Air India cancelled at least 30 flights yesterday and took the unusual step of suspending bookings for the next 15 days as a standoff between pilots and management extended to its fourth day. About 400 pilots have engaged in a wildcat work action since Friday to protest not being allowed to form a union. "We have deployed additional staff at airports across the country and will ensure that passengers are shifted to flights operated by other airlines," an AI official told India's Economic Times.
Goodrich Corp. said its Landing Gear business signed an "innovative agreement" with an unidentified major airline under which Goodrich will use the carrier's rotable landing gear as part of its landing gear overhaul services. Under the agreement, Goodrich will offer the rotables as exchange units to other airlines that purchase overhaul services. Covered types are 737NGs and 777-200ERs. Embraer signed a five-year Flight Hour Pool Program service contract with Arkia Israeli Airlines covering an E-195 operated by the carrier since last December. Under the cost-per-flight-hr.
Purolator USA said its Itasca, Ill., processing facility gained TSA approval to participate in the Certified Cargo Screening Program. The facility will be able to screen customers' air shipments so they can be loaded onto designated flights upon arrival at airports.
Scandinavian Avionics said it was chosen to provide full design, EASA certification and installation support for complete glass cockpit upgrades on a "significant number" of BAE ATP aircraft operated by West Air Sweden. The installations will include a five-panel suite of Universal Avionics' large format EFI-890R flat-panel displays as well as a Rockwell Collins TWR-850 Enhanced Weather Radar System. They will be performed at West Air Sweden's facilities in Malmo.
US Airways named Capt. Chesley Sullenberger, who famously piloted an A320-200 to an emergency water landing on the Hudson River in January, to its flight operations safety management team and announced that he will return to piloting scheduled flights shortly.
Etihad Airways CEO James Hogan, speaking with The Australian in Abu Dhabi, said the carrier has been able to maintain loads on Australian routes but has seen pressure on yields. "If you look at Melbourne and you look at Sydney, the two Sydney flights are certainly averaging 80% and so is Melbourne," he said, "And what's pleasing is the two premium cabins are holding up too.'' Hogan added that Etihad already is experiencing some improvement in cargo and some reversal in yield decline.
World airline passenger traffic was down 1.1% in August compared to the same month in 2008, an improvement over the 2.9% year-to-year decline in July, IATA reported. With ASKs off 2.5%, industry load factor reached 80.9%, up 1.2 points over the same month last year. Freight performance also improved, from a negative 11.3% in July to a negative 9.6% in August.
Air Berlin and Pegasus Airlines started their cooperation Monday by cross-linking their websites. Passengers will be able to book 17 additional connections from Germany to Turkey as well as 26 routes within Turkey. Pegasus belongs to ESAS Holding. ESAS also is AB's largest shareholder with an 18% stake. Separately, AB announced that it will add 10 new destinations and 54 new nonstop services, especially from Cologne, Stuttgart and Memmingen/Munich West, starting Nov. 1 following its takeover of TUIfly's scheduled flight operations.
Lufthansa Consulting signed a deal with UTair to identify new network growth opportunities for the Russian carrier, starting in July and due to be completed in September.
Air India's flight schedules could be disrupted this week after nearly 400 management pilots proceeded with a threatened wildcat strike beginning last Friday to protest cuts in their flying allowances, according to India's Economic Times. The pilots are not allowed to form a union, which is why they resorted to wildcat action. A spokesperson for AI said the airline "had not heard anything from the pilots [about the strike]. They have gone to the media rather than coming to us.
ST Aerospace announced yesterday that its commercial pilot training operation ST Aviation Training Academy has partnered with Singapore-based LCC Tiger Airways for A320 pilot training under STATA's Multi-crew Pilot License curriculum. STATA was created by ST Aerospace two years ago to respond to projected demand for significant numbers of new pilots in the Asia/Pacific region over the next 20 years ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5, 2007).
AJW Aviation expanded its power-by-the-hour contract with Czech Airlines to include an additional two A320s and two A321s. The program is set to cover the entire OK fleet of 33 aircraft by 2016.
Finnair introduced daily Helsinki Vantaa-New Delhi service Sept. 25. Alaska Airlines last week launched daily Houston Intercontinental-Seattle Tacoma service using 737-800 equipment. Jet Airways begins daily Hong Kong-New Delhi service Sept. 30 using an A330-200, complementing existing service from Mumbai to HK, It will launch twice-weekly Bangkok-Gaya-Varanasi service Oct. 6.
Japan's transport minister said on Japanese TV Sunday that he will not force Japan Airlines, Asia's largest carrier by revenue, into bankruptcy, according to the Associated Press. "We will not crush and liquidate [the airline]," Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara said on a TV Asahi talk show. "It's just impossible," AP reported him as saying.
Buoyed by strong domestic GDP gains and global economic recovery, Chinese carriers enjoyed robust growth in the domestic and international markets in August. According to CAAC, Chinese airlines transported 22.64 million passengers in August, up 41.6% over the year-ago period, while cargo traffic jumped 18.1% to 390,800 tonnes. Passenger load factor improved 1.7 points to 79.9%.
US Airways closed its previously announced common stock offering, raising $137.3 million in aggregate net proceeds from the sale of 29 million shares including an overallotment of 2.7 million shares. Proceeds will be used for general corporate purposes. Citi underwrote the offering.
Lufthansa said Friday that award miles earned on its and subsidiary Swiss International Air Lines' frequent-flyer programs can be used for "voluntary carbon offset donations." LH and Swiss have expanded their carbon dioxide compensation program "to allow passengers the opportunity to counterbalance their individual share of the carbon emissions generated during their flight." Previously, LH allowed passengers to donate cash voluntarily to the myclimate foundation in Switzerland to help offset their share of a flight's CO2 emissions.
Air India last week announced a cut in productivity-linked incentive payments due to more than 7,000 employees, retroactive to August. Cuts will range from 25% to 50% depending on the amount. Those earning more than INR200,000 ($4,140) per month will see their bonuses reduced by half.
MTU Maintenance Hannover, an affiliate of MTU Aero Engines, said it secured engine maintenance contracts worth approximately €50 million ($73.6 million) "over the past few weeks." Largest deal is with Air New Zealand covering MRO on 38 CF6-80C2s used to power its 747-400s. MTU did not identify the remaining customers. Delta TechOps signed an open-ended extension of its MRO agreement with Ethiopian Airlines covering its PW2040 engines.
Finnair announced a 10-year sale/leaseback transaction with Engine Lease Finance Corp. on one new CF6-80E1 spare for its A330 fleet. Engine is worth €13 million at list prices, AY said.
Frontier Airlines, which is set to emerge from bankruptcy on Oct. 1 as a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings, suffered a $2 million net loss in August, which it attributed to expenses associated with bankruptcy. It lost $5.6 million in August 2008. It showed dramatic improvement on the operating level, reporting a $10.2 million operating profit compared to a $3.3 million surplus in the year-ago month. It said August net profit would have been $10.2 million excluding special items. Mainline unit revenue fell 8.2% to 10.17 cents while passenger RASM was down 12.6% to 9.31 cents.
United Airlines, Delta Air Lines and US Airways last week followed American Airlines' lead in imposing a $10 surcharge on travel on three peak days following upcoming holidays. The four carriers will tack the charge on to nearly all tickets for travel on Nov. 29, the Sunday of the four-day US Thanksgiving holiday weekend that traditionally is one of the country's busiest travel days, as well as the weekend of Jan 2-3, which follows a Friday New Year's Day.
Austrian Airlines Group is increasing the number of potential layoffs as a result of its acquisition by Lufthansa. CCO Andreas Bierwirth told the Austrian Press Agency that "the total workforce could be reduced to 6,000" by the middle of next year, as opposed to the originally planned 6,500. "In several areas, it is necessary to reduce the workforce more than planned." As many as 300 of those jobs could come from Austrian's Vienna maintenance operation. "AAG has to operate profitably when ticket prices are down," Bierwirth said.
Pinnacle Airlines pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. rejected an amended labor contract, the airline announced last week. Pinnacle President and CEO Phil Trenary said he had been "optimistic" before the vote, and that now the US National Mediation Board "will decide the next steps and we are hopeful that we can achieve a swift resolution." USA3000 Airlines cabin staff are deciding whether to join the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA in an election conducted by the US National Mediation Board. Voting closes Oct. 6.
