Midwest Air Group flew a consolidated 388.6 million RPMs in July, an 18.5% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 14.4% to 463.3 million ASMs and load factor rose 2.9 points to 83.9%. Yield grew an estimated 8.6% to 14.1 cents and passenger RASM was up an estimated 12.5% to 11.9 cents.
FedEx Express and pilots represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn. announced a tentative four-year labor agreement reached with the help of the National Mediation Board, which intervened in October 2005. The parties have been negotiating since 2004 and said the deal "is subject to review and finalization of contract language." Details of the agreement were not released.
Air Canada named Senior Director Daniel Shurz VP-network planning. He succeeds Benjamin Smith, new president and CEO of Air Canada Vacations. Also, Senior Director-Strategic Marketing Charlie McKee was named VP-marketing.
Qantas announced yesterday that it will partner with Telstra, Panasonic Avionics Corp. and AeroMobile to develop technology enabling passengers to use their cellphones or PDAs in flight. AeroMobile is a joint venture between ARINC and Telenor. New systems will be tested over three months on a 767 operating domestic routes. "This evaluation is the first step toward building a product which will support our customers' business and communication needs into the future," Qantas Group GM-Customer Product and Services Lesley Grant said. "The service will be simple to use.
Globe Air Cargo was appointed ANA's cargo general sales agent in New York and Boston. ANA operates daily 777 service from Tokyo Narita to New York JFK.
Taiwan wants to raise the cap on foreign ownership of domestic airlines to 49% from 33%, according to Civil Aeronautics Administration Deputy DG George C.R. Lee, Dow Jones reported. Lee also said the government plans to allow private and foreign companies to construct and operate new airports. It has not decided whether to privatize existing airports.
ABX Air, which was Innovative Solutions & Support's first customer for its Flat Panel Display System retrofit on the 767, announced Friday that the two companies will partner in developing and installing a system on a 767-200ER belonging to an unidentified third party. ABX holds a supplemental type certificate for the work, which is scheduled to be completed in the first quarter of 2007. IS&S announced development of an FPDS for the 737-300/-400/-500 at the Farnborough Air Show ( ATWOnline, July 20).
Saudi Arabia's General Authority for Civil Aviation confirmed that six companies are pursuing licenses to operate as commercial air carriers as part of the drive to liberalize air transport in the kingdom. Two are low-fare startup Sama and business and corporate transport specialist National Air Services. GACA identified the remaining four as travel group Al-Tayar, the Al-Mamlaka company operating as Burj Airlines, Petrogal operating as Al-Watan Airlines and the Saudi Ikhwan trading company. Application evaluation will continue until Sept. 30 with a decision scheduled by year end.
SkyWest Airlines flew 1.47 billion RPMs in July, a 107.5% increase over the year-ago month reflecting the acquisition of Atlantic Southeast Airlines. Capacity climbed 99.4% to 1.79 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.2 points to 82.3%. Mesaba Airlines flew 100.5 million RPMs in July, down 43.9% from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 42.1% to 147.1 million ASMs and load factor dipped 2.2 points to 68.3%.
KLM appointed Arend de Jong as senior VP-marketing & network within the Joint Cargo Management Committee of Air France-KLM Cargo. He succeeds Bram Graber, who will become senior VP-KLM Benelux. Pieter Elbers succeeds De Jong as KLM senior VP-network.
The pilots of the Comair CRJ200 that crashed into a field while taking off from Lexington, Ky., Blue Grass Airport early Sunday morning used the wrong runway, National Transportation Safety Board Member Deborah Hersman confirmed in an evening briefing. The aircraft apparently was cleared to depart from Runway 22, the main runway with a length of 7,003 ft. However, it lined up on the shorter general aviation runway, 26, which is 3,500 ft. in length, insufficient for the fully loaded jet to become airborne.
Finnair subsidiary FlyNordic said it will trim last year's €17 million ($21.7 million) loss as it cut unprofitable routes during the summer and changes its focus to charter service. It was profitable in July as it transported 116,390 passengers, up 20% year-over-year, with a load factor of 80.6%. It said it will continue to trim its network during the winter. "This year we have begun hedging our fuel purchases in the same manner as Finnair," Deputy CEO Henrik Arle said.
US Transportation Security Administration said there has been a 20% increase in checked baggage since it banned liquids and gels from carry-on bags on Aug. 10, but insisted there is "no negative impact" and "no flight delays" as a result of the higher volume. TSA head Kip Hawley said the agency is "paying close attention so the system doesn't become overwhelmed."
Bmi faces pilot strikes following a vote by British Airline Pilots Assn. members who fly for the mainline, bmi regional and bmibaby units. Mainline pilots approved strike action by an 89%-11% margin while 86% of regional pilots voted to strike, according to results released yesterday. Bmibaby pilots were balloted last week, with 73% voting to strike. The airline had said that just 47% of bmibaby pilots favored a work stoppage, but the union contradicted that figure yesterday.
Regional Express of Australia pulled the plug on its previously announced plans to acquire Brisbane-based Sunshine Express ( ATWOnline, Aug. 16). Rex MD Geoff Breust said that Sunshine came up with new, last-minute conditions that were "not acceptable" to the company or its shareholders. "We extend our best wishes to Sunshine Express and hope that its management and owners are able to overcome its current difficulties," Breust said.
Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, a startup slated to launch in October, yesterday selected PAM (Oasis) Ltd. to establish, operate and maintain its Hong Kong-based call center.
SITA and SIIC Shanghai International Trade Co. were awarded a four-year, $8 million contract to equip Shanghai Pudong's new Terminal 2, scheduled to open next year, with integrated airport management systems including SITA's Common Use Terminal Equipment passenger check-in system and BagManager baggage system.
Delta Air Lines said it is using a new decision support tool called Attila that allows it to manage landings in Atlanta better during congested periods. The program sends information from Delta's operations control center to cockpits to provide pilots with coordinated speed adjustments so landings are more evenly spaced.
Sabre Airline Solutions signed a five-year contract with Russian airline KDAvia to upgrade the carrier's operational and decision-support technology. Separately, Eos Airlines signed a deal to implement a suite of Sabre software solutions.
Yemenia Yemen Airways secured European Aviation Safety Agency Part 145 certification for services provided by its maintenance and engineering division. The airline will offer heavy MRO and checks on A330-200s, A310-300s, 737-200s, 737-800s and 727-200s in its own fleet as well for third parties.
Dutch authorities yesterday released all 12 passengers detained Wednesday after a Northwest Airlines DC-10-30 bound for Mumbai abruptly returned to Amsterdam ( ATWOnline, Aug. 24). US air marshals onboard the flight thought the 12 male Indian citizens aged 25-35, reportedly dressed in traditional South Asian clothing, were acting in a suspicious manner. The plane returned to Schiphol accompanied by Dutch fighter jets shortly after departure.
