Arik Air of Nigeria announced on its website that it "temporarily delayed the commencement of all passenger flights." The startup had been scheduled to launch last week ( ATWOnline, Oct. 6). "Nonpassenger test flights will continue to run to ensure that your first and every flight are of the highest standard," Arik said, adding that it will start operations "soon."
Korean Air will begin adding a surcharge on paper tickets early next year as part of an effort to push electronic bookings to 100% by the end of 2007, according to VP-Strategy Development Keehong Woo. "We're putting a lot of our resources into increasing the e-ticket share," he said. The airline currently books 60% of tickets electronically.
Delta Air Lines flew 9.08 billion system RPMs in September, a 3.4% decrease from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 5.4% to 12.17 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 1.5 points to 74.6%. Domestic RPMs fell 12.2% to 6.1 billion against a 14.3% decline in capacity to 8.3 billion ASMs, sending load factor up 1.7 points to 73.5%. International traffic grew 21.6% to 2.97 billion RPMs as capacity climbed at the same rate to 3.87 billion ASMs, leaving load factor at 76.9%.
Swiss International Air Lines announced that an agreement has been reached with Aeropers, the union of the company's Airbus pilots. Union members have approved the three-year accord, which will enter into effect Nov. 1. Swiss said the deal acknowledged both the airline's ongoing restructuring and the increasingly competitive environment.
SR Technics Group announced the implementation of a new corporate structure from Nov. 1 that will organize the company by international business rather than country-specific divisions. SR Technics Switzerland, UK and Ireland will continue to exist but will be superceded by the Aircraft Services, Component Services, Engine Services and Business Development, Sales & Marketing divisions. Those segments will be headed by Alex Kugler, Mike Humphreys, Gerry Timoney and Declan O'Shea respectively. Staff units also will be organized into cross-national entities.
Philippine Airlines will decide by year end whether to order eight widebodies from Boeing or Airbus, President Jaime Bautista told reporters last week ( ATWOnline, Sept. 7). He said PAL is considering the A340-600 and 777-300ER as part of an expansion plan that includes an order for 20 (15 firm plus five option) A320 family aircraft from both the manufacturer and GECAS. It took delivery of the first aircraft from that order, an A319-100, last week.
Delta Air Lines received approval from the US Bankruptcy Court to cut $50 million in health benefits per year, largely through increased premiums, from approximately 42,000 retirees and other beneficiaries, according to press reports.
Northwest Airlines will pay $23 million to JPMorgan Chase and other lenders as a resolution to a dispute over a $975 million loan, Reuters reported. The lenders had sought $55-$60 million but agreed to the settlement to avoid litigation.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines said it received its AOC from the Hong Kong Civil Aviation Dept. Friday and is on schedule to operate its inaugural flight to London Gatwick Wednesday. It said it has sold more than 18,000 tickets on its four-times-weekly 747-400 service since early September.
TAM took back an A330 subleased to an unnamed Middle East airline last week and will use it on routes from Brazil to London Heathrow beginning this weekend. TAM now operates 10 A330s. Separately, TAM will launch a second daily Sao Paulo Guarulhos-New York JFK service on Dec. 15 aboard an A330.
SkyWest Airlines named Suzanne Stephenson director-people programs and recruitment, Ryan Quinlan director-employee relations, compensation and performance and Amber Hunter director-corporate communications, development and marketing.
Air France KLM flew 17.01 billion RPKs in September, a 5.9% increase from the year-ago month. Capacity was up 6.2% to 20.55 billion ASKs and load factor fell 0.3 point to 82.8%. Lufthansa flew 10.09 billion RPKs in September, a rise of 0.9% over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 0.6% to 12.82 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.2 point to 78.7%. Traffic grew on European and Asia/Pacific routes but declined on American and Middle East/African routes.
Finnair said Friday that it was returning to normal flight schedules "step by step" following a two-day strike by its cabin staff ( ATWOnline, Oct. 20).
Lufthansa said it will recruit 500 flight attendants and 250 staff for check-in and other ground services in Munich. "We see at our Munich hub a higher growth rate than we expected in earlier plans. We need more staff for ground and air services urgently," Munich Hub Manager Karl Ulrich Garnadt said. The airline said that 2.2 million passengers used the hub in September, an increase of 10% over the year-ago month.
Lufthansa Flight Training opened a new simulator center in Vienna that initially will accommodate one CAE A320 FFS. A second simulator--either another A320, a 737 or a 767--will be introduced by next summer depending on demand, LFT said. Eventually, four simulators will be housed at Lufthansa Flight Training Vienna, which will be used mainly by Austrian Airlines pilots. Austrian is LFT's biggest customer after LH. Crews from Germanwings, Niki, S7 Airlines and others also are using the new facility.
Air Line Pilots Assn. elected a new president, signaling that its members are "prepared to move into a new period of strong, concerted action to rebuild their profession," according to the union. John Prater, a 767 captain with Continental Airlines, narrowly defeated two-term, eight-year incumbent Duane Woerth. "After five years of concessionary bargaining, lost pensions and battered work rules, our pilots are primed to take offensive action," Prater said.
Icelandair migrated to the Amadeus Altea Inventory and Revenue Management System by PROS. The airline already used Altea Reservation, the online booking solution Amadeus e-Travel Airline Suite and e-Ticket Server.
AeroRepublica signed a lease agreement with GECAS for an Embraer 190 to be delivered in the fourth quarter of 2007. The Colombian carrier will take eight 190s through 2007, three from GECAS and five from the manufacturer.
Qantas is set for a showdown with Australian unions after it announced it will outsource its IT applications support and maintenance to Indian global service providers Satyam Computer Services and Tata Consulting Services starting next month. CEO Geoff Dixon said in a statement that it would cost Qantas A$100 million ($75.4 million) to develop its own "in-house capability in this area to industry best practice standard--an investment it could not support given the extensive capital expenditure program already underway." The shift will take 15 months and cost 340 jobs.
Routes World Route Development Forum will take place in Beijing in 2009. Several facilities planned for the 2008 Olympic Games will be used for the event, which will be hosted by Beijing Capital Holding Co. and Beijing Capital International Airport. Beijing will follow next year's Forum scheduled for Stockholm and the October 2008 event in Kuala Lumpur.
Finnair and Finnish flight attendants' union SLSY failed to reach an agreement yesterday in their dispute over the recruitment of new cabin staff, resulting in a strike that began at 4 a.m. local time ( ATWOnline, Oct. 19).
Etihad Airways will commence thrice-weekly Abu Dhabi-Tehran flights on Dec. 2 aboard a 777-300ER. LTU German Airlines added two flights each weekday between Dusseldorf and Munich. JAT Airways will launch operations next month from its secondary hub Nis, the third-largest city in Serbia, to Zurich, Vienna, Frankfurt, Basel and Dusseldorf.
