EasyJet announced the cancellation of 12 flights to/from Athens scheduled for today and 16 flights to/from Paris Charles de Gaulle and Orly because of scheduled strikes.
US House and Senate members reintroduced passenger rights legislation in the wake of President Barack Obama's election. Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snow (R-Maine) and Rep. Mike Thompson (D-Calif.) introduced bills to their respective chambers that would force airlines to provide passengers with basic necessities during a ground delay, offer the option to deplane every 3 hr. and create a complaint hotline administered by the Dept. of Transportation.
Malev Hungarian Airlines shareholders meeting that began yesterday was suspended until Feb. 10, with the airline citing "the requirement to reach properly grounded decisions," including a possible reduction in the value of its shares. It confirmed that Russia's Vneshekonombank will be its "indirect owner" and that its operation will be "conducted in partnership with Aeroflot" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27).
Australian Consumer and Competition Commission announced a final rejection of plans by Air New Zealand and Air Canada's transpacific codeshare operation that included AC's Vancouver-Sydney service ( ATWOnline, Nov. 24, 2008). "The outcome is in stark contrast to trends in Europe, US and Asia where airlines are increasingly consolidating in response to toughening economic conditions dramatically affecting the industry," ANZ said.
Initial financial reporting for full-year 2008 indicates that the steep drop in fuel prices in the second half of the year was a double-edged sword for airlines around the world, many of which suffered significant losses on hedging programs. Some have serious hedging liabilities going forward if per-barrel crude oil prices remain low; programs that often paid off in the past now are biting back.
Malev Hungarian Airlines will be taken over by Russia's state-owned Vneshekonombank owing to the "previous owner's weak management and the global financial crisis," Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov said at a Budapest news conference.
ANA said it will extend implementation of Line Operations Safety Audit technology to all six airlines within ANA Group in an effort to enhance flight safety. More than 30 airlines have implemented LOSA. Implementation at ANA is expected to be complete by June.
OnAir said British Airways will install its Mobile OnAir inflight communications service on its twice-daily, all-business-class service between London City and New York JFK. Kuwaiti startup Wataniya Airways also is offering the service on its Kuwait City-Dubai flights (see item above).
Turkish Airlines is abandoning its no-fuel-hedging policy and will hedge approximately 10% of its expected 2009 consumption "in order to fix expenses and to minimize the negative impact of spot price fluctuations on total costs," it said. THY transported 22.8 million passengers in 2008, up 15% from 2007, on a 12.9% rise in RPKs to 34.1 billion. Business class passengers climbed 23.2% and overall capacity was up 11.3% to 46.3 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.1 points to 73.8%.
Eurocontrol reported that the number of flights in Europe in 2008 rose just 0.1% year-over-year to around 10 million, the smallest increase in five years. Major markets saw significant traffic declines, particularly Italy (2.7%), the UK (1.7%) and Spain (2.1%). Eastern Europe, especially Turkey (up 8.3%) and Poland (up 9.8%), continued to grow. Low-cost traffic fell for the first time in 15 years to 4,600 flights per day in November, down around 6% year-over-year.
The European Commission opened an in-depth investigation into Lufthansa's proposed takeover of Brussels Airlines parent SN Airholding because of competition concerns regarding several routes between Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.
CIT Aerospace said it signed lease agreements last year covering 119 aircraft for delivery through 2010 and that it delivered 49 aircraft in 2008. It added five new customers during the year. Aviation Capital Group said it completed 49 lease and sale transactions in 2008, including four purchases, four new leases, three extensions and two sales in the fourth quarter. It ordered 23 A320s and 15 737s last year and plans to take delivery of 10 737s and three A320s this year.
Air Canada plans to lay off or furlough 345 flight attendants starting in March. The Canadian Union of Public Employees, which represents the cabin staff, confirmed the cuts that will come on top of the 600-plus flight attendant positions cut by AC last year ( ATWOnline, July 16, 2008). An AC spokesperson told The Globe and Mail, "The expectation is that the layoffs will be temporary" and may be rescinded if demand increases during the summer.
Turkish Technic signed a contract with Air Via of Bulgaria to provide C checks on A320s. It also reached agreements to perform line maintenance and wheel, tire and brake overhaul on two Somon Air 737-800s at Dushanbe Airport and to offer line maintenance, engineering service and component pool support covering two Iraqi Airways 737-700s in Baghdad.
News from Travel Technology Update: Technology standards for airlines that want to unbundle fares, collect ancillary revenues or employ other merchandising techniques are close at hand, according to the Air Tariff Publishing Co. The company, best known for its role in the collection and distribution of fares and fare-related data, said it will roll out a set of standards in conjunction with two other companies that serve the airline industry in the first half of 2009.
Assn. of European Airlines announced that Croatia Airlines President and CEO Ivan Misetic will chair the organization this year, succeeding KLM President and CEO Peter Hartman. US Airways promoted Senior VP and CFO Derek Kerr to executive VP (he will remain CFO) and named Sabre Holdings Senior VP-Air Services Brad Jensen as senior VP and CIO.
Pinnacle Airlines flew 407.3 million RPMs in December, up 11.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose at the same rate to 537.3 million ASMs, leaving load factor at 75.8%.
France's government is set to lend French banks €5 billion ($6.49 billion) with the understanding that the funds will be used to finance aircraft purchases, a measure aimed at preventing airlines from cancelling orders with Airbus, according to widespread reports in Europe. The government apparently is seeking a way to assist Airbus without directly subsidizing the manufacturer, which has warned that 2009 will be "a very challenging year" ( ATWOnline, Jan. 16).
Finnair pilots represented by the Finnish Airline Pilots Assn. will stop working overtime hours and have called strikes for Feb. 11, 13, 16, 18 and 20, the airline announced. Finnair and the union reached a six-month labor agreement last summer providing for a one-time 3.9% wage increase on top of the annual 4.5% bump. The carrier said pilots now want an additional 4% raise and changes in pension arrangements, fleet deployment policy and rest days that Finnair said would boost costs by an additional 7% per year.
Kelowna Flightcraft signed a six-year contract with Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance to maintain the CF6-50C2 engines on its fleet of DC-10-30 freighters. Work will take place in KLM E&M's Schiphol engine shop.
CIT Aerospace announced the lease of one A320-200 to Swiss International Air Lines. Aircraft is powered by CFM56-5B4/Ps and scheduled for delivery in April.
Lufthansa Systems reached a three-year extension on its contract with KLM cityhopper to streamline crew management and operations control using its NetLine/Crew, NetLine/Ops and NetLine/Ops Maintenance Control technologies.
Korean Air will begin upgrading its long-haul premium seating in May when it takes the first of three 777-300ERs slated to be delivered this year. New aircraft as well as three current 777s will be fitted with the new seats by year end and deployed to New York JFK and Los Angeles. KE's entire widebody fleet eventually will feature the new seats, including A380s scheduled to begin delivery next year and 787s. Key components of the upgrade will be replacing 170-deg. business-class seats with 180-deg.
American Airlines and the Assn. of Professional Flight Attendants announced implementation of a new Aviation Safety Action Program that encourages cabin staff to voluntarily and confidentially report safety-related issues without reprisal. AA and pilots represented by the Allied Pilots Assn. suspended their ASAP last month ( ATWOnline, Dec. 9, 2008).
