Swiss Aviation Training started training pilot crews from Air Dolomiti and Augsburg Airways on its E-190/195 full flight simulator at Lufthansa Flight Training's Munich facility that opened two weeks ago. The Swiss subsidiary said commissions to date ensure that the new simulator will be at least 80% utilized this year with crews from Dolomiti, Augsburg, Flybaboo and Alitalia its principal users.
TUIfly was hit by a wildcat strike yesterday at Hamburg, Hanover and Dusseldorf. Forty flights and 6,000 passengers suffered delays of up to 5 hr. as some 190 employees stopped working, although no flights were cancelled. The ver.di union called the strike and is seeking a 5% pay increase for its members. TUIfly staff has been concerned over job security since the announcement of the carrier's alliance with Air Berlin, which will begin operating 17 TUIfly 737s on scheduled routes ( ATWOnline, March 31).
US Dept. of Transportation said airlines cancelled 1.2% of their scheduled domestic flights in February, down from 3.6% in the year-ago month. American Airlines and ExpressJet Airlines had the highest rate of cancellations at 2.2%, while Hawaiian Airlines (0.1%), Frontier Airlines (0.2%) and Northwest Airlines (0.6%) had the lowest. The 19 reporting carriers had an ontime rate of 82.6% in February compared to the 68.6% reported in the year-ago month.
United Airlines said it will complete its transition to a cashless cabin on its North American flights, except for United Express operations, on April 20. It began accepting credit cards for onboard purchases on March 23.
An Aviastar BAe 146-300 en route to Wamena from Jayapura crashed into a mountainside on approach yesterday morning, killing all six aboard. The aircraft reportedly was ferrying food and supplies and was not transporting passengers. According to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, those onboard comprised a captain, copilot, engineer, loadmaster and two flight attendants.
Owing to a strong rebound in the domestic market and the continuing decrease in domestic fuel prices, Chinese carriers are expected to report a collective first-quarter profit, according to CAAC Minister Li Jiaxiang. Li noted that "favorable policies" implemented in December were effective in combating declining domestic demand and stimulating growth. Among those initiatives were the decision to withhold approval for new entrants until 2010 and the call for airlines to cancel or delay aircraft orders, as well as fee reductions and infrastructure improvements.
Former LTU owner Hans Rudolf Woehrl said he is entertaining the idea of reacquiring the Air Berlin subsidiary, which AB CEO Joachim Hunold said last month is being considered for divestment ( ATWOnline, March 16). Speaking to Handelsblatt, Woerhl said airline acquisition "is part of our business, and we were always very successful there," Reuters reported.
Europe's principal airline associations (Assn. of European Airlines, European Low Fares Airline Assn., European Regions Airline Assn. and International Air Carriers Assn.) jointly submitted a package of recommended "relief" measures to the EC, including a ban on increases in ATM and airport charges above 2008 levels for two years, withdrawal of all taxes on aviation and shifting all security charges to national governments.
China Eastern Airlines' effort to reach financial breakeven by 2010 and a 2011 profit will include the forced retirement of 160 mid-level executives, who will be replaced by lower-salaried employees from both inside and outside the company.
ILFC, which last month admitted that it needed "additional support" owing to its lack of access to financing as a unit of American International Group, reportedly is close to reaching agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to obtain a $5 billion line of credit that will help facilitate its sale.
China Southern Airlines yesterday became the first Chinese carrier to offer mobile check-in, another innovative step for the airline that sold the country's first e-ticket in 2000 and introduced the first common-use self-service kiosk in 2005 and the country's first online check-in option in 2006.
Air France KLM said it suffered a "significant deterioration" in March unit revenue. The group flew 16.02 billion RPKs during the month, down 9.4% year-over-year, against a 2.9% fall in capacity to 21.21 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 5.5 points to 75.5%. United Airlines flew 9.58 consolidated RPMs in March, a 13.6% drop year-over-year. Capacity fell 9.9% to 12.18 billion ASMs and load factor was down 3.3 points to 78.7%.
European Commission yesterday released its updated "blacklist" of airlines banned from operating into the EU. Added to the list last released in November were Motor Sich Airlines of Ukraine, Thailand's One-Two-Go Airlines, six carriers from Kazakhstan and all airlines certified in Benin. Regarding carriers and countries already listed, it said a February visit to Indonesia "showed considerable improvements" and that there has been "good progress" regarding the "safety situation" in Angola ( ATWOnline, Nov.
TNT said its Express unit's international air volumes were down 23% year-over-year in the first quarter but overall international volumes "stabilized" as the quarter went on. Despite steep declines in the early part of the quarter, later leveling-out led the express giant to predict yesterday that it will report "positive" operating income when it releases its results on May 4.
SAS Group said its rights issue authorized last month ended up oversubscribed by 23.3%, ensuring that the company will receive some SEK6 billion ($734.8 million) in proceeds before transaction costs ( ATWOnline, March 17). "We are pleased that our shareholders, as well as new investors, have shown their confidence in and support for SAS and our new strategy, Core SAS," President and CEO Mats Jansson said ( ATWOnline, March 27).
OpenSkies completed its merger with L'Avion, the French all-business-class airline it acquired last summer ( ATWOnline, July 3, 2008). The merged carrier's operating certificate now will be located in France, resulting in a headquarters relocation to Paris Orly. EC's Dale Moss will remain MD and former L'Avion CEO Marc Rochet will be executive VP.
Alaska Airlines flew 1.56 billion RPMs in March, down 8.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 9% to 1.91 billion ASMs and load factor was up 0.8 point to 81.6%. Allegiant Air flew 468.5 million RPMs in March, up 19.1% year-over-year. Capacity rose 17.3% to 507.9 million ASMs and load factor lifted 1.5 points to 92.3%.
GKN Aerospace broke ground yesterday on a manufacturing facility at Bristol. The new site, known as Filton-West, will be under the management of the recently acquired GKN Aerospace (the former Airbus Filton facility) and will house an automated composites manufacturing operation that will incorporate production techniques "that represent the future of composites manufacture in aviation," GKN said. Starting in January the plant will manufacture wing spars and trailing edge assemblies for the A350.
Rockwell Collins reached agreements to install its dPAVES inflight entertainment system with CanJet Airlines (two 737-800s), Air Europa (12 737s plus 13 options) and Air Arabia (49 A320s).
Qantas Executive GM John Borghetti announced his resignation effective May 4, completing the management shakeup that included the elimination of 90 senior positions last month ( ATWOnline, March 26). Borghetti had been a contender for the Qantas Group CEO position along with former CFO Peter Gregg. The job eventually went to former Jetstar Airways CEO Alan Joyce and Gregg resigned last summer ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20, 2008).
Aviation Global Deal Group, a partnership of Air France KLM, British Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Virgin Atlantic Airways and UK airports operator BAA that supports the inclusion of aviation emissions under a single global policy, presented a draft policy framework to UN climate change negotiators in Bonn. The framework is "ambitious, equitable and effective," AGD said. It maintained its position that regulation should be global rather than regional and suggested that a worldwide target be established for the sector in order to ensure aviation plays its due part.
Finmeccanica subsidiary Alenia Aeronautica completed the acquisition of a 25%-plus-one-share stake in Sukhoi Civil Aircraft. Price was not disclosed. Alenia is a partner in the development of the Superjet 100. It said the aircraft has received 98 orders and is due to be certified and delivered to launch customer Aeroflot by year end.
