Qantas CEO Geoff Dixon will quit the airline after his current contract expires in July 2009. Speaking on Australia's Sky News Business Sunday, Dixon said, "There is a time to move on, and I don't think the board or I would contemplate anything after the time we've said, unless there is something out there I don't see. I really do think it would be time to move on." He also forecast a bigger role for Qantas low-cost subsidiary JetStar Airways, which will restore service to markets that QF abandoned.
SAirGroup liquidators will start making payments to creditors in November, Wenger Plattner, the Swiss law firm handling the liquidation, announced last week. An initial payment of CHF519.4 million ($429.7 million) will include a first installment for nonpreferential creditors. So far, SAirGroup's creditors have filed claims totaling CHF48.9 billion, of which CHF9.8 billion have been accepted for payment, WP said. It added that CHF29.3 billion worth of claims have been rejected while appeals or decisions are pending on the rest.
Aer Lingus pilots called off a two-day strike scheduled to begin today after the carrier and the Irish Air Line Pilots Assn. agreed to commence talks through Ireland's Labour Relations Commission on pay and conditions at EI's new Belfast base ( ATWOnline, Aug. 20).
Aeroflot said it has started using mobile automatic check-in desks at up to 10 Russian airports lacking stationary desks, allowing it to check in passengers using its Sabre program and introduce e-ticket technology at new destinations.
A high-profile runway incursion at Los Angeles International last Thursday brought further attention to a problem to which US FAA has promised serious scrutiny in the immediate future.
Finnair Technical Services and Lufthansa Cargo signed a maintenance agreement covering airframe MRO of two MD-11 freighters. The deal includes an option for two additional airframe maintenance visits in 2008-09.
Alitalia's new chairman, Maurizio Prato, is considering selling regional and charter subsidiary Alitalia Express in a separate tender, Finanza e Mercati reported. Air Alps and ItAli were named as potential buyers. Prato was appointed this month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 2).
Correction: An Aug. 13 item in Daily News incorrectly identified Air Moorea as an affiliate of Air Tahiti Nui. Air Moorea is a wholly owned subsidiary of Air Tahiti, a regional based in Papeete. ATWOnline regrets the error.
SAS Group President and CEO Mats Jansson said four local trade unions, in addition to the heads of the unions organizing employees at SAS Ground Services and SAS Technical Service in Denmark, have promised to "work for a total no-strike situation" in a letter he called "a breakthrough toward a new cooperation model between SAS and our trade union organizations in Denmark." SAS said that as a result of the commitment, "the conditions and the realities have changed" regarding its decision to operate flights between Copenhagen and Stockholm and Oslo with only Swedish and Norwegian crews
Delta Air Lines flew 12.34 billion system RPMs in July, a 4.9% increase over the year-ago month, as domestic traffic rose 0.5% and international climbed 14.6%. Capacity grew 3.2% to 14.22 billion ASMs on a 2.1% domestic decline and a 15.5% international gain. System load factor rose 1.4 points to 86.8%, the highest single-month load factor in the carrier's history. Domestic load factor was up 2.2 points to 87.9% and international 0.1 point to 85%. British Airways flew 10.34 billion RPKs in July, a 2.9% decrease from the year-ago month.
The Irish government apparently will not intervene in Aer Lingus's decision to open a base in Belfast and transfer flights to London Heathrow from Shannon to Northern Ireland ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15), despite pleas from officials with ties to Western Ireland.
IATA reported that premium traffic rose 1.9% in June following a 0.7% fall in May, marking the first increase since March. The organization said year-over-year growth in June would have been 5.7% but for a "sharp fall" in Europe. Premium revenue was up 5.4% in June following a 1.8% May increase, driven by "strong" growth on North Atlantic routes. Highest gain was on routes between Central and South America, where premium traffic rose 38.3% year-over-year; however, that route represents just 0.3% of worldwide premium traffic.
Cathay Pacific Airways and Dragonair flew a combined 7.26 billion RPKs in July, up 2.2% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.8% to 8.59 billion ASKs and load factor improved 1.1 points to 84.6%.
US FAA, citing "recent close calls at some of our nation's busiest airports," said urgent action is needed "to reduce the risk of runway incursions and wrong runway departures" and announced a short-term plan to tackle the problem.
Boeing will supply GoldCare lifecycle support services to Rolls-Royce for the UK company's Trent 1000 engine TotalCare program. The agreement covers repair and overhaul for 787 "underwing rotable airplane components as an option for Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 TotalCare service agreements." Trent 1000 is the launch engine for the 787.
American Airlines said it will recall 460 furloughed flight attendants, all formerly employed by TWA, bringing the number of cabin staff recalled this year to 660. Those who accept the recall and qualify will return to service as early as October, AA said.
Ryanair will launch six new routes from its Madrid base in October and close four others. The LCC will start flying to Girona, Santander, Alghero, Cagliari, Frankfurt Hahn and Liverpool and cease service to Faro, Malmo, Bournemouth and Shannon. Frequencies will increase on several existing routes, including to Brussels Charleroi, which will move to twice-daily from four-times-weekly. LTU Airlines will open a third long-haul base at BerlinTegel in November. It will operate thrice-weekly flights to Bangkok and weekly flights to Punta Cana and Varadero.
CSA Czech Airlines announced that Vice Chairman and VP-Information Technology Jiri Devat was appointed to the SITA board. He will represent the members from Central and Eastern Europe.
Lufthansa will introduce individual video screens in its long-haul economy cabins starting in November. It started testing the screens, and both touchscreen and armrest control panels, this week on flights from Frankfurt to Detroit, Houston Intercontinental and Toronto. The menu will be available in nine languages.
Aer Lingus said it "hopes to operate a limited schedule of European flights" next week during a two-day pilot strike called in protest of its decision to open a Belfast base ( ATWOnline, Aug. 15). The airline said it has agreed to wet-lease "a number" of aircraft for Aug. 21-22.
SR Technics promoted Marco Imboden to VP-marketing, effective Aug. 20. He currently is deputy head of corporate communications and head of Communications Switzerland.
Galileo and Air Canada yesterday announced a multiyear agreement under which Galileo-connected Canadian travel agents will have access to AC's "a la carte" fare products and Flight Passes through a "revolutionary" desktop solution. AC will be the first airline to use the application. The solution, which Galileo developed, uses AC's direct-connect application programming interface platform called "AC2U" and integrates the carrier's Web-only content with content from Galileo's GDS. Galileo said it intends to make the application available to Canadian travel agents in the fourth quarter.
