Delta Air Lines will offer 180-deg. lie-flat business class seats on 767-400 flights from both Atlanta and New York JFK to London Heathrow beginning next summer. DL operates twice-daily JFK-LHR service and will add an additional flight on the route to be co-operated with Air France in summer 2009. It flies daily ATL-LHR.
A Yeti Airlines Twin Otter en route from Kathmandu to Lukla yesterday crashed on landing and caught fire, killing all 16 passengers and two of three crewmembers. According to Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network, "visibility was reported as poor." The flight captain was the sole survivor. The Twin Otter's first flight was in 1980, ASN said. Lukla has a single 1,600-ft. runway at an elevation of 9,380 ft.
Lufthansa Flight Training announced the opening of its Munich training center. Expected to have a staff of 24, the facility initially will accommodate E-190, A320 and A330/A340 simulators. CAE said it will add a CRJ200 FFS to support the CRJ200/900 FFS currently installed at its Madrid training center. Simulator is slated to enter service early next year.
KLM took official receipt of a new cost-saving aircraft painting system using environmentally sustainable, chromate-free paint. The system, developed by KLM Engineering & Maintenance and German manufacturer Mankiewicz, claims to use 15% less paint and allows the degreasing of the aircraft before repainting to be performed with only soap and water. Previously this required 800 litres of aggressive, flammable solvent. Paint retains gloss and color longer, dries faster and application process takes two fewer days, KLM said.
Olympic Airlines cancelled more than 100 flights yesterday as members of Greece's largest union GSEE staged a 24-hr. strike in protest of the government's plan to privatize the carrier ( ATWOnline, Oct. 1). Nearly all modes of transport were affected.
Turkish Airlines won the tender to acquire a 49% stake in B&H Airlines ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5), a Bosnian government official told Reuters in Sarajevo. "After the evaluation of all bids, we found the offer of Turkish Airlines by far the best," the unnamed official told the news service. Comintel Corp. of Malyasia and a Jordanian consortium including Royal Jordanian were among THY's competitors.
Singapore Changi is to be taken over on July 1, 2009, by Temasek Holdings, the state-owned investment company with a portfolio valued at S$185 billion ($126.29 billion) as of March 31, 2008. The corporatization will see the airport's current operator, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore, hived off into a separate aviation regulatory and safety authority handling air traffic services, safety and economic regulation and aeropolitical negotiations.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.71 billion system RPMs in September, down 0.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 3.7% to 12.14 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.4 points to 80%. Etihad Airways transported 4.4 million passengers through the first nine months of 2008, up 33.3% year-over-year. Overall load factor rose 7 points to 75% while business class loads climbed at the same rate to 63%. It launched routes to four new destinations this year and will add two more, Moscow Domodedovo and Almaty, in December. It said it is "set to exceed" its full-year target of 6 million passengers.
Virgin America is introducing a Main Cabin Select fare for flights starting Nov. 3. The service class will offer passengers 38-in. seat pitch, "a more streamlined boarding process" and complimentary food and cocktails inflight. "In short, this is for the traveler who wants an upscale experience for far less than what they would pay for business class on someone else," President and CEO David Cush said.
Air France launched a booking facility for children under 12 traveling alone. The mandatory form for all unaccompanied children will be filled out automatically according to details given at the time of reservation. Customers can then print the form and hand it in to AF ground staff. AF said it is the first airline to offer online reservations for under-12 passengers on all flights and those of its franchised carriers.
Mesa Air Group said yesterday that it has reached a tentative agreement with the Air Line Pilots Assn. on a new contract of undisclosed duration. "This agreement, if ratified, will resolve many of the scheduling-related issues between Mesa and the pilot group," it said. The pilots' contract became amendable in September 2007. The sides entered into an "expedited negotiation process" and said yesterday the new contract includes "more days off. .
Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary told reporters yesterday in London that "if aircraft fleet prices collapse," he would be interested in spearheading an effort to launch a long-haul LCC, Reuters reported. "There may be the opportunity to buy a fleet of long-haul aircraft cheaply next year," he said. He provided few details, but revealed his interest in the long-haul "no frills" transatlantic carrier concept more than a year ago ( ATWOnline, April 13, 2007). He said the potential airline would be independent from Ryanair.
Qantas A330-300 on its way from Singapore to Perth yesterday afternoon experienced severe turbulence and diverted to Learmonth, about 700 mi. north of its destination, with dozens injured. At least 10 were hospitalized in Exmouth, with QF confirming that both passengers and crew suffered "fractures and lacerations. . .following a sudden change in altitude." There were 303 passengers and 10 crew onboard, and local media were reporting that up to 50 were hurt. Qantas dispatched two 717s from Perth to pick up passengers as the A330 was grounded for inspections.
Air France KLM flew 17.99 billion RPKs in September, a 0.5% increase on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 2.2% to 22.25 billion ASKs and load factor fell 1.4 points to 80.9%. Gol flew 1.73 billion consolidated RPKs in September, down 3.1% year-over-year. Capacity rose 4.1% to 3.03 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 4.2 points to 57%.
US Airways expects fourth-quarter mainline unit costs excluding fuel, special items and transition expenses to increase 6%-8% year-over-year, it reported in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. It cited "higher engine maintenance expense" and costs associated with previously announced capacity cuts as the cause ( ATWOnline, July 23). It has hedged 56% of its fuel exposure for the fourth quarter and expects to lose $0.19 per gal. purchased as a result.
US Dept. of Transportation said the 19 reporting carriers cancelled 1.6% of their scheduled domestic flights in August, improved from 1.9% in the year-ago month and 1.7% in July. Comair (4.6%), ExpressJet Airlines (3.3%) and JetBlue Airways (3.2%) had the highest cancellation rates while Frontier Airlines (0.3%), Northwest Airlines (0.5%) and Southwest Airlines (0.6%) reported the lowest. Airlines posted an ontime arrival rate of 78.4%, up from 71.7% in the year-ago month and 75.7% in July.
Dalavia Far East Airways, based at Khabarovsk, had its traffic rights suspended by the Russian government due to rising debts, Itar-Tass reported. Aeroflot and Vladivostok Air have been transporting Dalavia passengers. The news service reported that Dalavia's debt to Khabarovsk Novy Airport exceeded RUB240 million ($9.2 million) last month and bank accounts were frozen in order to allow the airport to collect its money.
US Dept. of Transportation's Office of Inspector General said in a report released last week that FAA needs to upgrade its safety oversight to account for the growing amount of aircraft maintenance work outsourced to foreign countries by US airlines. According to the report, the nine largest US passenger carriers sent 71% of their heavy airframe checks to outside repair stations last year, up from only 34% in 2003.
JetBlue Airways flew 1.75 billion RPMs in September, down 4.8% year-over-year. Capacity fell 11.5% to 2.28 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 5.3 points to 76.7%. EasyJet transported 4.2 million passengers in September, up 22.1% year-over-year. Load factor rose 1.8 points to 86.9%.
Frontier Airlines reached an agreement with the Transport Workers Union, which represents its dispatchers, for wage and benefit concessions through September 2012. Deal is subject to TWU membership and bankruptcy court approval. Frontier is negotiating similar agreements with the Frontier Airline Pilots Assn. and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
Caja Madrid, Iberia's largest shareholder, said yesterday that British Airways shareholders likely will receive approximately 60% of a merged company while IB shareholders take the remainder, Reuters reported. CM Chairman Miguel Blesa told reporters that he expected the new board to have a similar composition.
Facing a projected $250 million drop in revenue this year, Mesa Air Group is finding it impossible to "support the same level of overhead" and is reducing staff across the board, Chairman Jonathan Ornstein told ATWOnline yesterday. "The company will be smaller this year and we needed to right-size the workforce to the new level of reductions," Ornstein said. "Reductions were made throughout the company at all levels. It was a very difficult process for everyone, me in particular." He did not disclose further details.
Chinese carriers should get some relief in the fourth quarter as the Chinese government decided to cut the price of fuel by CNY570 ($82.37) per ton owing to the recent drop in international oil prices. The reduction took effect Oct. 1. It marks the fifth time that Beijing has adjusted the domestic fuel price. It introduced a CNY210 per ton increase in the first quarter, a CNY80 drop in the second quarter, a CNY1,500 hike on June 20 and a CNY720 addition on July 8.
Thai Airways said last week that its third-quarter loss would narrow from the THB9.25 billion ($269.7 million) deficit reported in the second quarter, executive VP Pandit Chanapai said, according to Reuters. He cited declining costs as the reason for the improvement. Load factor is expected to be around 70%. For the full year, Pandit said revenue will fall from the THB174 billion reported in 2007.
Emirates SkyCargo announced development of its White Cover application for shipment of temperature-sensitive freight. Design includes heat shielding, air and water resistance and internal escape prevention features. Patent is pending.
