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).
United Airlines flew 8.33 billion system RPMs in September, down 9.2% year-over-year. Capacity fell 8.6% to 10.46 billion ASMs, lowering load factor 0.5 point to 79.7%. Lufthansa Group airlines flew 13.73 billion RPKs in September, up 5.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 8.3% to 17.15 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.9 points to 80.1%. Ukraine International Airlines transported 168,000 passengers in September, up 5% year-over-year. Load factor rose 7.4 points to 76.1%.
Allegiant Air parent Allegiant Travel Co. reported a $4.9 million third-quarter profit, down 30.3% from $7 million in earnings during the year-ago period, citing "aggressive capacity management" as the principal reason for its continued profitability.
Air France KLM Chairman and CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta "evoked the possibility of zero growth in capacity for the company in 2009 and 2010" while meeting with trade unions this week, an AF KLM spokesperson told Reuters. Regarding reports that the company was looking to trim jobs, the spokesperson said it "remained determined to keep jobs whenever possible." AF KLM projected a 2% year-over-year capacity increase for both the upcoming winter schedule and summer 2009, according to press reports, but dropped the winter guidance to 1.7% last month.
Iberia raised its stake in British Airways to 9.07%, or 104.6 million shares, the UK carrier said yesterday. Increase comes one week after IB had upped its holding to 8.07%.
American Eagle pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. ratified an "unprecedented" 16-year contract. According to unit chairman Herb Mark, the contract, which becomes amendable at the end of 2012, "increases quality of life wherever possible but includes no concessions."
New alliance created and controlled by the state and Russian Technologies to replace AiRUnion will comprise 10 regional airlines, be registered as a public corporation and eventually be called something other than Russia Airlines (a working name), RT head Sergei Chemezov told journalists, The Moscow Times reported. Moscow Vnukovo will be the carrier's principal base, with the Moscow city government holding the remaining 49% of the new company ( ATWOnline, Oct. 22). It also will have bases in St.
Gol and Varig parent Gol Linhas Aereas Inteligentes said losses on its fuel hedges and gains on currency hedges would result in a BRL48 million ($22.1 million) charge against its third-quarter results, which it is scheduled to report Oct. 27. It expects to report an operating margin of -1% to 1%.
Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation announced yesterday that airlines will have until March 31 to pay their present outstanding fuel bills to the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas and, in addition, will be able to procure their fuel on credit until that date ( ATWOnline, Oct. 20).
Boeing's third-quarter net income plunged 38% to $695 million from $1.11 billion last year, and Chairman, President and CEO Jim McNerney conceded that the machinists' strike "had a major impact" on earnings.
