Lufthansa last week shared with the European Commission a revised offer for its proposed takeover of Austrian Airlines Group, but it was unclear whether the German carrier had made enough concessions to satisfy EU antitrust regulators.
Lufthansa Systems said AeroLogic, the cargo airline owned by DHL Express and Lufthansa Cargo, will use the Lido eRoute Manual for its navigation charts. It also chose the Lido FMS navigation database service for the flight management system and will calculate crew rotations with NetLine/Crew. In addition, AeroLogic will use NetLine/Sched for schedule management, NetLine/Ops for all operational control processes and Lido OC for flight planning via DHL Express.
US federal judge ruled against defendants including Boeing and five US airlines on a pre-trial motion relating to 22 9/11 lawsuits that are likely to start later this year. The judge stated that the defendants will not be allowed to question the FBI and other government agencies during the trials.
Travelport GDS signed an agreement with Afghan carrier Safi Airways to provide travel agents worldwide access to fares and routes from the carrier as well as the ability to e-ticket bookings. It said Safi will be the first Afghan carrier to participate in the GDS channel.
WestJet and Air France KLM launched their interline partnership, allowing AF KLM passengers to connect to Calgary-Vancouver WS flights as well as flights from both cities to Edmonton. In February the airlines said they had signed an MOU signaling their intention to codeshare by late 2009 or early 2010 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5).
Delta MEC of the Air Line Pilots Assn. said yesterday that 215 pilots have opted to take advantage of the carrier's Pilot Retirement Incentive Program, which ended Wednesday night.
Acculynk announced that AirTran Airways has started offering customers the option to pay for online purchases with its PaySecure software, which offers users a PIN debit system that does not require enrollment or a password.
American Airlines is reevaluating the future of 757-200s in its fleet, Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey revealed this week. Speaking to reporters and analysts following the release of second-quarter results highlighted by a steep revenue drop ( ATWOnline, July 16), he said the carrier is continuing to look for ways to operate more cost efficiently. While emphasizing that no decisions have been made, AA is trying to determine whether it wants its more than 120 757s to play a prominent role in its long-term future.
TAM flew 1.97 billion domestic RPKs in June, up 0.8% year-over-year. Capacity rose 4.7% to 3.05 billion ASKs and load factor fell 2.5 points to 64.7%. International traffic was up 18.1% to 1.42 billion RPKs, capacity rose 25.5% to 2.08 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 4.3 points to 68.3%. SkyWest Airlines and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew a combined 1.63 billion RPMs in June, up 4.9% year-over-year, against a 1.9% rise in capacity to 1.98 billion ASMs. Load factor climbed 2.3 points to 82.3%.
Lufthansa is moving forward with its effort to achieve €1 billion ($1.4 billion) in cost savings through the end of 2011, according to an internal letter to employees sent by Lufthansa Passenger Airlines Chairman and CEO Cristoph Franz.
APG-GA was selected by Santa Barbara Airlines as its GSA in Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, the Nordic and Baltic countries, France and the UK. Aviareps was selected by Air Arabia Maroc to serve as GSA in Germany.
Air Canada said all five of its domestic unions have ratified cost-neutral agreements on labor stability and pension relief following the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers vote Wednesday. The union had rejected the deal two weeks ago ( ATWOnline, July 2).
International passengers traveling on premium tickets decreased 23.6% year-over-year in May, marking the 12th consecutive month in which premium traffic was in decline, IATA said yesterday, warning that a "de-globalization" may be occurring that could discourage international business travel and trade even as economies recover.
Singapore Airlines is retrofitting seven 777-300s with new first and business class seats and improvements to the economy cabin including new seat covers and IFE systems. It said the remainder of the 777 fleet will be upgraded "at a later date." First aircraft is due to enter service with the enhancements on July 22, with the rest introduced before year end.
Virgin Atlantic Airways is asking passengers to register their disapproval of the planned increases in the UK's Air Passenger Duty, set for November 2009 and 2010 ( ATWOnline, Nov. 25, 2008). "The UK government has been quietly increasing APD by huge amounts and claiming it is an environmental tax. Yet, there's not a shred of evidence to suggest the £2 billion-plus currently raised is going towards environmental or sustainable projects," Virgin President Richard Branson said.
US Air Transport Assn. took exception yesterday to a provision in the Senate FAA reauthorization bill introduced this week ( ATWOnline, July 15) that would require airlines to return flights to gates when tarmac delays reach 3 hr. to allow passengers wishing to leave the aircraft to deplane. "A hard-and-fast, inflexible timeframe for returning to the gate will have unintended consequences for customers, including the likelihood of more cancellations and inconvenience," ATA said.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 6.67 billion RPKs in June, down 14.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 9.1% to 8.67 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 4.5 points to 76.8%. Iberia flew 4.34 billion RPKs in June, down 5.1% year-over-year. Capacity fell 7.3% to 5.23 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.9 points to 83%. EasyJet transported 4.1 million passengers in June, up 0.8% year-over-year. Load factor dipped 0.6 point to 86.3%.
Innovata signed a long-term contract to supply its worldwide schedules data, minimum connect time and "full range of reference support files" to Sabre Holdings to support Sabre's GDS business.
Pet Airways, a pets-only airline operated by Omaha-based Suburban Air Freight, operated its inaugural flight Tuesday on a New York Republic-Baltimore-Chicago Midway routing with 35-40 pets onboard. The airline's Beech 1900 has had the seats and overhead bins removed, leaving space for pet carriers in the main cabin. It also will serve Denver Rocky Mountain and Los Angeles Hawthorne.
OAG said global airline passenger capacity cuts "are starting to stabilize," evidenced by 315 million seats on offer for this month, down just 1% from July 2008. VP-Market Intelligence David Beckerman said the figures, "show a clear and very welcome upward trend from the dramatic [capacity] declines we have seen in recent months. We can only wait and see if this outlook bears financial fruit in actual passenger numbers and airline load factors."
Nordic Aviation Capital, a lessor of turboprop transports, is opening an office in Singapore. It will be headed by VP-Sales and Acquisitions Mats Ericson, who joined NAC in May from Avion Aviation.
Aircell yesterday unveiled two new pricing options for its Gogo inflight Internet service. Access on flights shorter than 1.5 hr. on AirTran Airways, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Virgin America will cost $5.95, while a 24-hr. pass on either AirTran or DL will cost $12.95. Aircell also offers a 30-day pass on FL, DL or VX for $49.95. Standard rates of $9.95 for flights of 1.5-3 hr. and $12.95 for flights longer than 3 hr. still apply. Individual airlines had the option to adopt the various pricing plans.
