Air France KLM Group estimated the net impact on operating income associated with the recently concluded five-day strike by AF cabin crew at some €60 million ($86.5 million). The figure reflects an €80 million loss in revenue offset by a €20 million reduction in costs linked mainly to fuel. The estimate will be refined at a later stage, the carrier said in a statement. AF cabin staff were on strike Oct. 25-29 over pay and working conditions. The airline's flight schedule returned to normal yesterday.
Lufthansa Technik and Bulgarian Aviation Group will open a hangar facility at Sofia for 737 and A320 heavy maintenance including D checks. The 6,000-sq.-m. facility, Lufthansa Technik Sofia, is expected to be operational in October 2008. It will be capable of handling two narrowbodies at once. Forthcoming renovation and training investments are put at €20 million ($28 million), to be shared by BAG and LHT. The facility will employ up to 380.
The Arab Air Carriers Organization expressed its disapproval of the EU's intent to include aviation in its Emissions Trading Scheme and called upon the Arab states to support "the stance against any individual measures in order to avoid economical imbalance that the global air transport industry ensures without leading to any additional environmental benefit."
Midwest Air Group shareholders approved the company's acquisition by Midwest Air Partners, an affiliate of TPG Capital, at a special meeting yesterday. Each outstanding share of Midwest common stock will be converted into the right to receive $17 per share in cash, MAG said ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20). The transaction is expected to be completed during the current quarter. Northwest Airlines also is participating in the acquisition and reportedly will hold 49% of Midwest.
AmSafe Partners, which claims to be the largest supplier of passenger, flight attendant and cockpit safety restraining systems, was acquired by Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Berkshire Partners LLC from Pritzker Group and Admiralty Partners. Terms were not disclosed.
Barco was awarded a contract by the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Dept. to provide an arrival metering and sequencing system based on its OSYRIS arrival management software for a six-month trial period. The system, to be installed by year end, will enhance air traffic efficiency at Hong Kong International. Separately, Barco in cooperation with Marshall Aviation Services of the UK announced that its OPScenter-based Airport Display System entered operational service at Inverness Airport.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace's Panama Aerospace Engineering subsidiary won a contract valued at S$4.5 million ($3.1 million) from Transaero Airlines for maintenance and C checks on 10 737-500s. Work will begin this month with redelivery slated for December. PAE plans to redeliver the final aircraft in late 2008.
Gol continued its resurrection of Varig last weekend with the launch of VRG Linhas Aereas daily Rio de Janeiro Galeao-Sao Paulo Guarulhos-London Heathrow service. VRG already served Frankfurt, Paris Charles de Gaulle and Rome Fiumicino.
Paxport announced the launch of PaxRelax, a Web-based sales platform that allows airlines and tour operators "to sell services such as choice of seats, catering, excess and/or special baggage." Launch customer is Thomas Cook Northern Europe, which will offer the service to customers in Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland.
Sabre Travel Network said Porter Airlines will have the capability to display branded fares via Sabre-connected travel agents. Porter also recently signed a full-content agreement with STN.
British Airways announced the conclusion of arrangements for a long-term, multiple-option debt facility for $1.7 billion that will be used to finance aircraft delivered over the next five years. Banks from China, Japan and Europe are participating.
Moments after Boeing Commercial Airplanes President and CEO Scott Carson claimed that attempting to solve capacity problems with congestion prices or flight caps would be "an admission that we as an industry have failed," US FAA Acting Administrator Bobby Sturgell told ATWOnline that last week's meetings between the government and airlines serving New York JFK were "productive" but that there was "still more to do."
Kuala Lumpur-Singapore service is set to see a major price war erupt after the Malaysian government decided to abandon its protection of the route and several others well ahead of the originally scheduled January 2009 date.
Noel Forgeard, the embattled former EADS co-CEO who sold €2.5 million ($3.5 million) worth of stock options in March 2006 three months before Airbus announced A380 delays, denied in interviews with European newspapers this week that he and other EADS and Airbus executives committed insider trading ( ATWOnline, Oct. 9), claiming that Hamburg plant managers kept A380 production problems to themselves.
Sabena Flight Academy and GMR Group signed an MOU to create a joint venture aviation training academy at New Rajiv Gandhi International Airport in Hyderabad by January 2009. The academy will offer "complete training packages for aviation-related activities" covering pilot and cabin crew training, engineers, technicians and aviation consultants. Training for airport operations staff such as passenger and ramp services agents also will be provided.
Lufthansa Systems said Singapore Airlines will be using flight planning and dispatch solution Lido Operations Center for its first scheduled A380 flights (see story above) between Singapore and Sydney this week.
JetWorks Leasing on behalf of a group of institutional investors arranged the sale of a 747-400 on lease to United Airlines to Top Flight Holdings, a company controlled by Babcock & Brown Aircraft Management.
ATWOnline's "Self-Service Travel: The New Reality" webcast yesterday featured industry experts saying that passenger self-service technology is spreading rapidly and that airlines need to offer a range of options to capture the broadest array of passengers.
Air Transat will increase economy class average seat pitch to 32 in. from the current 30 in. across its fleet beginning next May. As a result, the number of seats on its A310s will drop to 249 from 259 while its A330s will carry 342, down from 362. The number of Club class seats remains unchanged in both aircraft: 20 on the A310s and 21 on the A330s.
Virgin Blue added another element to its New World Carrier strategy with the introduction of a premium economy product. It will install three rows of 2x2 seats set at 34-35-in. pitch into its 50-strong fleet of 737-800s and Embraer regional jets.
Iberia and TAP signed an agreement under which TAP Maintenance & Engineering will perform MRO work on the CFM56-5Cs powering Iberia's A340s while Iberia Maintenance and Engineering will maintain TAP's A320 landing gear. The carriers said creation of maintenance networks among airline MRO organizations through sharing and exchanging of maintenance services "becomes an important factor to compete against" increasing inroads into the aftermarket by OEMs.
Singapore Airlines flew 7.48 billion RPKs in September, up 4.1% on the year-ago month, as capacity fell 0.5% to 9.23 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 3.6 points to 81%.
Finnair said the sale of its FlyNordic subsidiary to Norwegian will result in a €14.1 million ($20.1 million) net gain in its third-quarter operating profit resulting from a €18.6 million capital gain recognized for the summer transaction ( ATWOnline, July 3), an additional €3 million in depreciation on six FlyNordic MD-80s owned by Finnair Aircraft Finance and a €1.5 million amortization.
Mxi Technologies said MRO Teknik Servis Sanayi Ticaret A.S. (myTechnic), a startup maintenance facility in Turkey, chose to implement its Maintenix maintenance management software.
