JetBlue Airways, heavily criticized in the wake of incidents last week when passengers were forced to stay on parked aircraft at New York JFK for up to 10 hr., responded yesterday by unveiling a Customer Bill of Rights that includes free tickets for those forced to wait on delayed aircraft.
Russian Transport Ministry announced that nine airlines have been banned from operating charter and ad hoc flights to the EU. It said it barred the carriers following notification by the European Commission's Transport Directorate about the lack of control of maintenance and operational procedures. The airlines are Aero Rent, Tatarstan Airlines, Atlant-Soyuz, Aviacon Zitotrans, Center Avia, Gazpromavia, Lukoil, Russkoe Nebo (Russian Sky) and UTair.
Recent high-profile incidents in which passengers were not allowed to get off parked aircraft for long periods have revived momentum in the US Congress for legislation outlining passengers' "rights" and governing airlines' actions in those situations.
Eurocontrol and DFS, the German air navigation services provider, contracted the Sofreavia/SITA consortium to supply the next generation of data link gateway systems known as the Data Link Front End Processor. All ANSPs in Europe will need to upgrade and/or complement their ATM infrastructures with DL-FEP equivalent functionality by circa 2010, as outlined in the Data Link Implementation Rule expected to be adopted by the European Commission under the Single European Sky initiative's Interoperability Regulation by year end.
Royal Jordanian selected IER to supply its Common Use Self-Service check-in platform. The project was initiated by RJ in cooperation with IATA, which selected Amman's Queen Alia International to launch the CUSS program in the Middle East. IER installed 15 IER 978 kiosks equipped with ATB, GPP and bag tag printers, a passport reader and a barcode reader at AMM and Aqaba. It also provided RJ with the full CUSS application.
Air Mauritania 737 that was hijacked in the northwest African country last week ( ATWOnline, Feb. 16) escaped harm in Las Palmas thanks to a quick-thinking pilot who braked hard then accelerated quickly on landing, knocking the hijacker down and giving flight attendants time to throw boiling water on his face. Passengers then helped subdue him, Spanish officials told the Associated Press. The armed hijacker reportedly demanded to be flown to France, where he hoped to seek political asylum.
Sabena technics signed a three-year contract with Martinair covering MRO on V2500-powered A320-200s. Sabena technics will provide full support as well as component repair services comprising pool access and consignment stock.
Frontier Airlines said the Frontier Airline Pilots Assn. ratified a new four-year collective bargaining agreement with 67% of those voting approving the deal, which goes into effect next month ( ATWOnline, Jan. 8).
Lufthansa flew 8.59 billion RPKs in January, a 7.4% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 5% to 11.86 billion ASKs and load factor climbed 1.7 points to 73.6%. US Airways Group airlines flew 4.87 billion RPMs in January, up 4.7% from the year-ago month. Capacity grew just 0.8% to 6.65 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 2.8 points to 73.3%. Cathay Pacific Airways flew 6.62 billion RPKs in January, down 0.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.8% to 8.6 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.4 points to 77%. CX's traffic now includes Dragonair.
MTU Maintenance signed an open-ended contract with Cathay Pacific Airways for MRO on 15 CF6-50E2s powering 747-200Fs. Work will be performed at Hannover Langenhagen. Separately MTU Hannover named Uwe Blocker president and CEO, effective March 1.
Australian Treasurer Peter Costello assured the public that the A$11.1 billion ($8.7 billion) bid for Qantas by Airline Partners Australia will undergo intense scrutiny to ensure it falls within the national interest. Costello promised media last week that "scrutiny will be very vigorous" and the government intends to enforce the Qantas Sale Act, which prevents the airline from being majority foreign-owned.
US Airways said its largest shareholder, PAR Investment Partners, sold 6.5 million shares "as part of its portfolio diversification strategy." PAR still holds 7 million shares and will retain its seat on the board.
Air Mauritania 737 was hijacked yesterday en route from Nouakchott to Nouadhibou. The armed hijacker reportedly demanded passage to France but the aircraft flew to Las Palmas, where he was arrested, according to press reports. Spanish officials said there were 71 passengers and eight crew onboard. Some reports indicated several passengers may have been injured.
British Airways flew 8.87 billion RPKs in January, down 2.8% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.5% to 12.76 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 3 points to 69.5%.
Estonian Air flew 689,800 passengers in 2006, a 7.3% increase over 2005. Load factor rose 1 point to 62%. Chairman Olev Schults said the airline suffered a net loss for the year, "caused mainly by the considerably lower than expected market growth, a series of technical problems and consequent extraordinary costs." The company will publish its results in April.
TAM reported full-year unit revenues of BRL0.21 ($0.10), a 2.5% improvement over its 2005 performance. Yields fell 1.9% to BRL0.29 and load factor rose 3.3 points to 73.9%. Unit cost dropped 4.3% to BRL0.18, or 5.9% to BRL0.12 excluding fuel. The airline said it exceeded its 2006 guidance in all categories save CASK, which it forecast cutting by 5%. It said the 6.7% year-over-year rise in fuel costs was the cause. Fourth-quarter RASK decreased 6.3% to BRL0.19 against a 9.8% decline in CASK to BRL0.17, or 6.5% to BRL0.11 excluding fuel.
CFM International and Indian Airlines signed an MOU to establish a CFM56 MRO joint venture in India. The shop will perform "the full spectrum of services" for CFM56-5B and -7B engines, CFM said. Indian operates six -5B-powered A319s and has 43 A320 family aircraft on order.
Lufthansa Technik and Croatia Airlines signed agreements under which LHT will subcontract overflow third-party C checks to Croatia and exchange personnel. In addition, Croatia will send landing gear on its four A319-100s and four A320-200s to Hamburg for MRO and exchange. Separately, LHT will overhaul landing gear on 53 Virgin Blue 737NGs over the next eight years.
Air France Industries signed Air Mauritius to a five-year agreement for full component support of seven A340s and two A319s, together with a maintenance base kit to be installed at the airline's Plaisance hub.
Qantas yesterday said the termination of its transtasman agreement with Air New Zealand ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16, 2006) resulted in the convertible notes issued by ANZ to QF in 2002 being converted into 44.2 million new ordinary shares. As a result, Qantas will own approximately 4.2% of ANZ's ordinary shares.
SunExpress, the Lufthansa-Turkish Airlines joint venture, said it will order two more 737-800s, bringing its fleet to 11 -800s and four 757-200s. The new aircraft will be delivered in April and May. "It is the first time that we have bought aircraft and not leased them," MD Paul Schwaiger said at a news conference in Istanbul. He said SunExpress transported around 2.35 million passengers in 2006, up 34% from 2005, with a load factor of 79.4%. Turnover rose 24% to €244 million ($316.9 million).
Continental Airlines completed installation of on-demand entertainment systems and in-seat power ports in the business class cabins of its 41 757s, which are used primarily on transatlantic flights from Newark. AVOD and power ports will be installed in economy class starting this summer.
Amadeus announced the successful implementation of the Amadeus Ticketing Platform for Hahn Air, allowing it to distribute e-tickets worldwide and develop interline e-ticketing.
