Ryanair said the British Air Line Pilots Assn. "temporarily suspended" its campaign to unionize the LCC's pilots "in the face of massive opposition" from the employee group. BALPA initially "threatened" to go to the UK Central Arbitration Committee, which could require a secret ballot among Ryanair's UK pilots, but opted against it because losing the vote would prevent them from trying again for three years, Ryanair Director-Personnel Eddie Wilson said.
Row 44 said it has received a permanent operating license from the US Federal Communications Commission allowing it to provide inflight Internet service in the US.
Air India parent National Aviation Co. of India said in a Draft Restructuring Plan released last Friday that over the next nine months it plans to "enhance [its] focus on [developing an] LCC for high-density domestic/international routes" along with an "aggressive route restructuring" and intends to create subsidiaries for its MRO, ground handling and cargo operations. Within 18-36 months NACIL said it expects "profitable growth" and hopes to spin off "noncore businesses" and prepare for an IPO.
Airbus has completed a second large test fuselage section for the A350. The demonstrator is 18 m. long and 6 m. in diameter and "closely reflects" the final design, according to the manufacturer. It was used to "develop and validate the complete process change" and will be involved in certification tests focusing on fatigue and damage tolerance of composites. Separately, Airbus said it delivered 34 aircraft in July, including Singapore Airlines' ninth A380, one A340-600 (Iberia), five A330s and 27 A320 family aircraft.
Boeing renamed its training organization, formerly called Alteon, Boeing Training & Flight Services. "The new name reflects the organization's expanded capabilities," the company said. "With the addition of flight services, the organization's expertise now includes customized flight and dispatch documentation, airplane performance data, operational consulting and safety analysis."
Delta Air Lines told employees in a message last week that it "must eliminate additional salaried positions" owing to the "severity of this economic downturn." It did not specify the number of jobs to be cut.
Continental Airlines issued a public offering of 14.4 million shares of Class B common stock at $11.20 per share, for which it expects to earn $158.4 million in net proceeds. Goldman Sachs is acting as the sole underwriter for the offering.
Alaska Airlines and the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn. last week jointly announced ratification of a two-year contract extension covering the airline's 658 aircraft technicians. The extended contract, which becomes amendable on Oct. 17, 2011, provides the mechanics with a 1.5% pay increase on Oct. 17 in both 2009 and 2010.
China Eastern Airlines GM Ma Xulun said he expects the carrier to complete its acquisition of Shanghai Airlines by year end. Last month CEA said it would acquire SAL through a share swap of 1.3 China Eastern shares for each Shanghai Airlines share ( ATWOnline, July 14). SAL will become a wholly owned subsidiary of CEA but will keep its brand.
Monarch Aircraft Engineering signed a five-year contract with Wizz Air Ukraine to provide A320 line and light maintenance services in the Ukraine. Goodrich Corp. said it added electronic engine control accessories to its MRO capability at its Dubai MRO campus. The capability covers all electronic engine controls for Rolls-Royce Trent 500, 700 and 800-powered aircraft. AAR announced that AeroControlex Group selected it as a distributor of aftermarket parts for AeroControlex's lubrication pump product line.
Delta Air Lines said July system traffic including regional affiliates decreased 2.5% year-over-year to 19.52 billion RPMs on a 3.6% reduction in capacity to 22.27 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 87.7%, up 1 point. Air Canada said July system traffic including Jazz Air decreased 3.3% to 4.85 billion RPMs on a 4.1% dip in capacity to 5.8 billion ASMs, producing a load factor of 83.6%, up 0.6 point.
China's airlines earned a collective net profit of CNY3.85 billion ($563 million) in the first half of 2009, a 4.1% increase over a CNY3.7 billion profit in the year-ago period. The earnings improvement was helped by lower fuel prices, elimination of the civil aviation infrastructure tax that was imposed in the second half of last year and an exemption from bunker surcharges, CAAC Minister Li Jiaxiang said. China's domestic jet fuel price lowered 34.7% year-over-year in the first half, leading to an estimated CNY10.5 billion in savings for the country's carriers.
Pinnacle Airlines and the Air Line Pilots Assn. reached a tentative agreement on a new labor contract covering the carrier's 1,250 pilots, which will have to vote on its ratification. Talks had been ongoing since 2005. Pinnacle revealed few details, saying only that the tentative deal includes a pay increase.
Pegasus Airlines is planning an IPO for the second half of next year, Chairman Ali Sabanci said yesterday on Turkey's CNBC-e network. Pegasus parent ESAS Holding is Air Berlin's largest shareholder at 15.3%.
SuperJet International received EASA Part 147 certification from the Italian Aeronautical Civil Authority authorizing it to develop training courses for the first customers of the Sukhoi Superjet 100. Certification also enables SuperJet to conduct training specifically for aeronautical engineers responsible for maintenance and release to service of the aircraft.
US Air Transport Assn. said yesterday that it "applauded" the ASTM International Committee on Petroleum Products and Lubricants, which develops standards related to oil products, "for passing a new specification that will enable the use of synthetic fuels in aviation." President and CEO James May said the specification "brings us one step closer to our aim of widespread production of cleaner, alternative fuels that will help the industry meet its environmental goals while enhancing the security and competitiveness of its energy supply."
EADS established a subsidiary in Japan that the Airbus parent said will "help coordinate and support [its] marketing campaigns and industrial partnerships" in the nation. EADS Japan will be based in Tokyo and "will forge further long-term business relationships with Japanese industry and aerospace institutions," it said, noting that EADS and its subsidiaries "already buy directly or indirectly through its first tier suppliers products worth some $1 billion annually in the country."
Continental Airlines said July estimated consolidated RASM fell 16.5%-17.5% year-over-year, while mainline unit revenue dropped 17.5%-18.5%. CO flew 8.89 billion consolidated RPMs during the month, down 3.4%, against a 6.9% cut in ASMs to 10.17 billion. Load factor climbed 3.1 points to 87.3%. United Airlines flew 11.15 billion consolidated RPMs in July, down 4% year-over-year, against a 7% cut in capacity to 12.84 billion ASMs. Load factor rose 2.7 points to 86.9%.
Sixteen passengers and crew on the Merpati Nusantara Airlines Twin Otter that crashed Sunday in eastern Indonesia were confirmed dead yesterday. Merpati President Director Bambang Bhakti confirmed the loss, according to press reports, some of which claimed there were 15 onboard. Crash site was on the slope of Bintang Mountain at 9,300 ft. ( ATWOnline, Aug. 5).
Thai Airways said it cut nonfuel costs through the first five months of this year by 18.9% from the year-ago period to approximately THB34.76 billion ($1.01 billion).
IATA said second-quarter financial results reported by airlines to date show "disappointingly small" improvement and cautioned that "stabilizing" passenger demand is "largely due to fare discounting" rather than a broad economic recovery.
US airlines canceled 1.5% of their scheduled domestic flights in June, down from 1.8% in the year-ago month, according to the US Dept. of Transportation. The 19 reporting carriers also improved their on-time performance (to 76.1% from 70.8%) and baggage handling (to 4.17 reports of mishandled bags per 1,000 passengers from 5.15). Hawaiian Airlines' 93.3% ontime arrival rate was the best, followed by Alaska Airlines (84.5%) and ExpressJet Airlines (82%). Worst was Comair (59.8%), followed by Frontier Airlines (68%) and American Airlines (69.2%).
Merpati Nusantara Airlines Twin Otter 300 that disappeared Sunday with 16 people onboard was located yesterday morning in mountains a little more than 20 mi. from its intended destination of Oskibil ( ATWOnline, Aug. 4). A search and recovery operation reportedly was underway yesterday.
