GKN Aerospace said it completed "on schedule" production of the prototype composite spars for Airbus's A350 XWB wing box demonstrator. Under a work package announced last September, GKN has responsibility for development and supply of the composite spars and fixed trailing edge assemblies for the A350 wings.
News from Travel Technology Update: Susan Black's assessment of the opportunities for travel start-ups to obtain outside investment is blunt: "It's dismal." Black, a travel industry veteran who serves as senior adviser for the industry at Chimney Rock Capital Partners, said venture capital and private equity firms that already have invested in travel start-ups are currently vetting their portfolios and "deciding who shall live and who shall die." The money hasn't completely dried up, but it most likely will go toward building on existing investments, Black said.
Royal Jordanian launched OnAir's inflight mobile service onboard A319 aircraft flying to Europe, the Middle East, North Africa and India. Technology allows passengers to use mobile phones and PDAs to make and receive calls and employ SMS and e-mail. Those with laptops fitted with GSM data cards can access the Internet.
Airbus is seeking further financial help from European governments for aircraft financing, a top company official said over the weekend. In widely reported remarks made at a conference in Dubai, Airbus Middle East President Habib Fekih said €5 billion ($6.4 billion) recently loaned by France's government to French banks to be used to finance aircraft purchases ( ATWOnline, Jan.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering listed VEM Maintenance & Engineering as an affiliated company extending the scope of its membership in the Airbus MRO Network. Affiliation means TAP will be the first member to offer base maintenance services for Airbus aircraft in South America.
Goodrich Corp. reached a three-year deal with TransAsia Airways of Taiwan to provide MRO on seven A320s. Contract offers flight hr.-based support and includes Goodrich sensors, actuation, engine control and electrical power products. Work will take place in Singapore, Xiamen and Sydney.
Mokulele Airlines scraped together a $300,000 payment to Republic Airways Holdings and prevented default on an $8 million loan, according to The Honolulu Advertiser. Last week, Republic CEO Bryan Bedford said he was prepared to assume control of the Hawaiian regional if the payment was not made ( ATWOnline, Feb. 19). Mokulele CEO Bill Boyer told the Advertiser that employees decided to defer paychecks for a week so the company could make the payment.
Aerolift An-12 freighter en route from Entebbe to Nikolaev, Ukraine, crashed Friday on takeoff from a refueling stop in Luxor, catching fire and killing all five crew onboard. Aerolift is a South African cargo carrier that operates a variety of services mostly to Middle Eastern and African destinations. It describes itself as a "dedicated specialist aviation contractor." It is unclear what services the crashed aircraft was providing. The Egyptian aviation ministry said the An-12 crashed about 700 m.
IATA reported that December premium traffic fell 13.3% year-over-year and full-year numbers were down 2.8%. "This precipitous fall has been driven by the abrupt decline in business activity and international trade," IATA said. Premium revenue in December dropped an estimated 20%. Economy traffic was down 5.3%. European Low Fares Airline Assn. members carried 149.5 million passengers in 2008, a 15.7% increase from 2007. Load factor averaged 81.5%, 0.5 point lower than the prior year.
US National Transportation Safety Board Member Steven Chealander, who is leading the investigation into the recent Colgan Air Q400 crash, announced his resignation effective Feb. 28 and was named Airbus Americas VP-technical training.
Ryanair said it "welcomed" reports that the European Commission will not appeal the European Court of First Instance's annulment of the EC's ruling in the longstanding Ryanair/Charleroi state-aid case ( ATWOnline, Dec. 18, 2008) "The Commission simply got it wrong, as has been subsequently proven by the huge success of Charleroi Airport," Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary said.
Air France Industries sold its stake in Hangxin Aviation Engineering Group to senior management and "cadre employees" at the Chinese component MRO organization. The share transfer agreement was initialed in December and signed on Feb. 19.
Air Liaison and HWF Sweden Group merged to form a single-source GSA for markets in the UK, Ireland, Scandinavia and Finland. The companies, based in Manchester and Stockholm, will retain their business identities.
South African Airways insisted that operations were "unaffected" by a strike started Friday by members of the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union, which represents more than 3,500 airline workers. It was unclear how many were on strike. South African media estimated that "hundreds" were not working and the union warned that the number of striking workers could escalate.
Airlines suffered 109 accidents in 2008, up from 100 in 2007, while the number of fatal accidents increased from 20 to 23 between the two years, IATA reported. However, fatalities dropped from 692 in 2007 to 502 in 2008. This translated into a 56% improvement in the fatality rate from 0.23 fatalities per million passengers in 2007 to 0.13 per million last year.
Responding to media speculation that pilot error may have played a role in last week's fatal Colgan Air Q400 crash outside Buffalo, the airline said its training programs "meet or exceed the regulatory requirements for all major airlines" and that Capt. Marvin Renslow had 3,379 hr. of flight time, 172 hr. of training on the Q400 and was "fully" qualified to operate the turboprop.
Ryanair announced summer cutbacks at Liverpool owing to unfavorable exchange rates and the UK government's £10 ($14.22) air passenger duty that the LCC said is "devastating" traffic at the airport. It will reduce the number of aircraft based at LPL to six from seven and the number of weekly flights by 14% to 163, resulting in 50 job cuts. It recently has drawn down its service at several other airports for similar reasons ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Embraer announced yesterday that it will cut an estimated 20% of its workforce of 21,362 employees in response to an "unprecedented crisis affecting the global economy." The more than 4,000 cuts will be concentrated in production and administration, with a layer of management structure eliminated. Most of the engineering workforce will remain onboard continuing with new product and technology development. The Brazilian manufacturer forecasts $5.5 billion in revenue this year and expects to deliver 242 commercial and executive aircraft.
Austrian Airlines Group board members Andreas Bierwirth and Peter Malanik told journalists in Vienna last night that the company lost at least €131.5 million ($165.5 million) in 2008 and January 2009, or half of the total value of its shares. It now expects to release full-year financial results on March 13.
AirTran Airways flew 1.27 billion RPMs in January, up 4.5% on the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 3.8% to 1.74 billion ASMs and load factor rose 5.8 points to 73.2%. Frontier Airlines flew 632.9 million RPMs in January, down 16% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 13.3% to 901.4 million ASMs and load factor fell 2.3 points to 70.2%. Passenger yield climbed 1.6% to 10.44 cents and RASM was down 1.7% to 7.33 cents.
Ryanair yesterday launched OnAir's inflight mobile phone service onboard 20 Dublin-based aircraft. Technology enables passengers to use mobile phones and PDAs to make and receive calls at international roaming rates as well as SMS and e-mail. Service will be available initially to customers of O2 and some 50 other mobile operators across Europe before being installed across the carrier's fleet of more than 170 aircraft. Prices depend on individual billing plans.
JAL Group will integrate four subsidiary aircraft maintenance companies on Oct. 1, forming JAL Engineering Co. in a move intended to enhance productivity "and further strengthen the quality of aircraft maintenance services through the consolidation of expertise and technological know-how," according to the airline. The four companies are JAL Narita Aircraft Maintenance Co., JAL Tokyo Aircraft Maintenance Co., JAL Engine Technologies Co., and JAL Aviation Technologies Co.
Clickair board approved the merger with Vueling Airlines Wednesday and said CEO Alex Cruz will hold the same position at the merged carrier that will keep the Vueling name. Current Vueling Chairman Josep Pique will be chairman of the new entity, according to a statement cited by Reuters. The Spanish stock market regulator still must sign off on the tie-up ( ATWOnline, Feb. 16).
