A Kalitta Air 747-200F crashed yesterday into a home shortly after takeoff from Bogota, killing three occupants in the house, fewer than 24 hr. after a USA Jet Airlines DC-9F crashed on approach to Saltillo, Mexico, killing one pilot.
Commercial Aircraft Corp. of China has begun evaluating potential aircraft types, size, market outlook, customer support, certification and other parameters for the country's proposed "jumbo aircraft" program and further details are expected to be disclosed soon, AVIC I revealed. CACC Vice GM Wu Guanghui has said the manufacturer will consider starting with a "single-aisle, 150-seat aircraft. .
Midwest Air Group CEO Timothy Hoeksema told employees in a memorandum sent Wednesday that he will take a 40% pay cut effective July 15 as part of a series of wage reductions across the company, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. He said senior VPs will take a 25% cut, maintenance workers will be subject to 10% cuts and professional staff 5%. Midwest's restructuring also includes the grounding of its MD-80 fleet ( ATWOnline, June 24).
Eight years to the month after the crash of an Air France Concorde began the countdown to the end of the age of supersonic air travel, a French judge ruled that five individuals as well as Continental Airlines should stand trial for manslaughter in the disaster. The decision, announced yesterday by the prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Pontoise, did not specify when the trial will start.
Alaska Airlines on Tuesday began charging $25 for a second checked bag weighing up to 50 lb. Additional bags will cost $100 each, but first class passengers, premium loyalty program members and customers on intra-Alaska routes will be exempt. Separately, Alaska yesterday announced that it will move to an all-cashless cabin on Aug. 5 and no longer will accept cash for inflight purchases. GuestLogix will provide the card reader used by cabin staff. Also, it promoted Director-Reservations Lane Kemper to MD-customer service/call centers.
AirTran Airways was awarded a US General Services Administration flying contract covering 119 city-pairs worth an estimated $47 million during FY09, a more than 30% year-over-year increase.
Lufthansa Systems reached a six-year deal with Gol for provision of its NetLine resource management solution and MRO technology. Implementation is expected in the 2009 first quarter.
American Airlines flew 11.85 billion system RPMs in June, down 3.1% year-over-year, while capacity declined 1.2% to 13.86 billion ASMs. Load factor dropped 1.7 points to 85.5%. American Eagle flew 736.7 million RPMs, down 8.6%, against a 2.3% decline in capacity to 980.8 million ASMs. Load factor fell 5.2 points to 75.1%. Delta Air Lines flew 11.69 billion system RPMs in June, up 0.2% year-over-year, against a 0.7% rise in ASMs to 13.68 billion. Load factor dropped 0.5 point to 85.4%.
British Airways and Virgin Atlantic Airways will launch an advertising campaign this weekend informing consumers of their right to claim refunds following the carriers' admission that they colluded on transatlantic fuel surcharges between August 2004 and March 2006 ( ATWOnline, Feb. 19).
Germanwings will phase out four of its 29 A319s Nov. 1. "We don't want to make the mistake of expanding at any cost. The business of our industry has changed, especially the high fuel prices. We have to be profitable. That's why we have to reduce our fleet," MD Thomas Winkelmann said. It was not clear whether any destinations will be removed from the network or if there will be any employee reductions.
MWW Group will provide JetBlue Airways with contingency planning and training services, incident response support and issues management counsel under a deal announced Tuesday. Contract covers on-site support in 53 markets across the US, Caribbean and Latin America.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. told its employees this week that more than 6,700 of them will be cut by year end, representing about 8% of the company's total workforce.
Jazz Air said yesterday that owing to planned fourth-quarter capacity reductions by Air Canada, with which it has a contract to operate regional flights, it will reduce its flying by 5% in the year's final three months and cut 270 employees. AC said last month that it will reduce total system capacity by 7% year-over-year in this year's fourth quarter and the 2009 first quarter and slash its workforce by 2,000 ( ATWOnline, June 18).
IBS Software Services will provide KLM with its AvientCrew solution featuring crew data management, real-time alerting and decision support capabilities.
AirTran Airways will impose a 15% pay cut on officers and a 5%-8% cut on most staff, according to a letter to employees from Chairman, President and CEO Bob Fornaro cited by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Approximately 48% of AirTran employees are unionized, the paper said, and the carrier will have to negotiate the reductions. It expects them to take effect next month and for overall wage expense to fall 10% over the next six months. AirTran announced its most recent capacity cut two weeks ago ( ATWOnline, June 17).
Lufthansa said it is expecting a 10% increase in passengers flying between Germany and Russia. It transported 1.7 million between the countries in 2007 and currently flies to nine Russian destinations.
SkyEurope Airlines this week opened its fourth base at Kosice. It has invested €30 million in the facility, which it is calling a "satellite hub" and where it expects to handle 340,000 passengers this year, up 80% from 2007. It is offering 11 daily flights from the airport to Split, Bratislava, Prague, London Stansted, Dublin and Manchester.
United Airlines and Continental Airlines pilots yesterday released a joint statement in which they pledged to "align efforts" as the carriers move toward implementing an operating alliance. UA and CO decided against a merger but instead have announced plans "to cooperate extensively, linking their networks and services worldwide" ( ATWOnline, June 20). Both pilot groups are represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn.
TAP Portugal launched a six-month commercial trial of Mobile OnAir, the Airbus/SITA joint venture's inflight mobile phone and broadband service. Passengers on one TAP A319 will be able to use their PDAs and certain mobile phones to send and receive e-mail, SMS and voice calls. TAP crew will be able to adjust the service to prohibit phone calls.
Continental Airlines said it expects to make a July 11 announcement regarding special charges recorded for the recently completed quarter related to the capacity reductions planned for the second half of this year ( ATWOnline, June 13), plus "other special items" recorded during the second quarter related to gains on the sale of its stake in Copa Holdings and other moves. It is scheduled to release second-quarter earnings on July 17. CO flew 8.63 billion consolidated RPMs in June, a 0.1% slip from the year-ago month.
Southwest Airlines flew 6.88 billion RPMs in June, up 0.7% year-over-year, against a 5.7% increase in capacity to 8.8 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 3.9 points to 78.2%.
American Airlines parent AMR Corp. informed the US Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday that it will record a noncash impairment charge of $1.1-$1.2 billion in the second quarter related to the capacity reductions announced in May ( ATWOnline, May 22).
US FAA was guilty of "serious lapses" in its regulatory oversight of Southwest Airlines, allowing airworthiness directive "noncompliance issues within WN's maintenance program to go undetected for years," leading to repeated violations, the US Dept. of Transportation Inspector General alleged in a scathing report released yesterday. DOT IG Calvin Scovel, whose office is reviewing FAA's safety oversight of US airlines, charged that the agency's inspection office overseeing WN "developed an overly collaborative relationship" with the carrier that led to a "breakdown."
