International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers Assns. said "numerous warning signs, multiple risks and relevant safety reports were ignored" by the Brazilian government prior to last week's TAM A320 crash at Sao Paolo Congonhas ( ATWOnline, July 23) and that air safety in Brazil "is currently compromised and is a danger to the traveling public." Citing ongoing ATC problems leading to extensive flight delays and cancellations, IFATCA President Marc Baumgartner yesterday encouraged civilian authorities to take
SITA and CarTrawler agreed to integrate CarTrawler's car rental distribution platform within the SITA Horizon portfolio of passenger management solutions, allowing SITA to offer it to its airline customers and enabling the customers to increase ancillary revenue through car rental sales, according to SITA.
Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Delta Air Lines yesterday jointly launched SkyCorp Direct, an online travel management tool designed to provide companies with a "one-stop solution" for corporate travel needs. "The site allows employees to easily book their own flights, hotels and rental cars while providing corporations with the ability to track and manage employee travel costs," said John Slater, Continental MD-distribution planning and e-commerce.
Qantas plans to unveil a new premium economy class product in Sydney today. The new class will be fitted to the airline's A380s to be delivered next year and also to its 747-400 fleet. QF has been considering the move for some time and the delay in A380 deliveries enabled it to incorporate the new class in its first aircraft to be delivered in August 2008.
United Airlines parent UAL Corp. promoted VP-Financial Planning and Analysis Kathryn Mikells to VP-investor relations and named Robert Sahadevan as MD-Mileage Plus. BAA announced that Divisional Director and CEO-London Heathrow Tony Douglas is leaving the company to join Laing O'Rourke Group as COO.
US Transportation Security Administration announced last week that it no longer will ban common lighters from aircraft cabins "in an effort to concentrate resources on detecting explosive threats." Torch lighters will remain prohibited. The change becomes effective Aug. 4.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines asked the US Dept. of Transportation to amend its exemption and allow it to "exercise the full authority granted to Hong Kong carriers" under the countries' bilateral agreement. Its current exemption allows it to serve Oakland and Chicago, but it "wishes to have this authority in place so that future US services can be planned and implemented without delay."
Aviapartner Handling won several new contracts in France. In Lyon, it secured contracts with Aer Lingus, Austrian Airlines, bmi, British Airways, British Regional Airlines, City Airlines, Spanair and Thomas Cook. In Marseille, it added BA and Lufthansa to its portfolio. BA also contracted the group to handle its flights in Nice and Toulouse. Separately, Aviapartner announced the reorganization of its Handling Services Business Line around regions rather than individual countries.
US FAA reached an employment agreement with 1,200 engineers and architects responsible for the planning, design and installation of facilities, systems and equipment to support the National Airspace System. Negotiations between FAA and the workers represented by the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. took nine months.
AVIC I plans to partner with a strategic investor and launch a new regional airline by year end, MD Lin Zuoming announced yesterday. "We will maintain controlling stake in the new regional entity while opening the door to airlines or an international investment bank as our strategic investor," he said, noting that AVIC I already has discussed its plans with CAAC. At last year's Zhuhai Air Show, Vice MD Gu Huizhong revealed that the new carrier will have registered capital of more than CNY80 million with total capital reaching several hundred million yuan.
Alitalia flew 3.47 billion RPKs in June, up 1.5% on the year-ago month, against a 0.9% climb in ASKs to 4.44 billion. Load factor rose 0.5 point to 78.2%.
WestJet said yesterday that it has discontinued negotiations with Travelport on installing aiRES and will incur a noncash pre-tax writedown of C$31.9 million ($30.6 million) as a consequence of the failure to implement the reservation system to replace its aging OpenSkies platform.
3m FKI Logistex won a contract from Australian air Express for two cross-belt sortation systems. The two S-3000CB sorters will be installed in June 2008 in AaE's purpose-built domestic freight processing centers in Melbourne and Sydney.
China Eastern Airlines may post a net profit as high as CNY40 million ($5.3 million) for the first half of 2007, a source told ATWOnline. The carrier expects to release its financial results next month and, as a listed company, was unable to confirm the figure. China Eastern Group President Li Fenghua said this month that CEA is targeting the black following a net loss of CNY2.78 billion last year ( ATWOnline, July 4).
Aerolineas Argentinas, a founding member of ALTA, has returned to the organization. The move follows AR/Austral's readmission to IATA last month. AR currently operates three 747-400s, two 747-200s, four A340-200s, two A310-200s, 22 MD-80s, 13 737-500s and five 737-200s.
Astar Air Cargo yesterday extended the deadline for a response from ABX Air to its "indication of interest" to acquire its fellow DHL subservice carrier for more than $450 million in cash to July 27, noting it has been assured that ABX's board will meet with legal and financial advisers on June 20 to consider the proposal and formulate a response ( ATWOnline, July 2).
Unisys Corp. was selected by the US Cargo Sales Joint Venture to provide "a broad range of IT outsourcing support services" for the organization. USJV is an alliance of Delta Air Lines, Air France and Korean Air offering cargo-related services in the US. Under the terms of the contract, Unisys will provide USJV with outsourced data center, security, network and desktop management services over a three-year period.
Southwest Airlines is offering voluntary buyouts to approximately 9,000 employees, or 27% of its workers, according to press reports citing statements from the LCC. The buyout comprises a $25,000 payment, medical and dental benefits. Among those eligible are flight attendants, ramp workers, customer service employees and those in reservations, operations and freight who have reached a specific pay scale. SWA offered a similar buyout in 2004.
Air China and British Airways introduced interline e-ticketing this month. CA said it has similar agreements with 13 other carriers including United Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Northwest Airlines and Cathay Pacific Airways. It aims to have approximately 30 partners by year end including Japan Airlines, Continental Airlines and its future Star Alliance partners.
Sun Country Airlines yesterday launched a new loyalty program, Ufly Rewards, based on a points system awarding 10 points per return coach flight and a free trip with 100 points with "no blackout dates or restrictions."
Russia's S7 Airlines said it has been negotiating a potential oneworld membership with British Airways. "Members of oneworld alliance are interested in having a reliable partner in the Russian aviation market, which today is one of the most promising and rapid-growing markets," S7 said. "S7 can become such a partner, as it possesses a unique and the most developed route network in Russia." Aeroflot is a member of SkyTeam and AiRUnion, which said it intends to join an alliance by 2015 ( ATWOnline, Feb.
