SkyWest Airlines will launch twice-daily Delta Connection service from Salt Lake City to both Gillette and Rock Springs, Wyo., July 7. SkyWest and Atlantic Southeast Airlines flew 1.56 billion RPMs in March, up 2.2% from the year-ago month, against a 3% increase in capacity to 1.97 billion ASMs. Load factor fell 0.6 point to 79.2%.
Skymark Airlines of Japan transported 3.7 million passengers last year, up 26% from 2006, while load factor soared 13.5 points to 77.2%, the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation reported.
Sudanese-owned An-32 crashed Friday in Moldova, killing all eight aboard, according to the Flight Safety Foundation's Aviation Safety Network and widespread press reports. The aircraft, which belonged to Kata Transportation, was carrying 2.3 tons of fuel and took off from Chisinau, but pilots requested permission to return and land just a few minutes into the flight, the Associated Press reported. A wing struck wires and a fence on approach. Flight was en route to Sudan via Antalya.
IATA and African air traffic management organization ASECNA agreed to combine their efforts to improve safety, service levels, efficiency, cost effectiveness and infrastructure on the continent ( ATWOnline, April 9). "IATA and ASECNA have a shared vision to unlock the potential of African aviation," IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said. "Africa has the world's worst safety record and its airlines are the least profitable with $300 million in losses forecast for this year. This must change.
Thales reached a deal with Ethiopian Airlines to provide its TopSeries inflight entertainment system for 10 forthcoming 787s. Contract includes media services and maintenance support.
Lufthansa announced the sale of its 49% stake in ground handling company GlobeGround Berlin to WISAG Group. Price was not disclosed. LH said the Berlin airports also will sell their majority stake in the company to WISAG. GlobeGround will continue to handle LH in Berlin after the sale closes.
American Airlines said its scheduled operations "are now back to normal" following the grounding and inspection of MD-80s that forced it to cancel more than 3,000 flights last week ( ATWOnline, April 14).
The first official meeting of the EU-US Joint Committee on the implementation of the first stage of the transatlantic open skies agreement will take place in Washington today and tomorrow. The task of the Joint Committee is to "manage and monitor" the agreement, European Commission Director for Air Transport Daniel Calleja told media yesterday. Calleja, who is in Washington for the talks, emphasized that this week's meeting is not related to the second-stage negotiations set to commence next month in Slovenia.
Frontier Airlines said a US Bankruptcy Court approved the "first day motions" related to its Chapter 11 reorganization, allowing the carrier to continue operating uninterrupted and to honor preexisting obligations. "Our reorganization is off to a smooth start and we look forward to taking important steps to further strengthen our company," President and CEO Sean Menke said.
SITA will provide SAS Scandinavian Airlines with telecommunication services covering 800 users in 40 locations across 23 countries under a deal announced yesterday. Contract is expected to save SAS $3.6 million.
AirTran Airways will begin charging certain passengers $10 for a second checked bag May 15, following the lead of other US carriers but asking for considerably less than the $25 standard. Fee will not apply to premium loyalty program members or business class passengers. A third bag and beyond will cost $50 each.
Delta MEC of the Air Line Pilots Assn. met in special session Friday in Atlanta, the union acknowledged, as reports spread that DL was looking to reach an agreement with the pilots to proceed with a merger with Northwest Airlines despite the two groups' inability to come to an agreement concerning the combination of their respective seniority lists ( ATWOnline, March 20).
European low-cost carrier seat capacity grew 22% in 2007 compared to 2006 and LCCs accounted for 35% of all intra-European capacity last year, up from 31% two years ago, according to the 2008 edition of RDC Aviation's Low Cost Monitor. Number of routes operated by LCCs increased 28.9% year-over-year to 2,999 while the number of airports served rose by six to 287. In comparison, 466 airports received service from conventional carriers, down from 477.
Austrian LCC Niki will add its ninth aircraft, a 212-seat A321, on May 9 and has an additional nine A320 family aircraft on order for delivery by 2014 ( ATWOnline, Jan. 14). "The average age of the fleet is now between 1.5 and two years," founder and majority owner Niki Lauda told ATWOnline.
European Commission issued a revision of its list of banned airlines, the seventh update since establishment of the blacklist in March 2006. Newcomers are Ukraine Cargo Airways (the third Ukrainian airline after Volare Airlines and Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines) and Hewa Bora Airways of DR Congo. HBA previously was allowed to operate a single aircraft under a special arrangement that has ended. Garuda Indonesia also remains on the list ( ATWOnline, July 6, 2007).
KLM UK Engineering announced the launch of its line maintenance facility at London City. Shop services KLM and CityJet aircraft and is expected to handle additional volume this year.
Ramco said El Al selected its Maintenance & Engineering & MRO Suite featuring legacy system transformation, best-of-breed business process improvement and compliance and conformance for Regional Regulatory Aviation Administration reporting and control requirements.
Amadeus completed Lufthansa's migration to its Star Alliance Common IT Platform inventory management module. Migration covered inventory control, 700,000 flight schedules and 40 existing applications. System is based on Amadeus's Altea Inventory technology.
American Airlines cancelled 595 MD-80 flights Friday and said it expected to be operating 60% of its MD-80 schedule by late that afternoon. It had 226 of its 300 aircraft in service in the morning and said last week it expected to have its full fleet inspected and flying by Saturday evening ( ATWOnline, April 11).
Virgin Blue said it expects its profit for the fiscal year ending June 30 to fall more than 50% to approximately A$100 million ($93.2 million), according to a statement cited by press reports. It posted a A$216 million profit in the year ended June 30, 2007 ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22, 2007).
AirTran Airways forecast first-quarter passenger RASM to increase 6%-6.5% from the 9.2 cents it reported in the first three months of 2007, while CASM excluding fuel will rise 0.5%-1% year-over-year from 6.24 cents.
JetBlue Airways founder and Chairman David Neeleman will not stand for reelection at the May 15 annual shareholders meeting and will leave the company in order to focus on his new Sao Paulo-based carrier ( ATWOnline, March 28). Neeleman launched JetBlue in 1998 and ceded his position as CEO following the airline's operational troubles in February 2007 ( ATWOnline, May 11, 2007).
