THE FIRST RECORDED INFLIGHT COLLISION INVOLVING A powered aircraft and a bird is believed to have occurred not too long after the first powered flight. In September 1905, Orville Wright was chasing a flock of birds when he struck one. He landed safely but the encounter was fatal for the bird. The incident, recounted in the Wright Brothers' diaries, began a dangerous relationship that continues to this day, having claimed many hundreds of human lives and countless thousands of birds.
Virgin Blue joins AGD The Virgin Blue Group of carriers is the first Australian operator to join the Aviation Global Deal Group. AGD is a coalition of airlines and BAA along with international nonprofit The Climate Group that was formed to work for inclusion of aviation in a "new global climate deal" scheduled to be discussed at December's UN climate summit in Copenhagen. In April, the AGD presented a draft policy framework for aviation emissions to UN climate change negotiators in Bonn.
Air New Zealand will cut capacity an additional 3% in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2010, and said it has "entered into discussions with unions on how to minimize any potential job losses. . .A review of crewing requirements to meet existing customer demand has identified a potential surplus of up to 40 cabin crew and pilots in regional airline and domestic jet operations."
Atlantic Airways earned a pre-tax profit of DKK14 million ($2.6 million) in the first quarter, reversed from a DKK2.5 million loss in the year-ago period. The Faroese flag carrier reported a 9.8% year-over-year fall in revenue to DKK101 million but cut its costs by 11.8%. Scheduled passenger numbers have dropped 8% in the year's first four months, it said. Atlantic currently operates BAe 146s and plans to acquire A319s beginning in 2011.
Praful Patel was reappointed as India's Civil Aviation Minister last week and said that the reinstalled United Progressive Alliance government is "not averse to liberalization" of foreign investment in domestic airlines. Foreign companies currently are allowed to hold up to 49% in Indian carriers, but foreign airlines are forbidden from participating ( ATWOnline, Feb. 13).
IATA reported a 3.1% decline in international RPKs in April, an improvement from the 11.1% plunge in March but a trend that "should be viewed with caution" considering the shift in the Easter holiday to April and the fact that "traffic gains were at the expense of yields in most regions." It also warned that preliminary data suggest another double-digit decline this month in Europe and perhaps elsewhere. Capacity dropped 2.5% and load factor was 74.4%. "There is no improvement in revenues as yields continue to fall," DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said.
Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht said he sees a "renewed and more aggressive" interest in the alliance from member airlines as well as from nonallied carriers owing to the recession and industry downturn.
Asserting that aviation is the "fastest-growing emissions source among modes of transportation," a European Commission official reiterated yesterday that all airlines that operate to the EU must submit plans for monitoring and reporting carbon dioxide emissions by Aug. 31 to relevant authorities in EU member states in advance of a 2010 "pre-compliance phase" for the Emissions Trading Scheme that includes aviation from 2012.
VLM Airlines will be rebranded as CityJet although it will continue to operate under its own operating certificate, the carriers announced. Both regionals are wholly owned subsidiaries of Air France KLM. Antwerp-based VLM is the largest operator at London City. It will adopt the group's Flying Blue loyalty program and abandon its own VLM Encore program in September ( ATWOnline, Dec. 12, 2008).
Frontier Airlines Holding reported a $2.4 million net profit in April, reversed from a $26.9 million deficit in the year-ago month. Operating profit was $5 million compared to a $21.9 million operating loss last year. It incurred $1.1 million in bankruptcy-related expenses during the month. Mainline unit revenue rose 1.3% year-over-year to 9.30 cents and unit cost dropped 19.5% to 8.49 cents.
The UK-based International Bureau of Aviation (IBA) has announced expansion of its aircraft asset management and risk advisory services which the organisation says will benefit operators in the Middle East.
EgyptAir said it will offer OnAir's inflight Internet service on its A330-300s. It offered no further details, but press reports indicated that installation will take 18 months and begin in August 2010.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said the airline does not expect to try to obtain new capital beyond the A$500 million ($389.6 million) raised through a February share placement ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5). "We have built up our cash balances and our plans going forward have deferred capital expenditure," he said in comments cited by Reuters.
Air Southwest of Plymouth, England, will add the SZ code to its flight numbers beginning May 31, allowing its flights to be available for sale in external systems. It previously used the WOW prefix. "Our website. . .will continue to be our main source of bookings, but we now see great opportunities in being able to use global sales systems. And it means we can work more closely with other airlines in the future," MD Peter Davies said. Air Southwest serves 13 destinations
Blue1 will furlough each of its 450 employees for 2-4 weeks, a spokesperson told Finnish national broadcaster YLE. Leave will be staggered and will not affect scheduled flights. The SAS Group subsidiary serves 24 destinations.
US Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May yesterday said the organization does not support the environmental approach being taken by the Aviation Global Deal Group, the partnership among Air France KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways, Qatar Airways, Finnair and UK airports operator BAA.
Deccan 360, a cargo startup established by Air Deccan founder G.R. Gopinath, launched service yesterday with an A310 freighter flight from Delhi to Hong Kong. "Deccan 360 will be the first Indian company to create a hub-and-spoke distribution model in the express industry in India," parent company Deccan Express Logistics said. "Deccan 360's air and surface network will offer unmatched, next-day connectivity to more than 85% of the Indian GDP." The carrier reportedly will add more A310Fs later this year.
Natural Resources Defense Council International Climate Policy Director Jake Schmidt said the "writing is on the wall" regarding carbon dioxide emissions standards for US airlines. Speaking yesterday in Washington at the Eco-Aviation conference presented by ATW and Leeham Co., he said that "no source of emissions can be left unchecked. . .Emissions controls are coming. Within the US, aviation will be covered in some form or another. Inevitably it's coming."
Alitalia has been reestablished as an IATA member and said it is "now in a position to play an active role in all the association's projects, confirming its intention to be a key player in the air transport world, at the same time as following an investment strategy to continuously improve its services and products."
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 12.2 billion RPKs in April, down 4.5% year-over-year. Capacity fell 1% to 16.14 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 2.8 points to 75.6%. United Airlines flew 9.39 billion consolidated RPMs in April, an 8.7% decline year-over-year. Capacity fell at the same rate to 11.75 billion ASMs, leaving load factor at 79.9%. China Southern Airlines flew 7.47 billion RPKs in April, up 2.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.1% to 9.78 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.6 points to 76.4%.
Jat Airways intends to change its name, Chairman Sasa Vlaisavljevic told Vecernje Novosti. Names under consideration are Air Serbia, Serbia Airlines and Serbia Airways, the newspaper reported.
Russia's S7 Airlines will join oneworld next year, the 10-member group announced, adding 54 new destinations and eight new countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) to the alliance's network.
Astra Airlines of Greece acquired a second 99-seat BAe 146-300 from BAE Systems Asset Management. The Thessaloniki-based charter and ACMI carrier took its first of the type last July and will use the new aircraft to launch its first scheduled flight to Kiev.
Malev Hungarian Airlines said Russia's Vneshekonombank, which took over the carrier in January ( ATWOnline, Feb. 12), has provided a €20 million ($28 million) loan that will enable it to add a third and fourth Q400 over the summer. Chairman Anatoly Ballo said Malev has revised its 2009 business plan, which now "includes important steps to offset the crisis that are sufficient to bring the airline into a stable operational position."
