Air France introduced a new logo this week featuring the airline's name written as one word in navy blue with a red flourish to the right. AF said rebranding will be gradual "to avoid additional costs" and that aircraft will be painted with the new livery (the tail will change slightly but will continue to feature blue and red vertical stripes) during maintenance.
AirAsia yesterday unveiled a new program called Pick A Seat that will offer assigned seating, pre-boarding and extra legroom beginning Feb. 17. The Hot Seat variation will cost MYR25 ($6.93) per segment and will grant access to seats in the first five rows and exit rows and pre-boarding. Standard Seat will cost MYR5 and allow passengers to pre-select their seats. Other passengers will continue to be assigned seats at random.
Virgin Atlantic Airways confirmed that it has commenced consultation with staff and union representatives about the possibility of cutting 600 jobs from its workforce numbering approximately 8,500, saying it is seeking to avoid layoffs but cannot rule them out.
SR Technics yesterday said it plans to close its operation at Dublin Airport in light of recent contract losses from major load customers, current business projections and high costs. "We are announcing this deeply regrettable and difficult step only after an exhaustive evaluation of all strategic options for our groupwide operations," SRT CEO Bernd Kessler said.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 7.89 billion RPKs in January, up 1.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.7% to 9.91 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.8 points to 79.5%. LAN Airlines flew 2.67 billion system RPKs in January, up 10.8% year-over-year. Capacity climbed 14.2% to 3.43 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.3 points to 77.9%. SkyEurope Airlines transported 173,692 passengers in January, down 23.5% year-over-year. Load factor rose 4.1 points to 62.5%.
SITA announced that S7 Airlines will implement SITA Marketplace-Air, enabling sales agents, partner travel agents and customers booking on S7's website to access last-seat availability on 530 airlines through SITA Reservations. S7 is the first carrier to opt for the new service within SITA Reservations that provides real-time access to the inventory of an additional 400 airlines via a single booking solution through a partnership with Travelport GDS.
The European Commission opened its formal investigation into the privatization and restructuring of Austrian Airlines Group, including its sale to Lufthansa, saying that it "expresses doubts that the price to be paid by Lufthansa reflects the market price for what is being sold." Its "doubts" also centered on whether "the Austrian state has acted as private investor and whether the restructuring plan as notified is in accordance with the community framework for rescue and restructuring of firms in difficulty."
Malev Hungarian Airlines CEO Peter Leonov resigned, the carrier confirmed following Tuesday's extraordinary general meeting. COO Geza Fehervary will serve as temporary CEO while the company looks for a replacement, and Vneshekonombank Deputy Chairman Ballo Anatoly Borisovich was elected chairman. Malev shareholders also moved to reduce equity capital to HUF360 million ($1.6 million) because the carrier's new ownership structure is not finalized.
AAR Corp. was forced to shut down operations at its Miami landing gear repair station after FAA issued an Emergency Order of Suspension to the company's Landing Gear Services subsidiary, which generates about 6% of the MRO provider's revenue. AAR said it has been "in regular communication" with FAA since July 2008, when the regulator issued a "notice of alleged discrepancies" following an inspection of the Miami facilities. "The company was in the process of responding to that request when it received the order of suspension," AAR said.
Lufthansa Passenger Airlines flew 8.92 billion RPKs in January, a 6.2% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.1% to 11.95 billion ASKs and load factor slipped 2.4 points to 74.6%. Swiss International Air Lines flew 2.14 billion RPKs in January, up 4.3% year-over-year. Capacity climbed 6.3% to 2.96 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.4 points to 72.9%.
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation wrote to domestic airlines asking for an explanation for recent fare hikes across the industry, prompting several rollbacks and a stern warning from Minister of Civil Aviation Praful Patel.
US Airways told employees it will lay off 233 ramp workers and gate/ticket agents in 10 cities owing to capacity cuts and the loss of contracts to provide ground services to other airlines at affected airports. Las Vegas, Pittsburgh and Tucson will see the biggest reductions. "These are uncertain times marked by less business flying, fewer family vacations and rising unemployment," US Chairman and CEO Doug Parker wrote in a note to employees cited by the Associated Press.
Alaska Airlines and the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA announced a tentative two-year contract extension covering AS's 2,830 cabin crew. Deal is subject to ratification by union members and would extend the current contract through April 2012.
Likely reflecting the impact of the severe economic downturn in the US, airline ticket sales through Airlines Reporting Corp. plunged nearly 25% in January, the airline-owned company reported.
SITA said Singapore Airlines launched its upgraded AirportHub solution utilizing a communications platform with enhanced bandwidth to support services on demand at remote locations. IBS said SriLankan Airlines selected its iFly Loyalty technology featuring a "rules engine" as well as program, tier, partner and member management capabilities.
American Airlines will begin transitioning to cashless cabins this summer on domestic and Canadian flights, accepting only major credit/debit cards for onboard purchases. It is using GuestLogix's technology platform featuring the company's Mobile Virtual Store point-of-sale handheld device.
ATR received approval from London City Airport to operate the ATR 72-500 there following successful completion of steep-approach trials and noise tests. The aircraft joined the 42-300 and 42-500 in operation at LCY on Aer Arann flights to/from Isle of Man.
Air France KLM flew 16.11 billion RPKs in January, a 1.9% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 1.2% to 21.03 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 0.5 point to 76.6%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 647.6 million RPMs in January, down 0.6% year-over-year. Capacity rose 5.4% to 827.3 million ASMs and load factor fell 4.8 points to 78.3%. Gol flew 2.32 billion system RPKs in January, down 10.2% year-over-year. Capacity dropped 10.7% to 3.37 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.4 point to 68.9%.
Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson said the manufacturer is "cautiously optimistic" regarding 2010 but is "prepared" to cut aircraft production rates if necessary.
Volga-Dnepr Group, parent of Volga-Dnepr Airlines and AirBridgeCargo Airlines, increased revenue from its charter and scheduled air cargo services by 46% in 2008 to $1.4 billion. Cargo tonnage rose 25% year-over-year to 267,000 tonnes and FTKs jumped 32%.
Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee yesterday released its final report on last September's Aeroflot Nord 737-500 accident near Perm that killed all 88 onboard, finding that the pilot who "lost spatial orientation" had been drinking.
Greece's Marfin Investment Group said it is "ready to proceed to direct negotiations" with the government regarding its floundering effort to privatize Olympic Airlines and that it is willing to invest up to €200 million ($259.5 million) to acquire OA's three divisions. The government's tender failed to produce a satisfactory offer by last week's deadline ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5), at which point officials reached out to Greek investors seeking a bid.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has expanded its investigation into cargo price-fixing and yesterday announced commencement of legal proceedings against Air France, KLM, Martinair and Cargolux Airlines International for colluding on fuel surcharges between 2003 and 2006.
News from Travel Technology Update: The U.S. Travel Association (formerly Travel industry Association) unveiled new "accountability standards" on business meetings, events and incentive travel for companies receiving federal bailout funds. The standards are designed to convince Congress and the Obama administration that corporate America can police itself, despite widely publicized events labeled as wasteful corporate junkets held by bailout recipients. Key points of the standards are:
SunExpress, the joint venture between Lufthansa and Turkish Airlines, reported a 33.8% year-over-year increase in 2008 revenue to €406.8 million ($526.2 million) on a 40.9% surge in passenger numbers to 4.2 million. Load factor rose 1.1 points to 77.6%. It said it was profitable but did not release financial figures. SunExpress operates 14 737-800s and three 757-200s and will take delivery this year of three -800s that will replace the leased 757s. It will fly 816 weekly frequencies to 87 destinations during the upcoming summer schedule.
