Alaska Airlines said its winter schedule starting Nov. 9 will see an 8% year-over-year capacity cut, leading to a 9%-10%, or 1,000-employee, workforce reduction. It will cancel low-demand flights on Saturdays and holidays, reduce frequencies in some markets and shift some flying from its 737s to regional subsidiary Horizon Air's Q400s or CRJ700s. Chairman and CEO Bill Ayer explained that the cuts are driven by "the one-two punch of record oil prices and a softening economy on top of increased competition."
Qantas engineers at the airline's Tamworth heavy maintenance facility are threatening strike action this week, Fairfax Digital reported. The engineers reportedly are in dispute with the airline over a failure to renegotiate a workplace agreement dating back to 2005. The Tamworth engineers, responsible for QF's fleet of 11 717s, operate under a different labor agreement than other QF engineers.
Ryanair said that owing to delayed deliveries caused by the Boeing machinists' strike, it will defer the opening of its Reus base by five weeks to Nov. 5 and postpone the basing of its seventh aircraft at Bergamo by four weeks to Oct. 29. The LCC already had confirmed it was postponing the opening of its Edinburgh base by six weeks to Nov. 5 owing to the strike. Ryanair was scheduled to base two new 737-800s at EDI and two at REU, but these aircraft "are now indefinitely delayed due to a strike by Boeing employees," Deputy CEO Michael Cawley said.
XL Airways UK grounded all flights Friday after its parent company, XL Leisure Group, the UK's third-largest tour operator, was put into administration, leaving an estimated 85,000 passengers stranded abroad. The shutdown was caused by "volatile fuel prices, the economic downturn and [an inability] to obtain further funding," a statement of the joint administrators said on the xl.com website. The administrators added they were not able "to continue trading the business and therefore all flights. . . have been immediately cancelled and the aircraft grounded."
Panasonic Avionics reached agreement with Air France to provide its eX2 IFE 10 777-300ERs, the first of which is slated to enter service in March 2010.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, campaigning ahead of Oct. 14 national elections, said he would favor raising the limit for foreign investment in Canadian airlines to 49% from 25%.
Emirates, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures and Panasonic Avionics Corp. said they have introduced DVD-quality MPEG-4 digital audio and video media on the Panasonic eX2 IFE system. Panasonic said past IFE systems have used either the higher-compression, lower-quality MPEG-1 or the low-compression, DVD-quality MPEG-2 standards, forcing airlines to choose between larger libraries of lower-quality media or smaller libraries with higher quality.
TAM signed a contract with OnAir, a joint venture between Airbus and SITA, that will enable its passengers to use cell phones or other mobile devices in flight on its A320s for voice, SMS messaging or e-mail on South American routes. The service is expected to begin in the second half of 2009 but is dependent upon approval from Brazil's National Agency of Civil Aviation and National Agency of Telecommunications. Also required is a legislative adjustment because current Brazilian law only authorizes cell phone use when aircraft are on the ground and doors are open.
European Court of Justice dismissed a claim for damages against the European Commission for the EC's decision to prohibit the proposed acquisition of First Choice by Airtours/MyTravel Group in 1999. "The fact that the Court annulled the decision of the Commission prohibiting the acquisition of First Choice by MyTravel does not make the Community liable in damages, since [it] did not manifestly and gravely infringe Community law," the ECJ ruled yesterday. Airtours tried to acquire UK tour operator First Choice in 1999, but the EC blocked the merger on competition grounds.
Venezuela National Civil Aviation Institute President Jose Martinez told American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Delta Air Lines that they be will have to reduce flights to Caracas by the end of this month as a dispute between the US and Venezuela over airport security intensified.
GuestLogix yesterday reached agreement with US Airways to provide its Mobile Virtual Store solution comprising handheld devices and integrated software services. Solution is expected to streamline cash, credit and debit card sales from the inflight a la carte food and beverage menu. The carrier aims to deploy the technology across its mainline fleet by the first quarter of next year.
Austrian Airlines Group's deadline for potential bidders ends today, and CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline that at "the latest by the end of October we will know who will be our partner for the future." AAG's majority shareholder, state holding company OIAG, is offering its 43% stake in Austrian but may sell a smaller share because the deal is tied to the condition that Austrian shareholders retain 25% of the carrier.
Sabre Holdings acquired Flight Explorer, which it called "the leading provider of Commercial Aircraft Situation Display solutions providing real-time tracking, reporting and display of en route aircraft." Price and terms were not disclosed. Flight Explorer products will be integrated fully with Dispatch Manager, part of Sabre Airline Solutions' Flight Planning suite.
Emirates said yesterday that its new service from Dubai to Los Angeles and San Francisco, scheduled to start Oct. 26 and Dec. 15 respectively, will operate initially on a thrice-weekly basis rather than daily as planned owing to delayed delivery of a 777-200LR caused by the Boeing machinists' strike. EK already has pushed back upgrading its Dubai-JFK A380 service from thrice-weekly to daily on Oct. 1 because of an unexpected delay in receiving its second A380.
Thomas Cook Group, TUI Travel and Lufthansa talks regarding a merger of their German carriers Condor, TUIfly and Germanwings are still ongoing and a decision could come soon, according to Thomas Cook Chief Executive Manny Fontenla-Novoa. "Pretty soon we will have to give the Condor staff some certainty," he told Reuters. He said he expects that antitrust authorities will approve the merger, which would create a carrier with 142 aircraft carrying 30 million passengers annually. "The advice that we are getting from lawyers involved is that we will probably get approval," he said.
SkyWorks Leasing arranged the sale of two Frontier Airlines A319s to a special-purpose company affiliated with VTB Leasing, Moscow, for onward lease to Rossiya Airlines.
Air France Industries and KLM Engineering & Maintenance signed a deal with South African Airways subsidiary SAA Technical for repair services and spares pool access across the carrier's fleet. AFI and KLM E&M currently provide component support for SAA Technical's 11 A319-100s, 15 A340-300s/-600s and 21 737-800s. Deal also covers AFI and KLM E&M subsidiary EPCOR, which maintains SAA's A340 APUs.
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters said yesterday that FAA has accepted recommendations from the independent review team, composed of nongovernment experts, that she established and dispatched in April to conduct reviews of US airlines' safety programs ( ATWOnline, April 21) following revelations about Southwest Airlines' noncompliance with an agency airworthiness directive.
Oxford Aviation Academy said this week that it acquired General Flying Services, an Australia-based ab initio training provider, under a deal backed by STAR Capital Partners. Financial details were not disclosed. GFS, which operates from two airports in Melbourne, last fiscal year trained more than 300 cadets (many from Southeast Asia, China and the Middle East) and anticipates more than 500 pilot graduates over the next few years.
Farelogix signed a multiyear agreement with Air Canada to distribute ala-carte fare products, product attributes and flight passes to users of its FLX Platform through a direct connect with the carrier's AC2U platform. Technology allows travel agents to shop, price, book and service exclusive Air Canadae content.
AiRUnion COO Gustav Baldur said the struggling Russian airline alliance will be shut down at the latest by Sept. 30 ( ATWOnline, Sept. 9). Speaking to ATWOnline at an international symposium of the Austrian Aviation Assn., Baldauf said the AiRUnion project had failed. "Now we will present a new concept [to the State of Russia] today in Moscow [to show] how a replacement airline project could be functional."
Continental Airlines said it has furloughed 148 pilots as part of its effort to trim operating costs that were sparked by higher fuel prices. It added that the furloughs were in line with plans announced in June to retire 67 737s, lower 2008 fourth-quarter mainline domestic capacity by 11% and reduce its workforce by 3,000 ( ATWOnline, June 6).
CAE won orders for full flight simulators and related CAE Simfinity training devices valued at more than C$54 million ($50.6 million) from Cathay Pacific Airways, Southwest Airlines, Lufthansa Flight Training and Flight Simulation Co. CX ordered a CAE 7000 Series 747-8 FFS, CAE Simfinity Integrated Procedures Trainer and CAE Simfinity Virtual Maintenance Trainer for 747-8s. The simulator is slated for delivery in 2010 to the carrier's Hong Kong training facility. SWA purchased a CAE 7000 Series 737-700 FFS featuring its True electric motion system.
Air Canada said yesterday that it will begin offering passengers inflight Internet service in spring 2009 via Aircell's Gogo mobile broadband service. AC plans to roll out the Gogo system on select flights to the US next year, initially installing the system on its A319s operating on transborder routes. VP-Marketing Charles McKee said the carrier ultimately plans "systemwide" deployment. AC becomes Aircell's first non-US customer for inflight Internet service. Passengers will be able to access Gogo with a standard Wi-Fi-equipped laptop or personal electronic device.
Turkish Airlines plans to realize a further $100 million in cost savings thanks to what CEO Temel Kotil called "intensive cooperation" with IATA. "We plan to get these savings with more fleet efficiency," he told ATWOnline. More direct routes and reduced use of APUs on the ground will be key to reaching the target, he said, adding, "In addition to that, we have a very young fleet which saves us a lot of fuel as well."
