Continental Airlines Chairman and CEO Larry Kellner said the carrier will enter Star Alliance "hours or days" after it exits SkyTeam on Oct. 24. "The difference for us between SkyTeam and Star is that we and Delta have a lot of overlap. . .whereas within Star there's a lot of open area," he said at last week's Bank of America Merrill Lynch Global Transportation Conference.
Virgin America reported a first-quarter net loss of $40.3 million, narrowed from a net deficit of $52 million in the year-ago period, and the nearly two-year-old carrier said it is poised to continue growing steadily.
South African Airways CEO Chris Smyth told ATWOnline at last week's IATA annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur that he expects the airline to post an operating profit for its fiscal year started April 1 and that the carrier's two-year restructuring is largely complete.
GE Capital Aviation Services announced the promotion of Norman Liu, 51, to president and CEO. Liu will take over executive management of the business from Henry Hubschman, 61, who will take on the new role of chairman of GECAS. Changes are effective July 1. Liu is a 22-year veteran of GE Capital including 14 years at GECAS, where he most recently served as executive VP-commercial operations. Hubschman joined GECAS in 1997 and oversaw the growth of assets from $10 billion to more than $46 billion during his tenure.
Boeing yesterday said that commercial aviation is "cyclic and has a long history of declines and upturns" as it revised downward its 20-year forecast only slightly to a market demand of 29,000 new passenger and freighter aircraft worth $3.2 trillion.
Air France KLM flew 16.41 billion RPKs in May, down 8.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.7% to 21.24 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 2 points to 77.3%. Finnair flew 1.34 billion RPKs in May, down 11% year-over-year, against a 16.3% decline in capacity to 1.94 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 4.2 points to 69.1%. Copa Airlines flew 445.6 million RPMs in May, a 2.3% drop year-over-year. Capacity rose 18.4% to 686.9 million ASMs and load factor plunged 13.8 points to 64.9%.
United Airlines reassured investors that the RFP it submitted to Boeing and Airbus is for "fleet renewal" and not growth and expressed confidence it will be able to finance any order it places. The carrier's credit facility rating was downgraded earlier this week by Fitch Ratings, which cautioned that UA faces "a deepening liquidity crisis" and questioned its ability to finance a large long-haul aircraft order ( ATWOnline, June 11)
Air Nostrum intends to lay off up to 507 employees, representing some 23% of its workforce, according to a statement cited by Reuters. "The measure we are implementing is part of a viability plan required to guarantee the company's future, which also includes cost savings and cost cuts," the Spanish carrier said.
Cathay Pacific Airways Chairman Christopher Pratt said this week that "demand and yields seem to have stopped falling" but that rising oil prices are contributing to what "continues to be a very nasty situation" for the airline, which lost HK$8.56 billion ($1.1 billion) in 2008 ( ATWOnline, March 12) and suffered a 22.4% drop in first-quarter revenue.
Skytech-AIC announced the lease of two 747-400s to Eagle Aviation Europe. The first aircraft was returned by the previous lessee in March and already has been delivered; the second will be delivered to Eagle on July 31. Skytech also said it has been selected to remarket four additional 747-400s for an unidentified customer.
US Regional Airline Assn. announced at a Congressional hearing that it would "push for new advances in aviation safety" following this week's announcement that FAA will inspect regional carrier training programs to ensure they are fully compliant ( ATWOnline, June 10). "We need to take bold action to address every single issue that could possibly affect the culture of safety that is the fundamental cornerstone of the aviation industry," RAA President Roger Cohen told members of the House aviation subcommittee.
European Commission yesterday extended the deadline of its initial review of Lufthansa's proposed takeover of Austrian Airlines Group from June 17 to July 1 after the carriers offered remedies to address competition concerns. The Commission did not specify the routes on which it identified competition issues or what the offered concessions were.
Delta Air Lines and American Airlines yesterday announced additional capacity and job reductions in the second half of 2009, with international flying in particular taking a bigger hit than previously planned, and other US carriers said they are considering further capacity reductions.
CTC Aviation Group announced that it will be launch customer and host of two next-generation full flight simulators featuring Rockwell Collins CORE simulation architecture. The first, a 737NG, will be delivered to the company's training center near Southampton in late summer.
Delta Air Lines flew 15.85 billion system RPMs in May, a 9.7% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 7.9% to 19.27 billion ASMs and load factor was down 1.6 points to 82.3%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 12.65 billion RPKs in May, down 7.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.6% to 17.05 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 4.4 points to 74.2% Air Canada and Jazz flew 3.86 billion RPMs in May, a 10.3% drop year-over-year. Capacity fell 6.1% to 4.86 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 3.7 points to 79.5%.
Travelport GDS announced the launch of Travelport Agencia, an "industry-first" Web application used by Air Canada that will allow Galileo-connected travel agents to sell AC's full content. Travelport Agencia will enable agencies to display and book all AC fare families with real-time access to price and availability in addition to AC's a la carte offerings, the company said.
ICAO said it now expects global RPKs to fall 3.8% this year, a "bleak forecast" that it said "reflects the worsening of economic prospects," although it added that "signs of stabilization have emerged and further improvements in traffic results are expected for the remaining months of the year." North American traffic is forecast to fall the furthest at 7.2% while Europe drops 3%, Asia/Pacific 4.5% and Africa 4.2%. The Middle East is expected to increase 8% and Latin America and the Caribbean should rise 5.3%.
Jet Airways blasted a move by authorities in Delhi and Mumbai to hike airport costs as a "disaster," according to The Economic Times. "Airport charges are crazy. This is a disaster. This is absolutely not fair to the industry," Jet Airways Chairman Naresh Goyal told media at IATA's annual general meeting in Kuala Lumpur this week. He said Jet would cut capacity on its US service by 30% to reduce costs. The paper reported that each city's main airport increased charges by 10% while Mumbai raised development fees 278% and Delhi 137%.
Delta Air Lines said its international product will be standardized this month as it continues to integrate Northwest Airlines. All long-haul aircraft will feature DL's BusinessElite cabin, complimentary alcoholic beverages in economy and other offerings. In the coming months, DL will introduce a new business class amenity kit. It said it "continues its progress to achieve a single operating certificate by the end of the year."
Aviacsa, the Monterrey-based LCC grounded temporarily by Mexican authorities that accused it of maintenance irregularities ( ATWOnline, June 5), said on its website that it resumed service last Saturday. A judge nullified the suspension, according to press reports.
Airports Council International Europe said April passenger traffic at European airports fell 4.8% year-over-year while freight traffic dropped 25.4%. Flight movements were down 9.3%. For the first four months of 2009, passenger throughput declined 10.4% whereas freight traffic plunged 24.4% and movements decreased 9.7%. Separately, BAA reported a 7.3% year-over-year drop in passenger traffic at its seven UK airports in May, including a 6.5% fall at London Gatwick and an 18.5% decline at Stansted.
Aerosource was awarded a five-year LRU service contract by Bombardier Aerospace covering MRO of the air driven generator used on both CRJ and Challenger aircraft. Aerosource also is the OEM for the DC-10 and MD-11 air driven generator.
Air France's largest pilots union said yesterday that management had informed it that at least two of three pitot tubes on each of the carrier's A330s/A340s will be replaced "within days," while EASA issued a statement declaring that all A330s "are airworthy and safe to operate." AF has said that it began replacing pitot tubes on A330s/A340s in late April, but its pilots expressed concern that the replacements weren't being done quickly enough given the focus on the possible role of pitot tubes in last week's A330-200 crash. The French BEA has stated that data transmitted by Flight 4
Air Canada said it reached tentative agreements on a "21-month pension funding moratorium and collective agreement extension" with three of its five unions representing more than 60% of its unionized workers that stand to gain an "equity stake" in the airline. Around 16,500 employees represented by the Canadian Auto Workers, the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers and the Canadian Airlines Dispatchers Assn. would be covered by the tentative deal aimed at providing relief that AC insists it urgently needs.
