An investigation by the European Union found that buying airline tickets online is still fraught with risk, and a third of consumers are "ripped off or misled and confused."
Of all the actions taken by the airlines to defend against high fuel costs, none has brought the gravity of the fuel crisis home to consumers quite like American Airlines' plan to charge most coach passengers $15 each way for the first checked bag.
Qantas Freight Enterprises reached agreement to purchase Jets Transport Express, a trucking business that specializes in interstate airfreight support. "The acquisition of Jets will allow us for the first time to offer a truly seamless transfer between international and domestic operations," QFE Executive GM Grant Fenn said. Purchase price was not disclosed.
Silverjet announced the signing of an MOU with an unidentified party from the United Arab Emirates for a $25 million investment, including approximately $8 million in equity. The new ordinary shares issued to the investor will represent around 28% of the enlarged share capital, with a debt facility accounting for the remainder.
South Africa's Nationwide Airlines shut down operations Tuesday following a March and April during which fuel costs climbed 30% and load factors decreased. The carrier has faced difficulties since a November engine separation on a 737-200 led to grounding of its fleet by the South African Civil Aviation Authority ( ATWOnline, Dec. 10, 2007). It said it "attained a gradual recovery of the business" in December and January but was unable to secure investment from a consortium with which it was negotiating.
European Union and Australia signed a horizontal aviation agreement that removes nationality restrictions in bilateral ASAs between EU member states and Australia. The new agreement does not replace the bilateral agreements but brings them in line with EU law by removing nationality restrictions. More than 4 million passengers travel between the EU and Australia annually.
Sabena Technics signed a 10-year base maintenance contract with Aer Lingus to perform C checks and structural checks on its A320 family and A330 aircraft.
US Senate is debating long-stalled FAA reauthorization legislation, with a vote possible this week. A House of Representatives version of FAA reauthorization was passed last year. If a Senate version is cleared, the two chambers will attempt to hammer out a compromise bill that the full Congress could consider.
Sterling Airlines appointed Fredrik Kinnunen as director-direct sales. SR Technics elevated Marco Imboden to senior VP- corporate & marketing. Lufthansa CEO Wolfgang Mayrhuber told shareholders this week that he will not seek reappointment when his contract expires on Dec. 31, 2010. He joined LH in 1970 and has been CEO since 2003.
Brussels Airlines yesterday acknowledged that it is negotiating an alliance membership, although it declined to comment on rumors that it was discussing possible acquisition by Lufthansa.
Lufthansa Group airlines flew 12.37 billion RPKs in March, up 25.1% from the year-ago month, which did not include Swiss International Air Lines. Capacity rose 25.5% to 15.56 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.2 point to 79.5%. Air Canada and Jazz flew a combined 4.46 billion RPMs in March, up 3.7% from the year-ago month, against a 3.9% increase in capacity to 5.38 billion ASMs. Load factor slipped 0.1 point to 82.9%. Vueling Airlines carried 539,042 passengers in March, up 33% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 1.6 points to 72.4%.
Emirates is ramping up its cabin crew recruiting as it prepares to take delivery of its first A380 in August. Its Aviation College will begin accepting A380 personnel to its crew training program in early June. EK plans to have 24 cabin staff onboard a normal 489-seat A380, and it will need about six complete crews for every aircraft.
Ryanair will increase its baggage check-in fee to €10 ($15.62) from €9 and its airport check-in fee to €5 from €4 effective May 5. It said that 40% currently use the free Internet check-in service. Separately, Ryanair named Sinead Finn as director-commercial revenue.
Iberia flew 4.54 billion RPKs in March, up 1% on the year-ago month, against a 0.5% fall in capacity to 5.55 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 1.2 points to 81.8%. LAN Airlines flew 2.3 billion system RPKs in March, a 14.2% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 9.2% to 2.89 billion ASKs and load factor rose 3.5 points to 79.5%. Estonian Air carried 63,946 passengers in March, up 16.3% year-over-year, helping boost first-quarter boardings to 163,230, up 17%.
Frontier Airlines Holdings named Jim Young VP-distribution, sales and marketing and Tom Bacon VP-planning and revenue management. Both are new to the company.
AirTran Airways parent AirTran Holdings is offering more than 22.3 million shares of common stock at $3.20 per share, it said Friday. It additionally will offer $65 million of 5.5% convertible senior notes due in 2015. Notes can be converted into common stock at the rate of 260.417 shares per $1,000 principal amount of notes, or $3.84 per share. Offerings are expected to close April 30 and proceeds will be used for the purchase of government securities and for general corporate purposes including retirement of debt.
American Airlines announced it will join competitors in charging domestic economy passengers $25 to check a second piece of luggage effective May 12. Policy also applies to flights on its American Eagle Airlines subsidiary. Premium loyalty program members, those purchasing full fares and those with international itineraries will not be subject to the fee, leaving it applicable to approximately 4% of domestic customers checking a second bag, AA said.
Air Berlin said it reached a 10-year salary agreement with AB, LTU and dba pilots represented by Cockpit. It also covers promotions and training programs and is effective retroactively from April 1. Separately, AB implemented mobile phone boarding passes and seat selection on flights departing from "many" German airports.
Regional Express Holdings (Rex) will take full control and ownership of its joint venture pilot training academy at Mangalore, the Australian regional announced. It will be renamed Australian Airline Pilot Academy. First batch of cadets is scheduled to graduate this year and commence conversion training to Rex's Saab 340s.
News from Travel Technology Update: A number of travel agency groups, including the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, are engaged in an 11th-hour attempt to postpone the demise of paper tickets. IATA has said that after May 31, paper tickets no longer will be processed through its billing and settlement plans. The deadline does not affect travel agencies in the U.S., whose ticket sales are processed through the Airlines Reporting Corp.
The European Commission last week indicated it had concerns about whether the €300 million ($473.6 million) emergency bridge loan offered by the Italian government to Alitalia constitutes illegal state aid ( ATWOnline, April 24). "We have doubts about the nature of the measures and we want to have a better understanding of the details," DG Transport spokesperson Michele Cercone said. "We want to understand if this is a commercial operation as the Italian authorities claim."
Air Line Pilots Assn. filed suit against ATA Airlines for failing to give notice prior to shutting down operations "abruptly in the early morning hours of April 3" ( ATWOnline, April 4).
