Royal Jordanian said it finalized interline agreements with British Airways, American Airlines, Iberia, LAN and Finnair in preparation for joining oneworld.
Air China reportedly is planning to set up a Shanghai-based cargo joint venture with Cathay Pacific Airways. "We are now preparing for the joint venture program and hope to realize practical progress in the cargo business partnership with Cathay in the first half of 2007," VP Fan Cheng told China Daily. "How to significantly improve our cargo transport capabilities is an important task for Air China in 2007," he added. He said long-running attempts to reach a similar agreement with China Eastern Airlines had failed.
Japan Airlines is mulling a plan to lay off 3,000 employees, 6% of its workforce, over the next three years to help cut losses, according press reports. The cuts are due to be unveiled in JAL's mid-year business plan due out next month. It posted a loss of ¥47 billion ($394.8 million) for the fiscal year to March 2006 as fuel prices hit the bottom line and ANA grabbed market share. According to Mainichi Daily, JAL also is considering a restructuring of the group's related businesses with a possible of sale of some units.
Monarch Airlines promoted Tim Jeans to MD and a place on the company's board. Former easyJet Director-Business Development Liz Savage will succeed Jeans as MD of the scheduled service division as well as taking over as MD of flymonarch.com.
Air France KLM flew 16.12 billion RPKs in December, a 3.3% rise from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 3.8% to 20.29 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 0.4 point to 79.4%.
US Navy ship is expected to join the search today for the missing Adam Air 737-400 off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi Island, where the vessel will deploy high-tech equipment to help determine whether or not metal found on the ocean floor is from the 737's wreckage ( ATWOnline, Jan. 9). Flight 574 disappeared from radar during a heavy rainstorm on Jan. 1 and all 102 aboard are feared dead.
Alitalia is attracting the interest of Rothschild investment bank, which is forming a consortium of Italian and international investors to present a bid for the stake being sold by the Italian government, according to several press reports. The consortium will include privately held Italian carriers Air One and Meridiana and two US private-equity funds. Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo also is involved.
US passenger and cargo airlines should earn $4 billion this year excluding bankruptcy restructuring and reorganization gains, up from an estimated $2-$3 billion in net income in 2006, according to ATA's annual economic outlook released yesterday.
WestJet indefinitely postponed installation of the aiRES reservation system from Travelport that was supposed to replace its OpenSkies system this year and allow it to interline with other carriers ( ATW, November 2006). The LCC extended its support agreement with Navitaire for the OpenSkies system through the end of 2008, indicating that it could be 2009 before it converts to aiRES.
Caribbean Sun Airlines will shut down on Jan. 31, according to company officials, and close its operational hub at Luis Munoz Marin International Airport in San Juan. Sister carrier Caribbean Star Airlines was granted permission by US FAA in October to expand service to US destinations. "When Caribbean Star was launched in 2000 it could not serve San Juan and other US destinations, which of course hindered growth," Star and Sun President and CEO Skip Barnette explained.
US Airways named Morgan Stanley as joint lead arranger, joining Citigroup, to underwrite the carrier's $7.2 billion in debt financing for its proposed merger with Delta Air Lines.
MAIR Holdings minority shareholder Riley Investment Management, which reportedly holds 5.2% of the Mesaba Airlines parent, said last weekend that Northwest Airlines' offer to acquire Mesaba ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8) is "grossly inadequate" and that it will attempt to block or change the deal. Riley said NWA deliberately "destroyed value for MAIR shareholders" and is now trying to buy the bankrupt regional below fair market value.
US FAA unveiled its long-awaited and controversial Extended Operations rule yesterday that brings two-, three- and four-engine aircraft under a common regulation for long-haul operations with limited diversion airports. According to the agency, the new rule is "intended to eliminate propulsion system reliability as a consideration from the maximum diversion time capability of the airplane. Only the most time limiting airplane system capability [fire suppression, oxygen, etc.] will determine the maximum diversion time capability for a two-engine airplane under the new requirements."
British Airways appeared to take an important step toward resolving its pension deficit ( ATWOnline, Nov. 20, 2006) last week after the British Airways Forum, which represents the airline's four unions, agreed to recommend BA's latest proposals to union members. "We have come a long way with our staff, trustees and trade unions on this issue," BA CEO Willie Walsh said. "We can now move forward on our plans for fleet renewal and replacement."
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines' 17 members reported a 6.2% year-over-year increase in November passenger numbers to 11.2 million. RPKs rose 3.3% to 44.72 billion against a 0.2% fall in capacity to 59.46 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 2.5 points to 75.2%. Cargo jumped 6.2% to 4.89 billion FTKs, capacity grew 5.7% to 7.1 billion ATKs and load factor was up 0.4% to 68.9%. Northwest Airlines flew 6.38 billion RPMs in December, up 1.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 0.1% to 7.9 billion ASMs and load factor went up 0.7 point to 80.7%.
Indonesian officials were attempting to determine late yesterday whether metal detected on the ocean floor off the coast of Sulawesi Island could be the wreckage of the missing Adam Air 737-400 that disappeared Jan. 1 in a heavy rainstorm ( ATWOnline, Jan. 5). More than 100 passengers and crew aboard flight 574 are feared dead.
SITA and Qatar Airways signed a five-year, $30 million contract to build and maintain a global intranet leveraging a suite of TCP/IP protocols operating over SITA's IP Virtual Private Network.
Australia Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Transport and Regional Services Mark Vaile hosed down media reports that the government only will approve Airline Partners Australia's A$11.1 billion ($8.64 billion) takeover of Qantas if the airline guarantees that jobs and maintenance facilities remain in Australia.
LTU German Airlines named Michael Grimme as its new director-marketing and international sales. SAS Executive VP-Corporate Administration & Support Bernhard Rickardsen has been let go by new President and CEO Mats Jansson, who said he "would like to renew such areas as human resources." SAS Braathens Head of Human Resources Svein Oppegaard will take over Rickardsen's HR duties, with the rest of his responsibilities redistributed among company management.
KLM Engineering & Maintenance was selected by TNT Airways to work on its two 747-400ER freighters. The contract covers engineering, maintenance control and component services as well as worldwide line and airframe maintenance including A and C checks.
Frontier Airlines reached a four-year tentative labor agreement with the Frontier Airline Pilots Assn. that union President Jeffrey Thomas said "provides significant improvement to our pilots' retirement benefits, preserves our scheduling and work rules and improves the job protections our pilots have earned." The carrier said it expects pilot approval in mid-February and that the agreement will take effect "around" March 1.
International passenger traffic climbed 6.7% in November compared to the same month in 2005 on a 5.5% rise in capacity, IATA reported, resulting in a 73.9% load factor.
Southwest Airlines flew 5.51 billion RPMs in December, a 10.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity was up 8.3% to 7.99 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.3 points to 68.9%. US Airways Group flew 5.09 billion consolidated RPMs in December, up 4.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity inched up 0.4% to 6.75 billion ASMs and load factor rose 3.2 points to 75.4%. Domestic RPMs climbed 4.4% to 4.29 billion and capacity was level at 5.68 billion ASMs. International traffic was ahead 6.9% to 799.6 million RPMs against a 2.4% gain in capacity to 1.07 billion ASMs.
Amadeus signed a new five-year agreement with Continental Airlines making the carrier's full content available without surcharges (Amadeus's new Content Plus program) to users in the US, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
