift in capacity to 3.31 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 7.6 points to 72.3%. International traffic was up 15.7% to 1.64 billion RPKs while capacity increased 15.2% to 2.09 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.3 point to 78.1%. Copa Airlines flew 570.2 million RPMs in October, up 16.6% year-over-year. Capacity increased 7.3% to 696.3 million ASMs, lifting load factor 6.5 points to 81.9%.
Finnair pilots represented by the Finnish Air Line Pilots' Assn. will strike for a second consecutive day today, forcing the airline to cancel its entire program of more than 200 scheduled flights. AY said leisure flights operated by management pilots will continue "with the help of leasing arrangements" and that "individual changes" to the schedule "are possible." The strike, which also affected Finnair's Sunday schedule, will cost the airline €2-€5 million per day, according to various press reports.
Boeing announced the completion of the side-of-body fixes on the second and third 787s. Installation on the first was finished last Wednesday ( ATWOnline, Nov. 13). The aircraft completed comprised the full-scale static test airframe and the second flight test aircraft. "Our focus now is on completing the static test later this month, which will validate the modification.
Cathay Pacific Airways will offer an economy seat with extra legroom on long-haul flights for $100 per sector beginning Dec. 1 and on flights to regional and Chinese destination for $25 from Jan. 1. Premium loyalty program members will continue to have access to the seats for free. CX said there will be 2-4 seats available on "most flights." Offer is available on Dragonair service as well.
United Airlines announced a partnership with ExpressJet Airlines under which the latter will operate 22 ERJ-145s under the United Express brand beginning May 1. ExpressJet will replace contract flying performed by other United Express partners whose contracts expired and were not renewed, including Mesa Air Group. United said ExpressJet offered "the most competitive bid" for the flying.
Airbus parent EADS suffered an €87 million ($130.2 million) third-quarter loss, reversed from a €679 million profit in the year-ago period, as unfavorable foreign exchange rates and slight decline in revenue dragged the aerospace giant back into the red following seven consecutive profitable quarters.
Senegal Airlines was launched officially at the Dubai Airshow Sunday, taking the place of defunct Air Senegal International, which suspended operations in April ( ATWOnline, June 3). The new airline will lease aircraft initially and is scheduled to begin flying "in early 2010," according to a statement. Founding capital is valued at $34 million, with private investors holding 64%, the government 16%, employees 5% and the remainder available to the public.
North American Airlines is planning to add an all-business-class, 100-seat 767-200 for charter operations. The carrier signed an LOI with MLW Air, which serves as the charter marketing agent for Pace Airlines. The cabin will feature 2-2-2 seating with lie-flat seats with 60-in. pitch.
Environment ministers from 27 EU member states agreed on a proposal to be submitted to the UN climate summit in Copenhagen next month calling for emissions from aviation to be cut by 10% by 2020 from 2005 levels. The EU proposal also calls for all parties to work through ICAO to enable an agreement in 2010 and approved by 2011. It supports the use of global market-based instruments to reduce emissions from these sectors and said such instruments should be developed within ICAO.
Boeing and China are moving toward a cooperative agreement for research and development for developing biofuels. The US aerospace manufacturer is talking with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese universities about a partnership that would involve the commercialization of jatropha. China has been active in the biofuel area for some time, with jatropha being planted since 2007. Wild and cultivated, the plant is to be found in Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces as well as the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region.
KLM will become the first airline to conduct a biofuel demonstration on a passenger-carrying flight later this month. The flight is set to take place on Nov. 23 and will operate with a 747-400 with one engine running on a mixture of 50% camelina-based fuel and 50% jet fuel. It will carry "a select group of passengers," according to the carrier.
Civil Air Navigation Services Organization, while welcoming the ICAO High Level Meeting agreement on aviation emissions against a backdrop of difficult economic and political circumstances, expressed disappointment that the meeting did not recommend any actions for member states to undertake themselves to assist the aviation industry in meeting its environmental goals.
Japan joined FAA, Airservices Australia and Airways New Zealand as a partner in the ASPIRE (Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions) program. ASPIRE flights use a range of optimized operational procedures and ATC routings, including tailored arrivals, to save time and fuel and were launched last year by Air New Zealand.
Aviation sector could face a shortfall of 77 million tonnes of CO2 when it enters the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme, according to a report from RDC Aviation and Point Carbon. At a carbon spot price of €13.25 per tonne (as of Nov. 11), that amounts to a shortfall of €1.02 billion ($1.53 billion).
Air Canada last week began offering a Preferred Seat option to economy passengers, allowing them to reserve "specific exit row and bulkhead seats with extra seat pitch" on all flights. Prices start at C$14 ($13.36) per segment. Aeroflot announced a similar service last week called "Comfort+," which offers seats with increased pitch. Seats are available at airport check-in for RUB700 ($24.30).
Mexicana is pursuing plans to renew its long-haul fleet and is continuing talks with both Airbus and Boeing for six A350s or 787s, Grupo Mexicana CEO Manuel Bora told ATWOnline last week in Mexico City, although he does not expect the carrier to turn a profit this year.
Jazz Air parent Jazz Air Income Fund reported third-quarter net income of C$25.3 million ($24.1 million), down 20.2% from C$31.7 million in the year-ago period, on a 13.2% drop in revenue to C$379.7 million. The Canadian regional said expenses lowered 12% to C$344.9 million.
Air France last week announced a simplification to its European medium-haul product that from April 1 will feature just two classes of service, Premium business class and Voyageur economy. Stressing that its service "will not be that of a low-cost carrier," AF is cutting both fares and costs in the back of the aircraft. Economy passengers will pay to check a second bag and will have seat choice at check-in. For €10 ($14.95), they can reserve a booking and fare for "several days" before confirming, AF said.
ILFC reported a third-quarter profit of $245.8 million, up 9.4% year-over-year, on a 3.7% lift in revenue to $1.35 billion. Nine-month profit climbed 16.6% to $685.7 million. As of Sept. 30 the lessor owned 991 aircraft, with 11 more classified as finance and sales-type leases, while providing fleet management services on another 99. It has 125 new aircraft scheduled for delivery through 2019 including five in the 2009 fourth quarter.
BAA announced Friday the injection of £500 million ($828.4 million) into London Heathrow and Stansted. Money will comprise £200 million of new equity from shareholders and £300 million from BAA Airports Ltd. and FGP Topco Ltd., the holding company owned by the airport operator's three controlling shareholders. "Funding will be used to pay down debt, strengthen the group's medium-term financial ratios and facilitate its access to the capital markets," BAA said.
Chinese government changed its policy regarding fuel surcharges and from Saturday is allowing individual airlines to choose the timing and amount of those surcharges instead of basing them on directives from authorities in Beijing. The government did stipulate that carriers should link surcharges on domestic routes with the domestic fuel price, meaning they can impose surcharges only when domestic fuel prices rise above CNY4,410 ($645) per ton. They can levy fuel surcharges at will on international routes.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 15.84 billion RPKs in October, a 17.3% increase from the year-ago month owing to the addition of Austrian Airlines and bmi. Capacity was up 14.9% to 19.68 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.7 points to 80.5%. LH Passenger Airlines flew 11.07 billion RPKs, up 0.7%, against a 1.9% cut in capacity to 13.8 billion ASKs. Load factor climbed 2.1 points to 80.2%. Iberia flew 4.17 billion RPKs in October, down 5.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 6.6% to 5.17 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.3 points to 80.6%.
