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.
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.
