Iberia pilots agreed yesterday to end their strike, which started Monday and was to have lasted through Sunday, after winning guarantees from the carrier that new LCC Catair, in which Iberia is one of five shareholders, will not lead to job losses. The agreement among Iberia, the SEPLA union and the Spanish Development Ministry ensures that no Iberia pilots will be laid off through 2010 because of Catair operations. The government will act as guarantor of the deal, which does not include salary hikes or guarantees, according to reports.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines pilots voted to authorize a strike if negotiations for a new labor contract fail. The Air Line Pilots Assn. said in a statement yesterday that 92% of ASA pilots casting ballots favored giving union leaders authority to pursue a work stoppage.
Adria Airways appointed CRS Airlines Representatives as its first cargo GSSA in Spain following the launch of twice-weekly Barcelona-Ljubljana service. CRS will fill the same role for Norwegian, which launched a thrice-weekly Madrid-Oslo service.
IBS Software Services said Virgin Blue will use its next-generation passenger services system aiRes under an agreement with Cendant Travel Distribution Services.
Lufthansa flew 9.83 billion RPKs in June, a 0.5% drop from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 0.7% to 12.6 billion ASKs and load factor rose 0.2 point to 78%. Continental Airlines said its June mainline RASM rose by an estimated 9%-10% and consolidated RASM by 10.5%-11.5% compared to June 2006. Consolidated RASM grew 9.3% in May.
Resolution to the Iberia pilots' strike remained elusive yesterday as the carrier cancelled more than 200 flights for a second straight day and hinted it will seek to have the work action declared illegal. The airline said it attempted to present pilots with a letter guaranteeing their job security but the SEPLA pilots union refused to accept the document. The pilots began a weeklong strike Monday to protest Iberia's plans to launch an LCC, which the pilots say would threaten their jobs ( ATWOnline, July 11).
Transaero Airlines wants the Russian government to lift duties on imported aircraft in order to spur fleet renewal. DG Olga Pleshakova said in Toulouse that the A330, A340 and A350 "perfectly suit Transaero's development strategy in the field of servicing long-haul routes from Moscow and St.
Aviareto announced that the International Registry of Mobile Assets, which it manages on behalf of ICAO, has surpassed expectations in its first three months of operation with more than 3,500 users registered, four times the number forecast for the first year. The number of aircraft and engines recorded by Dublin-based IRMA has exceeded forecasts by more than 25%.
Cyprus Airways finalized the sale of charter subsidiary Eurocypria to the government, according to press reports. The deal, worth CYP13.5 million ($29.9 million), is part of the carrier's restructuring ( ATWOnline, March 1). The government said that the acquisition and spinoff of Eurocypria were designed to create a second, debt-free scheduled carrier. Eurocypria took delivery of its fifth 737-800 last month.
UPS's 2,700 pilots are being briefed by Independent Pilots Assn. leaders on a tentative labor agreement reached late last month that will be put to a vote in September. The five-year deal reportedly provides increased pay and improved work rules, including a 20% raise in a captain's average salary to $300,000 annually. Negotiations lasted three years. The proposed deal puts pressure on FedEx, which has been negotiating with its pilots on a new labor contract since 2004.
Goodrich said yesterday that it shipped proximity sensors from its Vermont fuel and utility systems facility to Boeing last month for installation on 787s, becoming the first Dreamliner supplier to ship production components.
Etihad Airways will implement the complete Amadeus Altea Customer Management suite comprising Altea Reservation (including e-ticketing), Altea Inventory and Altea Departure Control System.
SAS Component will close its operations in Stavangar following the decision of SAS Technical Services to shutter its own operation there and rationalize Norwegian MRO capacity at Oslo ( ATWOnline, June 13). The action will affect 98 staff based in Stavangar and SASC will transfer workload to its other three locations, according to Singapore Technologies Aerospace, which purchased 67% of SAS Component last year. SASC also operates facilities at Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen.
Ferrovial Group, the new owner of BAA, said it remains committed to constructing a second runway at London Stansted but will reevaluate the project's estimated £4 billion ($7.4 billion) price tag.
Iberia cancelled some 220 flights yesterday on the first day of an expected weeklong strike by pilots who are protesting the carrier's plans to establish a low-cost airline at Barcelona International later this year ( ATWOnline, July 10). The airline claimed the strike will cost about €35 million ($44.8 million) in lost revenue, representing about one-third of its 2005 operating profit. Most of the flight cancellations were on domestic routes.
WestJet flew 774.5 million RPMs in June, up 26% over the year-ago month. Capacity increased 20% to 1 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 3.6 points to 77.1%.
Norman Mineta, the former US transportation secretary who ended a 5.5-year tenure last week, will join communications consultancy Hill & Knowlton as vice chairman effective July 24. He will be based in Washington.
Taiwan's Mandarin Airlines will lease three Embraer 190s and five 195s from GE Commercial Aviation Services. The aircraft come from the existing GECAS backlog and are scheduled to begin delivering in the second quarter of 2007. Configured in a single seating class, they will replace Mandarin's existing fleet of F100s and F50s on domestic routes and eventually will help develop short-haul international markets.
News from Travel Technology Update: In the U.S., the same people who navigate the nation's air transport system without a second thought are sometimes clueless when it comes to rail travel, particularly if they live outside the Northeast, California's Capitol Corridor or other areas where rail commutes are commonplace. So in designing the latest incarnation of its Web site, Amtrak put a lot of thought into answering questions raised by the uninitiated. It offers a primer for first-timers.
Penauille Servisair signed with WestJet to open airport lounges in Calgary, Vancouver and other cities to be announced. Lounges are open in Ottawa and Winnipeg. Separately, Penauille signed an agreement with Air France for ground handling at Boston and Philadelphia and its cargo arm opened a new 86,000-sq.-ft. warehouse facility at London Heathrow that will house Emirates SkyCargo, Singapore Airlines Cargo and SriLankan Cargo.
Southwest Airlines will launch four-times-daily Baltimore/Washington International-Detroit Metro flights from Sept. 14. Separately, Southwest flew 6.15 billion RPMs in June, a 13.2% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 7.3% to 7.65 billion ASMs and load factor increased 4.2 points to 80.4%. JetBlue Airways will expand its Syracuse service with a daily flight to Orlando starting July 20 and a fourth daily flight to New York JFK beginning Nov. 1.
China's General Administration of Civil Aviation said Friday that Chinese carriers lost more than CNY3 billion ($374.7 million) in the first six months of 2006 owing to rising fuel prices, according to press reports. Passenger numbers climbed 17.9% to 74.3 million and freight increased 11.4% to 1.6 million tonnes.
Assn. of European Airlines blasted last week's resounding European Parliament endorsement of fuel taxes on domestic and intra-EU flights and other measures aimed at reducing aircraft emissions ( ATWOnline, July 6).
Outgoing US Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta said the US government must push forward with its proposal to allow increased involvement in US airlines by foreign investors even though Congress has shown little appetite for change. Giving his farewell address to the US Chamber of Commerce in Washington last week, Mineta said foreign investment in US transportation infrastructure, including airports and airlines, will be critical to the future health of the aviation industry and the overall US economy.
