Assn. of European Airlines said Friday that air cargo demand continues to decline at a "catastrophic" rate while passenger traffic registered its "worst result" of the economic downturn in May. AEA said that its member carriers "have seen their cargo volumes cut by one-third or more" and in May posted a year-over-year airfreight traffic decline of 19.8%.
Lufthansa Technik and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) will intensify their cooperation on testing of fuel cells, with DLR stationing the Antares DLR-H2 experimental fuel cell aircraft at Lufthansa Technik's base in Hamburg. LHT will support DLR with material supplies, assist in the installation and removal of components and provide a mobile hydrogen filling station for fueling Antares. The aircraft successfully completed its first public flight July 7.
Delta Air Lines flew 17.78 billion system RPMs in June, a 6.3% fall year-over-year. Capacity dropped 5.8% to 20.81 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.5 point to 85.5%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 13.15 billion RPKs in June, down 5.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity was cut 2% to 16.76 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 2.7 points to 78.4%.
US Dept. of Transportation said it fined Delta Air Lines $375,000 for violating the department's denied boarding compensation rules. DOT said a recent inspection of DL's internal passenger complaint records from January to July 2008, as well as a review of complaints directly to DOT, revealed "numerous instances in which the carrier bumped passengers but did not follow one or more of the provisions of Part 250" governing denied boarding compensation.
Amadeus won a five-year contract from SAS Group for a full-content agreement that guarantees travel agents access to the full range of fares and inventory of SAS Scandinavian Airlines, Wideroe, Blue1 and Estonian Air.
Air France yesterday rolled out its first A380, which was painted in the airline's updated livery and is scheduled to enter service in November on a daily Paris Charles de Gaulle-New York JFK service. Powered by GP7200 engines, the A380 will be configured for 538 passengers in a three-cabin layout with 80 business and 106 economy seats on the upper deck and nine first class and 343 economy seats on the main deck. That compares with 450 seats on Qantas A380s, 471 on Singapore Airlines and 489 on Emirates.
Delta Air Lines and Virgin Blue announced, subject to regulatory approval, a joint venture that will expand both carriers' reach in the US, Australia and the South Pacific through an alliance involving route and product planning, codesharing and loyalty program linkage.
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China began construction on its new research and development center near Shanghai Pudong that is scheduled to open in 2012. The facility will be responsible primarily for production of China's 150-seat "trunk liner" narrowbody and regional aircraft such as the ARJ21. It is one of three centers planned for the trunk liner program, including a customer service center launched last year and a final assembly base to be located at Pudong and Dachang in Shanghai.
Ryanair yesterday opened a poll on its website asking passengers if they would be willing to "stand" on the LCC's 737s if flights were free or 50% cheaper. The carrier said it is considering "vertical seating. . .on short flights of approximately 1 hr." ( ATWOnline, July 7).
Aircraft Purchase Fleet of Ireland selected GE's CF6-80E1 engines to power its 12 firm orders and eight options for A330s. The firm engine order is valued at more than $400 million. Deliveries to the lessor are slated to begin in 2010 ( ATWOnline, April 6).
AirAsia yesterday launched RedBox, a Malaysian courier service that delivers packages in 2-3 days at prices the airline describes as "up to 50%" lower than other domestic delivery options. RedBox says on its website that it "leverages AirAsia's extensive route network" to ferry packages between the country's central region (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and selected parts of Negeri Sembilan) and the eastern cities of Kuching, Miri, Sibu, Kota Kinabalu, Labuan and Sandakan.
Iberia Chairman and CEO Fernando Conte has resigned and will be replaced by former IB board member and former CEO of Spanish tobacco company Altadis Antonio Vazquez.
This week's G8 summit in L'Aquila, Italy, reaffirmed support for ICAO's role, in cooperation with the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, in addressing emissions reduction targets and policy for the international airline industry post-2012. The G8 comprises Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the UK and the US, together with the EU. The UNFCC climate summit will take place in Copenhagen in December.
Naverus said Air China successfully completed its RNP validation flight into Lhasa from Chengdu on June 26 using an A330-200. "The flight clears the way for Air China's entire fleet of Airbus A330s to fly the Naverus-designed procedures at the Lhasa Gonggar Airport," Naverus said.
Jazeera Airways appointed Stefan Pichler as its new CEO, replacing Andrew Cowen, who left the company after only five months. It also commenced thrice-weekly service from Kuwait City to Isfahan, its fourth destination in Iran, aboard an A320.
Alaska Airlines began testing continuous descent approaches into Seattle/Tacoma with a 737-700 using RNP technology on June 16 during a noncommercial flight. The carrier pioneered RNP in the 1990s for challenging approaches in Alaska. The current effort, dubbed Greener Skies, is being done in cooperation with the Port of Seattle, Boeing and FAA and also will involve regional affiliate Horizon Air. Horizon's Q400 fleet is being equipped for RNP as well. Alaska Air estimates the procedures will cut fuel consumption by 2.1 million gal.
Continental Airlines announced this week that simulator engineer employees represented by the Transport Workers Union ratified a new four-year labor agreement.
US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker told Reuters yesterday that the carrier has "no plans to reduce capacity any further" in 2009, adding, "If anything, we will have a modest expansion internationally." US this month launched daily Philadelphia-Tel Aviv flights using A330s.
Comair President John Bendoraitis informed employees this week that "additional furloughs among our crews will be unavoidable" and that the Delta Air Lines subsidiary will "continue to assess administrative staffing levels to ensure they remain appropriate with what is needed to support the operations," according to The Cincinnati Enquirer. Comair employs approximately 5,600.
Airline ticket sales through the Arlington, Va.-based Airlines Reporting Corp. fell for a sixth straight month in June compared to the year-ago period, but the rate of annual decline slowed compared to May. Total sales including airfares, taxes and fees were $5.73 billion, down 20.3% compared to June 2008, following a 29.1% year-over-year decline in May. Total fares fell 21.3% to $4.86 billion after dropping 30.9% in May. Domestic fares fell 19.4% to $2.62 billion and international fares declined 23.5% to $2.24 billion.
China Eastern Airlines will benefit the most from the agreement reached in April to expand significantly the number of flights permitted across the Taiwan Strait, according to a cross-strait distribution plan released this week by CAAC. The Taipei-based Strait Exchange Foundation and the Beijing-based Assn. for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait signed the accord that increases from 108 to 270 the number of direct flights allowed beginning this month ( ATWOnline, April 20).
Transaero Airlines reported a RUB109.4 million ($3.5 million) profit in 2008, a 7% increase over the prior year, on an 82.4% surge in revenue to RUB37.4 billion. Passenger numbers rose 50% to 4.9 million, boosting its market share by 3.6 points to 14.3%. Traffic was up 49% to 17.5 billion RPKs. It said it is "following through with its ambitious domestic route network expansion plans."
Current members of Star Alliance and aspiring member Continental Airlines pushed back strongly against the US Dept. of Justice's opposition to the extension of antitrust immunity to CO when it joins in October, arguing in a filing with the Dept. of Transportation that DOJ favors a "myopic policy" that would "abandon almost two decades of highly successful international aviation policy."
