Virgin Atlantic Airways said free Wi-Fi Internet connections will be available in all its Upper Class Clubhouse airport lounges by year end. Presently, free Wi-Fi service exists in lounges at London Heathrow, Gatwick, New York JFK, Washington Dulles and Hong Kong. The service is being extended to airport lounges in Tokyo, Boston, Newark, San Francisco and Johannesburg.
TAP Portugal plans to expand its African and Brazilian services this summer as it adds three former Austrian Airlines A330-200s to its fleet, CEO Fernando Pinto told ATWOnline in Copenhagen this week. A fourth aircraft may follow but no decision has been made ( ATWOnline, Dec. 12, 2006). Increased frequencies to Luanda, Brasilia and potential nonstop services to Maputo, Johannesburg and an eighth Brazilian destination are in the offing, Pinto said.
WestJet flew 936.5 million RPMs in April, up 23% on the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 16% to 1.13 billion ASMs and load factor rose 4.3 points to 82.8%.
Southwest Airlines signed a 10-year distribution agreement with Galileo, the second-largest GDS in the US, and will begin participating in the system later this year after technical work is completed.
KLM named Executive VP-Corporate Center Jan Ernst de Groot as one of three MDs effective July 5. Other MDs are new President and CEO Peter Hartman ( ATWOnline, Nov. 28) and CFO Frederic Gagey.
US FAA Administrator Marion Blakey, in a speech before this week's ICAO Colloquium on Aviation Emissions in Montreal, defended aviation's environmental record. "Frankly, there are some strange portraits of aviation today," she said. "Some see it as a rogue industry on the order of tobacco, as a greenhouse dragon that needs to be slain. . .Even people who made their fortune in the travel industry now want to place surcharges of hundreds of dollars on all flights on the theory that people just fly to fly.
On the occasion of its 10th anniversary, celebrated this week in Copenhagen, Star Alliance endeavored to take some control over the increasingly volatile discussion concerning commercial aviation's impact on the environment, announcing a transport and marketing partnership with leading conservation organizations while acknowledging that more forceful and unified communication is needed to defend the industry's position.
Sabre Airline Solutions said Aerolitoral became the fourth airline to sign an agreement to use the Ramco MRO System provided by Sabre to maintain and engineer its fleet.
Embraer's first-quarter profit, dragged down by ongoing problems with its supply chain and production capabilities, fell 60% to $26.2 million from $65.3 million in the year-ago quarter. The company delivered 25 aircraft in the quarter, slightly down from 27 in the same period last year. Revenue was up 4.3% to $843.4 million. Backlog reached a record $15 billion.
Italy's Treasury Dept. yesterday cleared all three bidders for Alitalia to remain in the running. They will have access to Alitalia's financial books on May 24 and be able to submit binding bids at the end of June for the troubled airline. Remaining bidders are a consortium led by Texas Pacific Group and MatlinPatterson, a partnership between Air One parent AP Holding and Intesa Sanpaolo, and a recently formed tie-up between Aeroflot and UniCredit
Skybus Airlines received FAA certification last week and plans to begin service on May 22. "FAA certification is the final hurdle and having cleared it we are ready to begin serving passengers," President and COO Ken Gile said. The LCC startup will be based in Columbus and have an initial network of seven cities, with Oakland to be added as an eighth destination on June 12 ( ATWOnline, April 25).
AirAsia said it will introduce a new service dubbed Xpress Boarding that offers passengers the first choice of seats on its aircraft. Cost is RM20 ($6.50) one way. The carrier, which practices a free-seating policy, will extend the Xpress Boarding service to all airports within its network including those serviced by its sister companies Thai AirAsia and Indonesia AirAsia.
China's airlines reported a collective first-quarter net loss of CNY820 million ($106.7 million), narrowed from a CNY2.14 billion deficit in the year-ago quarter, according to figures released by CAAC. Operating revenue rose 19.9% to CNY40.5 billion while costs increased 16.5% to CNY41.2 billion. Chinese analysts credited "drop of fuel price" and "strong market demand" for the improved performance. The government slashed the price of jet fuel by CNY180 per ton at the beginning of the year, according to the official state Xinhua News Agency.
American Airlines' business class upgrade for its 767-300s is progressing as planned, the carrier said last week in Brussels during a tour to present the new cabin. By summer, all 767-300s operating on Europe-New York JFK routes will be refurbished with the "next-generation" business class and at year end the process should be completed on its entire fleet of 58 -300s, which in addition to transatlantic services are operated on select routes within the US and to Latin America.
Northwest Airlines and China Airlines signed a cooperation agreement, to be implemented Aug. 1, that will include reciprocal frequent-flier benefits and lounge access as well as "one-stop check-in" for connecting passengers.
Jet Airways appointed Emmanuel Menu GM-Continental Europe. He replaces Abraham Joseph, who is relocating to Toronto to lead the airline's expansion into Canada.
Singapore Technologies Aerospace's SAS Component subsidiary was selected by Martinair to continue its support of the airline's six 767s under its material supply program for another three years in a deal valued at €18 million ($24.3 million). AJ Walter said Bulgarian charter carrier Air Via signed a power-by-the-hour contract covering an A320.
Anchored by Airbus's negative EBIT of €69 million ($93.4 million), parent EADS reported a €10 million net loss in the first quarter, reversed from a profit of €522 million in the year-ago period.
Air Transport Assn. is seeking the assistance of the White House in a dispute with the Dept. of Homeland Security over the collection of biometric information on non-US citizens. Currently, DHS requires foreign visitors to submit to fingerprinting when they arrive in the US. Now it intends to mandate fingerprinting when visitors leave the country as well. However, in a decision Air Transport Assn.
International Federation of Air Line Pilots Assns. said it was "outraged" to learn Brazil's Polícia Federal recommended prosecution of Joseph Lepore and Jan Paladino, the pilots of the Embraer Legacy that collided with a Gol 737-800 last September ( ATWOnline, Feb. 21). Charges would be brought under section 261 of the Brazilian Penal Code "for placing a vessel or aircraft in jeopardy," according to IFALPA.
