Air New Zealand is allowing economy passengers to purchase an otherwise empty seat for NZ$75 ($41.12) per sector. Called a "comfort seat," it has been available for the past month at check-in for flights from Auckland to Los Angeles and San Francisco and was added to Vancouver service last week. GM-International Airline Ed Sims said response has been enthusiastic despite the fact that ANZ has "not marketed the product as yet." Inbound availability is expected soon, with the entire long-haul network to follow.
China Southern Airlines last week received notice that China's Ministry of Finance agreed to inject CNY3 billion ($438.9 million) in the carrier's holding company, it said in a filing with the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong. China's beleaguered national carriers have been appealing to the government for aid ( ATWOnline, Oct. 31). Trading in CZ shares was suspended Nov. 26-27.
Saudi Arabian LCC Sama named Bruce Ashby CEO, replacing Andrew Cowen. Ashby formerly was president and CEO of IndiGo and US Airways executive VP-marketing and planning.
Mesa Air Group announced a settlement with the former controlling shareholder of Aloha Airlines, Yucaipa Cos., ending the latter's lawsuit against the go!
Tiger Airways and Tiger Airways Australia parent Tiger Aviation posted a S$9.9 million ($6.5 million) profit in the fiscal year ended March 31, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported. Result compares to a S$24.7 million loss the previous year. The Singapore-based mainline reported a S$37.8 million profit ( ATWOnline, Aug. 11), while the new Australian subsidiary posted a A$12.2 million ($8 million) operating loss.
WestJet yesterday began offering passengers a "blanket and pillow kit" for C$7 ($5.64). Passengers may keep the pillow and fleece blanket or continue to use WestJet's reusable blankets for free during flights.
Volvo Aero Services Corp. reached a five-year preferred supplier agreement with Ethiopian Airlines to position more than $20 million in engine material to support MRO activities. In exchange, ET will provide VAS with MRO support on select engines and material.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. entered into agreements with J.P. Morgan Securities and Morgan Stanley & Co. to sell up to $200 million in stock "from time to time" through either broker. Air Canada reached agreement with Aeroplan to "accelerate" approximately C$70 million ($56.4 million) in payments by Dec. 31 for reward tickets issued for travel through May 29, helping AC boost near-term liquidity.
A French rescue team yesterday recovered the flight data recorder from the Air New Zealand A320 that crashed into the Mediterranean Sea Nov. 27 on approach to Perpignan during a test flight, but the FDR and previously recovered cockpit voice recorder reportedly are badly damaged.
SITA said Malaysia Airlines selected its in-house reservations system as part of a $130 million improvement program. Ten-year deal includes e-ticketing and departure control system upgrades allowing for self-service options including kiosk and Web check-in. Separately, SITA reached a deal with Guangzhou Baiyun International Airport Computer Informatics Service Center to offer its AirportConnect Open common-use check-in systems and baggage management solutions to regional hubs in China.
The percentage of U.S. online leisure travelers who consider themselves brand-loyal has plunged by 19%, from 31% in 2006 to 25% this year, according to Forrester's North American Technographics Retail, Travel, Customer Experience and Financial Services Benchmark Survey, Q3 2008. In a report on the study, authors Henry Harteveldt, vice president and principal analyst, and Elizabeth Stark, researcher, offer five reasons for the nosedive:
DURING A LONG "SAVE THE AIRLINE" MEETING, someone declared that airlines are basically cash accumulators for other constituencies. It's truethere are plenty of government entities that tax them, groups sell them equipment and banks lend them moneybut I've always believed they are so much more. Airlines drive the global economy and connect us in ways that no other business or technology can.
US airline financial woes deepened in the third quarter as even good news--per-barrel crude oil prices dropping significantly--was tinged with frustration: Carriers hedged fuel at prices that turned out to be much higher than actual prices as the quarter wore on, leading to big noncash charges that contributed to heavy net losses. The 10 largest passenger airlines posted a cumulative net loss of $2.52 billion, reversed from a $1.67 billion profit in the year-ago period, with only American Airlines in the black thanks to the sale of its asset management subsidiary for $432 million.
INTERNATIONAL AERO ENGINES celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Plenty has happened since the consortium formed in 1983 to produce the V2500 and its shareholders divided design and production responsibilities, leaving Pratt & Whitney (32.5%) to take on the combustor and high-pressure turbine, Rolls-Royce (32.5%) to engineer the high-pressure compressor, Japanese Aero Engines (23%) to build the fan and low-pressure compressor and MTU Aero Engines (12%) to forge the low-pressure turbine.
ON AUG. 6, 1947, IN THE FIRST of several such appearances, Howard Hughes told an emotion-charged and sometimes heated US Senate hearing that he had put the sweat of his life and his reputation into his H4 Hercules "Spruce Goose" and if it was a failure he would leave the country and never return. During the hearings, which lasted several months, Hughes snuck in the aircraft's one and only flight on Nov. 2, 1947--about three years after it was contracted to fly.
ONE WAY TO PROCURE PRODUCTS and services is to focus on the destination of nickels and dimes and let the dollars take care of themselves. Then there's this one: Build strong strategic partnerships and everything else tends to fall into place.
The world's first sustainable biofuel flight now is expected to take place as early as Dec. 18 or possibly over Christmas with a jatropha-based fuel powering one engine on an Air New Zealand 747-400 on a 3-hr. gate-to-gate flight from Auckland. The fuel is a 50/50 blend of standard Jet A1 and synthetic paraffinic kerosene derived from jatropha oil.
HERE'S A FAMILIAR STORY LINE: The airline industry is bracing for what it expects will be a serious traffic downturn in 2009 as it prepares to accept a record number of new aircraft at the very point at which the global credit crisis means that capital to finance those aircraft is on indefinite holiday. To paraphrase Yogi Berra, "It's deja vu all over again."
Goodrich's long-term program for nacelle aftermarket services, Prime Solutions, is gaining speed, with a major seven-year US program, a new customer in the growing Asian market and a product improvement that should enhance future business. Bob Gustafson, VP and GM-Goodrich Aerostructures Aftermarket Services, reports customer interest is increasing. The company looks forward to signing up more Prime customers, especially as the 787 enters service.
Procurement of rotable and consumable parts for aircraft, along with the many nonaviation products airlines need, continues to be a tough game, played now for the highest stakes--carrier survival. New tools help achieve better deals and ensure deals are fulfilled. But better procurement requires a sound strategy and thorough process as well as tools. Choices are getting better, more varied and complex. The procurement process must match this complexity.
Continental Airlines announced that along with Boeing, UOP and GE it will fly a 737-800 on Jan. 7 using a biofuel blend including from algae to power one of the CFM56-7B engines. Like the Air New Zealand flight, the fuel is a 50/50 blend of kerosene jet fuel and renewable biofuel, but in this case the biofuel component is a cocktail of jatropha and algae.
There's no way to prettify it: 2008 has been an annus horribilis, probably the worst economic mess since the Great Depression of the 1930s. It was a year dominated by the three Fs: fuel, fees and fear. The mortgage crisis morphed into the credit crisis. Once-venerable financial institutions like Lehman Brothers hit the skids. A jaw-dropping 1.9 million jobs were lost.
In the next 24 hr., deforestation, mainly in the tropics, will release as much CO2 into the atmosphere as 12.5 million people flying from London to New York. That is the stark reality of the effect of deforestation outlined in a new report from Oxford-based Global Canopy Program, an alliance of 38 leading scientific institutions in 19 countries that forms a collaborative program of research, education and conservation addressing biodiversity, climate change and poverty alleviation.
