ARINC won a five-year renewal and upgrade on its contract with CUTE Club to provide its iMUSE common-use platform for passenger check-in and boarding as well as its BagLink baggage messaging system. Deployable on desktop workstations and handheld terminals, iMUSE supports IP and legacy host systems. BagLink technology features intelligent routing and messaging capabilities.
Investigation into the Jan. 17 crash landing of a British Airways 777 on final approach to London Heathrow has not revealed an anomaly that could have caused the flow of fuel to the engines to be reduced as the pilots called for more power, according to the UK Air Accident Investigations Branch, although restricted fuel flow was certainly the cause of the nonfatal accident ( ATWOnline, Feb. 20).
American Airlines yesterday said it will retire "at least" 75 aircraft, including 40-45 mainline jets, this year and begin charging $15 for the first piece of checked luggage on North American flights as it tries to cope with oil prices that reached more than $130 per barrel Wednesday. "We are facing an extraordinarily difficult environment," Chairman and CEO Gerard Arpey said in announcing the cutbacks. "The US airline industry was not built for $125 or $130 barrel oil. . .[and] will not and cannot continue in its current state."
Lufthansa's CityLine, Germanwings and Eurowings subsidiaries cancelled at least 62 flights yesterday owing to a morning wildcat pilot strike by members of Vereinigung Cockpit. An additional 36 flights were delayed, according to press reports. "Because employers haven't presented a negotiable offer in negotiations that have been going on for months, personnel representatives of all three airlines see no alternative but to declare talks a failure," VC said in a statement cited by the Associated Press.
Great Wall Airlines will be represented by Wallace Air Cargo Group for 747-400 services in North America under a GSA agreement. Routes include Chicago O'Hare and Seattle to Seoul and Shanghai.
JetBlue Airways flew 2.28 billion RPMs in April, a 0.8% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 7.4% to 2.87 billion ASMs, dropping load factor 5.2 points to 79.5%. Gol and VRG flew 2.31 billion RPKs in April, up 17.8%, against a 25.1% increase in capacity to 3.65 billion ASKs. Load factor fell 3.9 points to 63.2%. Aer Lingus flew 1.38 billion RPKs in April, up 9.3% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 25.7% to 1.95 billion ASKs and load factor dropped 10.6 points to 70.5%.
Following the formation of an alliance with five other logistics companies in January, Shanghai Airlines took a further step toward strengthening its position in a city that commands 70% of the Chinese freight market through the injection of CNY260 million ($37.2 million) into its SAL Cargo International subsidiary.
Porter Airlines has been advised by the US Dept. of Transportation that it must reduce its Toronto City-Newark schedule less than two months after launching the seven-times-daily service ( ATWOnline, March 27). The cutback is part of DOT's effort to reduce congestion at New York area airports ( ATWOnline, May 19). Porter will eliminate one flight each weekday from June 20.
Ryanair will begin charging passengers who check in online the same £4/ €5 for its priority boarding service as those who check in at the airport effective June 3. It previously had been free of charge for Web check-in customers. The LCC makes 40% of its seats (80) available for priority boarding on each flight. Separately, it will launch thrice-daily Dublin-Kerry on July 22.
US FAA named Air Traffic Organization VP Vicki Cox as senior VP-NextGen and operations planning. "Given the aviation community's increasing need for faster modernization of our air traffic control system, we must implement NextGen at a quicker pace," Acting FAA Administrator Robert Sturgell said. "The FAA is putting an emphasis on near- and mid-term implementation, while the Joint Planning and Development Office continues its focus on long-term research and development and cross-agency cooperation."
Virgin Blue and Hawaiian Airlines have cancelled maintenance work with Air New Zealand after ANZ warned that it is facing industrial action from engineers in Auckland and Christchurch. The strike by members of the Engineering, Printing and Manufacturing Union and the Aviation and Marine Engineers Assn. is due to start June 6. While the action excludes third-party work, the two airlines decided to take their work elsewhere.
Airbus announced an order for six A350 XWB Prestiges (five -900s and one -800) from Middle Eastern company MAZ Aviation and n order for two A318 Elites and one Airbus Corporate Jetliner from Austria's Jetalliance Group.
Cascade Aerospace signed a three-year deal with WestJet for heavy maintenance on its 737NGs. Cascade expects to complete 32 heavy checks by the end of 2010.
Singapore Airlines yesterday launched daily A380 service to Tokyo Narita using the fourth aircraft that was delivered last month. The first three fly to Sydney and London Heathrow. The inaugural flight from NRT carried 420 passengers and fell on the 30th anniversary of the airport. Delivery of SIA's fifth aircraft is expected by the end of next month. SIA also recently announced that it will operate an A380 on one of its three daily flights to Beijing Aug. 2-8 to accommodate increasing travel ahead of the Olympic Games. The other two flights will continue to be operated with 777s.
Malaysia Airlines yesterday said it posted a MYR120 million ($37 million) profit in the first quarter, down 9.8% from the MYR133 million earned in the year-ago period, Reuters reported. It cited fuel costs for the decline.
Delta Air Lines flew 10.07 billion system RPMs in April, up 2.5% from the year-ago month, against a 2.7% increase in ASMs to 12.38 billion. Load factor slipped 0.1 point to 81.4%. Ryanair transported 4.7 million passengers in April, 15% higher than the year-ago month. Load factor dropped 4 points to 79%. EasyJet transported 3.6 million passengers in April, up13.4% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 3 points to 80.1%.
Taipei-based Far Eastern Air Transport ceased operations last week owing to a shortfall in operating funds, according to widespread press reports. FEAT was launched in 1957 and recently has been suffering from scattered stock rights and frequent changes in senior leadership. In February it launched a search for a strategic investor to alleviate its debt burden but failed to attract one ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21).
US Transportation Secretary Mary Peters moved broadly Friday to reassure passengers regarding flight cancellations and delays, saying US FAA and airlines will work to develop a better "mutual understanding" on safety compliance to avoid widespread aircraft groundings and proposing new slot rules including auctions for New York JFK and Newark. She additionally issued a final rule requiring "airlines to report new and more complete data on the time passengers spend on the tarmac" in an effort to reduce the instances of travelers stranded on delayed aircraft for extended periods.
Safran Group last week celebrated the opening of its new CFM56 maintenance, repair and overhaul facility in Queretaro, Mexico. Snecma America Engine Services is dedicated to CFM56-5A, -5B and -7B engines powering the A320 and 737NG families. It is owned jointly by Snecma Services (51%) and Turborreactores SA (ITR) with a 49% stake.
Singapore Airlines launched its new all-business-class service to Newark this week. Its five A340-500s are in the process of being reconfigured with the previous executive economy section removed. Total fit-out is for 100 of SIA's new business class seats in a 1-2-1 configuration. It is the only carrier offering an all-business-class configuration across the Pacific. The upgrade will be completed by September for all nonstops from Singapore to Newark and Los Angeles.
Delta Air Lines pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. said yesterday they have ratified the new labor agreement reached with management on the eve of DL's merger agreement announcement with Northwest Airlines ( ATWOnline, April 16). Owing to the accord, DL pilots are backing the tie-up, putting them at odds with NWA pilots, who have voiced opposition.
