Embraer's board officially elected Frederico Fleury Curado as president and CEO, succeeding Mauricio Botelho, who will remain chairman. Curado was selected last summer ( ATWOnline, Aug. 7, 2006). Mauro Kern Jr. succeeds Curado as executive VP-airline market while Antonio Julio Franco was named executive VP-organizational development and Flavio Rimoli is the new executive VP-legal counsel.
EADS and United Aircraft Building Corp. will operate a joint venture to convert A320s and A321s to freighters for entry into service beginning in 2011 ( ATWOnline, May 17, 2006). Speaking yesterday at Airbus's annual Technical Press Briefing in Toulouse, COO-Customers John Leahy said the conversions will take place at facilities in Dresden and north of Moscow. The cost for an A320P2F will be $4.5 million, rising to $5 million for an A321P2F.
Delta Air Lines received confirmation of its reorganization plan yesterday from the US Bankruptcy Court, paving the way for it to exit Chapter 11 protection on April 30 after its $2.5 billion in exit financing has closed ( ATWOnline, April 17). Trading of its common stock on the New York Stock Exchange is expected to commence April 26 on a "when issued" basis and on May 3 on a "regular way" basis.
British Airways yesterday signaled its intent to delist its American Depository Shares from the New York Stock Exchange and terminate its reporting obligations under the US Securities Exchange Act of 1934, a move it said will save it approximately £10 million ($20 million) annually. BA will file the required form with the US Securities and Exchange Commission "on or about" May 8 and its deregistration form "as soon as practicable" after June 4. Its American Depository Receipts will trade on the over-the-counter market.
Emirates is looking to leverage its new seven-hangar, $353 million maintenance facility in Dubai, which it said is the largest civil aviation MRO facility in the world, to become the maintenance "Center of Excellence" for the A380. "We have made a huge investment. We now have the capacity and can look for third-party A380 work," Senior VP-Aircraft Maintenance Iain Lachlan told this website.
China's airlines maintained their rapid growth rate in the first quarter, enjoying a 15.9% year-over-year rise in passengers to 40.9 million and a 13.3% gain in freight to 858,000 tonnes, according to CAAC statistics released yesterday. International numbers lifted significantly. International passengers climbed 23.9% to 3.8 million and freight rose 25.1% to 238,000 tonnes.
Jat Airways said it expects 2007 to be "the most successful business year over the past 17 years" based on traffic trends through the first 100 days. It transported 237,201 passengers during the period, a 5.6% increase from a year ago, with a 2.5-point rise in load factor to 51.8%. Austrian Airlines flew 1.75 billion RPKs in March, down 0.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 4.2% to 2.35 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.8 points to 74.7%.
American Airlines yesterday announced plans to upgrade its 124 757s with new seats, new interiors and updated IFE. The first class cabin will increase to 24 seats from 22 while new economy seats, sidewalls, LCD monitors that will replace CRT monitors and new digital media file servers will be added. Work will begin next year and will be conducted in-house, AA said.
Austrian Airlines Technik and Lufthansa Technik signed an MOU for "long-term cooperation" that AAT said will help "make a lasting improvement to its competitiveness and consolidate its market position, particularly at the Vienna location." The deal includes no capital integration between the companies but will help AAT reduce costs, retain Vienna as an independent MRO center and "redevelop joint locations." More details will be announced "in the coming weeks." The move is part of Austrian's plan to reduce costs associated with its 1,100-employee MRO department, which came to €270
News from Travel Technology Update: The OpenTravel Alliance, the organization that develops XML messaging specifications for electronic travel distribution, is adopting a new identity that reflects a philosophical shift: It is setting standards for the industry. In the alliance's seven-year history, OpenTravel stressed that it creates and encourages the adoption of "specifications" rather than standards.
Air Greenland said it posted a DKK75 million ($13.7 million) profit in 2006 on record revenues of more than DKK1 billion. It recorded a 2005 profit of $6.5 million on $137.8 million in revenue, according to ATW's "World Airline Report." The company also announced the election of Greenland Tourism and Business Council Communications Manager Julia Pars as chairman replacing retiring Peter Gronvold Samuelsen.
Dragonair unveiled a revamped website that offers online booking for flights departing from Hong Kong, Beijing, Shanghai and Xiamen. It marks the first time passengers have been able to buy tickets through Dragonair's site.
Norwegian flew 374 million RPKs in March, up 41% from the year-ago month, against a 42% increase in ASKs to 481 million that left load factor static at 78%. SkyEurope Airlines transported 264,621 passengers in March, a 48.5% increase from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 14 points to 88.4%.
Air Transport Assn. President and CEO James May reiterated ( ATWOnline, April 12) last week in testimony before the US House of Representatives aviation subcommittee that passenger rights legislation mandating the terms of airline operations during ground delays will "likely aggravate. . .severe weather events" and lead to a far larger number of cancellations. "No passenger likes a delayed flight, but what they like even less is not being able to get to their destinations at all," May said.
In a desperate bid to gets its A$11.1 billion ($9.29 billion) buyout of Qantas off the ground, Airline Partners Australia announced over the weekend that the May 4 deadline will not be extended while repeating its warning that share prices will fall if its bid fails.
Amadeus completed implementation of SITA's automated rules system, which allows fare information sent by SITA to be uploaded automatically into the Amadeus system.
Air Cargo Management Group released its latest 20-year freighter aircraft forecast last week, projecting that the global fleet will more than double in size from 1,801 units currently to 3,883 by 2026. "In addition to freighter fleet expansion. . .more than 1,100 existing freighters will be retired over the next 20 years," ACMG Project Director Robert Dahl said.
Air New Zealand said March load factor rose 7 points to 79.5% on a 8.3% gain in traffic and a 1.3% fall in capacity. ANZ also said it will add a 15th leased 737 this year, a 16th in the first half of 2008, a 15th Q300 this month and a further five by December, replacing Saab 340As. Separately, it will add a fourth and fifth weekly Auckland-Adelaide flight beginning Oct. 29 aboard A320s.
Jet Airways completed its INR14.5 billion ($344 million) acquisition of Air Sahara ( ATWOnline, April 17) Friday with a INR4 billion payment for the remaining shares. Jet appointed a management team led by Garry Kingshott to manage Sahara's transition to a wholly owned subsidiary called JetLite.
A three-day US-India "aviation partnership summit" that kicks off today in New Delhi will focus on how FAA can help India cope with explosive air transport growth, as well as relations between the countries and future infrastructure development, FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said.
Aer Lingus flew 1.12 billion RPKs in March, a 9.5% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 12.9% to 1.48 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 2.3 points to 75.5%. Air Berlin transported 1.7 million passengers in March, up 13.6% from the year-ago month. Load factor rose 2.3 points to 74%.
European Commission announced Friday the postponement of its rule on limiting the size of carry-on baggage to May 2008, "as more time is needed to reassess the advantages and disadvantages [the rules] entail, notably regarding air security and passengers' comfort." Last fall it passed a series of security measures, one of which would limit the size of cabin baggage to 56x45x25 cm. ( ATWOnline, Sept. 29, 2006).
Northwest Airlines announced that Chairman Gary Wilson will step down from the board when the company emerges from bankruptcy later this spring, ending an 18-year association with the airline that began when Wilson and former Co-chairman Al Checchi led an investment group that carried out a leveraged buyout of NWA in 1989. Wilson had served as sole chairman since 1997. He will be succeeded by Roy Bostock, a board member since 2005.
WestJet pushed back its negotiating deadline with Travelport by two months to July 31 to agree to new contract terms on the delayed installation of the aiRES system that the carrier had planned to use to facilitate interlining with other airlines ( ATWOnline, Jan. 12). The Canadian LCC said in statement that it has "made progress" with Travelport as it "works toward an amended contract."
