Airbus, preparing to deliver to Qantas its first A380 today, yesterday moved to quell speculation in the French media that more production problems may delay future deliveries. According to Agence France Presse, Airbus President and CEO Tom Enders said the manufacturer is still on track to deliver 12 A380s this year, 21 in 2009 and between 30 and 40 in 2010. France's Journal du Dimanche reported Sunday that Emirates would not receive its second A380 until the end of October, effectively a two-month delay.
BAE Systems Regional Aircraft won a three-year deal with Saab Aerotech for warehousing services covering spares for Saab 340 and Saab 2000 regional turboprops. Contract is valued at £1.5 million ($2.7 million).
US Air Transport Assn. praised the US House of Representatives for passing a bill that ATA said "gives the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the authority to impose additional position limits on certain types of energy trades and provide greater transparency" to the energy market. "This will close some of the loopholes that speculators have used to pour billions of dollars into the energy markets and bring more transparency to commodities trading," ATA stated, adding, "We look to the Senate for their support in including strong speculation reform in their energy bill."
Pratt & Whitney Canada said it established a parts distribution center in Sydney to speed delivery times in Australia and New Zealand. Center, which is expected to complement Pratt PDCs in Singapore and Amsterdam, will house various spares including new parts, exchange accessories and LRUs for PWC engines.
Air Canada yesterday eliminated a C$25 ($23) fee for checking a second bag, saying that the "recent retreat in oil prices is enabling us to reinstate our previous baggage policy." It added that it also will drop "add-on" fuel surcharges for North American flights, "instead adjusting. . .base fares to cover the total cost of fuel," Executive VP and CCO Ben Smith said.
China's AVIC I yesterday said that the merged company it is forming with AVIC II will be called "China Aviation Industry Corp. Group" and revealed details of the entity's structure.
Lufthansa passengers now can use "mobile boarding passes" sent to Internet-enabled cell phones via e-mail or SMS on all flights from Germany to any destination in Europe, the carrier announced. LH said more than 7,000 weekly domestic passengers are using the electronic boarding passes, which contain a 2D barcode that permits them to pass through security checkpoints and proceed straight to their departure gates.
European Commission gave its approval to the Greek government plan to privatize and restart Olympic Airlines as Pantheon Airways next year ( ATWOnline, Sept. 17), but it also demanded that Olympic return €850 million ($1.2 billion) in state aid. EC VP-Transport Antonio Tajani called the funding "incompatible with European legislation." The privatization plan could face opposition from the carrier's labor unions, which have threatened to fight it.
The US government's $85 billion bailout of ILFC parent American International Group late Tuesday cast a cloud of uncertainty over the aircraft lessor that is the largest single customer of both Boeing and Airbus.
Flight Safety Foundation said yesterday that Executive VP Robert Vandel announced his intention to retire on Dec. 31. "Bob has had a tremendously distinguished career of public service and has made huge contributions to global aviation safety," said FSF Chairman Edward Stimpson.
BAA put London Gatwick up for sale yesterday, a move it described as a "realistic. . .response" to the UK Competition Commission's provisional report released last month that raised concerns over the company's ownership of seven UK airports including three serving London.
Sabre Holdings' products in the United Arab Emirates and five markets in Africa will be distributed by Emirates' travel division EmQuest under a 10-year deal announced this week. Contract covers distribution sales and support services in South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia and in the UAE starting in January.
VT Miltope and TriaGnoSys announced a partnership to provide end-to-end systems for in-cabin networks. Collaboration is aimed at developing a solution to enable a range of services including broadband Internet access, voice services, inflight entertainment system management and the transmission of non-flight-critical crew information such as electronic flight bags, weather reports and cabin inventory reports.
NWA Cargo said it upgraded engines on five of its 12 747-200Fs as part of its EarthCares program. It switched out a mix of JT9D-7Js and -7Qs for a mix of -7Qs and -7Rs from former passenger aircraft, according to spokeswoman Kristin Baur. NWA expects to achieve a 5% improvement in fuel efficiency, saving 2.4 million gal. of fuel and 26,000 tons of carbon emissions per year. The freighter fleet currently consists of seven JT9D-7R-powered aircraft, three -7Qs and two -7Js.
myTECHNIC received DGCA/EASA certification for heavy maintenance at its 46,000-sq.-m. facility at Istanbul Sabiha Gokcen. Certification covers C and D checks as well as major modifications on MD-80s, A300s and 737s registered in Turkey and the EU. It also allows for CF6-series overhaul.
Mindpearl was selected by American Airlines as its preferred supplier to deliver multilingual contact center services for Japan, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. Languages will include Japanese, Mandarin and English. Services will be provided from Mindpearl's Brisbane facilities and will include general sales and ticketing inquiries along with frequent-flier inquiries and redemptions.
Southwest Airlines pilots at Baltimore/Washington International yesterday began particparting in the US Transportation Security Administration's SecureScreen trial, which is using biometric screening technology developed by Priva Technologies to positively identify flightdeck crewmembers. The trial will run for 60 days at BWI and include more than 200 SWA pilots. It aims to identify pilots more accurately than current screening methods and allow them to move through security checkpoints more quickly.
Olympic Airlines will be shut down and restarted as Pantheon Airways early next year pending European Commission approval of a Greek government plan to rescue the loss-making carrier. Under the plan, Pantheon would be privatized, likely including foreign investment. It would continue operating Olympic's domestic network but would cut back international routes and be about 65% of Olympic's size. Several thousand jobs would be eliminated. Greek Minister of Transport Kostas Chatzidakis said OA is one of Europe's worst performing companies and cannot continue in its current form.
VEM Maintenance & Engineering, a TAP Portugal subsidiary, reached a deal with Air Transat for heavy maintenance on four A310s. C checks are scheduled from September to November at VEM's hangar in Rio de Janeiro.
Qantas will take delivery of its first A380 Friday in Toulouse. QF's configuration will have the lowest passenger count of any A380 operator with just 450 seats including 332 economy seats.
Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi yesterday pushed Alitalia's labor unions to accept concessions proposed by Italian investment group CAI, which is willing to spend €1 billion ($1.4 billion) to rescue and re-launch the troubled airline ( ATWOnline, Sept. 15).
Enigma announced that FedEx selected the Enigma 3C Platform "to streamline maintenance and service operations for its entire fleet of aircraft." In a phased rollout, FedEx already is using the solution for custom job card generation and distribution for scheduled and unscheduled maintenance. In the second phase, Enigma "will help manage OEM maintenance revisions and publish service information for the entire FedEx fleet" of more than 800 aircraft.
Air China and China Southern Airlines both endured double-digit year-over-year traffic declines in August, and while some of the drop can be attributed to heightened security related to the Beijing Olympics, slowing domestic economic growth likely portends a poor full-year 2008 traffic and financial performance for Chinese carriers, industry players and analysts told ATWOnline.
AP Labs announced that it will enter the market for inflight entertainment hardware through AP Avionix, a new company that had its formal launch at last week's World Airline Entertainment Assn. Annual Conference and Exhibition in Long Beach. AP Avionix will offer equipment such as servers, wireless RF-based systems, wireless access points, power solutions and airborne wireless broadband systems.
Emirates and Sabre Holdings reached a 10-year distribution agreement to grant Sabre-connected travel agencies and corporations access to Emirates' full content fares through Sabre's GDS.
