Sabre Airline Solutions and Penauille Servisair signed an agreement under which the ground handling company will implement the Sabre Streamline Resource Management Suite. It initially will cover passenger and ramp handling services throughout Penauille Servisair's network.
Qantas warned staff it will lay off 20%, or approximately 1,000, of its management and administrative personnel in order to slash costs as fuel prices continue to rise. The carrier's fuel bill has increased by A$2 billion ($1.53 billion) to A$3.8 billion in the past two years and is expected to grow by a further A$1 billion during the 2006-07 financial year. It warned at its half-year results announcement in February that job losses were on the agenda ( ATWOnline, Feb.
Japan Airlines and Florida West International Airways, an all-cargo carrier, will launch a partnership June 3 that will enable JAL to add freight service to Dallas/Ft. Worth and Miami. Under the agreement, JAL will transfer cargo from Tokyo Narita and Nagoya to Florida West aircraft in Atlanta for carriage onward to DFW or Miami. JAL operates 747F service from Narita and Nagoya to Atlanta and plans to block 80 tons of space per week for the new service, which it is calling Southern Flash.
Triumph Group announced the acquisition of the assets of Air Excellence International, which will operate as Triumph Interiors as part of the Triumph Aftermarket Services Group and is expected to add approximately $13 million in revenue in FY07. Air Excellence employs about 95 people, provides aircraft interior repair and refurbishment services and manufactures approved plastic and metal components.
Irish government is targeting September or October for the sale of part of its stake in Aer Lingus, according to press reports. No schedule was announced when it agreed last month to the IPO ( ATWOnline, April 6), which will see it reduce its stake from 85.1% to 25.1%. Aer Lingus management had been pushing for a flotation in June.
Pinnacle Airlines flew 356.2 million RPMs in April, a 7.6% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 5.2% to 452.1 million ASMs, boosting load factor 9.4 points to 78.8%.
Nouvelair of Tunisia joined the International Air Carrier Assn. and will host its annual Operations Assembly Sept. 11-14 in Monastir. Nouvelair operates a fleet of 12 A320s and two A321s to more than 120 destinations.
An A380 touched down on London Heathrow's Southern Runway yesterday and parked at Terminal 3, Pier 6, a new purpose-built, £105 million ($198.4 million), three-story pier that can accommodate up to four A380s simultaneously. The new Terminal 5, scheduled to open in 2008, also will accommodate the aircraft. Singapore Airlines will begin flying the A380 into LHR in November.
Delta Air Lines and Galileo International yesterday announced a seven-year, full-content agreement. Delta and CheapTickets, a subsidiary of Galileo parent Cendant Corp., also executed a marketing agreement.
Sabre Airline Solutions said it signed 15 contracts in the first quarter with airport operators around the world. The deals are with Macquarie Airports, Turin International Airport, Singapore Changi and 12 French and Swiss properties. Sabre also reached agreement with Caribbean Star Airlines and Caribbean Sun Airlines to create customized "user-friendly front-end access" to the sister carriers' reservations and airport check-in applications using Sabre's Qik Business Processing Solutions and Qik Developer Tool.
SAS Flight Academy is moving into larger facilities in Copenhagen and adding two full flight simulators, a 737NG and an MD-80. The training center also signed a contract with Sterling Airlines to be the exclusive training provider for its pilots and cabin personnel through 2010. Separately, SAS Flight Academy and AirBaltic signed a five-year agreement covering pilot and cabin crew training on 737s and F50s. The 737 training eventually will take place at a new center under construction at Riga International Airport.
Singapore Airlines flew 7.06 billion RPKs in April, an 11% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 4.1% to 9.26 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 4.8 points to 76.3%. SAS Group reported a 6.4% year-on-year increase in April system traffic to 3.23 billion RPKs. Capacity slipped 2.7% to 4.4 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 6.3 points to 73.4%. SAS Scandinavian Airlines traffic fell 1.3% to 2.31 billion RPKs against a 9% decrease in capacity to 3.04 billion ASKs, sending load factor up 6 points to 76.1%.
Northwest Airlines flight attendants union expressed anger this week over a May 12 letter from Suzanne Boda, the airline's VP-inflight services, that promised the carrier was through bargaining and warned of potential ramifications if Professional Flight Attendants Assn. members reject the tentative labor agreement reached in March that provides $195 million in annual savings to NWA ( ATWOnline, March 2).
AirBaltic will launch twice-weekly Riga-Tel Aviv service aboard 737-500s from June 5, becoming the only carrier in the Baltics or Scandinavia to offer direct service to Tel Aviv. AirBaltic carried 113,723 passengers in April, 44% more than in the year-ago month. Load factor rose 12 points to 62%.
Airbus has chosen Russia as its initial partner in the eventual passenger-to-freighter conversion of its A320 family aircraft, announcing yesterday at the ILA Airshow in Berlin the execution of a preliminary cooperation agreement with EADS EFW, MiG and Irkut. Conversion activities for A320s and A321s will include design, kit production, conversion and maintenance and are scheduled to begin in Russia in 2011. This is the first announcement of any A320 passenger-to-freighter conversion program.
Jet Airways named Dale Moss COO. He most recently was director-worldwide sales and marketing-worldwide cargo for British Airways. Southwest Airlines named Jeff Lamb VP-people and leadership development. He joined Southwest in 2004.
Air Canada reported a 6.4% rise in consolidated traffic in April to 3.77 billion RPMs. Capacity increased 4.7% to 4.63 billion ASMs and load factor gained 1.2 points to 81.2%. Domestic RPMs grew 3.1% to 1.16 billion, capacity lifted 6.9% to 1.48 billion ASMs and load factor dropped 2.9 points to 78%. International RPMs rose 4.4% to 1.91 billion against a 1.5% increase in capacity to 2.27 billion ASMs, boosting load factor 2.3 points to 84.1%. Hawaiian Airlines flew 552.3 million RPMs in April, a 5.3% increase over the year-ago month.
Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways signed an 18-month maintenance agreement covering a range of maintenance checks and work on Jazeera's A320 fleet. Separately, Jazeera launched flights from Kuwait to Alexandria and Luxor, its seventh and eighth destinations.
Aerolineas Argentinas announced last week that it will grant a 19% salary increase to approximately 7,000 employees represented by five unions in an effort to achieve long-sought labor peace. The raise will go into effect once "social peace" is reached with the mechanics and pilots unions, the carrier said.
Alitalia's first-quarter pre-tax loss widened to €156.6 million ($201.6 million) from €141.2 million in the year-ago quarter as January's labor unrest ( ATWOnline, Jan. 27) aggravated the low-season effect that marks the March quarter. Revenues decreased 3.1% to €965 million, mainly owing to the deconsolidation of the Alitalia Servizi services unit and the drop in passenger income caused by the strikes. Passenger revenues slid 1.6% to €764 million, with yield falling 3.4%.
EU and US aviation officials concluded aviation negotiations in Brussels last week with predictable results: The pushing back of the deadline to reach agreement on the transatlantic Open Aviation Area. The stumbling block remains limits on foreign ownership in US carriers and the recently revised Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued by the US Dept. of Transportation ( ATWOnline, May 4).
