Continental Airlines said its June consolidated RASM increased 11% year-over-year and that it estimated the July figure to rise 9%-10% over the year-ago month. CO flew 8.74 billion RPMs in July, up 10.8%. Capacity increased 8.9% to 10.24 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.5 points to 85.4%, matching its July record. Domestic RPMs were up 6.9% to 4.06 billion against a 5.9% gain in ASMs to 4.65 billion, lifting load factor 0.8 point to 87.3%.
FMC Technologies said its Airport Equipment and Services operation in Orlando was selected by FedEx Express to develop and manufacture a new A380F main/upper deck cargo loader.
VarigLog parent Volo do Brasil's acquisition of the troubled carrier hit another snag late Monday when a Brazilian court ruled that a $75 million cash payment originally intended to pay debts and keep Varig running during the transition instead must be used to pay employees, the Associated Press reported. In addition, TAM notified Brazilian authorities it would no longer honor Varig tickets on international flights. Varig reportedly owes TAM $1.5 million.
ICAO Council President Assad Kotaite retired Monday and was replaced by Roberto Kobeh Gonzalez of Mexico, who will finish the final year of Kotaite's three-year term ( ATWOnline, March 6). ICAO Secretary General Taieb Cherif also started his second three-year term.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants continued to rattle their sabers following Monday's rejection of the latest labor agreement ( ATWOnline, Aug. 1), announcing their "intent to exercise their right to strike" on the evening of Aug. 15.
Latin American Air Transport Assn. said yesterday that its member airlines reported a combined net loss of $141 million for full-year 2005. Consolidated revenues increased 20.4% to $16 billion as overall RPKs grew 12.1% on an 8.1% rise in capacity. Load factor increased 2.5 points to 70%.
FedEx yesterday extended its contract with the US Postal Service to provide domestic airport-to-airport carriage of mail aboard its aircraft. The new seven-year deal replaces the last two years of a seven-year agreement reached in 2001 and runs through 2013. FedEx predicted the contract, which calls for it to fly more than 4 million lb. of mail daily, will generate $8 billion in revenue over the seven-year period.
China Aviation Oil Supply Corp. raised fuel prices 5%, or CNY300 ($37.59) per tonne, effective July 21 in order to cut its own operating losses, Reuters reported. Prices will be adjusted every three months based upon the previous quarter's ex-refinery and import rates. CAOSC has been forced to raise jet fuel imports as domestic refineries cut back on production to produce more diesel.
CSA Czech Airlines flew 2.5 million passengers in the first six months of 2006, an increase of 6% over the year-ago period. The carrier credited increased service to Russia.
Air China secured approval last week from the China Securities Regulatory Commission for the sale of up to 2.7 billion shares, or 28.6% of its existing share capital, on the Shanghai stock exchange. The airline said it is in the process of conducting a required preliminary price consultation to determine the exact number of shares to be issued as well as an offer price. An Air China official previously told reporters the carrier plans to raise CNY8 billion ($1 billion) through the sale ( ATWOnline, June 15).
Austrian Airlines Group will launch a wholly owned subsidiary that will offer third-party MRO work at its 1,200-employee maintenance facility. "Our primary goal is to make better use of our quite expensive resources at the base in Vienna," CEO Alfred Oetsch told ATWOnline. Currently, AAG is doing work for Lufthansa and a few other carriers. Oetsch said Austrian Technik can compete in the tough MRO business. Further details about the project will be available in September.
Dniproavia of Ukraine said yesterday it has filed suit against the State Service for Aviation Security Supervision for creating "privileged conditions" for Lufthansa by failing to enforce the 1999 bilateral between Ukraine and Germany. It said German authorities prohibited it from operating Dnipropetrovsk-Frankfurt service in March based upon "deceptive allegations" from LH and Ukrainian aviation authorities did nothing to respond.
Boeing said this week it has firmed the design configuration for the 777 freighter, which was launched 15 months ago with an order from Air France ( ATWOnline, May 25, 2005) and will be the sixth version of the 777. The manufacturer said AF "has been closely involved in the airplane's design and development." The airline will take delivery of the first of five 777Fs in the last quarter of 2008.
Boeing named Jim Jamieson senior VP-engineering, operations and technology, adding to his role as senior VP, chief technology officer and head of Boeing Technology. It also announced that Judge J. Michael Luttig of the US Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit will replace the retired Douglas Bain as senior VP and general counsel. Luttig resigned from the bench. Mesa Air Group yesterday named CD Lauritsen COO of go!, its Hawaii inter-island subsidiary, and Joe Bock chief marketing officer.
Air Botswana said in a statement that it will conclude its privatization in September, with the government considering eight prospective partners. The airline carries 150,000 passengers per year across seven routes, generating $20 million in revenues.
Raytheon Aircraft Services signed a three-year extension with International Flight Training Academy to continue its Bonanza and Baron pilot training program in California for ANA.
American has designated the Worldspan Super Access and Galileo Content Continuity programs and the Farelogix and G2 SwitchWorks GDS products as "competitive booking sources. It said it will impose a $3.50 "source premium" for each segment booked by travel agents through any other GDS product, including Amadeus, beginning Sept. 1.
Their moves follow close on the heels of announcements by Sabre and, more reluctantly, Galileo that they will introduce "opt-in" programs in which agencies trade some of their booking incentive payments for access to full content. Worldspan also had hinted for some weeks that it would unveil an opt-in program, the details of which it would reveal "later this year." But American Airlines effectively "outed" Worldspan's plans when it introduced its "Source Premium Program," and Worldspan was forced to reveal details of the program much earlier than it had planned.
Travel almost anywhere in the Asia/Pacific region and you will see Indian aircraft engineers and technicians at work at airlines and maintenance outfits. Middle Eastern carriers such as Emirates, Qatar Airways and Gulf Air also employ a large number of expatriate engineers poached from Indian Airlines and Air India.
Eleven workstations, each comprising three computer monitors and manned by engineers, face a large display wall featuring an electronic world map and a giant e-mail inbox. The images are refreshed every 5 sec.; an onsite generator is set to kick on automatically 3 sec. after a power failure to keep operations running in all situations.
There is a new breed of airline emerging in Europe that defies conventional pigeonholing. It is neither a low-cost carrier in the strictest definition of the term nor is it a legacy airline. Nor is it a charter carrier, but it is emerging from the demise of the charter business that once was the mainstay of the holiday package industry.
When it comes to building an airline alliance, is a close technological marriage better than a series of looser links? The three major global alliancesStar, oneworld and SkyTeamare taking different approaches to the task of getting their systems to communicate. Star, the oldest and largest of the three, has opted to create the framework for a common platform, although no member will be forced to migrate to it. Oneworld has a sort of "virtual" common platform but no formal framework. SkyTeam, meanwhile, is sticking with normal airline messaging methods for now.
Iberia's efforts to return its Barcelona operations to normal following Friday's action by ground workers ( ATWOnline, July 31) included the transfer of more than 100 employees from other airports, two additional aircraft and the placement of extra staff on all shifts until Wednesday, it said yesterday, adding that the airport "is now operating normally" although the carrier is still working on shipping baggage.
