Mesa Air Group's go! subsidiary announced the launch of a Hawaiian-language website. Go! operates approximately 60 daily flights on inter-island routes aboard CRJ200s and as a codeshare partner of Mokulele Airlines.
GKN Aerospace said CAAC extended its MOC covering MRO of various engine fan blades and components for Airbus and Boeing aircraft until Dec. 31, 2009. MOC validates maintenance operation compliance with CAAR part 145.
Boeing named Matthew Ganz president of its Phantom Works research and development unit. Ganz was president, CEO and GM of HRL Laboratories, which is owned by Boeing and General Motors. He succeeds the retiring Bob Krieger.
Turkish Airlines flew 2.31 billion RPKs in January, a 7% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 3.6% to 3.43 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.2 points to 67.5%. JetBlue Airways flew 2.08 billion RPMs in January, up 7.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 8% to 2.75 billion ASMs and load factor slipped 0.5 point to 75.6%. Aer Lingus flew 1.07 billion RPKs in January, a 16.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 25.9% to 1.67 billion ASKs, lowering load factor 5.2 points to 64%.
SkyEurope Airlines conceded that it will not be profitable this financial year, which ends Sept. 30. Management told a shareholders meeting in Vienna last week that the LCC is working on maintaining its financial viability ( ATWOnline, Feb. 6). CFO Nick Manoudakis said it will continue to work on cutting costs and has asked pilots to reduce aircraft speed to save fuel. SkyEurope also is open to investment from other carriers, he said.
US and Australia announced an open skies agreement Friday in Washington at the conclusion of three days of negotiations. Australia becomes the US's 90th open skies partner. The deal was not signed formally and no schedule was announced. The number of airlines from either country that can serve the other once the agreement becomes effective will be unlimited, as will the number of flights permitted. Restrictions on pricing, codesharing and charters also were removed. Limitations on cargo services were removed in 1999, the US Dept.
Skybus Airlines will raise its checked bag fees on Feb. 19 from $5 for each of the first two bags to $10 if pre-checked online or $12 at the airport. In addition, the cost for priority seating will rise to $12.50 from $10. "It's a way to help offset the rising cost of fuel without raising fares. It's an increase on things that are optional," a Skybus spokesperson told The Columbus Dispatch.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew 7.79 billion RPKs in January, up 17.8% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 10.2% to 9.47 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 5.3 points to 82.3%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 651.7 million RPMs in January, up 4.6% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.8% to 784.7 million ASMs and load factor slipped 0.9 point to 83.1%.
JADE won US FAA STC authority under the Singapore-US Bilateral Aviation Safety Agreement for cabin interior reconfiguration modification on Singapore Airlines 747s. SIA, SIA Engineering and Singapore Jamco participated in JADE's application. This is the first STC granted under the Singapore-US BASA.
European Court of Justice yesterday upheld a 2005 European Commission ruling that Greece failed properly to recover illegal state aid provided to Olympic Airways and its successor Olympic Airlines ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19, 2006).
Asiana Airlines will invest KRW23 billion ($24.3 million) in startup Busan International Air and become the managing shareholder of the new carrier with a 46% stake, it announced yesterday. Now capitalized to the tune of KRW50 billion, BIA will "focus on offering customers low fares but with the quality service and safety assurance that is synonymous with Asiana Airlines," the latter said. An Asiana "taskforce" will begin working on launching service. No further details were released.
SAS Group became the principal shareholder in GO, a Norwegian company launched last May that sells travel through the SAS, Avis Budget Group and gonow.no websites. SAS bought out Reitan Group, which will maintain its distribution agreement with GO.
Massachusetts Port Authority announced a new financial incentive package called the International Air Service Incentive Program designed to help Boston Logan "compete more aggressively for international airline service." It will apply to new nonstop international flights to Asia, Central America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Mexico City and is intended to "minimize the initial business risk of the air carrier." Massport said ASIP "is not designed to subsidize a service that is not likely to be self-sufficient." BOS currently offers flights to 32 international destinations.
Mesa Air Group, which provides regional lift for Delta Air Lines, United Airlines and US Airways and operates independently as Mesa Airlines and go!, reported a $4.2 million loss in the fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 31, reversed from an $8 million profit in the year-ago period. "We are certainly disappointed with the results," Chairman and CEO Jonathan Ornstein said. "We are confident in our plans, however, to shrink our less-profitable 50-seat fleet and grow with our larger, more profitable regional jets.
Belavia Belarusian Airlines CRJ100ER flipped over and caught fire at Yerevan Zvartnots International yesterday. There were no fatalities but at least four passengers were hospitalized with burns. The BBC and Associated Press reported that Armenian civil aviation head Artyom Movsesyan said the aircraft's wing touched the ground on takeoff, causing it to flip over and burn. "Nearly everyone onboard received burns of various degrees," an aviation authority spokesperson said, according to several press reports.
AirAsia X yesterday confirmed the sale of 10% stakes to Bahrain-based Manara Consortium and Japan's Orix Corp. for a combined MYR250 million ($77.2 million) cash consideration ( ATWOnline, Feb. 14). Each investor will receive approximately 16.7 million newly issued shares of common stock. Orix also holds a stake in Japanese LCC Skymark Airlines.
IER said Billund Airport contracted it to install 12 of its 918 common-use self-service kiosks, four of which will be equipped with an active eyecatcher to display airport information. Billund also chose IER's IMS to supervise kiosk operations independently. Kiosks are slated to be operational next month.
AirAsia X will sell 10% stakes to private equity funds in Japan (Orix Group) and Bahrain (Perigon Capital) for a combined $75 million, an official told Agence France Press, in order to raise money for the purchase of 25 A330-300s. Virgin Group acquired a 20% stake in the startup last summer ( ATWOnline, Aug. 13, 2007). The AirAsia X official was quoted by AFP but declined to be named.
Ryanair will take its Internet and call center booking system offline from 10 p.m. Feb. 22 until 11 p.m. Feb. 25. The LCC said the move is necessary to "change over to a new flight booking system," which it is doing in order to comply with a UK Office of Fair Trading mandate that requires all taxes and fees to be included in an advertised ticket price. The carrier reportedly missed a Jan. 31 deadline and received an extension to the end of February.
Curtiss-Wright Controls reached a $16 million multiyear deal with Saab Aerostructures to provide the large cargo door mechanical system for the 787. Features include flight-critical subassemblies such as the lift, pull-in, latching, locking and vent systems. Production will take place at CWC's facility in Shelby, N.C.
Emirates Trading Agency-Assoc. Construction confirmed plans to launch a regional airline in India in October under a joint venture agreement with an unidentified partner, the Arab Air Carriers Organization reported. The new airline will base in Chennai and/or Bangalore and will fly to southern destinations. ETA-AC reportedly is negotiating with Embraer, Bombardier and ATR for aircraft.
The US House of Representatives passed an extension of temporary FAA funding through June 30, including providing $2.76 billion in contract authority to restart the currently suspended Airport Improvement Program.
Air France KLM's negotiations with Alitalia received a slight boost this week when Renato Brunetta, an official with the Forza Italia party that has been an opponent of the sale, told reporters that while FI believes the government succeeding that of outgoing Prime Minister Romano Prodi should conclude the deal, if one is struck between AF KLM and AZ in the meantime FI "would respect it." FI reportedly is leading opinion polls ahead of the April elections ( ATWOnline, Feb. 7).
