DHL announced yesterday that it will establish a $175 million "Express North Asia Hub" at Shanghai Pudong. "Hubs like Shanghai are optimally positioned to reduce transit times and distances within the region [and] also ensure that the region is better connected with the rest of the world," DHL said, adding that the new hub will allow it to provide guaranteed time definite morning delivery "to more major cities in North Asia." The facility's peak sorting capacity will be up to 20,000 parcels and 20,000 documents per hr.
Korean Air released further details about its new low-cost airline, a project it originally said could launch within three years but that now is scheduled to take flight next May ( ATWOnline, June 5). The new carrier, dubbed Air Korea, will start operations with three A300s and two 737s flying mainly leisure travelers to Japan, China, Thailand and Malaysia.
Aeroflot transported 688,900 passengers in October, up 7.2% from the year-ago month, and reported a 5.9% rise in RPKs to 2.97 billion. Load factor was 69.6%.
East Star Airlines, which launched operations from Wuhan last year, said it will purchase six A320s worth CNY3 billion at list prices, Xinhua reported. East Star will finance the purchase with loans from Royal Bank of Scotland. Separately, the carrier said it successfully launched its daily Wuhan-Hong Kong-Macau service ( ATWOnline, Oct. 29).
Aegean Airlines reported a €33.4 million ($49.2 million) profit through the first nine months of 2007, up 45% over the year-ago period, Thomson Financial reported from Athens. Sales climbed 20% to €370.5 million and passenger numbers were up 19% to 4.1 million.
Turkish Technic inked a C check maintenance services agreement with Inter Airlines covering the carrier's three A321s. The checks will be carried out in Istanbul. Both parties said increased cooperation and future agreements are likely.
ANA is upgrading the premium economy service it offers on international flights aboard 747-400s and 777-300ERs by giving passengers in the fare category access to its business class lounges at Tokyo Narita, London Heathrow, New York JFK and Washington Dulles. It also will give premium economy passengers arriving in Japan the option of free delivery of one piece of luggage to their home or hotel. Amenity kits and refreshment vouchers will be available at airports other than those listed.
Star Alliance CEO Jaan Albrecht told ATWOnline in Frankfurt that the importance of offering global alliance products and the shrinking number of carriers targeted as potential members will play a critical part in shaping the group's strategy going forward. He said Star will have to balance its desire to continue as the world's largest airline grouping with its effort to develop pan-alliance products, which the continuing addition of new members may complicate. "That's why we can't estimate how many new airlines will join us," he said.
Gate Gourmet signed an LOI with Aviapartner Group to acquire its catering business. Terms of the proposed transaction, which will be finalized by year end, were not disclosed. Aviapartner Catering Brussels offers a complete range of catering services including meal production, logistics, dry stores and catering loading. It currently prepares some 3.5 million meals a year for about 25,000 flights and 30 airlines. Gate Gourmet produces an average of 200 million meals annually, serving customers from 93 flight kitchens in 25 countries on five continents.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines named SkyWest Airlines VP-Flight Operations Bradford Holt as COO effective Dec. 1. He is replacing the retiring Bryan LaBrecque.
Alitalia flew 3.39 billion RPKs in October, up 1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1% to 4.5 billion ASKs and load factor rose 1.5 points to 75.3%. Silverjet transported 6,782 revenue passengers in October with a load factor of 58.5%. It said passenger numbers have risen 86% since May.
Shanghai-based Spring Airlines plans to slow its development owing to a pilot shortage, though the carrier still expects to earn a net profit of CNY80 million ($10.8 million) in 2007, according to President Wang Zhenghua. Based on its revised plan, Spring will maintain its current fleet of eight A320s until the second half of next year, when it will introduce four more. It originally planned to expand its fleet to 10 aircraft in 2007 and 30 in 2009.
AirAsia reached an agreement with Aviation Australia under which the latter will provide maintenance engineer training for the LCC, including training courses for its existing technicians that aim to ensure that the carrier fully complies with EASA regulations.
El Al reported a third-quarter net profit of $41 million, significantly improved over net income of $1.4 million in the 2006 third quarter when its earnings were hurt by conflict in the region, Israel's Globes reported. Revenue increased 27% to $567 million.
Mesa Air Group was ordered by a US Bankruptcy Court judge Monday to post a $90 million bond while it appeals its case against Hawaiian Airlines, the Honolulu Star Bulletin reported. In a ruling issued Oct. 30, Judge Robert Faris ordered Mesa to pay Hawaiian $80 million in damages for using confidential information to establish its go! subsidiary ( ATWOnline, Nov. 1). Mesa CEO Jonathan Ornstein told the paper that posting the bond would not be a problem.
Lufthansa Technik agreed to extend its ERJ component support contract with bmi regional for five more years. LHT will continue to handle MRO and logistical component services for bmi's 16 current ERJ 135s/145s plus forthcoming aircraft.
United Airlines flew 9.61 billion system RPMs in October, a 0.6% slip from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.1% to 11.85 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 0.5 point to 81.1%. Delta Air Lines flew 10.16 billion consolidated RPMs in October, a 6.2% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 2.9% to 12.76 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.5 points to 79.6%. US Airways flew 5.06 billion consolidated RPMs in October, down 1.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 5.8% to 6.33 billion ASMs and load factor rose 3.3 points to 80%.
US Dept. of Transportation fined Delta Air Lines $115,000 "for failing to provide information on the ontime arrival performance of its flights when asked by consumers," it announced yesterday. It is the third such sanction this year, following fines levied last month against Hawaiian Airlines ($50,000) and JetBlue Airways ($30,000).
Alpha Aviation Group and Air Arabia signed a JV agreement to launch the International Aviation Training Academy in Sharjah modeled on the existing academy, Clark Aviation, in the Philippines. The parties said the academy will begin operating early next year and will satisfy Air Arabia's own pilot training needs in addition to training ab initio pilots under the ICAO Multi Crew Pilot License for other carriers in the region.
News from Travel Technology Update: Orbitz Worldwide launched Orbitz for Business International, described as a customized solution for U.S. companies with international travel requirements. Orbitz Worldwide also is rebranding its Corporate Travel Solutions Group, which comprises Orbitz for Business and Travelport for Business, under a single Orbitz for Business brand identity.
Alitalia announced organizational changes comprising elimination of the Business & Corporate Coordination Dept., establishment of a new Passenger & Cargo Division to be headed by former BCC head Giancarlo Schisano and the immediate departure of Marketing & Business Strategies chief Giancarlo Zeni, who is replaced by Andrea Stolfa. In addition, the Administration, Finance & Control Dept. now will report directly to the president.
ACTS, formerly Air Canada Technical Services, reached a 10-year deal with Aero Inventory for the supply and management of its consumable aircraft stock. Aero is expected to streamline ACTS' high-volume in-house inventory, work with numerous suppliers, accelerate customer turnarounds, increase access to consumable parts and reduce costs. Value of the contract was not disclosed.
Embraer reported more than $1.1 billion worth of firm orders from nine customers at last week's Dubai Air Show, with commercial aircraft commitments coming from NAS (five E-190s) ( ATWOnline, Nov. 13) and Virgin Nigeria (seven 170s and three 190s) ( ATWOnline, Nov.
