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.
AirBridge Cargo last week became the 22nd member of the Cargo 2000 alliance. It is the first Russian carrier to join the group. AirBridge serves both Moscow airports, Krasnoyarsk, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Nagoya. Parent Volga-Dnepr Group VP Stan Wraight said ABC will add three new 747-400ER freighters in 2007 and 2008 and launch service to Toronto and Houston later this year.
Ryanair represents "the irresponsible face of capitalism" and US carriers' attitude toward carbon emissions is "a disgrace," according to UK Minister of State-Climate Change and the Environment Ian Pearson, The Guardian reported Friday. Ryanair and the US-based Air Transport Assn. are among those who have protested the plan to bring airlines into the EU's Emissions Trading Scheme starting in 2011 ( ATWOnline, Dec. 21, 2006).
Italian government's offer to cede control of Alitalia ( ATWOnline, Dec. 7, 2006) has domestic media buzzing about potential suitors. Finanza Mercata said Air France KLM, which always has been considered a potential buyer, will join with SkyTeam partners Korean Air, AeroMexico and CSA Czech Airlines to bid for AZ.
Sama, a Saudi Arabian startup, said it was granted an operating license by the civil aviation authority ( ATWOnline, Aug. 28, 2006). The airline plans to offer 737-300 service throughout the country and eventually to destinations in the Middle East. It has no plan to operate long-haul routes. "Our priority is to serve as many cities in Saudi Arabia as we can with up to 35 aircraft over the next few years," board member Hatim Mouminah said on the carrier's website.
FlyAsianExpress yesterday received approval from the Malaysian government to operate low-cost long-haul service to Asia, Australia and Europe, the national Bernama news agency reported. FAX, which is 50% owned by AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes, reportedly may partner with the larger LCC to offer the service. Rumors of a tie-up with Virgin Atlantic Airways and/or easyJet have been denied ( ATWOnline, Jan. 4).
American Airlines flew 11.36 billion system RPMs in December, down 1.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 1.3% to 14.35 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.2 point to 79.1%. Domestic RPMs were down 1.9% to 7.4 billion against a 2.2% decline in capacity to 9.22 billion ASMs. Load factor climbed 0.2 point to 80.2%. International traffic rose 0.4% to 3.95 billion RPMs, capacity was up 0.3% to 5.13 billion ASMs and load factor inched up 0.1 point to 77%. British Airways flew 9.12 billion RPKs in December, a 0.5% drop from the year-ago month.
European Regions Airline Assn. welcomed Aeroflot Nord to the organization. "We have strategic views to expand our business to the west and believe ERA can play a significant role in that process," Aeroflot Nord Deputy DG-Strategic and Corporate Development Evgeniy Mironov said.
Malev Hungarian Airlines acquired a Mechtronix FFS X Non Zero Flight Time simulator for recurrent pilot training at Budapest Ferihegy. Malev said it is the first FFS X operating in Europe.
The world's airlines enjoyed their second-safest year on record in 2006, according to Ascend, a division of Airclaims. "It was a return to safety for the aviation industry," the consultancy said. The industry suffered 13 fatal accidents in 2006, a figure "well below the long-term trend." The safest year on record was 2004 with 11 fatal accidents.
AAR will perform heavy MRO and interior modifications on select Northwest Airlines 757s. Work will be completed in August. Maintenance checks will be conducted on five previously stored aircraft, while cabin modifications will prepare 10 aircraft for NWA's expanded international service.
ATR delivered an ATR 72-500 equipped with IFE to Kingfisher Airliners. The IFE equipment, provided by Vision Systems of France, features 17 drop-down LCD screens.
Assn. of European Airlines announced that Iberia Chairman and CEO Fernando Conte will chair AEA in 2007. Conte headed the oneworld governing board for two-plus years before being succeeded by Qantas's Geoff Dixon in October ( ATWOnline, Oct. 20, 2006).
Vietnam Airlines posted an estimated VND304.5 billion ($18.5 million) profit in 2006, 8% below the carrier's guidance, according to VietNamNet. Year-ago figures were unavailable. Revenues were VND17.5 trillion and passenger numbers climbed 17.2% to 6.8 million. The airline said oil prices that surged 18% higher than expected and high airport fees contributed to the profit shortfall.
Boeing Commercial Aviation Services and Goodrich Aerostructures Service Center Europe reached an agreement to perform thrust reverser component MRO on 737NGs and 777s. The Goodrich site is in Prestwick.
Indonesia continued to search for the missing Adam Air 737-400 that was carrying 96 passengers and six crew when it disappeared Jan. 1 in a heavy rainstorm ( ATWOnline, Jan. 3) but has been unable to find any wreckage.
