SR Technics Ireland was awarded a five-year contract by TUI Group for repair and overhaul of APUs on some 60 737/757/767 and A330 aircraft. SR Technics also committed to provide spare APUs on a lease basis during the repair cycle. TUI Group airlines are Hapagfly and Hapag Lloyd Express (Germany), Thomsonfly (UK), Britannia (Scandinavia), Corsair (France), Jetair (Belgium) and Arkefly (Netherlands).
In what SITA INC called "the first ever deal of its kind at a European airport," Dusseldorf outsourced its IT support in a contract worth $200 million over 10 years. SITA said it won the contract "with the strong support of its partners, EADS Telecom Deutschland GmbH and Siemens AG." There will be no redundancies among the existing 63 IT staff at the airport, SITA added.
Mediated negotiations between Northwest Airlines and its Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn.-represented employees broke down Wednesday after the carrier "refused to move beyond unacceptable demands," the union said. "Northwest's continued refusal to engage in meaningful negotiations destroyed yesterday's session and left little hope for a consensual agreement needed to avert a strike," AMFA National Director O.V. Delle-Femine said. "There is no use scheduling another negotiating session unless both parties come prepared to negotiate."
Frontier Airlines named former ATA Senior VP John Happ as its new senior VP-marketing and planning and Bill Schuyler as its new director-schedules. It promoted Anne McCollum to senior director-reservations and customer support.
An Air France A340-300 skidded off the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport during a thunderstorm yesterday and broke into pieces, but there were only minor to moderate injuries among the 297 passengers and 12 crewmembers onboard, all of whom were evacuated safely before the aircraft wreckage caught fire.
Pinnacle Airlines reported net income of $13.8 million for the second quarter ended June 30, a 42.3% increase over net income of $9.7 million in the year-ago period. Total operating revenue rose 39.9% to $212.9 million while total operating expenses climbed 40.6% to $190.1 million, producing an operating income of $22.8 million, up 34.7% over operating income of $16.9 million in the year-ago period. "This quarter marks our tenth consecutive quarter of strong financial performance under our Airline Services Agreement with Northwest [Airlines]," President and CEO Phil Trenary said.
Continental Airlines flew 7.88 billion RPMs in July, up 7.8% over the year-ago period. Capacity rose 9.6% to 9.4 billion ASMs and load factor was down 1.5 points to 83.9%. For the seven months ended July 31, RPMs increased 9.4% to 46.29 billion, ASMs climbed 5.5% to 58.47 billion and load factor gained 2.8 points to 79.2%. For July, Continental said both consolidated and mainline passenger RASM are estimated to have increased 4.5%-5.5% compared to July 2004.
Finnair Technical Services will perform landing gear overhauls on seven ATR 72s operated by Mount Cook Airlines under an agreement with Air New Zealand Group valued at more than €1.2 million ($1.5 million).
Wizz Air signed an agreement to lease a new IAE V2500-powered A320 from ILFC. The aircraft will seat 180 in a single-class configuration. It will be delivered in April 2006 on a seven-year lease term. Volito Aviation added two A320s to its portfolio via a sale/leaseback with TACA. The aircraft are on lease with the Central American carrier through October. Financing was provided by DVB Bank AG. Volito placed a 1998 A320 with Sichuan Airlines on lease through July 2011. It is financed by PK Airfinance Luxembourg.
American Airlines Cargo added a new feature to its website that allows customers with blocked-space allocations or pre-booked arrangements to load up to 60 days of advance airbills in a simple online operation.
CSA Czech Airlines Supervisory Board approved the decision of the board of directors regarding the winner of the tender for financing the purchase of 12 A320s/A319s. The banks are Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka a.s., BNP Paribas and Natexis Banques Populaires. CSA will finance its new airplanes valued at CZK10-CZK12 billion ($402.4-$482.9 million) through a 12-year financial leasing guaranteed by European export credit agencies. The aircraft will be delivered in 2006-08.
Cargo Connection Logistics Corp. , a wholly owned subsidiary of Cargo Connection Logistics Holding, was chosen by Continental Airlines to provide over-the-road service between Newark and 10 points located in the US Northeast and South.
Delta Air Lines yesterday introduced its redesigned and upgraded website. According to the carrier, the new website provides customers with more control of online ticket changes, seat assignments and check-in; the ability to cancel certain tickets within 24 hr.; the ability to calculate award mileage; more international award travel booking capability, and the ability to check in when connecting from Delta to certain other airlines.
Connexion by Boeing and Intel Corp. reached agreement to "enhance and promote high-speed inflight wireless Internet service." As part of the accord, the companies have completed compatibility testing with common Intel Centrino mobile technology-based laptop configurations, making Connexion the first inflight Internet service to be verified through Intel's Wireless Verification Program.
North American Airlines bills itself as "America's Greatest Little Airline." Little it certainly is and greatness, like beauty, lies in the eyes of the beholder. But the New York JFK-based carrier, which was acquired by World Air Holdings in late April for $35 million, has been a consistent moneymaker since its first plane took to the skies in 1990.
When this magazine reviewed the status of elite and unconventional air travel two years ago (ATW, 6/03, p. 42), we talked quite a lot about a startup called Indigo, which planned to connect Chicago Midway with Teterboro using 16-passenger Embraer Legacy jets. Indigo, like so many all-premium airlines, is no longer with us, but that has not squelched enthusiasm for a different kind of air service aimed, as the Concorde was, at a premium market.
Wizz Air is still very young and only time will tell if it will survive in Europe 's overcrowded low-cost arena, which already has claimed many victims over the past year including Air Polonia, V-Bird, Volare and Ciaofly. But its start has been strong, with 1.2 million passengers carried at an average load factor of 60% in its first full year of operations to May 19. Revenue in its first financial year, which covered the 11 months to March 31, amounted to E60 million.
National Mediation Board accepted an application from the pilots union at AirTran Airways for mediation services in its negotiations with management, the National Pilots Assn. said Friday. The application was filed earlier this month ( ATWOnline , July 29).
Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines last week released preliminary traffic results for June. International passengers carried by AAPA members reached 10.6 million, an increase of 5.2% year-on-year. RPKs grew 6.7% on a slower capacity rise of 6%, resulting in a 0.5-point improvement in load factor to 74.7%. FTKs rebounded from last month's decline to increase 3.3% year-on-year. However, the increase in capacity outpaced FTK growth at 5.9%. As a result, load factor declined 1.7 points to 66.6%.
Pakistan opened up its air routes to the US, UK and Scandinavian countries to the nation's private airlines. Aero Asia, Shaheen Air International and Air Blue, which had been limited to Gulf and ASEAN destinations, are mulling further expansion to take advantage of the new opportunities. The government's move was prompted by the reported inability of Pakistan International Airlines to meet demand, which has been filled by Gulf carriers such as Emirates.
World scheduled passenger airline traffic is expected to reach 3.71 trillion RPKs this year, up 7.6% compared to 3.44 trillion RPKs in 2004, followed by 6.5% growth in 2006 and 6.2% in 2007, according to ICAO's latest medium-term forecast. The strongest growth is expected from Middle East airlines, with an average annual growth rate of 10.9% over the three-year forecast period.
There is no shortage of warnings about the perils of the airline industry and the folly of not learning from its turbulent history. But the harsh lessons of the past are being ignored by many new low-cost carriers, say some analysts, who predict that the boom soon will turn into a bust.
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 Internationals version of the program, Preferred Fares. In Sabres 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.
There's more truth than hyperbole in this observation, as can be demonstrated by comparing the profit margins of a random selection of suppliers to a like number of airlines over, say, a five-year period. Unless a Ryanair, Singapore Airlines or Southwest Airlines ends up in the airline draw, it probably won't even be close.
