TAP Portugal flew 2.05 billion RPKs in September, up 6.6% year-over-year, against a 12.1% surge in capacity to 2.8 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 3.8 points to 73.3%. Alitalia flew 2.58 billion RPKs in September, down 25% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 17.6% to 3.66 billion ASKs and load factor was down 7 points to 70.5%. Olympic Airlines flew 686 million RPKs in September, a 7.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity was down 13.8% to 845.9 million ASKs and load factor rose 5.6 points to 81.1%.
Boeing and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers reached a four-year tentative labor agreement Monday night that, if ratified, will mark the end of a costly strike by some 27,000 workers that has idled aircraft assembly lines since Sept. 6.
S7 Airlines confirmed that Nov. 17 will be the last day it operates any Russian-built aircraft. It said its Oct. 26-March 28 winter schedule includes 69 destinations and will feature the Dec. 23 launch of Moscow Domodedovo-Bangkok service aboard a 767-300ER. It said it will cut flights to "some" Russian cities whose airports have not been cleared to handle foreign-built aircraft. S7 flew 11.65 billion RPKs through the first nine months of 2008, up 11.6% from the year-ago period. Passenger numbers climbed 12.6% to 4.8 million and load factor fell 1.8 points to 80.3%.
Product Development Co. announced that AMECO Beijing successfully deployed Arbortext, PTC's product information delivery software "for the timely and accurate update" of its MRO-related manuals.
Qantas and British Airways both admitted to violating Australian competition laws relating to air cargo fuel surcharges in 2002-06 and reached agreement with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to pay fines of A$20 million ($12.2 million) and A$5 million respectively. "Qantas apologizes unreservedly for the conduct of the employees involved," CEO Geoff Dixon said. BA said it "has a longstanding competition compliance policy and it is highly regrettable that this policy was not adhered to in relation to fuel surcharges on the carriage of cargo."
Qatar Airways is interested in a possible bid for Olympic Airways, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis revealed. "What I can say is that Qatar Airways is on the list of investors who have expressed interest in Olympic," he said in a statement cited by Bloomberg News. Deadline for nonbinding bids is the end of the month and no other potential bidders were named.
Lufthansa Technik yesterday opened a new MRO center at Sofia. The joint venture between LHT (80%) and Bulgarian Aviation Group (20%) will offer maintenance and heavy checks on both Airbus and Boeing narrowbodies. The company invested €20 million in renovation of a 6,000-sq.-m., two-bay hangar and will employ 350. It will look to secure third-party work from European, Middle Eastern and North African carriers.
CAE said JetBlue Airways signed a five-year contract for CAE True Airport, a subscription-based service that keeps visual databases current with rapidly changing airport environments.
Delta Air Lines named John "Ned" Walker senior VP and chief communications officer. Walker joins DL from Continental Airlines, where he spent 21 years, most recently serving as senior VP-corporate communications.
Austrian state holding company OIAG, which owns 42.75% of the troubled flag carrier, delayed Austrian Airlines Group's privatization until year end in order to attract better offers.
Bmi and Brussels Airlines, which each have Lufthansa as a shareholder, signed a codeshare agreement effective last Sunday that will see bmi add its code to SN flights from Brussels to Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester and Newcastle. SN will add its code to bmi flights from Edinburgh, Leeds Bradford and Nottingham East Midlands. According to bmi Deputy CEO Tim Bye, the agreement is not a result of LH's recent investment in SN ( ATWOnline, Sept. 25). "We were not brought together by a common shareholder," he told ATWOnline.
Arab Air Carriers Org. elected Saudi Arabian Airlines CEO Khalid Abdullah Almolhem as its new president, succeeding current Tunisair President and CEO Nabil Chettaoui.
Russian Finance Ministry is "ready" to issue RUB30 billion ($1.1 billion) in loans to airlines to cover fuel purchases, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov told RIA Novosti. He also revealed that in the next couple of weeks the government will propose six-month deferments of payment of taxes and duties on foreign-made aircraft, engines and training equipment. Meanwhile, KrasAir, a former member of the failed AiRUnion alliance, cancelled all flights to/from its Krasnoyarsk hub and is operating only Moscow Domodedovo-Norilsk service, a spokesperson told Itar-Tass.
Gol and Condor Airlines reached an interline agreement allowing Condor passengers to purchase tickets from Condor destinations Recife and Salvador to Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Maceio, Natal, Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo.
Hawaiian Airlines reached lease agreements with AWAS that will add two more A330-200s to its fleet in the first half of 2011. The carrier already has six A330-200s and six A350 XWB-800s on order, plus purchase rights for six of each ( ATWOnline, Feb. 5). Hawaiian also announced a separate agreement with AWAS to extend leases on two 767-300ERs to 2011. The newly leased A330s will replace those 767s.
VEM Maintenance & Engineering said it completed the first phase of its contract with Air Transat, delivering the first of four A310s in line for C checks.
Assn. of European Airlines said its 31 member carriers transported 31.4 million passengers in September, down 4.8% year-over-year. RPKs fell 1.1% to 68.47 billion against a 2.3% rise in capacity to 89.35 billion ASKs. Load factor dropped 2.6 points to 76.6%. Alaska Airlines flew 1.43 billion RPMs in September, up 0.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5% to 1.89 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4 points to 75.8%.
Chautauqua Airlines, a subsidiary of Republic Airways Holdings, agreed to amend its service contract with American Airlines and reduce the number of ERJ-140s it operates to 13 from 15 beginning in June. It also will lower reimbursement rates by 3% from April 1. In exchange, the date on which AA can terminate the deal shifted to March 2012 from March 2009. Chautauqua will continue to be reimbursed for the two extra ERJs unless it is able to sell, sublease or place them.
SR Technics finalized a 10-year deal with South Korea's Eastar Jet for its Integrated Airline Solutions package offering technical management services and support for components, engines, APUs and landing gear on 737NGs.
The EU Council on Friday adopted the European Commission directive to include aviation in the EU emissions trading system. The decision was made "without discussion" at the Council meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs Ministers, according to a statement. The EU's 27 member states now are required to transpose the new directive into national law within 12 months.
Arab Air Carriers Org. Secretary General Abdul Wahab Teffaha said he believes his member airlines are well-positioned to face the current industry and economic crises and that the turmoil might present opportunities for Arab carriers to emerge stronger and better developed. "There are some dampening elements that may soften the depth of the crisis on the Arab airlines," Teffaha noted during AACO's annual general meeting in Tunis last week.
Amadeus announced the deployment of its e-Retail solution at Hainan Airlines. The booking engine allows customers to book their tickets in English, French, German, Japanese, Korean and Simplified Chinese.
IATA reported that September international passenger traffic (RPKs) declined 2.9% compared to September 2007, the first monthly drop since the 2003 SARS crisis.
China Eastern Airlines received CAAC permission to resume operating from Kunming to Dali and Xishuangbanna yesterday, six months after its suspension resulting from a highly publicized incident in which disgruntled pilots returned outbound flights ( ATWOnline, April 21).
