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).
EADS confirmed Friday that it will push forward with the restructuring of its heavily loss-making MRO provider EADS Sogerma Services and close down its main site at Merignac near Bordeaux. EADS Sogerma Services posted losses of €237 million and had debts of €339 million in 2005, a deterioration resulting from a growing domination of the civil MRO market by countries with lower labor costs, the loss of French military maintenance markets and the failure of various diversification operations, EADS said.
Airbus conducted A318 airport compatibility tests at London City on May 13 and said the type offers twice the range of aircraft currently serving LCY. The A318 was granted steep approach certification in March, paving the way for Saturday's compatibility tests.
Aero Maintenance Group was chosen by Delta Air Lines to manage exclusively the repair of more than 1,400 unique components on the carrier's aircraft. AMG said it will provide Delta "with a single point of contact for communications, invoicing and performance measurements for nearly 15,000 repair orders annually on a volume of approximately 80,000 individual units."
Continental Airlines signed five-year, full-content agreements with Sabre Travel Network and its Travelocity online travel site, as well as with Expedia.
Singapore Airlines increased its fuel surcharge to $60 per ticket from $50 on most flights and to $20 from $15 on select regional operations, effective yesterday.
Northwest Airlines and Farelogix signed a distribution agreement under which users of the Farelogix FLX Platform will gain direct access to NWA's full content. "Our strategy is to offer travel agents and corporate accounts access to our products through the most economical channels, using a variety of distribution technologies," NWA VP-Distribution and E-commerce Al Lenza said.
US National Transportation Safety Board will hold a two-day public hearing into the Southwest Airlines runway overrun accident at Chicago Midway last December ( ATWOnline, Jan. 30) beginning June 20 in Washington.
News from Travel Technology Update: The latest skirmish in the distribution wars turns the spotlight on whether traditional GDSs can accommodate new types of airline product differentiation. On May 4, Air Canada withdrew its Tango fare for travel within Canada and between Canada and Florida from the GDSs and from its own dedicated travel agency Web site, aircanada.com/agents.
WestJet flew 763.8 million RPMs in April, a 30.4% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity climbed 14.4% to 973.4 million ASMs, lifting load factor 9.7 points to 78.5%. Mesaba Aviation flew 129.8 million RPMs in April, a 19.5% decline from the year-ago month. Capacity fell 28.1% to 182.3 million ASMs and load factor rose 7.6 points to 71.2%. Finnair reported a 5.3% increase in April traffic to 1.35 billion RPKs against a 5.2% decline in capacity to 1.8 billion ASKs. Load factor climbed 7.6 points to an April record 75.3%.
Ryanair said it will appeal the decision of the regional administrative court of Lazio banning the Irish LCC and its competitor easyJet from operating flights from the Italian mainland to Sardinia. The case went before the court after the Italian Transport Ministry and Civil Aviation Authority placed the route under PSO protection ( ATWOnline, April 7). Ryanair operated Rome-Alghero service while easyJet flew between Milan Malpensa and Olbia. Air One and Meridiana also operate to Sardinia.
Worldspan and Northwest Airlines signed a five-year, full-content distribution agreement designating the GDS as a "preferred distribution channel." The companies said that "in conjunction with the agreement, Worldspan has developed two new optional products to introduce into the marketplace" but did not define the products.
When Boeing begins delivering 787s to airlines in 2008, it expects to deliver something else as well: A total maintenance and supply chain solution that will permit operators to focus entirely on flying the airplane. GoldCare, the name of the product, will provide carriers with comprehensive line and base maintenance support, as well as supply chain management, on a cost-per-flight-hr. basis.
Singapore Aircraft Leasing Enterprise reported a profit of $34.7 million for the financial year ended March 31, "a sixfold increase from the previous year" when it earned $5.2 million. Revenues rose 29% to $255.1 million.
Eleven US Major passenger airlines in aggregate earned $19.31 billion in the first quarter ended March 31 compared to a loss of $3.3 billion in the year-ago period. Bottom-line results for the group were distorted heavily by large bankruptcy-related items at Delta Air Lines, Northwest Airlines and United Airlines. United, for example, booked a $22.9 billion noncash gain owing to the adoption of "fresh-start" accounting upon exiting bankruptcy Feb. 1.
American Airlines flew 11.94 billion system RPMs in April, a 5.5% rise over the year-ago month. Capacity remained flat at 14.61 billion ASMs and load factor climbed 4.3 points to 81.7%. Domestic traffic grew 3.3% to 7.83 billion RPMs against a 2.3% decline in capacity to 9.33 billion ASMs, lifting load factor 4.6 points to 83.9%. Internationally, traffic was up 10.1% to 4.1 billion RPMs, capacity increased 4.4% to 5.27 billion ASMs and load factor improved 4 points to 77.7%.
Embraer launched a Chinese version of its corporate website as part of its ongoing effort to gain a foothold in the burgeoning Asian market. It has an ERJ-145 assembly plant in Harbin, but thus far only a dozen aircraft have been delivered into the Chinese market. The Brazilian manufacturer, which is forecasting demand for some 600 RJs in China over the next 20 years, also has a commercial office in Beijing.
Cathay Pacific flew 5.86 billion RPKs in April, a 16.3% increase over the year-ago month. Capacity rose 11.5% to 7.26 billion ASKs, lifting load factor 3.3 points to 80.7%.
Singapore Airlines appointed Senior VP-Finance Goh Choon Phong as president of SIA Cargo effective June 1. He replaces Hwang Teng Aun, who will become senior VP-marketing (special projects). Divisional VP-Finance Chan Hon Chew will replace Goh.
ExpressJet Holdings, Regional partner of Continental Airlines, reported first-quarter net income of $23.8 million, 2% above earnings of $23.3 million in the year-ago quarter. ExpressJet cited rising demand as a key factor behind its 20th consecutive profitable quarter. The Houston-based carrier reported a 7.7% rise in revenues to $404.2 million while operating expenses increased 9% to $366.8 million, producing operating income of $37.3 million, down 3.9% from the year-ago quarter.
Condor Airlines, the German leisure carrier jointly owned by Lufthansa and tour operator Karstadt/Quelle, denied rumors that it will take over certain long-haul services on behalf of Lufthansa in markets where yields are too low for LH to operate profitably. "We can operate flights for Lufthansa as we did in the past. But so far there are no discussions about that," MD Ralf Teckentrup told ATWOnline. Condor made a profit of €20.5 million ($26.2 million) in 2005 compared to a loss of €39 million the year before.
