AWAS announced the acquisition of two A330-200s from ILFC. Aircraft were part of a six-aircraft buy and are operated by Malaysia Airlines and Vietnam Airlines. It also leased one 737-400 to Indonesia's Sriwijaya Air.
Airbus yesterday presented details of its Power8 Plus restructuring program to labor unions representing its employees, telling workers that the cuts envisioned in the original Power8 restructuring program no longer are sufficient.
Alaska Airlines said its entire fleet will be equipped by the end of this month with Honeywell's Runway Awareness and Advisory System, which provides audible alerts in cockpits when aircraft approach and enter taxiways and runways. RAAS aims to prevent pilots from using the wrong runway. Alaska said it began installing the system on its 737s in July.
LAN Airlines will introduce a premium economy product within South America on Sept.15. It will feature a middle seat in each row that converts into a table. It will be available on flights from Santiago to Buenos Aires, Guayaquil, Quito, Lima, Sao Paulo Guarulhos and Montevideo and from Lima to Quito, Bogota, Medellin and GRU.
ARINC added Inmarsat's SwiftBroadband to its portfolio and is selling the connectivity service and applications to the aviation market. ARINC said it has made "major enhancements" to its Oi Onboard Internet offering to take advantage of the increased bandwidth available with SwiftBroadband. It also can offer "real-time credit approval capability to Oi, enabling airlines to offer pay-per-view entertainment to passengers during flight."
European Commission announced yesterday that it has opened an "in-depth investigation" into the planned acquisition of Martinair by Air France KLM because the takeover "might substantially reduce competition." KLM currently owns 50% of Martinair shares and intends to acquire the other 50% from Maersk ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21). The EC cited the potential negative impact of a merger on competition "as regards at least passenger transport between Amsterdam and. .
Magellan Group, an aftermarket supplier of aircraft products and services, announced that ACG Investment Capital Partners, a joint venture between Aviation Capital Group and FB Transportation Capital LLC, made an investment in Magellan. Terms were not disclosed.
Emirates has replaced its A380 with a 777-300ER until Sept. 12, citing training and engineering issues. EK had planned to use the A380 for training in between its Dubai-New York JFK services but engineering work has taken more time than expected. At the same time, its plan to operate daily A380 flights to JFK beginning Oct. 1 has slipped several weeks because of a delay in the delivery of its second aircraft. Sources in Hamburg told ATWOnline that aircraft will not be delivered until the third week of October due to delays in interior outfitting.
JetBlue Airways said yesterday that it will auction more than 300 roundtrip flights and six "getaway vacation packages" on eBay through Sept. 14. It said opening bids will be "a nickel or a dime" excluding taxes and fees.
Amadeus and transavia.com yesterday reached a distribution deal to make the airline's inventory available on Amadeus's system using its Ticketless Access solution. Technology will allow travel agencies to make transavia.com bookings within preferred GDS environments.
With no new talks scheduled between Boeing and the International Assn. of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, the manufacturer's production lines remained silent yesterday and suppliers and airlines began to assess the potential damage of a protracted strike.
Rockwell Collins said easyJet debuted its dPAVES inflight entertainment system on an A321. System features 10-in. retractable LCD displays and Airshow 4200 Moving Map server integration.
Cathay Pacific Airways yesterday held a groundbreaking ceremony for its cargo terminal at Hong Kong International. It is investing HK$4.8 billion ($614.8 million) in the facility, which is slated to be completed by the second half of 2011. The terminal will have an annual capacity of 2.6 million tonnes and, while owned and operated by Cathay, will be a common-use facility open to all airlines.
New Alitalia will be organized by Nov. 1, according to Italian Minister of Productive Activities Claudio Scajola, who told media that the country "need[s] an airline which can be competitive as soon as possible," according to Bloomberg News. It will not be an easy road, however, as at least five unions yesterday rejected the layoffs and new contracts necessary to the government's rescue plan.
STS Holdings acquired the assets and business of Tradewinds Aircraft Services, a component supplier and OEM distributor, under a deal announced last week. Acquisition is expected to complement STS by offering airlines, MROs and OEMs integrated and turnkey solutions for staffing, parts, maintenance, engineering and supply chain management requirements. The new company, STS Component Solutions, will be based in Palm City and assume previous contracts, distribution programs and preferred supplier agreements.
Flybe reported pre-tax profit of £12.2 million ($21.5 million) for the fiscal first quarter ended June 30, a 14% rise from the £10.7 million earned in the year-ago period, as revenue increased 13.7% from £136 million to £155 million on an 18% growth in passengers to 2 million. For the financial year ended March 31, the UK's largest regional carrier, which acquired BA Connect from British Airways in March 2007, reported a net profit of £39.6 million, reversing a loss of £19.9 million in the prior year.
Sabre Holdings is announcing today the launch of the SabreSonic Customer Sales and Services solution, which the company described as the airline industry's "first real intersection of customer-focused solutions and revenue generation in every distribution channel."
ENAC granted Alitalia a six-month provisional operating license ending March 1, 2009, following a meeting last week with AZ's Extraordinary Administrator Augusto Fantozzi ( ATWOnline, Sept. 5).
Continental Airlines followed other US majors and announced Friday that it will begin charging $15 for the first checked bag for economy passengers paying less than full fare flying within North America. Fees will be applied beginning Oct. 7. CO also said that from Jan. 1 it no longer will credit frequent fliers 500 mi. for flights shorter than 500 mi., instead crediting them with the actual mileage flown.
ExpressJet Holdings filed a definitive proxy statement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission requesting shareholder approval for a 1:10 reverse stock split for its common shares. The regional operator said the split is part of its "continuing efforts toward improving liquidity for its stockholders." It will ballot shareholders at an Oct. 1 meeting. If approved, the split will leave ExpressJet with 21.7 million shares outstanding and approximately $68.5 million in debt outstanding.
Finnair said last week that it has given its employee groups two weeks to examine three possible cost-saving alternatives. A spokesperson told Reuters that one option is a salary cut of 5% across the company, the second a 15-month salary freeze and the third 400 layoffs. Employees would get some money back if the airline meets certain financial targets, although it said it may report an operating loss in the second half.
United Airlines flew 10.29 billion system RPMs in August, down 5.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 3.1% to 12.18 billion ASMs and load factor declined 1.8 points to 84.5%. Southwest Airlines flew 6.63 billion RPMs in August, down 5.2% year-over-year, against a 1.5% lift in capacity to 8.88 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 5.4 points to 74.6%. AirTran Airways flew 1.97 billion RPMs in August, up 12.7% year-over-year. Capacity rose 8.8% to 2.25 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3 points to 87.3%.
