Navtech expanded its contract with Delta Air Lines for its Preferential Bidding System crew rostering tool to include more than 4,500 pilots from Northwest Airlines.
Russian State Civil Aviation Administration said domestic airlines carried 18.8 million passengers through the first six months of 2009, down 18% year-over-year, Reuters reported. June passenger numbers fell 13.4% to 4.6 million. Frontier Airlines flew 804.4 million RPMs in June, down 13.1% year-over-year. Capacity fell 14.9% to 903.8 million ASMs, lifting load factor 1.8 points to 89%. Allegiant Air flew 468.8 million system RPMs in June, up 25.6% year-over-year. Capacity rose 29% to 527.3 million ASMs and load factor dropped 2.4 points to 88.9%.
Star Alliance added functionality to its website allowing customers to book and purchase round-the-world tickets. Such transactions previously required the assistance of an airline call center, ticket office or travel agent.
British Airways will remove inflight meals in economy class on flights shorter than 2.5 hr. from next week, although it will continue to serve breakfast on flights departing before 10 a.m. and offer free drinks and snacks. It expects to save £22 million ($36.1 million) annually as a result. It will not sell food onboard and claimed it is "not unusual to make small changes [to inflight catering] to avoid waste and save money where it makes sense and it meets customers' changing tastes." British Airlines Stewards and Stewardesses Assn.
Ameco Aviation College opened its new CNY50 million ($7.3 million), 7,400-sq.-m. extension at Beijing Capital International. Facility contains classrooms and a workshop. AAC now can host some 400 students for type training and 550 for basic/apprentice training at any given time. Ameco Beijing is a joint venture between Air China (60%) and Lufthansa (40%).
Turkish Airlines flew 17.3 billion RPKs through the first six months of 2009, up 11.2% from the year-ago semester. Capacity rose 19.1% to 25.3 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 4.8 points to 68.2%. Finnair flew 1.55 billion RPKs in June, down 13.4% year-over-year, against a 14.2% cut in capacity to 2.1 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 0.6 point to 74%. Air Berlin said June unit revenue rose 14% to 6.07 euro cents (8.63 cents). Passenger numbers fell 4.9% to 2.6 million on a 2.7% cut in seats to 3.3 million. Load factor slipped 1.8 points to 79.1%.
Frontier Airlines, operating under bankruptcy protection, reported net income of $12.6 million for the second quarter, reversed from a $57.7 million loss in the year-ago period. It said profit would have been $27.6 million excluding $14.9 million in reorganization expenses. It also reported a $5.1 million mark-to-market gain on fuel hedges. Revenue fell 23.6% to $275.6 million while expenses lowered 39.7% to $242.6 million, producing operating income of $33 million, reversed from a $41.5 million loss in the year-ago period.
Delta TechOps entered into an MOU with Hawaiian Airlines to provide Complete Fleet support for HA's new A330-200 fleet. Long-term agreement, which is valued at up to $500 million, also includes an extension of an existing deal covering its 767s.
Ryanair yesterday said it has complained to the European Commission about Ireland's €10 ($14.23) air passenger duty, which it blamed for last month's decision to cut capacity at Dublin and Shannon ( ATWOnline, June 18).
Air France confirmed a Le Figaro report that one of its A320s flying from Rome Fiumicino to Paris Charles de Gaulle on July 13 had a "very brief six-second anomaly" in its airspeed data display that was "probably due to icing at high altitude." The aircraft was fitted with the new Thales BA probes, AF noted, adding that the crew applied the necessary procedures and the aircraft maintained its flight path with no change. The incident was reported and is being examined closely by manufacturers and authorities, AF said.
SpiceJet reported a INR263 million ($5.4 million) profit in its fiscal first quarter ended June 30, reversed from a INR1.29 billion loss in the year-ago period. It said operating revenue rose 15% year-over-year on a 21% jump in passenger numbers. Unit cost fell 24% as ASKs climbed 12%. Load factor rose 6 points to 76%. "We had a great quarter given the challenges the industry continues to face. We saw an increased acceptance of our service by the consumers. This helped in absorbing the additional 10% capacity that we deployed over last year," CEO Sanjay Aggarwal said.
Air China (CNY1.5 billion ($219.3 million)), China Southern Airlines (CNY1.5 billion) and China Eastern Airlines (CNY100 million) are expected to receive additional capital injections from the Chinese government, according to Shanghai Securities News. CEA Board Secretary Luo Zhuping responded by saying that the airline will not receive any new money until its merger with Shanghai Airlines is complete ( ATWOnline, July 14).
Lufthansa asked the Austrian Takeover Commission to extend the deadline for its proposed acquisition of Austrian Airlines Group by one month to Aug. 31 because the European Commission has not yet cleared the tie-up, while the EC confirmed yesterday that it has received a new proposal from the German company addressing some of the competition concerns associated with the potential merger.
Cargoitalia operated its first commercial flight with an 87% load factor, the reorganized airline said. The MD-11SF departed Milan Malpensa on July 25 for Hong Kong and returned via Almaty on Monday ( ATWOnline, July 21).
News from Travel Technology Update: United Airlines told a group of congressmen and senators that it would delay by up to 60 days the implementation of a policy that denies certain agencies the right to use the carrier's credit card merchant accounts to process credit card sales for United tickets. In response to a request from the group to reconsider or at least delay the move, United said it would "individually notify and assist the impacted agents that request more time to adjust to this change, providing up to sixty additional days to transition."
East Star Airlines' effort to re-launch operations with new investment is facing a significant obstacle as the team charged with its restructuring, composed largely of Wuhan government officials, is insisting that bankruptcy is the only option ( ATWOnline, July 22). "Generally speaking, it is impossible for East Star to accept a takeover offer as it lacks the basic conditions to do so," said Zhang Jie, an attorney who represents the team.
Ryanair launched a booking service on its website allowing passengers to purchase their seats up to 6 hr. before departure and check in online up to 4 hr. before the flight. Separately, it confirmed that it has lodged proceedings in the High Court in Dublin against German ticket tout Travelviva. Ryanair said it is the first of a number of High Court cases it intends to bring over the coming weeks against European "screenscrapers."
Airbus parent EADS reported second-quarter net income of €208 million ($296.1 million), a 76% increase over a €118 million profit in the year-ago period, and noted that "the negative [macroeconomic] trend. . .stopped or slightly reversed recently."
US National Transportation Safety Board swore in Deborah Hersman, a member for five years, as chairman. She succeeds Mark Rosenker, who announced his resignation last week ( ATWOnline, July 22). Before joining NTSB she was a senior professional staff member of the US Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation. Air Mauritius appointed Kamal Taposeea chairman.
Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA, which represents Northwest Airlines flight attendants, asked the US National Mediation Board to declare that NWA's merger with Delta Air Lines requires a representation election for all the new airline's cabin staff. DL flight attendants are not unionized.
European Commission yesterday described the number of mislaid, damaged or lost bags at EU airports as "excessive and unacceptable" and said it is considering ways to improve current legislation if the situation does not improve. "In order to protect passengers' rights adequately, we should provide citizens with the appropriate instruments. For the time being these instruments are not available," EC VP-Transport Antonio Tajani said.
AAR Corp. signed a letter of intent with SuperJet International to become a service center for the Superjet 100. AAR will provide heavy airframe maintenance, modifications, interior and exterior refurbishment, unscheduled maintenance service and will have field teams available for off-site support.
Singapore Airlines flew 6.46 billion RPKs in June, an 18.2% plunge from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 14.4% to 8.54 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 3.5 points to 75.7%. Air New Zealand flew 2.32 billion RPKs in June, down 10.1% year-over-year, against a 12.3% cut in capacity to 2.92 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2 points to 79.5%.
