Emirates President Tim Clark is promising a spectacular interior for its A380s but is tight-lipped on details, although he was happy to confirm that EK wants to double its commitment to the type. Speaking to ATWOnline at the unveiling of the airline's newest ultra-long-range product aboard a 777-300ER over the stunning skyline of Dubai, he would only say, "You haven't seen anything yet" compared to the 777 interior. He said the A380 interior will be revealed in the second quarter of 2008.
OnAir will provide its Webmail OnAir and Webchat OnAir services to Kingfisher Airlines next year, followed by inflight Internet and Mobile OnAir service in 2009, the Airbus/SITA joint venture announced. The products initially will be installed on five A330s and five A340s, with plans "in place" to install the system across the entire fleet.
American Airlines flew 12.53 billion system RPMs in August, a 0.4% increase from the year-ago month, as domestic traffic rose 1.5% and international fell 1.6%. Capacity was down 3.1% to 14.74 billion ASMs on a 3.4% domestic drop and a 2.6% international decline. System load factor rose 3 points to 85%. Domestic was up 4.2 points to 86.7% and international up 0.9 point to 82.1%. Northwest Airlines flew 7.14 billion consolidated RPMs in August, up 1.3% on the year-ago month, on a 3.2% domestic decline and a 6.9% international increase.
American Airlines will conduct a test Sept. 10-30 on flights from San Francisco during which it will accept only credit or debit cards for onboard transactions. AA began accepting cards for purchases last year and said it is investigating whether passengers prefer that payment method. Separately, AA this week launched thrice-daily flights between New York LaGuardia and Minneapolis-St. Paul aboard MD-80s, added a third daily New York JFK-Chicago O'Hare service and launched daily JFK-Las Vegas flights aboard a 757.
Caribbean Airlines appointed Star Alliance VP-Commercial Philip Saunders as its new CEO effective Oct. 1. He will replace Peter Davies, who will remain a strategic adviser to the board. Saunders previously held management positions at British Airways, SN Brussels Airlines and Deutsche BA.
Air Transat parent Transat AT reported a C$16.7 million ($15.9 million) profit in the third fiscal quarter ended June 30, nearly four times greater than the C$4.2 million posted in the year-ago quarter. it credited increasing revenue as well as the adoption of new accounting standards related to hedge accounting and foreign exchange gains, which combined to produce a nonmonetary gain of C$5.7 million. Third-quarter revenue rose 21.4% year-over-year to C$741.8 million. Nine-month earnings were up 22.9% to C$72.8 million.
GMF AeroAsia and MTU Maintenance Zhuhai entered into a three-year, $100 million partnership focusing on CFM56-3 MRO. Garuda Indonesia said that more than 200 units are in operation by Indonesian carriers. MTUMZ is a joint venture between MTU Aero Engines and China Southern Airlines.
Republic Airways Holdings will purchase 2 million shares of its common stock from WexAir, its former majority shareholder, for $38.4 million or $19.20 per share. Transaction is expected to close Friday. RAH last week announced a year-long, $100 million repurchase program.
US FAA issued a final decision on the redesign of the airspace over the US Northeast that it said will "reduce delays, fuel consumption, aircraft emissions and noise." The redesign involves a 31,000-sq.-mi. area over Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Delaware. Delays are expected to fall 20% by 2011, when the redesign is slated to be completed.
Jordan Airline Training and Simulation, formerly the training subsidiary of Royal Jordanian but now a privately held company offering simulation and training to a variety of customers from its facility adjacent to Queen Alia International Airport outside Amman, inaugurated an A320-200 full flight simulator Sunday that is the first Thales FFS to meet Airbus Standard 1.4.0, allowing it to replicate a variety of A320 tail numbers.
United Airlines flew 10.84 billion RPMs in August, 2.3% more than in the year-ago month, against a 1% decline in capacity to 12.57 billion ASMs. Load factor increased 2.8 points to 86.3%. British Airways flew 10.33 billion RPKs in August, up 5.3% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 2.8% to 12.91 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1.8 points to 80%. Southwest Airlines flew 7 billion RPMs in August, a 12.1% lift from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 8.1% to 8.75 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.9 points to 80%.
South African Airways said it will realize "significant cost savings" following renegotiation of several service contracts and grounding of two of its six 747-400s, with the remainder to follow in the coming months. "In just over three months since the approval of our business plan, we are beginning to realize some of its objectives which will place us on the road towards financial sustainability," GM-Operations Chris Smyth said ( ATWOnline, July 4).
The European Parliament yesterday called on the European Commission "to review urgently" the legislation restricting the amount of liquid passengers can carry onboard aircraft. "The need for high-quality security is unquestionable. However, security measures need to be 'realistically' designed to minimize the risk and may not be 'disproportionate'," MEPs said. They also recognized the "substantial inconvenience and disruption" caused to passengers, especially transit passengers.
Lufthansa Cargo and German mail and logistics group Deutsche Post plan to create a cargo airline, according to widespread domestic press reports. The companies have applied to set up a 50/50 joint venture. A source close to the deal told ATWOnline that an announcement concerning the cooperation will be made this month. Operations could start in 2009 with a base at Leipzig/Halle.
ST Aerospace signed a joint venture agreement with Aviation Training Academy Singapore to establish a commercial pilot training academy, expanding its training business beyond maintenance and the military to take advantage of projected increases in commercial pilots in the Asia/Pacific region.
Estonian Air will add two 33-seat Saab 340s to its current fleet of six 737s. The regional aircraft will operate three new routes: Daily Tallinn-Helsinki and six-times-weekly Tallinn-Vilnius beginning Sept. 24 and twice-weekly Tallinn-Kuressaare-Stockholm Arlanda from Sept. 27. The airline also is planning to launch service to St. Petersburg and Minsk when it secures the traffic rights. The 340s will be operated by Estonian Air Regional, a wholly owned subsidiary.
Skyways Aviation arranged the long-term lease of an F100 from Mass Holdings of the Netherlands to Air Express of Sweden. Aircraft will be operated by Air Express on behalf of Skyways Express under an ACMI contract.
OnAir reached an agreement with Shenzen Airlines to provide inflight communication services including e-mail, SMS and voice calls aboard the carrier's fleet of 737s and A320s by mid-2009. "We are very proud to be the first airline in China to provide passengers with the ability to communicate during flights," Shenzen President Li Kun said. The OnAir service will enable passengers to use Blackberry-type devices and mobile phones to send and receive text messages and e-mails and to make and receive phone calls inflight.
Singapore Airlines sold the first ticket for the A380's first commercial flight on Oct. 25 to Sydney resident Julian Hayward for $100,380 via an eBay auction. SIA plans to fill both the initial Singapore-Sydney flight and the Oct. 26 return by auctioning tickets and giving the proceeds to charity.
Oman Air will lease three Airbus aircraft as part of its plan to launch new long-haul services in November, the Arab Air Carriers Organization confirmed ( ATWOnline, July 9). The first two aircraft, an A330 and an A310, will arrive in October. The A330 will operate to Europe while the A310 will fly on Middle Eastern routes and to Bangkok and other destinations.
