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.
Baltia Air Lines announced commencement of the FAA Air Carrier Certification process. It intends to launch New York JFK-St. Petersburg 747 flights and eventually plans to operate between major US markets and Eastern Europe.
Bandeirante operated by Brazil's Manaus Aerotaxi crashed in the Manacapuru River Saturday while on its way to the Amazon city of Coari, killing both pilots and 22 of the 26 passengers onboard. The aircraft, which first flew in 1981, was certified to carry a maximum of 19 passengers, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network.
US airlines posted an ontime arrival rate of 76% in 2008, up from 73.4% the year before, the US Dept. of Transportation's Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported. In December, the 19 reporting carriers were on time at a 65.3% rate, up 1 point year-over-year. Airlines cancelled 3.3% of their domestic scheduled flights, a 0.2-point improvement from December 2007. Hawaiian Airlines' December ontime arrival rate of 79.6% was the best, followed by US Airways at 72.1% and American Airlines at 69.9%. Worst was Comair at 55.1%, followed by Alaska Airlines at 58.4%.
Cargolux Airlines International announced the launch of Cargolux Italia, a subsidiary that will operate long-haul cargo flights from Milan Malpensa. It plans to start operations as soon as ENAC grants certification, which is expected in April. No further details were announced.
EASA formally approved the 777F Friday following FAA certification on Feb. 3, Boeing announced. Launch customer Air France is scheduled to take first delivery this quarter ( ATWOnline, Nov. 18, 2008).
Malev Hungarian Airlines is late paying January wages to its employees and reportedly was able to distribute just HUF50,000 ($217.68) to each worker last Friday, promising the remainder following this week's extraordinary general meeting concerning the carrier's takeover by Russia's Vneshekonombank ( ATWOnline, Jan. 28).
American Airlines flew 9.64 billion system RPMs in January, down 11.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 8.3% to 13.07 billion ASMs and load factor fell 2.8 points to 73.8%. American Eagle flew 521.9 million RPMs, down 17.9%, against a 12.4% decline in capacity to 852.6 million ASMs. Load factor was down 4.1 points to 61.2%. Delta Air Lines flew 8.87 billion system RPMs in January, a 2.2% drop year-over-year. Capacity was down 8.5% to 7.34 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.5 points to 76.4%.
The UK's so-called "environment czar" last week raised the possibility of rationing air travel, limiting UK citizens to just a few vacation trips abroad by air per year in order to reduce the impact of carbon dioxide emissions.
Air France Industries, KLM Engineering & Maintenance and Aviation Repair Technologies Services formed an engine disassembly joint venture, Turbine Support International. TSI will disassemble, inspect and repair CF6-50, CF6-80 and CFM-56 parts to support engine repair activities on AF's and other third-party airlines and lessors. AFI and KLM E&M will assume a majority stake in TSI, which will be based at ART's Arkansas facility.
MacAir Airlines, an Australian regional carrier that served Queensland with 11 aircraft, shut down Friday. It operated one ATR 42-500, six Saab 340Bs and four Metro 23s and recently had entered voluntary administration.
Mxi Technologies will provide Pratt & Whitney with its Maintenix aftermarket software to support the OEM's power-by-the-hour contracts. Technology features an engine-centric dashboard, life-limited parts forecasting and utilization tracking.
Atlas Air Worldwide, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, said it will retire seven of its 14 747-200s and report a largely noncash pre-tax special charge of approximately $85-$95 million associated with retirements. "The current pronounced downturn in global airfreight demand has caused us to accelerate our plans to retire a portion of our older 747-200 assets," President and CEO William Flynn said. AAWW expects to report full-year 2008 pre-tax operating income of $55-$60 million when it releases its earnings on Feb. 24.
Aeroflot confirmed its interest in purchasing a stake in CSA Czech Airlines following the Czech government's Feb. 5 tender launch. It intends to sell 91.5% of the national carrier in a two-round tender ( ATWOnline, Jan. 21).
Middle East Airlines and Banque Libano-Francaise entered a $65 million acquisition finance transaction covering the purchase of a new A330-200 to be delivered this month, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported. The bank also committed to $32 million in financing for an A320-200 to be delivered next year.
IntraPoint, the US and Norway-based provider of Crisis Manager software and services, signed an agreement with Icelandair Group to implement its Crisis Manager Web-based software solution for handling incidents and crises.
Air India's low-cost subsidiary Air India Express added its 21st aircraft last week, a 737-800. It will use the plane on a weekly Srinagar-Dubai flight scheduled to start Feb. 14. IX now operates 176 weekly flights to 16 Indian and 14 international destinations.
ARINC reached a deal with Enerjet to provide data link communications including its AviNet Ground Network and GLOBALink for 737-700 charter flights. Work involves configuring avionics and data message flow through ARINC's network to interface with Enerjet's applications and third-party providers.
LCAL, the Dubai-based lessor established in 2004 to buy and lease 787s, cut its Dreamliner order from 21 aircraft to five, dealing another blow to Boeing's troubled next-generation aircraft program. The 16 cancellations announced by the manufacturer yesterday, valued at $2.8 billion, marked the second big 787 order cut revealed in the last two weeks. Russia's S7 confirmed last week that it had cancelled its order for 15 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30).
US House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.) this week introduced legislation that would require the US Dept. of Transportation to renew airline alliances' antitrust immunity every three years.
Southwest Airlines flew 5.14 billion RPMs in January, down 6.4% year-over-year. Capacity fell 4.4% to 8.17 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 1.4 points to 62.8%. Ryanair transported 4.1 million passengers in January, up 11% from the year-ago month. Load factor held steady at 69%.
A J Walter Aviation said it selected DHL Express to manage its inbound and outbound delivery requirements. Valued at £1.2 million ($1.7 million) per year, the contract guarantees next-day delivery to the US and allows for discounted rate options.
US federal appeals court ruled yesterday that the US Transportation Security Administration overcharges airlines on screening fees and should reduce the amount of money it collects from carriers annually. While the court said TSA is correct in charging airlines to help cover costs of screening passengers, the agency has misinterpreted laws passed post-9/11 by also charging carriers for costs associated with screening nonpassengers. Twenty-two US airlines jointly filed suit alleging that they overpay TSA by about $100 million per year.
