Gulf Air CEO Andre Dose, who took charge this week ( ATWOnline, April 4), announced a reduction of his senior staff in order to "drive the necessary efficiencies and to allow our management to focus on our customers." VP-Finance Ahmed Al Hammadi, VP-Services Tariq Sultan and VP-Business Units Ali Murtada will be leaving the airline.
Lufthansa will install a new first class cabin on one of its long-haul aircraft for a test run this year. "Even though the A380 is delayed for Lufthansa, we will introduce our new first class on time on our A340 fleet, starting the reconfiguration process with the 2008 winter schedule," Executive VP-Marketing and Sales Thierry Antinori told ATWOnline. LH will complete the retrofit of its 83 long-haul aircraft with its new business class next month. Economy passengers should benefit from the installation of individual video screens starting this fall.
IATA raised its 2007 global airline net profit forecast to $3.8 billion from $2.5 billion and projected a 2008 collective industry net of $7.6 billion, pointing to "better than expected traffic coupled with careful control of capacity."
Mishandled baggage costs continue to grow but can be mitigated through adoption of new technologies, particularly RFID baggage tags and sensors, experts said yesterday in the ATWOnline webcast "Innovations in Baggage and Aircraft Turnaround." The webcast, sponsored by SITA and available for replay here, examined ways carriers can handle baggage more efficiently and cost-effectively.
British Airways flew 9.67 billion RPKs in March, up 3.3% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 2.3% to 12.67 billion ASKs and load factor lifted 0.7 point to 76.3%. Ryanair transported 3.8 million passengers in March, up 26% on the year-ago month. Load factor fell 1 point to 79%. WestJet flew 1.02 billion RPMs in March, a 23% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 18% to 1.2 billion ASMs and load factor was up 3.3 points to 85.2%.
Garuda Indonesia said it posted a IDR131 billion ($14.4 million) profit in the first two months of 2007, a period in which it has lost money each of the past three years. It suffered a IDR173.9 billion loss in the first two months of 2006. It cited a 9-point increase in load factor to 76% and an 8% lift in yield to $0.074 as key factors in the result. Passenger numbers rose 9% to 1.4 million. "Enhanced efficiency and consolidations" pushed the number of profitable domestic routes to 24 from three in the first two months of last year, it said.
The European Commission yesterday expressed dissatisfaction with the application of its air passenger rights regulation, saying that customers confronted with denied boarding, delays or cancellations remain "in a weaker position compared to airlines" and that carriers and member states now have six months effectively to implement the two-year-old rule or face sanctions.
Gol received approval yesterday from Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency for its planned acquisition of Varig ( ATWOnline, March 29). "Varig will incorporate modern concepts of efficient administration and reduce operating costs to become a competitive company," Gol CEO Constantino de Oliveira Jr. said. The transaction, valued at $320 million, still requires approval from the Brazilian antitrust authority.
Mobiqa and Nok Air are partnering to make tickets available for download on customers' mobile phones via an SMS containing a barcode that can be scanned at check-in. Separately, Nok launched twice-daily Bangkok-Krabi service aboard a 737-400.
ARINC Engineering Services opened an 81,000-sq.-ft. aircraft modification and operations facility at Oklahoma City's Will Rogers World Airport yesterday. Certified as an FAA Part 145 Repair Station, the facility can provide heavy aircraft modifications, upgrades and maintenance and offers avionics installation, aircraft systems integration and engineering design.
Those hoping to use their mobile phones or PEDs onboard US aircraft will have to wait awhile longer following yesterday's announcement that the Federal Communications Commission is terminating its review of the December 2004 NPRM proposing a relaxation or replacement of the regulations banning the devices.
Amadeus said KLM, Kenya Airways and Martinair successfully switched to Altea Reservation. More than 1.4 million PNRs migrated to Amadeus and 22 applications were adapted as part of the cutover. "By now using the same reservation system as Air France, this migration represents an important step in realizing common IT platforms and applications between Air France and KLM," KLM Executive VP and CIO Boet Kreiken said.
CAE said yesterday that it sold two 7000 Series 787 full-flight simulators to Japan Airlines valued at C$36 million ($31.2 million). The first will be delivered to JAL's Tokyo Haneda training center in 2008.
American Airlines flew 11.93 billion system RPMs in March, down 1.4% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 2.9% to 14.48 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.3 points to 82.4% United Airlines flew 10.32 billion system RPMs in March, up 1.6% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.5% to 12.14 billion ASMs and load factor improved 1 point to 85%.
Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings, parent of Atlas Air and Polar Air Cargo, reached a settlement with the US Securities and Exchange Commission regarding accusations of inaccurate financial reporting from 2000 to 2002, agreeing to make no future misleading financial statements while paying no penalty for alleged transgressions that took place under previous management. SEC said AAWW failed to "report accurately its financial results, maintain requisite accounting records and implement adequate internal accounting controls" in fiscal years 2000, 2001 and the first half of FY02.
Gulf Air said former Crossair and Swiss International Air Lines CEO Andre Dose officially took over as CEO this week ( ATWOnline, Feb. 2). It added that Dose will be "unveiling a new long-term business plan" in a few weeks after spending time studying the airline and its operations.
ANA applied for permission to wet-lease two 767-200SFs from ABX Air, each with a 40-tonne payload, for use on an expanded summer freighter schedule. It plans to increase flights to China from Osaka Kansai by 90% and ATKs by 72% compared to summer 2006. New services will include a four-times-weekly KIX-Beijing flight. Separately, ANA signed a general terms agreement with Thai Airways under which Thai will perform heavy MRO on 11 ANA 747-400s at its new maintenance center at Suvarnabhumi. Work will be completed by next year.
Etihad Airways will add three A330-200s and two A340-600s to its fleet through the summer and increase its flying program 18%. New services are from Abu Dhabi to Sydney (now thrice-weekly aboard A340-500s, becoming daily June 29), Dublin (four-times-weekly from Aug. 3) and Milan Malpensa (thrice-weekly from Sept. 1), while 40 weekly flights will be added to existing routes on its network. An increase in its London Heathrow service to twice-daily has resulted in suspension of its Gatwick operation.
Japan Airlines completed oneworld's spring expansion Sunday, joining Malev Hungarian Airlines and Royal Jordanian as members of the alliance ( ATWOnline, March 30). JAL subsidiaries JALways, Japan Asia Airways, JAL Express, J-AIR and Japan Transocean Air are new oneworld affiliate members. JAL was the largest airline in the world outside one of the three major alliances, oneworld said. It adds nearly 50 airports to the grouping's network and one new country, Guam.
Aer Lingus will charge passengers who wish to pre-book a specific seat on short-haul flights starting April 4. Customers will pay €3 ($4) to choose their seat online. From the end of May, passengers also will have the option to reserve a seat in the first five rows for €10 and in an exit row for €15. Seat selection at check-in will remain free of charge.
Brazil's air traffic control system will transfer from military to civilian control following a one-day walkout late last week by top-level ATC officials that forced the temporary closure of airports throughout the country and again highlighted the nation's ongoing ATC woes, which Brazilian airlines claim have cost them more than $48 million since September.
Lufthansa Systems signed a five-year deal with China Southern Airlines to provide its NetLine network management tool. Implementation is scheduled for late this year.
