US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker told employees in a Wednesday letter cited in press reports that "All airlines are going to have to make dramatic changes to their existing business models in order to viable," and that while he would not comment on any "specific discussions or transaction" that may involve US, the carrier "can't ignore what's happening in the world around us."
SITA yesterday released its fourth "SITA Baggage Report" and said that commercial airlines lost a combined $3.8 billion last year "because of growing pressures on baggage management linked to passenger volumes, tight aircraft turnaround times and heightened security measures." Approximately 1.9% of the 2.25 billion pieces of checked luggage sent through the system in 2007 were mishandled. SITA said 49% of delays were related to transfers, with 16% coming from failure to load and 14% attributed to ticketing error/passenger bag switch/security/other.
US airline executives this week expressed alarm at the consistently high price of fuel, warning that no relief is in sight. "We're not expecting fuel prices to decline," Delta Air Lines President and CFO Edward Bastian said, explaining that DL's proposed merger with Northwest Airlines was driven in part by soaring energy costs. "When we thought about how we would cope with the higher price of fuel, both of us came to the conclusion that we needed greater scale," he said.
Trans States Airlines, which grounded 24 of its 50 ERJ-145s Tuesday for maintenance, expected to have all of the aircraft back in service by last night. They were grounded after an internal audit revealed that they had "exceeded time limits on inspections," VP Bill Mishk told ATWOnline. "The plan is to have a full, normal schedule on Friday," he said.
AirTran Airways flew 1.71 billion RPMs in March, up 15.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 12.9% to 2.15 billion ASMs and load factor increased 1.9 points to 79.6%. Finnair said March unit revenue fell by nearly 3% year-over-year as traffic rose 15% to 2.01 billion RPKs. Capacity climbed 18.2% to 2.63 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.2 points to 76.4%. Aer Lingus flew 1.42 billion RPKs in March, up 22.1% from the year-ago month, against a 26.5% increase in ASKs to 1.88 billion. Load factor slipped 2.8 points to 75.3%.
Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crash Tuesday remained under investigation as the confirmed death toll reached 40, according to the BBC ( ATWOnline, April 16). Most of the dead likely were on the ground, according to reports, as the aircraft was unable to lift off the shortened runway at Goma International and crashed through a wall into nearby shops and houses.
Chinese airlines suffered a collective drop in growth in the first quarter owing to a sharp slowdown in international growth caused by depreciation of the US dollar. According to CAAC statistics released yesterday, Chinese airlines carried 45.7 million passengers and transported 983,000 tonnes of cargo in the quarter, up 11% and 12.4% year-over-year respectively.
Navitaire reached a deal with Cebu Pacific Air for provision of its New Skies hosted reservation services and SkyPrice revenue management system. Contract terms were not disclosed. Mxi Technologies said Qantas will implement its Maintenix management software across its fleet. Features include data optimization and integrated maintenance and engineering processes.
Japan Airlines agreed to pay a $110 million fine as part of a plea agreement with the US Dept. of Justice related to its role in the fixing of international cargo rates. Qantas, British Airways and Korean Air already had pled guilty and agreed to penalties in a long-running investigation by US and European authorities that has targeted other carriers as well ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3).
EADS CEO Louis Gallois, in perhaps his starkest language yet regarding its and Airbus's fiscal plight, referenced Greek tragedy to describe the impact on aerospace manufacturing in Europe that the rising euro/sinking dollar is having. "We are at levels which are becoming unbearable," he told reporters in Paris yesterday. "We cannot stay under this Damocles sword, which is starting to fall." He reiterated that each 10 cent rise in the euro compared to the dollar costs Airbus €1 billion ($1.59 billion) as it builds aircraft in euro costs and sells them in dollars.
US Dept. of Transportation yesterday unveiled initiatives it promised would "strengthen passenger protections, improve consumer choice and reduce congestion," including doubling the maximum compensation owed to passengers bumped from oversold flights and its intention to auction off slots at New York LaGuardia.
Airstream International Group arranged the sale and leaseback of two F70s and a related spare Rolls-Royce Tay 620-15 engine. Aircraft are operated by Malev Hungarian Airlines. Aircraft and spare engine were purchased by Gladiator Leasing.
Delta TechOps yesterday extended maintenance agreements with airberlin, Gol and ABX Air totaling a projected $800 million. AB's 10-year extension is for off-wing maintenance on CFM56-7s powering 737NGs. Gol added 10 years for maintenance of CFM56-3s and CFM56-7s powering 737 Classics and NGs. Extension of ABX's engine MRO agreement was unspecified. Separately, DTO reached a five-year deal with Asiana Airlines for MRO on CFM56-3s. Contract is expected to yield $45 million in revenue.
News from Travel Technology Update: On March 18, American Airlines experienced one of its most horrendous weather days ever at its principal hub, Dallas/Fort Worth. It canceled hundreds of flights. Yet by the next evening, its operations were largely back to normal. American's quick recovery from what could have been a headline-making nightmare was due in large part to new software developed by its operations research department.
Newly elected Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who won a third nonconsecutive term in elections that concluded Monday, said saving the ailing flag carrier would be a priority of his government and that "tens" of Italian investors were ready to inject capital into the airline.
Lufthansa Systems won a five-year deal with UTair for provision of its ProfitLine/Yield Rembrandt revenue management technology. It features pricing intelligence and demand forecasting.
Legislation to ban the use of mobile phones on all commercial flights in the US was introduced yesterday by Reps. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) and John Duncan (R-Tenn.). The three are members of the House aviation subcommittee. Mobile phones currently are not permitted on domestic flights and both FAA and the Federal Communications Commission would have to lift their own bans before an airline could offer the service. The proposed legislation, if passed by Congress and signed by the President, would take the decision out of the two agencies' hands.
Hewa Bora Airways DC-9 crashed yesterday afternoon at Goma International in DR Congo, killing as few as nine and as many as several dozen, according to a variety of press reports that revealed wildly divergent discrepancies in the number of casualties and left open the possibility that some occurred on the ground. Just last week HBA was added to the EU's aviation safety blacklist ( ATWOnline, April 14).
Aviareps will represent Russia's Orenair in Germany under a GSA agreement announced yesterday. Sales and marketing activities will take place in Frankfurt. The carrier's maiden flight between Cologne/Bonn and Orenburg is May 9.
US airline industry may be much closer to achieving carbon neutral growth than is widely assumed, according to FAA Assistant Administrator for Aviation Policy, Planning and Environment Dan Elwell. Speaking to reporters in Washington yesterday, Elwell noted that the agency expects US traffic to grow at an average annual rate of around 4%, although short-term growth may be below that owing to the recent failures of three airlines that accounted for around 1% of system capacity as well as capacity reductions at major carriers owing to the high cost of fuel.
British Airways said that Director-Operations Gareth Kirkwood and Director-Customer Services David Noyes will be leaving the carrier and confirmed their departures "follow the airline's move to Terminal 5." BA will appoint a COO and combine the roles.
Mxi Technologies announced that Air Canada agreed to implement its Maintenix management software throughout its fleet. Designed to automate maintenance and engineering processes, technology is expected to be fully operational by 2010.
