In a clear indication that the era of government meddling in Thai Airways International is not over, the airline's president, Kanok Abhiradee, was removed at least temporarily after being criticized by the country's prime minister for failing to react swiftly enough to a series of external crises enveloping the carrier.
Delta Air Lines delayed filing a routine quarterly financial report with the US Securities and Exchange Commission as it negotiates a new credit card processing agreement. The current agreement expires Aug. 29 and the carrier said that "the potential Visa/MasterCard processor has advised [Delta] that it will require a significant cash reserve," known as a holdback, for tickets purchased using Visa or MasterCard but not yet flown. Delta is trying to reduce the size of the holdback to free up cash.
World Airways Holdings appointed Jeffrey MacKinney to the board of directors. He was named president of World Airways in April. Eos Airlines , a startup that intends to offer premium service between New York and London Stansted using 757s, named David S. Pottruck nonexecutive chairman. He is MD of The Pottruck Group, a San Francisco private equity firm.
The German federal cabinet Wednesday adopted a legislative proposal paving the way for privatization of DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung, the German air traffic control authority. The action was welcomed by the Civil Air Navigation Services Organization, which stated that the decision "supports a more flexible European air traffic management system and should result in fewer air traffic delays, while airlines should also benefit from lower fuel consumption."
EADS Sogerma Services will lease A330 spares worth $7 million from aviation spares specialist A.J. Walter Aviation to support Sogerma customers worldwide.
Blue1 , the Finnish SAS subsidiary, carried 97,000 passengers in July, up 24% compared to last year. Year-to-date through July, 804,000 passengers flew with Blue1, 30% more than in 2004. RPKs increased 29% and ASKs dipped 4% in July. Load factor rose to 76.3%.
Aviareps opened a new North American branch in Toronto. It already has one in Miami. GM is Matt Bloom, who is responsible for all sales and marketing activities. He has more than 17 years of experience in the tourism industry and previously acted in leading positions for both airlines and destinations.
Lufthansa Systems announced that Airbus successfully integrated its Lido eRouteManual and electronic airport and route charts into the On-board Information System of the A380. The eRouteManual presents a worldwide data set of airport and en route aeronautical information and detailed taxi, departure and approach charts, "as well as global, seamless en route moving charts." LHS will offer it for all Airbus electronic flight bags.
Garuda and Singapore Airlines will be able to increase services as the result of an MOU signed yesterday between Singapore and Indonesia that formalizes an agreement in principle reached in May. SIA will be given more access to Bali and Jakarta while Garuda will get fifth freedom traffic rights from Singapore.
Aviapartner will provide ramp handling to Scandinavian Airlines at both Dusseldorf and Hannover from Oct. 1 under a new three-year agreement. It already handles SAS at Brussels, Lyon, Nice, Turin and Venice.
Goodrich Corp. board of directors elected Scott Kuechle senior VP and CFO. He succeeds Rick Schmidt, who is leaving to become CFO of Spirit AeroSystems. Kuechle is a 22-year veteran of Goodrich and has served as VP and controller since 2004.
Boeing and Qualcomm said they successfully demonstrated "the simultaneous use of CDMA and GSM mobile phone technology over an onboard network inflight mobile phone" on Boeing's Connexion One 737demonstrator. Passengers were able to download a variety of applications, send and receive e-mail and use instant message functions.
EVA Air will offer OnAir's two-way SMS beginning with its first 777-300ER that enters service this month. An English-language version will be followed by a Chinese version later in the year. The service will be available to passengers in all cabins and will cost $1.50 per message sent or received. It allows passengers to use the in-seat entertainment system to send messages to mobile phones and e-mail addresses and also to receive replies. The system will be installed on the entire EVA Air fleet over the next few years.
Royal Jordanian carried 186,300 passengers in July, up 3.8% over the same month in 2004 and a record for July. VP-Commercial Hussein Dabbas said load factor rose 3.8 points to 81.6% . The airline carried approximately 984,000 passengers between January and July, up 4.2% over the year-ago period. Based on preliminary figures, it expects to carry around 192,000 passengers in August.
Officials continue to investigate the Aug. 6 accident in which an ATR 72 fell into the sea off the coast of Palermo, killing 13 people. The charter flight was operated by Tuninter, a subsidiary of Tunisair. According to news reports, 23 people, including the pilot and copilot, survived the accident. The plane carrying vacationers had flown out of Bari bound for the Tunisian resort island of Djerba. Yesterday, rescue workers still were searching the choppy seas for three people who remain missing.
Etihad Airways opened a lounge for Diamond and Pearl Zone guests arriving at and departing from Abu Dhabi. It offers areas for conducting business or enjoying a range of audio and video entertainment or relaxation and is equipped with laptop connections, high-speed Internet access, fax and telephone facilities. Hot and cold refreshments are offered and users can access the airport's gym and shower facilities.
Deepening battle over pilot poaching between airlines in India has ended up in court, with Indian Airlines securing an injunction preventing four of its pilots from leaving to join a rival. The court ruling is expected to stabilize the cat-and-mouse game between carriers and ensure that pilots serve out their contracts. IA has a shortage of 118 pilots while Air-India is short 40, which resulted in Air-India Express having to suspend service between Delhi and Mumbai, according to a spokesperson.
SAS Group flew 3.2 billion RPKs in July, up 5.2% over the year-ago period. Group capacity rose 1.8% to 4.4 billion RPKs and load factor improved 2.4 points to 74.1%. Flagship Scandinavian Airlines reported a 1.5% decline in RPKs to 2.4 billion while ASKs fell 5.4% to 3.1 billion, pushing load factor up 3 points to 76.9%.
OnAir announced that Munich-based TriaGnoSys and Alabama-based Miltope Corp. will provide the software and server respectively for the OnAir onboard GSM solution that "will allow the safe and effective use of mobile phones on aircraft for the first time." With the recent selection of Siemens as the pico cell manufacturer, all suppliers for the system are identified and fully engaged with Airbus. A pre-production version of the server with the TriaGnoSys software is expected by year end.
News from Travel Technology Update: Sabre Holdings Corp. said US Airways signed a renewal of its Direct Connect Availability Three-Year Option agreement, extending the pact one year beyond October. US Airways was the first carrier to sign a DCA-3 agreement and to join Galileo International's version of the program, Preferred Fares. In Sabre's second-quarter earnings briefing with investment analysts, chairman Sam Gilliland said the extension of the agreement incorporates "roughly similar terms and conditions" as the original.
South Korean government decided yesterday to step in to arbitrate an end to the labor dispute between Asiana's management and its pilots ( ATWOnline , July 19). The pilots have been striking for better working conditions and a greater voice in management. The move came after talks between the two sides broke down. The government had set a Sunday deadline for ending the three-week strike and warned that it would use emergency powers to end the job action by enforcing a 30-day cooling-off period.
Lufthansa will add six new destinations from Hamburg from Oct. 15. It will base four 737s there and start services to Budapest, Gothenburg, Madrid, Nice, Prague and Rome. Separately, Lufthansa said passenger traffic rose 6.8% in July to 10.23 billion RPKs, while capacity climbed just 2.1% to 13.13 billion ASKs. The result was a 3.4-point improvement in cabin factor to 77.9%. Most of the growth occurred on long-haul routes to the Americas and Asia/Pacific, LH said in an statement. The number of passengers rose 2.2 % to 4.76 million.
