Alitalia said a 4-hr. strike yesterday by 6% of flight personnel and 20% of ground workers forced the cancellation of 67 flights. Workers are protesting a management business plan proposal that one union leader claimed "heavily penalized" labor, dismissing further talks with management as "useless, hollow," according to Italian media reports. The carrier was forced to cancel 105 domestic and 74 international flights on Sept. 7 because of a 24-hr. strike called by four trade unions ( ATWOnline, Sept. 8)
Virgin Atlantic Airways banned Apple and Dell laptop computer batteries from international flights following last month's recall of 1.8 million batteries by Dell as possible fire hazards. Virgin passengers must remove the batteries from the computer, wrap them and place them in carry-on bags, reported BBC. Passengers can use the computers sans batteries in flight if seats are equipped with electrical sockets and can transport two of the batteries in a carry-on bag. Korean Air and Qantas also have placed restrictions on laptop batteries in response to the recall.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants yesterday filed an appeal of last week's ruling by US District Judge Victor Marrero that prevents them from striking or engaging in work actions ( ATWOnline, Sept. 18). The Assn. of Flight Attendants is asking for an expedited ruling on the appeal, arguing that NWA's imposition of $195 million in annual concessions despite the flight attendants' rejection of two tentative concessionary agreements gives them the right to strike or engage in disruptive CHAOS work actions.
US Bureau of Transportation Statistics reported that a group of 21 US passenger airlines, consisting of the seven largest network, low-cost and Regional carriers based on operating revenue, reported a collective domestic operating profit margin of 7.9% in the second quarter, the largest quarterly margin for the group since 2000. BTS said yesterday that the LCCs reported a domestic operating profit margin for the quarter of 10.6%, up 5.3 points compared to the year-ago quarter.
KLM Engineering and Maintenance and Boeing Commercial Aviation Services have teamed to provide component maintenance services for Toronto-based Sunwing Airlines' 737NGs. The carrier currently operates three of the type with plans to add 10-15 more over the next five years.
IATA DG and CEO Giovanni Bisignani said overly restrictive foreign ownership rules prevent "meaningful consolidation and perpetuate inefficiency." In a speech yesterday to the ICAO Symposium on Liberalization in Dubai, Bisignani said, "the flags on the tails of our aircraft are so heavy they are sinking our industry," and argued that airlines will have difficulty achieving long-term profitability without the ability to consolidate across borders.
Boeing added Rockwell Collins to its 787 GoldCare team, which will aim to provide carriers operating 787s with comprehensive line and base maintenance support as well as supply chain management on a cost-per-flight-hr. basis. "Rockwell provides displays, communication and surveillance systems, pilot controls and the core network cabinet for the 787 and under GoldCare will be responsible for ensuring spare parts are available, managing the maintenance of parts removed from the aircraft and ensuring that equipment reliability is optimized," Boeing said.
Gol opened its R$30.5 million ($14.1 million) Aircraft Maintenance Center in Confins Friday and said the facility will allow it to stop using third-party maintenance providers. Annual cost reductions from performing its own maintenance are expected to be $2 million, with further revenue generated by performing maintenance for other airlines. "In a moment of expansion, Gol will reduce its aircraft expenses and obtain another source of future revenues," Technical VP David Barioni said. It will operate a fleet of 62 737s by year end, an increase of 20 from the end of last year.
Chinese airlines have been forced to cut fares to Tibet by up to 55% following the opening of the Qinghai-Tibet railway, according to China Daily, as concern grows among carriers over the impact of rail expansion. The paper reported that nine flights operated by Air China, Sichuan Airlines and China Southern Airlines have been discounted 45%-55% since Sept. 13. The Qinghai-Tibet railway opened July 1 and the train fare between Chengdu and Lhasa is CNY331 ($41) with a sleeper fare of CNY712. Airlines now are offering fares on the route at CNY975.
Atlantic Southeast Airlines pilots, represented by the Air Line Pilots Assn., set up a strike center at an undisclosed location in Atlanta in apparent frustration over the status of four-year-old contract negotiations.
US Airways named Thomas Chapman VP-congressional and federal affairs effective Oct. 16. Currently legislative counsel for Southwest Airlines, Chapman replaces the retiring Rosemary Murray. Pratt & Whitney Canada appointed John Saabas executive VP and Benoit Brossoit senior VP-service centers and operations. Saabas, previously senior VP-engineering and operations, will be responsible for engineering, operations, quality, service centers, customer support and marketing. Brossoit, previously VP-service centers, will provide "strategic direction" and report to Saabas.
Midwest Air Group said its August yield rose 8.6% to an estimated 14.6 cents. Passenger RASM surged 17.5% to 11.5 cents. Midwest Airlines and Midwest Connect flew 361.7 million consolidated RPMs in August, up 18.1% from the year-ago month. Capacity rose 9.2% to 460.5 million ASMs and load factor increased 6 points to 78.6%.
The dream run for North American LCCs has slowed, reports Sydney-based aviation think tank Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. According to CAPA Executive Chairman Peter Harbison, "the rate of growth of low-cost carriers in North America has stagnated for the past three years." He noted that LLCs' market share "has now been stuck on 18% of total frequencies (representing approximately 26% of total seats) for three years, after surging from 13% of total frequencies from September 2001 to September 2004."
SAS Cargo became the eighth airline to join Cargo Portal Services, the Unisys-operated online booking portal that gives freight forwarders free Internet access to member carriers' schedules and space availability and the ability to book and confirm shipments in real time. CPS membership includes American Airlines, Air Canada, Austrian Airlines, KLM, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines. Continental Airlines is in the process of going live.
US District Judge Victor Marrero issued an injunction Friday that prevents Northwest Airlines flight attendants from striking or engaging in other disruptive work actions, stating that such actions could cripple the bankrupt carrier and unduly damage the US transportation system.
Air Canada launched twice-weekly flights to Las Vegas from Edmonton aboard an A319 and from Winnipeg aboard a CRJ705 operated by Jazz. Also, AC signed a deal with ITA Software to develop a new reservation management system for deployment late next year.
Northwest Airlines mechanics, represented by the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Assn., who went on strike in August 2005 are eligible for unemployment benefits following a reversal this week by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. A lower court had ruled that custodians and cleaners were eligible but the mechanics were not, a decision reversed when the higher court ruled, "It is undisputed that Northwest's terms imposed on AMFA members of both crafts constituted 25% wage reductions, as well as benefit cuts.
Air France KLM CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta said yesterday that "KLM has started to discuss a cargo joint venture with China Southern" but cautioned that "the talks are in the initial stage," according to Reuters. Beijing is encouraging foreign airlines to set up cargo JVs with Chinese companies in order to meet the nation's explosive growth in airfreight demand.
Mesaba Airlines was dealt a setback by a US District Court judge in Minneapolis who determined the company could not reject its collective bargaining agreements with union employees as part of its bankruptcy proceedings. In July, a bankruptcy court judge granted Mesaba authority to reject the deals as part of its effort to reduce labor costs by 10.4% over a six-year period ( ATWOnline, July 17).
Delta Air Lines this week unveiled "the industry's first two-class domestic flight experience to feature [on-demand] digital entertainment," a result of the carrier's decision to fold its low-cost Song subsidiary and reintegrate the 48 757s and portions of the Song inflight product into the mainline fleet ( ATWOnline, April 6).
Aerospace Products International announced that JetBlue Airways selected API's Electronic Supply Program to manage the inventory of shelf-life-limited chemicals and other products at the carrier's line stations.
Aeroflot announced that Accenture has completed an audit of the carrier's organizational structure, IT systems and management processes. Aeroflot said the examination "determined key priorities and tasks in a field of information technologies and pointed out perspectives for future development."
US House Judiciary Committee dealt a blow this week to those seeking repeal of the Wright Amendment with the removal of language in the Wright Amendment Reform Act exempting it from antitrust challenges.
US Dept. of Transportation approved the transfer of the operating certificate of defunct Independence Air to Northwest Airlines, moving it closer to launching its new Regional subsidiary Compass Airlines ( ATWOnline, March 31). The proposed new service from Washington Dulles could begin as early as October.
The European Commission intends to restrict the amount of liquids permitted in hand luggage and introduce new limits on the size of hand luggage allowed on flights from EU airports, Transport Commissioner Jacques Barrot said yesterday. "Following the incidents of this summer we have sought to introduce a response proportional to the needs of security," he stated. "We believe we have found a good balance between the need for more security and the need to keep air transport fairly easy and smooth, which is in the interest of the passengers and the air transport industry."
