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.
Brazilian bankruptcy court last week postponed both a new auction for Varig scheduled for July 12 and a meeting of creditors that was to consider a $500 million bid from VarigLog, the Associated Press reported. Judge Luiz Robert Ayoub apparently reversed his own decision of July 3 when he said VarigLog's bid was ready for review and that higher bids would be accepted at the new auction ( ATWOnline, July 3).
Boeing sold another 25 737s last week to unidentified customers in addition to the 10 ordered by Ryanair ( ATWOnline, July 6). One of the 25 is a BBJ. The company has sold 480 aircraft this year net of seven cancellations, comprising 374 737s, 11 747s, four 767s, 22 777s and 69 787s.
AWAS and Viva Macau signed a deal for the lease of a 767-200ER and a 767-300. Viva Macau plans to launch its low-fare, long-haul services in the third quarter.
Iberia said a strike called by the SEPLA pilots union, scheduled to start today and last through July 16, will force the cancellation of 200 daily flights and affect more than 200,000 passengers during the week. The pilots announced the strike last month in response to Iberia's plans to participate in a new low-cost airline based in Barcelona ( ATWOnline, June 22).
Tunisair announced that its 2005 net profit improved 43% year-over-year to $29.6 million and that it is planning a $2.6 million capital increase to $60.5 million. It generated $676 million in operating revenues over the 12-month period, representing a 7% increase. Operating expenses also rose 7% to just under $664 million.
Northwest Airlines flew 7 billion consolidated RPMs in June, an 8.8% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity dropped 11.1% to 7.88 billion ASMs and load factor rose 2.3 points to 88.9%. Domestic traffic fell 8.1% to 3.81 billion RPMs against an 11.5% decline in capacity to 4.36 billion ASMs, raising load factor 3.2 points to 87.4%. International RPMs decreased 8.6% to 2.71 billion, capacity was down 8.7% to 2.91 billion ASMs and load factor rose 0.1 point to 93.1%.
PrivatAir hopes to unveil another airline client for its all-business-class operations this summer. The Swiss company, which flies for Lufthansa, KLM and Swiss International Air Lines in addition to operating Airbus's corporate shuttle, said interest in its services is growing. "We are talking to several carriers, because the others [airlines] see that it is a success," CEO Greg Thomas told ATWOnline.
Saab Aerotech reached a five-year, $30 million spares support agreement with Colgan Air covering nearly 500 different components installed on its fleet of 38 Saab 340 and 340B aircraft. Colgan operates flights to 52 cities as Continental Connection, United Express and US Airways Express.
US Dept. of Transportation proposed Wednesday to revoke antitrust immunity from tariff-coordination meetings organized by IATA to set passenger fares and cargo rates for flights from the US to Europe and Australia.
Algeria and Canada concluded their first bilateral air accord, allowing access to airlines from both countries, according to the Arab Air Carrier Assn. Codeshare services also are permitted. Air Algerie announced plans to operate up to two weekly flights to Montreal, while Air Canada intends to codeshare on flights to Algeria via Europe with existing partners.
Emirates signed a $261 million financing agreement with the US Export-Import Bank for two 777-300ERs scheduled for delivery in August and October. The 12-year financing, arranged by Citigroup, combines an Ex-Im loan with commercial funding and carries a weighted average cost of funds of 0.66% over three-month LIBOR, the carrier said. It currently operates 37 777s and has 38 dash 300ERs on order.
IER was awarded a five-year renewal contract for maintenance of the check-in and boarding equipment at Kuwait International Airport. IER, which says it is the industry's "leading supplier of passenger and baggage processing solutions," is collaborating with Computer Data Networks, maintenance provider for SITA, and is supplying boarding pass printers, bag tag printers, barcode boarding gate readers and keyboards to the airport under a December 2005 contract.
US airlines recorded an ontime arrival rate of 78.3% in May, down from 83.7% in the year-ago month and 78.4% in April 2006. According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, the 20 reporting carriers cancelled 1.2% of domestic flights in May, higher than the 0.9% cancellation rate in the year-ago month and the 1.1% rate in April. Hawaiian Airlines led the way in May with a 95% ontime arrival rate while ATA Airlines reported the lowest rate at 66.1%. Frontier Airlines cancelled just 0.1% of its May flights. American Eagle had the highest cancellation rate at 3.5%.
Northwest Airlines cabin staff yesterday voted to switch to the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA from the Professional Flight Attendants Assn. The US National Mediation Board said the final count was 4,439-2,668 in favor of the move. The airline was given permission by a US Bankruptcy Court last week to cancel its labor agreement following a 14-day stay ( ATWOnline, July 3).
Qantas and Mexicana signed a codeshare agreement effective Aug. 1. Qantas will codeshare on 237 Mexicana weekly services to Mexico City, Cancun, Guadalajara and San Jose del Cabo from Los Angeles and San Francisco while Mexicana will codeshare on Qantas flights from LAX to Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne and from SFO to Sydney. Separately, Aircraft Maintenance and Engineering Corp. of Beijing will paint four Qantas 767-300ERs. The first aircraft will be delivered to Ameco at the end of July with three others following nose to tail.
British Airways flew 10.4 billion RPKs in June, up 6.6% from the year-ago month, against a 3.1% increase in capacity to 12.73 billion ASKs. Load factor rose 2.7 points to 81.6%. The traffic gain comprised an 11.7% rise in premium and 5.7% growth in nonpremium traffic.
The European Parliament gave its resounding approval Tuesday to new fuel taxes, the ending of airlines' Value Added Tax exemption and a closed emissions trading scheme, urging the EU to "take a leadership position in global aviation in order to reduce the climate change impact of aviation."
Ryanair ordered an additional 10 winglet-equipped 737-800s Monday with deliveries to take place in the first half of 2008. The order, valued at $705 million at list prices, previously was attributed on Boeing's website to an unidentified customer. Ryanair operates 107 dash 800s and will take an additional 142 of the type over the next six years. Separately, Ryanair flew 3.7 million passengers in June, a 23% increase over the year-ago month. Load factor remained constant at 87%.
