Lufthansa Technik is offering an Oil Smell Detection Service to eliminate unconfirmed engine or APU removals following oil smells in the cabin. The tool, for which a patent is pending, allows rapid on-wing diagnosis and spares a carrier the associated costs of removing an intact engine. "Every engine dismantled costs the operator at least $350,000 in expenses for C check, transport, capital cost and minor shop visit.
WestJet will operate seasonal Halifax-Tampa service weekly from March 13 to May 1. It also will add frequencies from Toronto to Fort Lauderdale, Tampa and Nassau Jan. 8-April 28. WestJet flew 826.3 million RPMs in October, up 24% from the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 22% to 1.1 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.4 points to 74.9%.
Norwegian is taking SAS Braathens back to court, this time in an attempt to secure financial damages, according to press reports. Braathens was acquitted in a September criminal trial of illegally accessing Norwegian's reservations system ( ATWOnline, June 14) but paid a NOK400,000 ($62,300) fine for misusing confidential business information. Norwegian now wants a civil court to award further damages.
The Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines slammed aviation service providers, highlighting a lack of transparency and excessive pricing for their services. AAPA DG Andrew Herdman told delegates and media at the organization's Assembly of Presidents in Osaka that aviation service providers should "adopt transparent, fair and reasonable user charges in accordance with ICAO principles."
Air Transport Assn. promoted Director-Government Affairs Marc Gonzales to VP-congressional affairs. President and CEO James May said Gonzales "has made great contributions in shaping public policy."
British Airways yielded to union concerns over its effort to raise the normal retirement age to 65 from 55 for aircrew and 60 for ground staff as part of a series of concessions required to tackle the £2.1 billion deficit in the New Airways Pension Scheme ( ATWOnline, Nov. 16). "The airline has now included the option of a normal retirement age of 60 in return for increased contribution rates," BA said.
Alitalia flew 3.4 billion RPKs in October, up 2.6% on the year-ago month. Capacity rose 1.7% to 4.51 billion ASKs and load factor improved 0.7 point 75.3%.
Vueling Airlines expects to lose €7.1 million ($9.1 million) this year but to post profits of €24.2 million in 2007 and €36.2 million in 2008, according to a regulatory filing and IPO prospectus cited by press reports.
Finnair Technical Services and LOT Polish Airlines signed an agreement for the overhaul of eight ATR 72 landing gear sets on aircraft operated by the carrier's EuroLOT subsidiary.
Regional Express Holdings, which operates as Rex, posted a A$5.7 million profit in the first fiscal quarter, up 46% from the year-ago period, and raised its FY forecast to a 20% year-over-year increase in net profit. First-quarter passenger numbers grew 20%, load factor rose 3 points to 68% and passenger revenue surged 22.3%. Costs climbed 8.5%.
TAP Maintenance & Engineering is working to become a significant third-party player in South America following its acquisition of VEM-Varig Engineering and Maintenance earlier this year ( ATWOnline, Oct. 4). TAP, which led the consortium that purchased the Brazilian company, invested €20 million in the recently renamed VEM Maintenance & Engineering, in which it holds a 51.1% stake.
Lufthansa Systems said Asiana Airlines selected the Lido Operations Center and Lido Briefing solutions in a five-year deal to support its flight planning processes. The agreement extends the existing cooperation between Asiana and LHS covering revenue accounting and MRO management.
Net income for the 17 member airlines of the Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines plummeted 69% to $1.2 billion for the 2005-06 fiscal year against an increase of 11.3%, 2.3 points above the global average, in operating revenue to $68.1 billion. Meanwhile, operating costs surged 15.9%, 7 points above the global average. The main culprit was fuel costs, which jumped 43% to $18.8 billion.
US Airways' bid to acquire bankrupt Delta Air Lines raises questions about the future of the regional airlines that have service agreements with the mainline carriers and compete on a number of routes.
Iberia flew 4.65 billion RPKs in October, a 4.4% rise from the year-ago month. ASKs climbed 1.4% to 5.63 billion, lifting load factor 2.3 points to an October-record 82.6%.
SAS Group airlines flew 3.57 billion RPKs in October, a 5.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity was up 6.7% to 4.96 billion ASKs, dropping load factor 1.1 points to 71.9%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines flew 2.54 billion RPKs, a 2.2% decline, against a 0.3% increase in ASKs to 3.42 billion. Load factor fell 1.9 points to 74.3%. Spanair flew 683 million RPKs in October, up 23.9% from the year-ago month. ASKs rose 19.3% to 987 million and load factor climbed 2.6 points to 69.2%.
Comair flight attendants, represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, ratified a four-year agreement reached last month that includes a pay cut (7.5%, according to the Associated Press), increases job security and caps health insurance payments at the bankrupt Regional subsidiary of Delta Air Lines ( ATWOnline, Oct. 17). "With this vote our members have shown they are ready to move forward," said Connie Slayback, a Comair flight attendant who is president of Teamsters Local 513.
AirTran Airways and Frontier Airlines have linked their loyalty programs and created a phone/Web-based referral system that will make both networks available to customers of either airline, a move the pair called a "landmark marketing partnership between low-cost carriers."
Grupo Aeroportuario del Centro Norte, the Mexican airports operator known as OMA, yesterday filed a registration statement with the US SEC for a proposed IPO it believes will raise $300-$345 million. OMA operates airports in Monterrey, Acapulco, Mazatlan and Zihuatanejo as well as nine other regional facilities. The IPO is intended to complete the Mexican government's privatization of OMA that began in 2000.
Apple announced this week that it is partnering with Continental Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Emirates, KLM, United Airlines and Air France to enable passengers traveling with iPods to draw electrical power for the devices from onboard systems and permit iPod video content to be transmitted to seatback screens for playback. Apple said the service will be available by the middle of next year, but AF yesterday refuted the claim that connectivity soon will be installed on its aircraft.
Air France KLM said non-French shareholders increased their stake in the carrier to 47% over the past few weeks and stated that it will use an "authorized mechanism" to protect its traffic rights and "to safeguard national ownership once the nonresident shareholding has reached 45%." In its most recent "Connecting" letter to shareholders, AF KLM noted that it regularly conducts a process to identify its shareholders "in order to retain its traffic rights as well as its European Community air transport operating licenses." At June 30, French investors held more than 63.2% of the group wh
Penauille Servisair signed a multiyear extension to its handling contract with easyJet at Liverpool. EasyJet flies seven A319s on more than 170 weekly flights from LPL.
LOT Polish Airlines has a new chairman. Tomasz Dembski has replaced Krzysztof Kapis, who was asked to leave by the board, according to PAP. No further details were available. Kapis, former head of the Polish civil aviation authority, was named chairman in March. JetBlue Airways named Trey Urbahn executive VP-chief revenue officer. Urbahn comes from OneSky Jets, an on-demand private jet travel provider. He was a founding officer of Priceline.com.
