The US National Transportation Safety Board said it is sending a team to aid the Thai government in its investigation of yesterday's accident in Phuket involving a One-Two-Go Airways MD-82 that ran off the runway while landing in what was described as heavy rain and strong winds.
N3 Engine Overhaul Services, the Lufthansa Technik-Rolls-Royce engine maintenance joint venture, officially opened its new facility in Thuringia, Germany, Friday. LHT and Rolls have invested around €100 million ($139 million) in the N3 site, which will overhaul Trent 500, 700 and 900 engines powering the A340-500/600, A330 and A380 respectively. N3 received EASA Part 145 approval in April. It employs 270, a figure that is expected to rise to 500 by 2010.
A J Walter (Leasing) Ltd. said it is taking delivery of the second of two A320s purchased from British Airways last year for parting out. The first was delivered last November.
Compass Airlines, a wholly owned regional subsidiary of Northwest Airlines, will build a $9.85 million aircraft maintenance facility at Louisville International Airport. The complex will provide scheduled maintenance for the carrier's new fleet of 76-seat E-175s and employ up to 70 workers when completed next year. Louisville was selected because of its proximity to NWA hubs in Minneapolis and Memphis, according to company officials.
AeroMexico said Friday that a group of Mexican investors represented by Banamex, the Mexican arm of Citigroup, has made a formal bid valued at more than $150 million to take a controlling stake in the airline, which currently is controlled by government holding company Consorcio Aeromexico. The takeover offer, first revealed last Thursday ( ATWOnline, Sept. 14), is open through Oct. 15 with an option to extend it until Nov. 30. AM's board said it will make an initial judgment on the offer within 10 business days.
SunExpress, the Lufthansa/Turkish Airlines joint venture, said it will operate more than 100 daily flights from 20 German airports to its bases in Antalya and Izmir starting at the end of October. The carrier operates a fleet of 10 737-800s and four 757-200s and employs 800. It said it will transport 3 million passengers this year.
Embraer opened an E-Jets training services center in the Alteon training facility at Singapore Changi. The center has the capacity to train an average of 300 pilots annually, offering both ground school and simulator training. In 2008 it will be expanded to include flight attendant training.
US and Japan yesterday reached an expanded air services agreement, according to UPS, which said it won authority under the deal to operate six daily freighter flights between the US and Nagoya.
KLM appointed Barbara van Koppen general counsel. She has been company secretary since September 2005 and will retain that title. FAA Deputy Administrator Robert Sturgell will assume the role of acting administrator today following the departure of Marion Blakey, whose fixed five-year term heading the agency ended yesterday. It is unknown how long it will take for US President George Bush to nominate a permanent replacement.
Banamex, Citigroup's Mexican banking unit, said yesterday it will lead a group of investors prepared to launch a bid valued at more than $150 million to purchase AeroMexico from government holding company Consorcio Aeromexico. The bid of MXN1.68 ($0.15) per share tops the MXN1.10 per share offer valued at about $100 million recently made by the Saba family ( ATWOnline, Aug. 23). AeroMexico's board called the Sabas' offer "reasonable."
US Airways unveiled plans to hire more than 350 new pilots and move 140 more who were furloughed to US Airways Express positions back to the mainline. Training for the new hires will begin in November, with positions continuing to be filled for the next 12-16 months. Those pilots will fill E-190 seats, which in turn will push current pilots to larger aircraft. US said the hirings were necessitated "primarily by retiring mainline pilots."
FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, whose five-year term ends today ( ATWOnline, Aug. 22), said this week that system congestion must be overcome for airlines to prosper in the future and called on carriers to make changes in flight scheduling practices and move as quickly as possible to equip aircraft for next-generation satellite-based ATC. "To be clear, the airlines need to take a step back on the scheduling practices that are at times out of line with reality," she said during a farewell speech in Washington.
European Commission launched a formal investigation into support that would have been granted by the Sardinia Region and SOGEAAL, the publicly owned company operating Alghero Airport, to various air carriers and by the Sardinia Region to SOGEAAL itself.
ARINC announced the availability of AviNet Xmail, which it called "the first desktop XML messaging solution for the air travel industry." AviNet Xmail service will be available immediately to ARINC's aviation network customers and "allows airline and operations staff to easily edit and exchange modern XML and TypeX messages," the company said.
JetBlue Airways added the title of president to COO Russ Chew, who joined the carrier from US FAA in the wake of the February operational difficulties at New York JFK. "Since Russ joined our team, we have established the right foundation for continuous improvement," CEO Dave Barger said.
Sabre Travel Network announced that Virgin America signed a multiyear distribution agreement that makes all of the airline's fares available to Sabre-connected travel agencies and corporations.
Japan Airlines will introduce first class for the first time on domestic flights from Dec. 1. The new offering will be rolled out on seven daily flights between Tokyo Haneda and Osaka Itami and eventually will be available on all flights. From April 1, the first class product will be available on flights from HND to Fukuoka and Sapporo. The move follows the rollout of a dedicated business class (J Class) on domestic routes in June 2004. JAL offers 8 million J Class seats per year with an 85% load factor.
Finnair Group ground handling subsidiary Northport Oy agreed to sell its Finnhandling AB and Northport Norway AS units, as well as Arlanda Airport lounge and ticket sales services, to Menzies Aviation. Transaction is scheduled to close on Sept. 30. Financial details were not disclosed. Menzies will provide ground-handling services to Finnair in Stockholm and Oslo. Separately, Finnair flew 1.77 billion RPKs in August, up 19.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose at the same rate to 2.3 billion ASKs, leaving load factor at 77.1%.
European Commission released the fifth update of its list of airlines banned in the European Union. Two new carriers appeared: Ukrainian Mediterranean Airlines and Mahan Air of Iran. "This latest update illustrates once more that the black list is a dynamic instrument which the Commission can use whenever necessary, without having to wait for the quarterly reviews," VP-Transport Jacques Barrot said.
EasyJet announced it will operate its Bucharest service from Otopeni rather than Baneasa through at least Sept. 23 owing to the latter airport's inability to meet "operational requirements at this time." It also announced the launch of daily services from Madrid to Lanzerote and Lisbon on Nov. 1, thrice-weekly MAD-Fuerteventura on Nov. 3 and twice-weekly Geneva-Gran Canaria from Oct. 31. The LCC transported 3.7 million passengers in August, up 17.8% from the year-ago month. Load factor fell 1.9 points to 87.4%.
Superjet International, the new joint venture between Alenia Aeronautica and Sukhoi Holding focusing on worldwide after-sales support and marketing and sales of the Superjet 100 regional aircraft family in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Japan, is targeting approximately 300 orders by 2010.
Sukhoi does not intend to follow the example of Airbus with its A380 or Boeing with its 787 and stressed this week in Venice that its SSJ program is proceeding according to schedule (see story above). The prototype Superjet 100 is in final assembly at Komsomolsk and rollout of the 95-seat variant is scheduled for Sept. 26. First flight will take place by year end and first delivery to Aeroflot is expected in November 2008.
Kuwaiti government accepted the resignation of Kuwait Airways' board, which made the move following the government's cancellation of a 19-aircraft order with ALAFCO ( ATWOnline, Sept. 11), according to press reports.
