SkyEurope Airlines will launch twice-weekly summer services to Krakow from Split and Dubrovnik aboard 737-700s. Flights operate June 17-Sept. 16. It also will begin twice-weekly Bratislava-Naples flights operating June 18-Sept. 17. Separately, SkyEurope flew 178,163 earned seats in March, a 62.3% rise over the year-ago month. Load factor improved 1.2 points to 74.4%.
SITA said Romania's Carpatair is acquiring a large package of solutions from SITA's Horizon portfolio under a seven-year contract worth $10 million to automate its passenger services and back office functions and phase in e-ticketing and Internet sales. SITA said the goal is to boost Carpatair's revenues by 15% and achieve annual savings of $2 million on sales and distribution costs.
Ryanair offered Aer Lingus passengers who have not received a response to a complaint letter after six weeks or who had their luggage lost in the past year a free ticket on a Ryanair flight. The LCC set up an e-mail address for Aer Lingus passengers to register their complaints before midnight tonight.
Lufthansa signed a full-content distribution agreement with Worldspan. In addition to resulting in lower distribution costs, "Worldspan has provided technology tools to help lower our overall IT expenditure," said Josef Bogdanski, LH senior VP-sales-Germany and global key accounts.
Aviation Fleet Solutions said its QuietEagle noise reduction system, developed and marketed with Pratt & Whitney and designed to reduce cumulative noise from JT8D-200-powered MD-80s by up to 6 dB, received FAA certification.
Lufthansa Technik signed a five-year contract to provide its Total Component Support package for Wizz Air's A320 fleet, which will number 24 aircraft by the end of the contract. Separately, LHT said Kuwait Airways is the launch customer for its newly developed and certified stretcher designed specifically to transport patients onboard aircraft.
American Airlines sent letters to approximately 600 maintenance workers, cleaners, stock clerks and crew chiefs at 24 US airports warning them of possible layoffs. "We cannot say right now whether these job reductions will be temporary or permanent," said a letter to Los Angeles employees obtained by Bloomberg News. New AMR Corp. Executive VP and CFO Thomas Horton has been on record saying he believes AA must cut labor costs to stay competitive. Separately, AMR announced that its 4.25% Senior Convertible Notes due 2023 now are convertible into shares of common stock.
Aer Lingus's largest union, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, served protective notice of industrial action that will become effective if no agreement is reached on pensions, job security and employee shareholding ahead of the airline's privatization ( ATWOnline, April 6). SIPTU pledged to continue working during the Easter travel period ending in two weeks. Union members at the carrier supported industrial action in a vote last week.
Alaska Airlines expects its unit costs excluding fuel and special charges to drop 5% in the quarter ended March 31 to 8.1 cents, primarily owing to a shift in the timing of maintenance effects, it said in an SEC filing. It also expects to incur a pre-tax impairment charge of $130-$140 million related to plans to retire 15 owned MD-80s ahead of previous plans in favor of 737NGs ( ATWOnline, March 14). Nonadjusted CASM is expected to rise 23% to 13.6 cents.
Qantas will convert four 737-300s to freighters for domestic cargo carrier Australian air Express at QF's facility in Avalon using conversion kits developed by Israel Aircraft Industries. These will be the first jet freighter conversions in Australia, according to Qantas. The aircraft currently are based in New Zealand and will be replaced with dash 400s. Work begins this month and is scheduled to be completed in January. EADS EFW in Dresden signed a contract with Air India covering conversion of two A310-300s into freighters.
Avion Aircraft Trading ordered four 747-400BCFs for Avion Group's Air Atlanta Icelandic subsidiary. The first is scheduled for delivery in August 2007. They will replace older dash 200Fs operated by the ACMI provider. Last month it signed an eight-month wet-lease agreement with Saudi Arabian Airlines for two 747-300s to be delivered June 1.
Lufthansa Flight Training ordered a 737NG FFS X Non Zero Flight Time simulator from Mechtronix. It will be based in the LFT center at Berlin Schoenefeld and ready for use in summer 2007. Main customer will be Hapagfly. GE Commercial Aviation Training and Siberia Airlines agreed to cooperate in the development of a new training center in Moscow to be built near Domodedovo. It is expected to open in the second quarter of 2007, according to GECAT.
Panasonic Avionics Corp. is launching a global communications service to provide broadband voice and data services to aircraft with a new antenna system it claims "provides superior bandwidth in a smaller, lighter and lower drag configuration." The company said it will support AeroMobile's aircraft mobile phone service and also can be paired with a direct broadcast television antenna in the same radome system to offer Panasonic DBS TV with live programming.
Air France and KLM launched a combined Internet check-in facility allowing passengers to check in for AF flights on KLM's website. Effective next month, KLM will accept all e-tickets issued by SkyTeam members.
Professional Flight Attendants Assn. is objecting to Northwest Airlines' new Coach Choice scheme, which allows passengers to pay $15 to reserve selected exit row or aisle seats ( ATWOnline, March 15). PFAA, which represents NWA's cabin staff, said the initiative is "ill-conceived" because "it takes away from the primary reason 'qualified' passengers occupy exit row seats," according to National Security & Regulatory Affairs Coordinator Jeanne Elliot. She also said it will add to cabin staff workloads as unqualified passengers must be shifted from exit row seats.
Continental Airlines and Alitalia launched a codeshare agreement, effective immediately, that will see Continental put its code on select Alitalia flights from Rome Fiumicino and Milan and Alitalia place its code on CO flights from Newark to 11 US cities.
Aeroflot's summer schedule will include frequency increases of 30% to CIS countries, 28% to Southeast Asia, 20% to the Americas and 15% to Africa and the Middle East, the airline announced. Flights in Russia and Europe will go up by 14% and 9% respectively. New services will be introduced to Karlovy, Vary and Bratislava. In total it will operate flights to 87 cities in 47 countries. Aeroflot said that it soon will sign a deal with Boeing for the delivery of six MD-11 freighters through 2008.
Southwest Airlines flew 5.83 billion RPMs in March, an 11.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 8.7% to 7.72 billion ASMs and load factor rose 1.8 points to 75.5%. Continental Airlines' consolidated RPMs grew 11.2% in March to 7.69 billion as capacity rose 10.1% over March 2005 to 9.47 billion ASMs. Load factor inched up 0.7 point to 81.2%. Domestic traffic increased 4.9% to 3.75 billion RPMs against a 3.3% hike in ASMs to 4.49 billion, lifting load factor 1.2 points to 83.4%.
Lufthansa Systems plans to increase its share of revenue from customers outside Lufthansa Group from 40% to 60% by 2010, LHS CEO Wolfgang Gohde said as he announced operating results of €63 million ($76.8 million) on turnover of €634.7 million for 2005. Business with clients outside Lufthansa Group grew 15% to €256.8 million.
US Senate Appropriations Committee approved an amendment Tuesday that would stall a Dept. of Transportation proposal intended to encourage foreign investment in US airlines through the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, according to press reports. This would give Congress more time to examine the issue. The DOT proposal allows foreign investors to wield more influence in airline management, although it does not raise the 25% ownership cap.
SITA announced that Sky Airline of Chile and Hong Kong Express Airways will implement its Horizon portfolio including Airfare Price and SITA Reservations. SITA also announced that Moscow Domodedovo will be the 33rd airport to implement its BagManager global baggage reconciliation system.
Swiss prosecutors filed charges last Friday against 19 Swissair managers and its former board in connection with the carrier's financial collapse 4.5 years ago. According to Reuters, among the accused former board members are former Credit Suisse boss Lukas Muehlemann and Thomas Schmidheiny, majority shareholder of cement maker Holcim. The board is accused of having attempted a dubious balance sheet restructuring in the face of massive debts.
