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.
Air France KLM flew 19.35 billion RPKs in August, up 6.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 5.7% to 22.7 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 1 point to 85.3%. Lufthansa Group carriers flew 13.12 billion RPKs in August, a 30.2% increase from the year-ago month, against a 24.6% rise in ASKs to 16.43 billion. Load factor rose 3.5 points to 79.9%.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will host a meeting of EADS shareholders on Sept. 18 to discuss Airbus's Power8 restructuring program, a German government spokesperson told media. DaimlerChrysler, which owns a 15% stake in EADS, will be a key player at the meeting, which is expected to focus on Airbus's German plants at Nordenham, Laupheim, and Varel and EADS' plant in Augsburg, all sites that EADS/Airbus is considering selling outright or turning over in part to investors ( ATWOnline, Aug. 14).
Kuwait Airways board offered its resignation in the wake of the government's cancellation of its 19-aircraft deal with ALAFCO ( ATWOnline, Aug. 29), according to widespread press reports. The airline had planned to purchase 12 787s and seven A320s from the lessor rather than OEMs in order to ensure earlier delivery, Reuters said.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines Q400 was involved Sunday in an accident at Aalborg when the right main landing gear collapsed upon landing, breaking the propeller and sending it slicing into the cabin, according to reports. A fire in the right engine was extinguished and all 69 passengers and four crew were evacuated safely, the airline said, adding that five passengers were "lightly injured" during the procedure. SAS canceled flights to/from Aalborg and several to/from Copenhagen as a result.
News from Travel Technology Update: Lufthansa Systems said it is dropping all further development of its Future Airline Core Environment passenger management platform. The company cited "commercial reasons" for the decision. FACE was intended to support the core processes of passenger airlines, such as schedule distribution, reservations, inventory, ticketing and departure control. The next-generation system was touted as more flexible and more cost-efficient than traditional reservations systems.
Singapore Airlines is promising a new class of premium travel that it calls "beyond first" for its A380 scheduled to be handed over in Toulouse the morning of Oct. 15. Unlike Qantas, which unveiled its A380 product in July ( ATWOnline, July 25), SIA has been tight-lipped on the details except to say that some elements are the same as its 777-300ER interior.
CAAC plans to open some secondary airports near larger domestic markets and relax its control of airfare and route licensing in an attempt to boost the growth of Chinese LCCs. As one of the country's few profitable LCCs, Spring Airlines welcomed the regulator's move. "Currently our airports cost accounts for 10% of our total operating expenses. If CAAC can open some secondary airports for us, it will be conducive to our cost [control]," spokesperson Zhang Lei said.
Alenia Aeronautica and Sukhoi Co. yesterday unveiled their new Superjet International joint venture, which will concentrate on after-sales support and marketing and sales of the Superjet 100 regional aircraft family in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Oceania and Japan. Alenia holds a 51% share of the new company, with 49% held by Sukhoi. Amedeo Caporaletti was named chairman and Alessandro Franzoni is CEO. The venture will be headquartered in Venice.
VGS Aircraft Holding (Ireland), through its wholly owned subsidiary VGS Investments One, acquired two MD-82s from GECAS. Aircraft are leased to American Airlines until February 2013 and February 2014 respectively and are financed by Nord LB in Germany.
ARINC announced the introduction of SkyBuy, an inflight payment and inventory control system designed to automate and monitor inflight sales data wirelessly. ARINC said the solution combines Abanco's MDT In-Flight sales application with ARINC's wireless technology.
Fidelity Investment parent FMR Corp. increased its stake in US Airways to 13.8 million shares, or 15%, from the previous 8.6%, the airline said in a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission.
JetBlue Airways said August passenger RASM increased 15% year-over-year as it flew 2.51 billion RPMs, a 13.4% gain over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9.8% to 2.91 billion ASMs and load factor improved 2.7 points to 86.4%
European Cargo Services is the exclusive European GSA for Hainan Airlines. ECS will market the carrier's 45 tonnes of freight capacity on its thrice-weekly 767 passenger service between Beijing and Brussels. ECS expects to generate some 1,200 tonnes of traffic for Hainan in its first year of representation.
In order to comply with international standards and be better prepared for next summer's Olympics, eight Chinese airlines are adopting a new policy of charging for ticket returns in proportion to the airfare's discount rate rather than basing the fee on the time the ticket was returned. The eight are Air China, China Eastern Airlines, China Southern Airlines, Shanghai Airlines, Hainan Airlines, Shandong Airlines, Grand Xinhua Express and Junyao Airlines.
