A summer survey of 113 airline executives conducted by US consulting firm IdeaWorks revealed that "more and more airlines are turning to a la carte pricing to provide an ancillary revenue boost" and that "more and more airlines appear willing to act independently on the issue of a la carte fees."
Heroux-Devtek won a $27-million repayable contribution from Industry Canada for research and development of its landing gear technologies. Funds are part of a $77 million project to improve performance and reliability and reduce environmental impact. Investment will span six years with repayments taking effect one year after project completion.
Continental Airlines reported an estimated 4.5%-5.5% year-over-year increase in August consolidated RASM. It flew 9.14 billion RPMs during the month, up 0.7%, against a 2.4% rise in ASMs to 10.89 billion. Load factor fell 1.4 points to 83.9%. British Airways flew 10.17 billion RPKs in August, a 1.6% fall from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 1.9% to 13.16 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.7 points to 77.3%.
EADS will invest €180 million ($263.5 million) to build a new plant in Augsburg that will manufacture fuselage parts for the A350, the Associated Press reported. The facility will open in 2011 adjacent to the current Airbus factory.
Boeing members of the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers are set to vote today on the manufacturer's final pay offer. The deal includes an 11% raise, a 14% increase in pensions, a lump sum bonus of at least $2,500 and continuation of free premium health plan options, while the company has yielded on plans to phase out retiree health care and traditional pensions.
Air New Zealand will launch a new cabin product on its A320 and 767 fleets used on Pacific and Australian services on Sept. 9. Rather than back away from capital expenditure, ANZ has embraced further product upgrades designed to snare premium customers ( ATWOnline, March 14). This year it is investing more than NZ$55 million ($38.3 million) installing IFE throughout the 767s and A320s used on short- and medium-haul routes and increasing seat pitch in economy ahead of the wing to 35 in.
Conviasa 737-200 crashed Saturday on a positioning flight, killing the three crewmembers onboard. The aircraft had been stored in Caracas and was being ferried to a new owner in Latacunga, Ecuador, when it flew into the side of the Iliniza volcano, Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network reported. The JT8D-9A-powered aircraft first flew in 1978.
Spanair continued to defend its decision not to move passengers from the MD-82 that crashed last month prior to a second takeoff attempt as reports surfaced that the pilot asked for two busses to be used to transfer passengers to another aircraft following the aborted first takeoff.
Mechtronix Systems said the International Flight Training Center in Istanbul received JAA Level D certification for its A320 FFS X featuring electric motion system, LCoS projectors and replication architecture. French DGAC performed the evaluation.
Virgin Blue will expand its Sydney training center and build a maintenance base in a move that is expected to create almost 1,000 jobs. It will add 737-800 and E-170 simulators to its recently opened V Australia training facility at Botany Bay, which already has a 777-300ER. Blue also announced that the first V Australia 777-300ER due for delivery in November will feature lie-flat beds and two bars.
United Airlines reversed its decision to charge for meals in economy on certain transatlantic flights beginning in the fourth quarter owing to "direct, candid feedback" from customers ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21).
Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority wants Qantas to implement a range of improvements to the way it manages and delivers aircraft maintenance following a special review carried out last month. CASA called on the carrier to produce a plan to address deficiencies in meeting some of its own maintenance performance targets. It also wants QF to examine whether existing lines of authority and control over maintenance are delivering the best results ( ATWOnline, Aug. 19).
Finnair and Finncomm Airlines entered into a 50/50 joint venture to establish Finnish Aircraft Maintenance, which will specialize in ATR turboprops and E-145s. FAM will serve domestic and international customers at Helsinki Vantaa pending approval of competition authorities. A new maintenance hangar will open by next spring. Finncomm currently operates nine ATR 72-500s and will grow its fleet to 16 by 2011.
Frustrated by its inability to process travel agency sales through IATA's billing and settlement plans, V Australia launched its own travel agent payment and settlement system. IATA barred the carrier from using the BSPs until it acquires its own operating certificate.
AS US LEGACY CARRIERS COME TO grips with soaring fuel costs, the pain is trickling--in some cases pouring--down onto their regional partners. This reversal of fortune comes after more than a decade of impressive growth that saw regionals assume an ever-expanding role in the nation's air transportation network, deploying hundreds of 50-seat regional jets (and smaller numbers of 70/90-seaters) to markets for which slower but more fuel efficient turboprops would not have been practical and to replace and complement mainline jet service in existing city-pairs.
US airline executives may be feeling a bit of whiplash. Just a year ago, the second quarter was celebrated as the first reporting period in nearly five years that ended with no US carrier in bankruptcy protection, and all of the nation's 10 largest airlines were in the black with cumulative net income of more than $5 billion. A year later, dramatically rising fuel costs coupled with a weak US economy led to the 10 carriers posting a cumulative net loss of $5.8 billion in the 2008 quarter, results that stamped out any remaining enthusiasm about the "recovery" of 2007.
The idea came about when the carrier was thinking of ways to stimulate travel during the fall lull. "We were looking for something unique to get people thinking about travel," Don Uselmann, manager of business development, said. "We wanted a 'water cooler' story, something that people would talk about." JetBlue decided to auction off 218 flight packages--roundtrips for one or two people to specific destinations on specific dates--and six vacation products for weekend trips in September and early October.
Ryanair said it welcomed the decision of the Hamburg Court to uphold its injunction against Vtours.de, which it described as "a screenscraper/ticket-tout website which was previously selling Ryanair tickets, with inflated hidden markups, to German consumers." Ryanair's aggressive stance against screenscrapers has drawn the attention of the European Commission ( ATWOnline, Aug. 27).
Aeroflot's board last week decided to open a branch in Krasnoyarsk, where it will base a Tu-154 and add up to seven aircraft in the fourth quarter. It said the decision was based on "KrasAir's difficulties to continue its operations and to meet the considerable demand in this region." KrasAir is one of the largest constituents of the debt-ridden, five-airline AiRUnion alliance, which recently suffered from operational difficulties and groundings and last week was promised 24,000 tonnes of fuel by the Russian government through Sept.
US National Transportation Safety Board said it is investigating an Aug. 28 incident in which a Transaero 747-400 and a Delta Air Lines 737-800 "came within zero ft. vertical and 1 min. lateral separation at an altitude of 33,000 ft. about 179 mi. north of San Juan, Puerto Rico." It added that the Transaero 747 "descended 200-300 ft." after receiving a TCAS alert. The DL aircraft was en route from New York JFK to Port of Spain.
LOT Polish Airlines low-fare subsidiary Centralwings will cease operating scheduled services next month and become a charter and ACMI carrier, it announced last week, saying market conditions have "imperil[ed] the company's stability." It will begin the transition on Sept. 14 and by Sept. 30 will operate only charter flights save for Warsaw-Lisbon service that will end Oct. 7.
Pratt & Whitney and Aviall Services will work together to distribute JT9D spare parts under an agreement announced last week. Contract calls for Aviall to supply Pratt OEM spares to JT9D operators, which number more than 1,200 globally. Produced from 1969 through 1990, the JT9D powers 747s, 767s, A300s, A310s and DC-10s.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace said its ST Aviation Training Academy subsidiary Aviation Training Academy Australia acquired the Bruce Hartwig Flying School for a cash consideration of A$120,000 ($103,655) ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5, 2007).
