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.
SAS Group executive Hakan Ericson, who had been responsible for the company's Airline Support Businesses including SAS Ground Services, SAS Technical Services, SAS Cargo, SAS Flight Academy and SAS Media, will resign Aug. 31 to become president of Loomis Cash Handling Services. His duties will be assumed by John Dueholm (Technical Services), Gunna Reitan (Cargo Services), and Bernhard Rikardsen (Ground Services, Flight Academy and Media). AirTran Airways' board of directors elected Mark Osterberg VP and chief accounting officer.
Delta Air Lines has made the self-service booking, check-in, loyalty program and shopping functions on its website available in Spanish. It added that it will introduce Spanish and French check-in kiosks early next year.
Northwest Airlines DC-10-30 en route from Minneapolis to Mumbai via Amsterdam yesterday abruptly returned to Schiphol Airport shortly after departure, at which point 12 passengers were arrested by US air marshals for "suspicious" behavior. News reports from Amsterdam said passengers were using mobile phones in flight, attempting to pass phones among one another and ignoring "fasten seatbelt" signs. Other reports said some passengers had suspicious-looking plastic bags.
London Stansted passengers will not face a strike by baggage handlers and check-in staff this weekend ( ATWOnline, Aug. 21) after the TGWU and GMB unions reached a two-year labor deal with Swissport. GMB said the company offered an 11% pay increase.
ANA, Hawaiian Aviation Contract Services and Sojitz Corp. last week established a new Honolulu-based flightcrew leasing company called Crew Resources Worldwide that will provide pilots for ANA and other carriers.
El Al reported a second-quarter loss of $15.1 million, according to press reports, a reversal from the $29.9 million earned in the year-ago quarter before increased foreign competition, fuel costs and war devastated the bottom line. Revenue increased 2% to $429.2 million. A full-year loss is expected ( ATWOnline, July 20). The carrier took another hit this week when the Israeli government signed a deal with Alitalia to be the preferred carrier for officials flying internationally.
Pinnacle Airlines, a Northwest Airlink partner, has been notified by NWA that the company is ready to begin renegotiating its Airline Service Agreement, according to a recent filing with the SEC. The current service contract prohibits Pinnacle from operating aircraft with more than 50 seats. In addition to its exclusive agreement with Northwest, Pinnacle CEO Phil Trenary said the Regional will continue to look for other opportunities and has completed work on a second certificate enabling it operate aircraft for other partners.
Boeing announced that China Airlines will use the Maintenance Performance Toolbox and will be the first carrier to use it in conjunction with Boeing's Maintenance and Engineering Management application, which CI adopted last year.
IATA and China's General Administration of Civil Aviation signed an MOU to "further the safe, efficient and sustainable development of China's air transportation system," IATA said. The agreement focuses on cooperation in safety, traffic management, training, fuel, technology and other areas.
Pan Am World Airways liquidation trust said last week it soon would receive $30 million from the Libyan government, to be paid out to 15,000 former Pan Am employees and other creditors by year end, as part of a settlement reached last year in which Libya acknowledged its involvement in the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Scotland.
Pinnacle Airlines flew 381.3 million RPMs in July, an 8.1% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 8.7% to 484.2 million ASMs and load factor rose 0.5 point to 78.7%. Frontier Airlines flew 849.3 million RPMs in July, a 16.1% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 11.6% to 996.4 million ASMs and load factor was up 3.3 points to 85.2%.
Jetstar Airways won approval from the US Dept. of Transportation to begin marketing proposed A330-200 flights from Sydney (thrice-weekly) and Melbourne (twice-weekly) to Honolulu scheduled to commence Nov. 23. While final approval has not been granted, Jetstar CEO Alan Joyce said DOT has "indicated to Qantas that Jetstar is qualified to perform these international operations." Qantas will continue to operate thrice-weekly Sydney-Honolulu service after Jetstar launches. Separately, Jetstar said last week it initially will hire 200 flight attendants.
Korean Air said it will ask Boeing for about $12 million to reimburse it for costs associated with preparing 29 aircraft for the Connexion by Boeing service that was pulled from the market last week ( ATWOnline, Aug. 18). An airline official told The Korea Times that it cost $400,000 to furnish a plane with the Connexion service. The carrier planned to introduce the service in an additional 25 aircraft by 2008.
Japan Airlines parent JAL Group applied to the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to increase fuel surcharges on all international passenger tickets from Oct. 1. The proposed new surcharges will rise from ¥1,300 ($11.20) to ¥2,000 on a Seoul-Tokyo ticket, from ¥11,500 to ¥17,100 on a Japan-Brazil ticket and from ¥8,000 to ¥13,600 on flights from Japan to Europe and North America.
Saudi Arabian government initiated the privatization process for flag carrier Saudi Arabian Airlines by formally offering a stake of up to 49% in the company's catering and affiliated inflight sales units. The carrier submitted its plan to the government earlier this month ( ATWOnline, Aug. 4).
AirBridge Cargo signed an interline agreement with Continental Airlines and appointed general sales agent partners in the US as it prepares to launch 747F flights to the US next year. ABC said CO will provide "an important link into its network, notably for the movement of oil and gas equipment from Texas to Sakhalin Island off the coast of Russia." ABC, the scheduled services arm of heavy freight specialist Volga-Dnepr, operates two IL-76 freighters weekly from its Krasnoyarsk hub to Sakhalin.
Air China, Cathay Pacific Airways, China National Aviation Co. and CITIC Pacific shareholders approved the proposed realignment that would establish cross-shareholdings between Air China and Cathay and make Dragonair a CX subsidiary. The long-anticipated deal, announced in June ( ATWOnline, June 12), must receive regulatory approval. Air China Chairman Li Jiaxiang said the realignment will "create a potent new force in the airline industry."
TFC GmbH Kaufer was chosen by CSA Czech Airlines to supply an A320 cabin training simulator. It is scheduled for delivery to CSA's Prague training center in September 2007.
