LOT Polish Airlines signed a deal with BRE Leasing for the purchase of four Embraer 175s that will be owned by Polish leasing company PLL LOT and leased to the airline for seven years with an option for five more. The carrier also took delivery of its seventh 767-300, a leased plane owned by ILFC, to be operated by LOT until February 2009 on transatlantic flights.
Cirrus Airlines inked an agreement with AD Aerospace for installation of the FlightVu Cockpit Door Monitoring System, a video security system, on its 737-500s.
AerCap Group said it completed a $346 million credit facility with a consortium of banks led by Calyon. The facility was raised from $275 million owing to strong market demand. AerCap will use the five-year facility to finance a portion of the acquisition and planned expansion of its newly acquired subsidiary AeroTurbine. Separately, AerCap announced the completion of a $1 billion, six-year warehouse credit facility with UBS. It will use the facility "to finance aircraft acquisitions to substantially expand its portfolio over the coming years."
GECAS President and CEO Henry Hubschman has a gut feeling that Airbus will unveil a significantly redone A350 by the Farnborough Air Show in mid-July ( ATWOnline, April 26). Speaking to media in Washington Friday, Hubschman said, "I don't know what they are going to do, but my tummy says they are going to make changes." He also noted that although GECAS has signed an MOU for 10 A350s, it has not finalized the order.
Amadeus announced the availability of FareAnalyzer, an "airfare display innovation in the Amadeus e-Travel Management online booking solution that lets travelers evaluate a large number of air itinerary options based on multiple criteria such as price, trip duration, departure time, connections, etc."
Alaska Airlines flight attendants ratified a new four-year labor contract that the Assn. of Flight Attendants-CWA said "provides a more generous profit-sharing program." No other details of the deal were released. Parent Alaska Air Group also announced the conversion of $150 million in outstanding convertible notes due in 2023 into Alaska Air common stock. "With this transaction, we have converted $150 million of debt into equity," CFO Brad Tilden said.
Thai Airways and Bangkok Airways signed an MOU to develop coordination further on their respective networks. Thai signed a similar agreement with Laos Airlines in early April.
Iberia will place its code on Malev Hungarian Airlines' thrice-weekly Malaga-Budapest service beginning May 2. It also will codeshare with charter carrier Iberworld on four-times-weekly Madrid-Cancun service from May 1.
US Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. said Friday it has assumed responsibility for the pensions of nearly 4,000 employees and retirees of Aloha Airlines, which emerged from bankruptcy in February, two months after it received US District Court permission to cancel its defined-benefit pension plans to which it owed $155 million ( ATWOnline, Dec. 19, 2005). PBGC said the three plans are 55% funded, with $190 million in assets covering $345 million in benefit promises.
IATA said international passenger traffic increased 5.9% in the first quarter but fell 5.7% in March compared to the year-ago month. It attributed the decline to the fact that Easter was in April this year rather than in March. Three-month load factor was 74.4% and March load factor was 75.5%. Assn. of Asia Pacific Airlines member carriers reported a 3.7% increase in March passengers to 11 million. RPKs grew 4.1% while capacity lifted just 2.3%, improving load factor 1.3 points to 74.4%.
Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation Executive Chairman Peter Harbison said the volatile price of fuel is emerging as a serious threat to consumer demand for travel. Speaking at the opening of the second annual Middle East and Indian Subcontinent Aviation & Tourism Investor Summit in Mumbai, he warned, "The growing oil price crisis sees the express train of demand growth coming into a lake of treacle as consumer demand slows while fares rise.
Malev Hungarian Airlines reported a loss of HUF1.3 billion ($6.1 million) for its fiscal year, a HUF3.6 billion improvement over a loss of HUF4.9 billion in 2004.
GE Commercial Aviation Service President and CEO Henry Hubschman Friday cited a "disconnect" between air traffic and capacity growth, with the former expected to rise at a rate of 4.5% annually compared to an average increase in the number of aircraft seats of 5.5% over the next five years. Speaking to the Aero Club of Washington, Hubschman said, "I would argue that the [aircraft] orders are too large. We wish they would moderate a bit, but we don't control that."
Amadeus signed a partnership with DOB Systems, a provider of market intelligence solutions to the airline industry, under which DOB products will be integrated into the Amadeus offering in order to deliver a portfolio of data analysis solutions.
Lufthansa Technik launched Total Material Operations support service offering integrated supply of components, spare parts and consumables for airline networks.
Comair's request to cancel its labor contract with 1,100 flight attendants was rejected Wednesday by the US Bankruptcy Court, which ordered the carrier to resume negotiations with cabin staff represented by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. The Cincinnati-based Regional, a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines, is seeking $8.9 million in annual concessions.
China Eastern Airlines reported a loss of CNY955.1 million ($119.1 million) in the first quarter, according to press reports. The total was more than double its full-year 2005 loss of CNY467.3 million ( ATWOnline, April 11). Revenue climbed 55.8% to CNY7.48 billion. The carrier said it expects to incur losses in the current quarter as well.
The European Commission appears to be fed up with the Greek government's attitude toward its flag carrier and a European Court of Justice ruling regarding the recovery of illegal state aid to Olympic Airways.
Biman Bangladesh Airlines is set to purchase six A330s and four 777s, according to Director-Marketing and Sales Mahmoodur Rahman, who was quoted in Gulf News. The Bangladesh Ministry of Civil Aviation and Tourism reportedly recommended a combination of Boeing and Airbus aircraft to augment an aging fleet comprising five DC-10-30s, four A310-300s and four F28s.
Boeing announced last week that its Phantom Works Advanced Air Traffic Management unit signed a two-year, €615,000 ($762,000) contract with Air Traffic Alliance--the European consortium that includes Eurocontrol, EADS, Airbus and Thales--to assist in development of the Single European Sky ATM Research program.
Gol received authorization from Brazil's National Agency of Civil Aviation to operate 21 weekly flights to Santiago. The Brazilian LCC said it is beginning preparations for 737-800 flights to the Chilean capital, which would become its seventh international destination.
ATA Airlines appointed John Kelly as VP-maintenance and engineering. He most recently was MD-line maintenance operations at Northwest Airlines' Detroit hub. US Airways named Andrea Rader director-corporate communications. Rader, who comes from Wal-Mart, worked for American Airlines for 14 years.
Delta Air Lines is expanding its self-service check-in kiosks to international services, equipping more than 1,000 kiosks at US airports with passport readers. The carrier said all US kiosks will be upgraded by year end to handle international check-ins. Self-service check-ins for domestic Delta flights rose 10% last year, with 28 million passengers using the machines to obtain boarding passes.
